After
The Wolfen
Whitley Strieber1978
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing heavier
More like it
- pace0prose-1bleak0
The Graveyard Apartment: A Novel
Mariko Koike2016
A family moves into an apartment building next to a cemetery. As neighbors flee due to strange events, the family becomes trapped and isolated.
haunted → bleak, still supernatural
pace0·prose-1·bleak0
- pace+1prose-1bleak0
The Howling
Gary Brandner1978
A woman moves to a remote village to recover from a trauma, only to discover the townspeople are werewolves.
haunted → tense, still supernatural
pace+1·prose-1·bleak0
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
- pace+1prose0bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak0
The House Next Door
Anne Rivers Siddons1978
A couple watches as a newly built house next door causes a series of tragedies for its occupants. The house preys on the flaws of those inside.
haunted → dread, still horror
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace0prose+1bleak-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.
haunted → dreamlike, still haunted house
pace0·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace0prose+1bleak-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.
haunted → dreamlike
pace0·prose+1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
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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.
haunted → elegiac, still horror
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
- pace0prose+1bleak-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.
haunted → dreamlike, still horror
pace0·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace0prose+1bleak0
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.
haunted → dark
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
To recover
- pace+2prose-2bleak-3
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.
haunted → sardonic, still horror
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-3
- pace+1prose-2bleak-3
Redshirts
John Scalzi2012
Low-ranking crew members on a starship realize they are disposable characters in a sci-fi television show. They attempt to escape their fate.
haunted → playful
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-2bleak-3
The Da Vinci Code
Dan Brown2003
A symbologist and a cryptologist flee the police while solving puzzles hidden in art. They search for a secret regarding the Holy Grail.
haunted → propulsive
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-3
- pace+1prose-2bleak-3
Fifty Shades of Grey
E.L. James2000
A college student enters a sexual contract with a wealthy businessman. The story focuses on their power dynamics and BDSM encounters.
haunted → earnest
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3
- pace+2prose-2bleak-3
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
haunted → wry
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-3
Faster
haunted → tense, still supernatural
- pace+2prose-1bleak0
Deeper
James Moore2009
Divers off the New England coast recover a strange creature that survives on land and begins hunting humans.
pace+2·prose-1·bleak0
- pace+2prose-1bleak0
Temperature
Adam Santo2010
After dying in a car crash, Sally is resurrected by a stranger and led through a world of the undead.
pace+2·prose-1·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-2bleak-2
Shattered
Dean Koontz1973
A man and his future stepson drive across America while being stalked by the woman's vengeful ex-husband.
haunted → tense, still horror
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-2bleak-3
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.
haunted → sardonic, still horror
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-3
- pace+2prose-2bleak0
Intercepts
T.J. Payne2020
A worker at a government facility monitors human test subjects driven insane by sensory deprivation. The experiment enters his private life.
haunted → tense, still horror
pace+2·prose-2·bleak0
Slower
- pace-1prose-2bleak-2
Lady Audley's Secret
Mary Elizabeth Braddon1862
A man returns from Australia to find his friend's wife is a governess with a hidden past. He investigates her identity after his friend disappears.
haunted → mysterious, still horror
pace-1·prose-2·bleak-2
- pace-1prose+1bleak-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.
haunted → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak-3
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.
haunted → playful
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-3
- pace-1prose+1bleak-2
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.
haunted → playful
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-2
- pace-1prose+1bleak0
Absalom, Absalom!
William Faulkner1936
The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.
haunted → elegiac
pace-1·prose+1·bleak0
