After
The Mind Cage
A. E. van Vogt1957
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak0
Drunkard’s Walk
Frederik Pohl1960
A math professor is driven toward suicide by mysterious external forces. He discovers a secret society of telepaths is manipulating humanity.
Same tense register, still dystopian
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Dayworld
Philip José Farmer1985
To solve overpopulation, citizens are conscious only one day a week. An outlaw maintains seven different identities to live every day.
tense → propulsive, still dystopian
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace+1prose0bleak+1
Logan's run
William F. Nolan1967
In a future where everyone is executed at age 21, an enforcer becomes a fugitive. He attempts to reach a rumored sanctuary.
Same tense register, still dystopian
pace+1·prose0·bleak+1
- pace0prose0bleak+1
The Mirror
Marlys Millhiser1978
A bride-to-be and her grandmother swap bodies across seventy-five years through a supernatural mirror. Each must navigate the other's era.
Same tense register, still body swap
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
Dark Eden
Chris Beckett2012
A small tribe descended from two stranded astronauts lives in total darkness on an alien planet. A young man seeks to leave the valley.
Same tense register, still dystopian
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
Denser prose
- pace-2prose+2bleak+1
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.
tense → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
Too Like the Lightning
Ada Palmer2016
In a 25th-century utopia, a convict narrates the discovery of a boy who can perform miracles. The prose uses 18th-century styles and gender terms.
tense → sardonic, still science fiction
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
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.
tense → meditative, still science fiction
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
In Green's Jungles
Gene Wolfe2000
A narrator travels to different worlds while his physical form and memories shift. He recounts past voyages to prove his identity to his companions.
tense → elegiac
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
Infinite Jest
David Foster Wallace1996
A sprawling narrative centered on a tennis academy, a halfway house, and a lethal film. The text includes hundreds of pages of detailed endnotes.
tense → sardonic, still dystopian
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
To recover
tense → playful
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
Vampires Are Forever
Lynsay Sands2008
A woman suspects her business partner is a vampire after he attempts to bite her. He tries to convince her they are fated mates.
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
The Mane Event
Shelly Laurenston2007
A female cop reunites with a childhood friend who is now a lion-shifter. They navigate a romantic attraction while he pursues her in New York.
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
She Went All the Way
Meg Cabot2002
A screenwriter and an actor survive a helicopter crash in the Alaskan wilderness and must hike to safety while being pursued by a killer.
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
Mile High
Liz Tomforde2023
A professional hockey player and a flight attendant clash on the team's private plane during a season-long road trip.
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
Behind the Net
Stephanie Archer2024
A former musician becomes the live-in assistant for a professional hockey goalie she knew in high school.
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
Faster
- pace+1prose0bleak+1
Logan's run
William F. Nolan1967
In a future where everyone is executed at age 21, an enforcer becomes a fugitive. He attempts to reach a rumored sanctuary.
Same tense register, still dystopian
pace+1·prose0·bleak+1
- pace+1prose0bleak+2
The Running Man
Richard Bachman
A man enters a deadly reality show to fund medical care for his daughter. He must survive thirty days while the entire world hunts him for money.
tense → propulsive, still dystopian
pace+1·prose0·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose0bleak+1
The Test
Sylvain Neuvel2019
An immigrant takes a British citizenship test that turns into a high-stakes psychological simulation. It is a short, dialogue-heavy novella.
Same tense register, still dystopian
pace+1·prose0·bleak+1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
The Kaiju Preservation Society
John Scalzi2022
A food delivery driver joins a secret organization that travels to an alternate Earth to care for massive, dinosaur-like creatures.
tense → playful, still science fiction
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak0
Get Jiro!
Anthony Bourdain2012
In a future Los Angeles, master chefs rule as warlords. A sushi chef who kills rude customers is caught between two warring food factions.
tense → sardonic, still dystopian
pace+1·prose-1·bleak0
Slower
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
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.
tense → meditative, still science fiction
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-2prose+2bleak+1
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.
tense → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
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.
tense → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-2prose+2bleak+2
Translated Accounts
James Kelman2001
Anonymous witnesses describe life under a military regime. The prose uses broken, bureaucratic syntax to mimic a literal translation.
tense → bleak, still dystopian
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace-2prose+2bleak-1
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.
tense → playful
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1
Heavier
- pace+1prose0bleak+2
The Running Man
Richard Bachman
A man enters a deadly reality show to fund medical care for his daughter. He must survive thirty days while the entire world hunts him for money.
tense → propulsive, still dystopian
pace+1·prose0·bleak+2
- pace-1prose0bleak+2
The Testament of Jessie Lamb
Jane Rogers2011
A teenager decides to volunteer for a medical program that will end her life to save humanity from a biological catastrophe.
tense → earnest, still dystopian
pace-1·prose0·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak+2
Hard to be a god
Аркадий Стругацкий2014
An observer from a technologically advanced Earth lives undercover on a planet stuck in a medieval state. He must watch atrocities without helping.
tense → bleak, still science fiction
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace-1prose+1bleak+2
The Handmaid's Tale
Margaret Atwood1985
In a totalitarian state with a plummeting birth rate, a woman is enslaved as a reproductive vessel. She records her daily life and memories.
tense → cold, still dystopian
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace0prose+1bleak+2
Watchmen
Alan Moore1986
Retired masked vigilantes investigate the murder of a former teammate. The story takes place in an alternate 1985 on the brink of nuclear war.
tense → bleak, still dystopian
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
