LitQueuelitqueue

After

The Red Men

Matthew De Abaitua2007

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

1 more ↓

  • Bête

    Adam Roberts2014

    A farmer kills a cow that has been given artificial intelligence. He navigates a future where animals can argue for their own right to live.

    cold → sardonic, still dystopian

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    cold → sardonic, still dystopian

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

  • Neuromancer

    William Gibson1984

    A washed-up data thief is hired for one last job in a high-tech underworld. The prose is dense with technical jargon.

    Same cold register, still cyberpunk

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak0

  • 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.

    cold → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

To recover

cold → sardonic, still cyberpunk

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    cold → playful

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

  • 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.

    cold → playful

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

  • Murderbot Diaries

    Martha Wells2023

    A self-aware security android hacks its governor module to watch soap operas while protecting humans. It navigates corporate conspiracies.

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

Faster

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    cold → propulsive, still cyberpunk

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2

  • The Long Run

    Daniel Keys Moran1989

    A genetically engineered outlaw with the ability to interface with computers runs from a global police force. He attempts a final heist.

    cold → propulsive, still cyberpunk

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Akira, Vol. 1

    Katsuhiro Ōtomo1984

    In a rebuilt post-WWIII Tokyo, two teenage bikers get caught in a government conspiracy after one develops psychic powers.

    cold → propulsive, still cyberpunk

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak0

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    cold → meditative

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

  • Dandelion Wine

    Ray Bradbury1946

    A twelve-year-old boy experiences a series of vignettes over one summer in 1928 Illinois. The chapters focus on small-town life and aging.

    cold → elegiac

    pace-1·prose0·bleak-2

  • For Us, the Living

    Robert A. Heinlein2003

    A 1930s pilot wakes up in the year 2086. The book consists of long dialogues explaining the social, economic, and sexual norms of the future.

    cold → earnest

    pace-1·prose-1·bleak-2

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Market Forces

    Richard K. Morgan2004

    In a future where executives duel in armored cars for promotions, Chris Faulkner joins a firm that profits from civil wars. It is a corporate satire.

    cold → sardonic, still cyberpunk

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1

  • Random Acts of Senseless Violence

    Jack Womack1994

    A twelve-year-old girl records her life in a diary as New York City collapses into riots and hyperinflation. Her family falls into poverty.

    cold → bleak, still cyberpunk

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+1

  • HARM

    Brian Aldiss2007

    A British Muslim man is detained and tortured in a secret prison. He hallucinates a second life on a distant planet to escape the pain.

    cold → bleak, still dystopian

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1