LitQueuelitqueue

After

We

Yevgeny Zamyatin1983

5 of 6 directions open — nothing heavier

More like it

1 more ↓

  • J

    Howard Jacobson2014

    In a future where a past catastrophe is never named, two people with mysterious origins begin a relationship under constant surveillance.

    Same cold register, still dystopian

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

cold → dreamlike

3 more ↓

  • Ficciones

    Jorge Luis Borges1945

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

    cold → meditative

    pace0·prose+1·bleak-2

  • 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.

    cold → playful

    pace0·prose+1·bleak-3

  • 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.

    cold → meditative

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-2

To recover

cold → playful, still science fiction

3 more ↓

  • The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek

    Rhett McLaughlin2019

    Two friends investigate a reform school in 1990s North Carolina after a classmate disappears. It is a mystery involving local conspiracies.

    cold → playful

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3

  • The Last Question

    Isaac Asimov2007

    A short story told in seven vignettes spanning billions of years. Humanity asks a supercomputer if the heat death of the universe can be avoided.

    cold → meditative, still science fiction

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3

  • Dream Park

    Steven Barnes1981

    A security chief investigates a real death during a high-stakes holographic role-playing game. The story tracks the game mechanics and the murder.

    cold → propulsive, still science fiction

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3

Faster

3 more ↓

  • The Running Man

    Richard Bachman

    A man enters a deadly reality show to fund medical care for his daughter. He must survive thirty days while the entire world hunts him for money.

    cold → propulsive, still dystopian

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak0

  • The Test

    Sylvain Neuvel2019

    An immigrant takes a British citizenship test that turns into a high-stakes psychological simulation. It is a short, dialogue-heavy novella.

    cold → tense, still dystopian

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1

  • The Kaiju Preservation Society

    John Scalzi2022

    A food delivery driver joins a secret organization that travels to an alternate Earth to care for massive, dinosaur-like creatures.

    cold → playful, still science fiction

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-3

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    cold → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-2

  • Beelzebub's tales to his grandson

    Georges Ivanovitch Gurdjieff1950

    An extraterrestrial being explains the history and strange behaviors of humanity to his grandson during a long space voyage.

    cold → meditative, still science fiction

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-2

  • Unfinished Tales

    J.R.R. Tolkien1980

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

    cold → meditative

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-2