LitQueuelitqueue

After

V for Vendetta

Alan Moore1988

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

1 more ↓

  • Scar Night

    Alan Campbell2006

    In a city suspended by chains over a pit, an untrained angel and an assassin face a traitor. The setting is a world where gods and souls are real.

    Same bleak register

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

bleak → dreamlike

3 more ↓

  • Ficciones

    Jorge Luis Borges1945

    A collection of short stories exploring philosophical paradoxes, infinite libraries, and imaginary encyclopedias.

    bleak → meditative

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

  • At Swim-Two-Birds

    Flann O'Brien1939

    A student writes a story about a man whose own characters rebel and plot against him. It incorporates Irish myth and multiple layers of fiction.

    bleak → playful

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-2

  • Love & Sleep

    John Crowley1994

    Pierce Moffett researches the history of magic while living in a small town. The narrative shifts between his life and the Renaissance.

    bleak → meditative

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak-1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon

    Kimberly Lemming2021

    A spice trader saves a demon while intoxicated and joins his quest to kill a witch. The story features frequent sexual content and humor.

    bleak → playful

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-2

  • The Stainless Steel Rat

    Harry Harrison1961

    A futuristic con man is caught by the Special Corps and forced to use his criminal skills to catch other lawbreakers.

    bleak → playful

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

  • Fantasy Lover

    Sherrilyn Kenyon2002

    A Spartan warrior cursed to be a love-slave inside a book is summoned by a modern woman. She takes him into the world to live as a man.

    bleak → earnest

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-2

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Mind's Eye

    Douglas E. Richards2014

    A man discovers he has the ability to access the internet and process data directly with his mind. He is hunted by a secret organization.

    bleak → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

  • The Atlantis Gene

    A.G. Riddle2013

    A geneticist and a counter-terrorism agent uncover a global conspiracy involving human evolution and an ancient Antarctic discovery.

    bleak → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Monster Hunter International

    Larry Correia2007

    An accountant kills his boss, who has become a werewolf, and is recruited by a private company that hunts monsters for government bounties.

    bleak → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • Boneland

    Alan Garner2012

    An adult Colin searches for his lost sister while an ancient shaman performs rituals in the same landscape. The two timelines mirror one another.

    bleak → elegiac

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak0

  • The Habitation of the Blessed

    Catherynne M. Valente2010

    A priest finds the lost kingdom of Prester John. The story is told through three nested layers of journals, myths, and historical accounts.

    bleak → dreamlike

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak-1

  • Unfinished Tales

    J.R.R. Tolkien1980

    A collection of incomplete narratives and essays that expand the history, geography, and lore of Middle-earth.

    bleak → meditative

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak-1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Doctor Rat

    William Kotzwinkle1976

    A laboratory rat loyal to his human captors defends the practice of vivisection while animals worldwide begin a bloody revolt.

    bleak → sardonic, still dystopian

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

  • The Gradual

    Christopher Priest2016

    A composer travels between islands where time passes at different rates. He observes how these temporal shifts isolate him from his family.

    bleak → melancholy, still dystopian

    pace-1·prose0·bleak+1

  • The Memory Police

    Yoko Ogawa1994

    Objects vanish from an island and from the residents' memories. A novelist hides her editor from the police who enforce the disappearances.

    bleak → elegiac, still dystopian

    pace-1·prose0·bleak+1