LitQueuelitqueue

After

The Luminous Dead

Caitlin Starling2019

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • The Metamorphosis

    Franz Kafka

    A traveling salesman wakes up transformed into a giant insect. He struggles to communicate and survive while his family grows to resent him.

    Same tense register, still unreliable narrator

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

tense → dreamlike, still unreliable narrator

3 more ↓

  • Gormenghast

    Mervyn Peake1950

    A young heir and a social climber navigate the rigid rituals of a decaying, labyrinthine castle. The prose is dense and descriptive.

    tense → dark

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

  • The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner

    James Hogg1824

    A religious fanatic becomes convinced he is predestined for salvation and commits crimes at the behest of a mysterious stranger.

    tense → cold, still unreliable narrator

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

  • Ghost Stories

    Henry James2001

    A collection of Victorian tales where the existence of ghosts is often left to the reader's interpretation.

    tense → meditative, still unreliable narrator

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Night Pleasures

    Sherrilyn Kenyon2002

    An immortal warrior and a skeptical accountant are handcuffed together while being hunted by supernatural predators.

    tense → playful

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

  • Release Me

    J. Kenner2013

    A billionaire with a need for control pursues a young woman who has her own secrets. They enter a physical relationship based on his terms.

    Same tense register

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

  • Megan's Mark

    Lora Leigh2006

    A sheriff's deputy with psychic empathy tracks a killer alongside a genetically engineered feline-human hybrid who claims her as his mate.

    tense → earnest

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

Faster

Same tense register, still survival horror

3 more ↓

  • The Walking Dead, Vol. 1: Days Gone Bye

    Robert Kirkman

    A small-town deputy wakes from a coma to find a zombie apocalypse. He searches for his family and leads a group of survivors.

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

  • Patient Zero

    Jonathan Maberry2009

    A detective joins a secret government task force to stop a terrorist group using a bio-weapon that reanimates the dead. It is an action thriller.

    tense → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • The Rising

    Brian Keene2003

    A father travels across an apocalypse where the dead are possessed by malevolent, intelligent demons. The world is ending permanently.

    tense → bleak

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    tense → playful

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

  • Absalom, Absalom!

    William Faulkner1936

    The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.

    tense → elegiac, still unreliable narrator

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1

  • Either/Or

    Søren Kierkegaard1992

    A collection of papers presents two life philosophies: the aesthetic pursuit of pleasure and the ethical commitment to duty.

    tense → meditative

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Darkness on the Edge of Town

    Brian Keene2010

    A small Virginia town is surrounded by a wall of absolute blackness. The residents struggle to survive as the darkness begins to change them.

    tense → bleak, still survival horror

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

  • The Border

    Robert McCammon2015

    Humanity hides in a fortified town while two warring alien factions destroy Earth. An amnesiac boy arrives as survivors begin to mutate.

    tense → bleak, still sci-fi horror

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • The Walking Dead, Book Three

    Robert Kirkman2007

    Survivors of a zombie plague attempt to build a permanent community inside a prison while facing threats from other humans.

    tense → bleak, still survival horror

    pace0·prose-1·bleak+1