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The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch

Philip K. Dick1965

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  • 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.

    dreamlike → tense, still science fiction

    pace+1·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

dreamlike → sardonic, still dystopian

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    dreamlike → sardonic, still science fiction

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

  • Valis

    Philip K. Dick1981

    A man experiences a beam of pink light that imparts vast information. The narrative explores his mental breakdown and search for God in California.

    dreamlike → meditative

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

  • 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.

    dreamlike → meditative, still science fiction

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

To recover

dreamlike → playful, still science fiction

3 more ↓

  • Play

    Kylie Scott2014

    A drummer for a famous rock band hires a woman to pose as his girlfriend to improve his public image. They live together to sell the lie.

    dreamlike → playful

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

  • The Last Question

    Isaac Asimov2007

    A short story told in seven vignettes spanning billions of years. Humanity asks a supercomputer if the heat death of the universe can be avoided.

    dreamlike → meditative, still science fiction

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

  • Final Offer

    Lauren Asher2023

    An alcoholic heir returns to his family's lake house to secure his inheritance. He finds his ex-girlfriend living there with a child he never knew.

    dreamlike → earnest

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

Faster

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    dreamlike → tense, still science fiction

    pace+1·prose0·bleak0

  • 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.

    dreamlike → playful, still science fiction

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

  • 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.

    dreamlike → sardonic, still dystopian

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    dreamlike → meditative

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

  • Looking Backward, 2000-1887

    Edward Bellamy1888

    A man falls into a hypnotic sleep in 1887 and wakes up in the year 2000 to find the United States transformed into a socialist utopia.

    dreamlike → earnest, still science fiction

    pace-2·prose0·bleak-2

  • Translated Accounts

    James Kelman2001

    Anonymous witnesses describe life under a military regime. The prose uses broken, bureaucratic syntax to mimic a literal translation.

    dreamlike → bleak, still dystopian

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    dreamlike → bleak, still science fiction

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • 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.

    dreamlike → cold, still dystopian

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • 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.

    dreamlike → bleak, still dystopian

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1