After
The Year of the Witching
Alexis Henderson2020
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
Same tense register, still dark fantasy
- pace0prose0bleak0
NOS4A2
Joe Hill2013
A woman with the ability to find lost objects hunts a supernatural kidnapper who takes children to a nightmare world in his 1938 Rolls-Royce.
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Everything's Eventual
Stephen King2002
Fourteen stories involving psychic assassins, haunted hotel rooms, and a man who hitches a ride with a corpse.
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Twilight Eyes
Dean Koontz1985
A young man who can see monsters disguised as humans joins a traveling carnival. He hunts the creatures while trying to avoid the police.
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Carrion Comfort
Dan Simmons1989
Humans with the ability to mentally control others hunt one another for sport. A survivor of the Holocaust attempts to stop them.
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
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The Sentinel
Jeffrey Konvitz1974
A model moves into a Brooklyn brownstone where she discovers the blind priest on the top floor is guarding a gateway to hell.
Same tense register, still horror
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
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.
tense → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
Ambergris
Jeff VanderMeer2020
This collection follows the history of a city built atop a subterranean race. It uses fake histories, journals, and detective noir.
tense → dreamlike, still dark fantasy
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
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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.
tense → dreamlike, still horror
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-1prose+2bleak+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.
tense → dark, still gothic
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace0prose+2bleak+1
The Unholy Consult
R. Scott Bakker2017
A messiah leads his armies toward a final confrontation with an ancient, soul-devouring force. The world is ending.
tense → bleak, still dark fantasy
pace0·prose+2·bleak+1
To recover
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
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.
tense → sardonic, still horror
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace0prose-1bleak-2
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.
tense → playful
pace0·prose-1·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
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.
tense → propulsive
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace0prose-1bleak-2
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.
tense → earnest
pace0·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
tense → wry
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
Faster
- pace+1prose-1bleak0
Hellsing
Kohta Hirano2003
A secret British organization uses a powerful vampire to fight a supernatural Nazi uprising. The Vatican intervenes as London is besieged.
tense → sardonic, still dark fantasy
pace+1·prose-1·bleak0
- pace+1prose-1bleak0
Something is Killing the Children, Book One
James Tynion IV2021
A monster hunter arrives in a town where children are being eaten by invisible creatures. It is a graphic novel about systemic violence.
Same tense register, still dark fantasy
pace+1·prose-1·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-1bleak-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, still horror
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
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.
tense → sardonic, still horror
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-1bleak+1
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.
Same tense register, still horror
pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1
Slower
- pace-2prose-1bleak-1
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.
tense → mysterious, still horror
pace-2·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
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
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+2bleak-2
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-2·prose+2·bleak-2
- pace-2prose+2bleak-1
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.
tense → playful
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1
- pace-2prose+2bleak+1
Absalom, Absalom!
William Faulkner1936
The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.
tense → elegiac
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
Heavier
- pace0prose0bleak+1
The Lottery
Shirley Jackson1983
Villagers gather for an annual ritual in a small town. The story follows the procedural steps of a lottery that ends in a public execution.
tense → cold, still horror
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
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The Monk
Matthew Gregory Lewis
A celebrated monk is seduced by a woman in disguise and descends into a cycle of rape, murder, and sorcery. He eventually makes a pact with Satan.
tense → bleak, still horror
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak+1
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.
tense → dread, still horror
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+1bleak+1
The Elementals
Michael McDowell1981
Two families vacation at a coastal estate where one of three houses is slowly being buried by sand and inhabited by a malevolent presence.
tense → dread, still horror
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
Tales (Assignation / Black Cat / Cask of Amontillado / Descent Into the Maelstrom / Fall of the House of Usher / Gold Bug / Man in the Crowd / Manuscript Found in a Bottle / Masque of the Red Death / Murders in the Rue Morgue / Mystery of Marie Roget / Pit and the Pendulum / Purloined Letter / Telltale Heart / William Wilson)
Edgar Allan Poe1901
A collection of short stories featuring macabre deaths, psychological breakdowns, and the first modern detective mysteries.
tense → bleak, still horror
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1