LitQueuelitqueue

After

The Throat

Peter Straub1993

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

1 more ↓

  • Florence Giles

    John Harding2010

    A young girl in a remote 1890s mansion invents her own language to process her isolation. She becomes convinced a ghost is threatening her brother.

    Same tense register, still unreliable narrator

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • Macbeth

    William Shakespeare

    A Scottish general kills his king to take the throne after hearing a prophecy. His guilt and paranoia lead to a series of additional murders.

    Same tense register

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak0

  • Tales of Mystery and the Supernatural

    Edgar Allan Poe2013

    A collection of 19th-century gothic stories. Narrators descend into madness, obsession, and the macabre through prose-heavy descriptions.

    tense → bleak, still psychological horror

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner

    James Hogg1824

    A religious fanatic becomes convinced he is predestined for salvation and commits crimes at the behest of a mysterious stranger.

    tense → cold, still psychological horror

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • On Dublin Street

    Samantha Young2012

    An American woman in Scotland enters a sex-only arrangement with her roommate's brother to avoid emotional intimacy. It is a contemporary romance.

    tense → warm

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

  • Night Pleasures

    Sherrilyn Kenyon2002

    An immortal warrior and a skeptical accountant are handcuffed together while being hunted by supernatural predators.

    tense → playful

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

  • Honeysuckle Summer

    Sherryl Woods2010

    A woman with severe anxiety and agoraphobia after an abusive marriage finds support from a local deputy. He helps her re-enter the world.

    tense → warm

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-2

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.

    tense → bleak

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak+1

  • Shattered

    Dean Koontz1973

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

    Same tense register

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

  • 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.

    Same tense register, still serial killer

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak0

Slower

3 more ↓

  • Blood on the dining-room floor

    Gertrude Stein1948

    A repetitive, circular narrative about a death in a country house. It uses experimental prose to obscure the facts of a traditional mystery.

    tense → playful, still mystery

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-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, still unreliable narrator

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

  • 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-1·prose+1·bleak-2

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • A Head Full of Ghosts

    Paul G. Tremblay2015

    A camera crew films a family whose daughter exhibits signs of possession. The story is told through the sister's memory and the footage.

    Same tense register, still psychological horror

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1

  • Silent Children

    Ramsey Campbell2000

    A man discovers his father may have been a child killer, leading him into a confrontation with the past and a current threat.

    tense → bleak, still psychological horror

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

  • The Fall of the House of Usher

    Edgar Allan Poe

    A narrator visits a childhood friend in a decaying mansion. The house and the family's health decline simultaneously toward a collapse.

    tense → dreamlike, still psychological horror

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1