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The Serpent and the Rainbow: A Harvard Scientist's Astonishing Journey into the Secret Societies of Haitian Voodoo, Zombis, and Magic

Wade Davis

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • The Fisherman

    John Langan2016

    Two widowers go fishing at a mysterious creek and discover a local legend involving a dark pact and a gateway to another world.

    clinical → elegiac, still weird fiction

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • Ghost Stories

    Henry James2001

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

    clinical → meditative

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Racconti [55 stories]

    Edgar Allan Poe2011

    A collection of 55 stories featuring unreliable narrators and gothic settings. Themes include obsession, premature burial, and the macabre.

    clinical → dreamlike

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • 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.

    clinical → dark

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+2

To recover

3 more ↓

  • This Man

    Jodi Ellen Malpas2013

    An interior designer begins an affair with a wealthy client who demands total control over her life and schedule.

    clinical → tense

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

  • 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.

    clinical → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Real Murders

    Charlaine Harris1990

    A librarian in a small Georgia town belongs to a club that studies famous crimes. A real murder occurs that mimics a historical case.

    clinical → wry

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

Faster

3 more ↓

  • The Rising

    Brian Keene2003

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

    clinical → bleak

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak+2

  • Shattered

    Dean Koontz1973

    A man and his future stepson drive across America while being stalked by the woman's vengeful ex-husband.

    clinical → tense

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak0

  • The Executioner

    Chris Carter2010

    A Los Angeles detective hunts a serial killer who murders victims using their specific phobias. Each crime scene features a blood-scrawled number.

    clinical → tense

    pace+2·prose-2·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.

    clinical → playful

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

  • Absalom, Absalom!

    William Faulkner1936

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

    clinical → elegiac

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2

  • Either/Or

    Søren Kierkegaard1992

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

    clinical → meditative

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Fever Dream

    Samanta Schweblin2014

    A dying woman talks to a boy in a clinic. They reconstruct her memories to find the exact moment a toxin entered her life.

    clinical → dreamlike, still weird fiction

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+2

  • The Dark Eidolon

    Clark Ashton Smith2009

    A sorcerer seeks revenge against a king in a dying world under a dim sun. The story uses dense, archaic prose to describe necromancy and demons.

    clinical → cold, still weird fiction

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+2

  • Las cosas que perdimos en el fuego

    Mariana Enríquez2016

    Short stories set in Argentina explore contemporary horrors like domestic violence and poverty through a supernatural lens.

    clinical → bleak, still weird fiction

    pace0·prose0·bleak+2