After
The Purple Cloud
M. P. Shiel1901
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
4 of 6 directions open — nothing heavier, nothing denser
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak0
Echopraxia
Peter Watts2014
A biologist is caught on a mission toward the sun alongside a pilot and a group of transhuman monks. It explores consciousness and evolution.
Same bleak register, still cosmic horror
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Perdido Street Station
China Miéville2000
A scientist in a sprawling, industrial city agrees to help a winged refugee fly again. His research accidentally unleashes a psychic predator.
Same bleak register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Black Leopard, Red Wolf
Marlon James2019
A hunter with a supernatural sense of smell joins a group to find a missing child. The journey through mythical Africa is violent and hallucinatory.
Same bleak register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose-1bleak0
Lord of the World
Robert Hugh Benson1907
In a future dominated by secular humanism, a charismatic politician rises to global power. A small group of Catholics resists as the world ends.
Same bleak register, still apocalyptic
pace0·prose-1·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak0
Sugar Rain
Paul Park1989
During a revolution against a theocracy, a doctor in exile tries to protect his family while a new, pragmatic faith rises.
Same bleak register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
To recover
- pace+1prose-3bleak-3
Thoughtful
S.C. Stephens2015
Kellan Kyle falls for his best friend's girlfriend, Anna. The story retells the events of Thoughtless from Kellan's perspective.
bleak → earnest
pace+1·prose-3·bleak-3
- pace+1prose-3bleak-3
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.
bleak → playful
pace+1·prose-3·bleak-3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-3bleak-3
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.
bleak → propulsive
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-3
- pace+1prose-3bleak-3
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.
bleak → earnest
pace+1·prose-3·bleak-3
- pace+2prose-3bleak-3
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
bleak → wry
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-3
Faster
- pace+2prose-3bleak-3
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
bleak → wry
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-3
- pace+2prose-3bleak-3
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.
bleak → propulsive
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-3bleak-3
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.
bleak → wry
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-3
- pace+2prose-3bleak-2
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.
bleak → propulsive
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-3bleak-3
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.
bleak → playful
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-3
Slower
- pace-1prose0bleak-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.
bleak → dreamlike
pace-1·prose0·bleak-1
- pace-1prose0bleak-2
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.
bleak → meditative
pace-1·prose0·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose0bleak-2
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.
bleak → meditative
pace-1·prose0·bleak-2
- pace-1prose0bleak-3
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.
bleak → playful
pace-1·prose0·bleak-3
- pace-1prose0bleak-2
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.
bleak → playful
pace-1·prose0·bleak-2
