After
The Lincoln hunters
Wilson Tucker1958
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak0
The City on the Edge of Forever: The Original Teleplay
Harlan Ellison
Captain Kirk and Spock travel to 1930s New York to stop a woman from changing history. Her survival means the Nazis win the war.
Same elegiac register, still time travel
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak-1
The Trinity Paradox
Doug Beason1991
A modern anti-nuclear activist is transported back to 1945 Los Alamos. She must decide whether to sabotage the first atomic bomb test.
elegiac → propulsive, still time travel
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Time Machine
H. G. Wells1895
A Victorian inventor travels to the year 802,701. He finds a split species: the peaceful Eloi above ground and the predatory Morlocks below.
Same elegiac register, still time travel
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Half the Day Is Night
Maureen F. McHugh1994
A bodyguard from the surface is hired to protect a wealthy woman in a pressurized undersea city. They navigate corporate and political unrest.
Same elegiac register, still dystopia
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak-1
The Time Ships
Stephen Baxter1995
The Time Traveller returns to the future only to find his previous actions have created a series of divergent, massive timelines.
elegiac → propulsive, still time travel
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
Denser prose
- pace0prose+2bleak0
Perhaps the Stars
Ada Palmer2021
A global war between ideological factions reaches its conclusion. The story is told through a dense, 18th-century style narrative voice.
elegiac → meditative
pace0·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
Dhalgren
Samuel R. Delany1975
An amnesiac wanderer enters Bellona, a city cut off from the world where time and geography shift. He joins a gang and writes poetry.
elegiac → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
Valis
Philip K. Dick1981
A man experiences a beam of pink light that imparts vast information. The narrative explores his mental breakdown and search for God in California.
elegiac → meditative
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
Shadow & Claw
Gene Wolfe1983
A torturer travels across a far-future Earth where technology is indistinguishable from magic. He recounts his exile in dense, archaic prose.
elegiac → meditative
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
Radiance
Catherynne M. Valente2015
A documentary filmmaker disappears on Venus in an alternate 1980s solar system. The story is told through scripts, interviews, and letters.
elegiac → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
To recover
elegiac → propulsive
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
The Da Vinci Code
Dan Brown2003
A symbologist and a cryptologist flee the police while solving puzzles hidden in art. They search for a secret regarding the Holy Grail.
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
Ready Player One
Ernest Cline2008
A teenager in a dystopian future hunts for a digital easter egg inside a massive simulation. The quest relies on 1980s pop culture trivia.
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose-1bleak-2
Redshirts
John Scalzi2012
Low-ranking crew members on a starship realize they are disposable characters in a sci-fi television show. They attempt to escape their fate.
elegiac → playful
pace0·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace0prose-1bleak-2
Fifty Shades of Grey
E.L. James2000
A college student enters a sexual contract with a wealthy businessman. The story focuses on their power dynamics and BDSM encounters.
elegiac → earnest
pace0·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
elegiac → wry
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
Faster
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
Lost in Time
A.G. Riddle2022
A man is exiled to the Triassic period for a murder he didn't commit while his daughter tries to bring him back.
elegiac → propulsive, still time travel
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
elegiac → wry
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
Ready Player One
Ernest Cline2008
A teenager in a dystopian future hunts for a digital easter egg inside a massive simulation. The quest relies on 1980s pop culture trivia.
elegiac → propulsive
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
All Systems Red
Martha Wells2017
A self-aware security android hacks its own governor module to watch soap operas while protecting a team of scientists on a distant planet.
elegiac → wry
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
Skin Game
Jim Butcher2014
Wizard Harry Dresden joins a team of villains to rob a vault in the Underworld. It is a fast-paced heist set in a modern fantasy Chicago.
elegiac → propulsive
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
Slower
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
Dhalgren
Samuel R. Delany1975
An amnesiac wanderer enters Bellona, a city cut off from the world where time and geography shift. He joins a gang and writes poetry.
elegiac → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-2prose+2bleak-1
Invisible Cities
Italo Calvino1972
Marco Polo describes fifty-five imaginary cities to Kublai Khan. The book is a series of short, prose-poem meditations on urban existence.
elegiac → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+2bleak-1
Beelzebub's tales to his grandson
Georges Ivanovitch Gurdjieff1950
An extraterrestrial being explains the history and strange behaviors of humanity to his grandson during a long space voyage.
elegiac → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1
- pace-2prose+2bleak-2
Gödel, Escher, Bach
Douglas R. Hofstadter1979
An exploration of how cognition emerges from hidden neurological patterns. It uses math, art, and music to explain self-referential systems.
elegiac → playful
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-2
- pace-2prose+2bleak-1
Ulysses
James Joyce1914
Three characters wander through Dublin on a single day in 1904. Each chapter uses a different literary style to mimic thoughts and sensations.
elegiac → playful
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1
Heavier
- pace-1prose0bleak+1
Doomsday Book
Connie Willis1992
A student travels to 14th-century England while a virus spreads in the present. She arrives during the Black Death due to a technical error.
elegiac → bleak, still time travel
pace-1·prose0·bleak+1
- pace-1prose0bleak+1
Make Room! Make Room!
Harry Harrison1966
A detective investigates a murder in a 1999 New York City suffering from extreme overpopulation, food riots, and resource exhaustion.
elegiac → bleak, still dystopia
pace-1·prose0·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak+1
Behold the Man
Michael Moorcock1968
A man uses a time machine to travel to 28 AD to meet Jesus. Finding only a disabled man who cannot fulfill the gospels, he takes the role himself.
elegiac → bleak, still time travel
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace-1prose0bleak+1
The Year of the Quiet Sun
Wilson Tucker1970
A social scientist travels forward in time to document the collapse of the United States through racial conflict and nuclear war.
elegiac → bleak, still time travel
pace-1·prose0·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+1bleak+1
By Light Alone
Adam Roberts2011
Humans photosynthesize through their hair, making food a luxury for the rich. A wealthy man searches for his kidnapped daughter.
elegiac → sardonic, still dystopia
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
