After
The Undead Day One
R.R. Haywood
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing faster
More like it
Same propulsive register, still zombie apocalypse
- pace0prose0bleak+1
Infected
Bobby Adair
A slow-acting virus turns the population into aggressive predators. The story follows a survivor navigating the initial societal collapse.
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
- pace-1prose0bleak+1
Alison Hewitt Is Trapped
Madeleine Roux2011
A woman and her coworkers barricade themselves inside a bookstore during a zombie outbreak. She records the survival effort in a blog.
pace-1·prose0·bleak+1
- pace0prose0bleak0
Soldier On
Shawn Chesser
A former Delta Force operator navigates a zombie outbreak to find his family. He uses military tactics to survive encounters with the undead.
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak+1
The Hungry 4
Steven W. Booth2013
A sheriff and an outlaw travel to Los Angeles during a zombie outbreak. They encounter a suspicious rehabilitation facility in Malibu.
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak+1
Fighting to Survive
Rhiannon Frater2011
Survivors in a walled Texas town defend against zombies and bandits. Two women lead the group through the logistics of food and law-making.
propulsive → tense, still zombie apocalypse
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
Denser prose
propulsive → dreamlike
- pace-2prose+3bleak+1
House of Leaves
Mark Z. Danielewski1998
A man finds a door in his house that should not exist. The story is told through layers of academic footnotes and a decaying manuscript.
pace-2·prose+3·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+3bleak+1
Ambergris
Jeff VanderMeer2020
This collection follows the history of a city built atop a subterranean race. It uses fake histories, journals, and detective noir.
pace-2·prose+3·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+3bleak+2
Android Karenina
Лев Толстой2010
The text of Tolstoy's classic is modified to include robots, cyborgs, and space travel in a 19th-century Russian setting.
propulsive → elegiac, still horror
pace-2·prose+3·bleak+2
- pace-2prose+3bleak+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.
propulsive → dreamlike, still horror
pace-2·prose+3·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+3bleak+2
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.
propulsive → dark
pace-2·prose+3·bleak+2
To recover
- pace-1prose+1bleak-1
Sergei
Roxie Rivera2013
A Russian mob enforcer protects a woman from his own world while trying to keep his romantic interest in her a secret.
propulsive → tense
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace-1prose+1bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak-1
Hawk
Steven Brust2014
An assassin returns to his home city to negotiate a truce with the criminal syndicate hunting him. He executes a complex multi-stage heist.
propulsive → wry
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace-1prose0bleak-1
Star Nomad
Lindsay Buroker2016
A fighter pilot and a small crew of strangers attempt to escape a system-wide war in a freighter. It is a character-driven space adventure.
propulsive → playful, still found family
pace-1·prose0·bleak-1
- pace0prose0bleak-1
Grunge
Larry Correia2016
A Marine killed in a bombing is resurrected to hunt supernatural creatures. He joins a private company that kills monsters for government bounties.
propulsive → sardonic, still horror
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
Slower
- pace-3prose+3bleak+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.
propulsive → dreamlike
pace-3·prose+3·bleak+1
- pace-3prose+3bleak-1
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.
propulsive → playful
pace-3·prose+3·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-3prose+3bleak0
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.
propulsive → playful
pace-3·prose+3·bleak0
- pace-3prose+3bleak+2
Absalom, Absalom!
William Faulkner1936
The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.
propulsive → elegiac
pace-3·prose+3·bleak+2
- pace-3prose+3bleak0
Either/Or
Søren Kierkegaard1992
A collection of papers presents two life philosophies: the aesthetic pursuit of pleasure and the ethical commitment to duty.
propulsive → meditative
pace-3·prose+3·bleak0
Heavier
- pace-1prose+1bleak+2
The Night of the Living Dead
John A. Russo
A group of strangers barricades themselves in a farmhouse to survive a night against reanimated corpses.
propulsive → tense, still zombie apocalypse
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace0prose+1bleak+2
Desperation
Stephen King1996
A demonic entity possesses a small-town sheriff and begins slaughtering travelers. A young boy who hears God leads the survivors.
propulsive → bleak, still horror
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+2bleak+2
- pace-1prose+2bleak+2
Mapping the Interior
Stephen Graham Jones2017
A teenager follows a figure resembling his dead father into the hidden spaces of his home. He maps a shifting, dangerous interior.
propulsive → elegiac, still horror
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace-1prose+1bleak+2
Flowers in the Attic
V.C. Andrews1979
Four children are hidden in an attic for years by their mother and grandmother to secure an inheritance. They face gradual poisoning and abuse.
propulsive → elegiac, still horror
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2
