After
Y The Last Man - Deluxe Edition, Book 1
Brian K. Vaughan2003
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
The Death of Grass
John Christopher1956
A virus kills the world's grass and grain, causing total societal collapse. A family attempts to flee London for a farm in the north.
propulsive → bleak, still post-apocalyptic
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace0prose+1bleak0
Parable of the Talents
Octavia E. Butler1998
In a collapsed America, Lauren Olamina struggles to protect her community from religious zealots. The story is told through recovered journals.
propulsive → tense, still post-apocalyptic
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Family Experiment
John Marrs2024
In a future where people cannot afford real children, couples compete on a reality show to win a digital child in the metaverse.
Same propulsive register, still dystopian
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose+1bleak0
The Chrysalids
John Wyndham1955
In a fundamentalist post-nuclear society, a boy discovers he has telepathic abilities. He must hide his mutation to avoid execution or exile.
propulsive → tense, still post-apocalyptic
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+1bleak0
Dust
Hugh Howey2013
The final book in the Silo series. Juliette attempts to unite the underground silos and escape to the surface before they are destroyed.
propulsive → tense, still post-apocalyptic
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace-1prose+3bleak0
Riddley Walker
Russell Hoban1980
A twelve-year-old boy travels across a primitive, post-nuclear England. The story is written entirely in a broken, phonetic future dialect.
propulsive → meditative, still post-apocalyptic
pace-1·prose+3·bleak0
- pace-1prose+3bleak0
Infinite Jest
David Foster Wallace1996
A sprawling narrative centered on a tennis academy, a halfway house, and a lethal film. The text includes hundreds of pages of detailed endnotes.
propulsive → sardonic, still dystopian
pace-1·prose+3·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+3bleak+1
Naked Lunch: The Restored Text
William S. Burroughs
A series of nonlinear vignettes follow a drug addict's hallucinations and travels. The prose is fragmented and satirical.
propulsive → sardonic, still dystopian
pace-1·prose+3·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+3bleak0
Empty Space
M. John Harrison2012
Three interlocking timelines follow a widow in London, a detective in a neon city, and a pilot in deep space. The prose is dense and surreal.
propulsive → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+3·bleak0
- pace-1prose+3bleak+1
Winterlong
Elizabeth Hand1990
In a decaying, post-apocalyptic Washington D.C., a girl with empathic powers is drawn into the plots of a decadent ruling class.
propulsive → dreamlike, still post-apocalyptic
pace-1·prose+3·bleak+1
To recover
- pace-1prose0bleak-2
The Comfort Book
Matt Haig2021
A collection of short reflections, lists, and anecdotes intended to provide mental support. It is a non-linear book of philosophy and memoir.
propulsive → warm
pace-1·prose0·bleak-2
- pace0prose+1bleak-2
Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000
L. Ron Hubbard2000
A human survivor leads a rebellion against the Psychlos, an alien race that has strip-mined Earth for a thousand years.
Same propulsive register, still post-apocalyptic
pace0·prose+1·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak-2
Under the Whispering Door
TJ Klune2021
A selfish lawyer dies and waits in a supernatural tea shop to transition to the afterlife. He befriends the shopkeeper and other ghosts.
propulsive → warm
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-2
- pace-1prose0bleak-2
This Girl
Colleen Hoover2013
A husband retells the story of his early relationship to his wife. It uses dual timelines to revisit events from the first book in the series.
propulsive → earnest
pace-1·prose0·bleak-2
- pace0prose0bleak-2
The Score
Elle Kennedy2016
A college senior has a one-night stand with a hockey player to get over a breakup. They continue the arrangement as graduation approaches.
propulsive → playful
pace0·prose0·bleak-2
Faster
- pace+1prose+1bleak0
Red Rising
Pierce Brown2014
A laborer on Mars discovers his caste is being lied to and undergoes surgery to infiltrate the ruling elite. He joins a brutal war games academy.
Same propulsive register, still dystopian
pace+1·prose+1·bleak0
- pace+1prose+1bleak0
Logan's run
William F. Nolan1967
In a future where everyone is executed at age 21, an enforcer becomes a fugitive. He attempts to reach a rumored sanctuary.
propulsive → tense, still dystopian
pace+1·prose+1·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose0bleak0
Hell Divers
Nicholas Sansbury Smith2016
Skydivers jump from massive airships to a ruined Earth to scavenge parts for humanity's survival. One team is stranded in a hostile zone.
propulsive → tense, still post-apocalyptic
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
- pace+1prose+1bleak-1
Damnation Alley
Roger Zelazny1969
A convicted criminal drives an armored vehicle across a post-nuclear American wasteland to deliver a plague vaccine to Boston.
propulsive → sardonic, still post-apocalyptic
pace+1·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose+1bleak0
Equations of Life
Simon Morden2011
A Russian physics student in a post-apocalyptic London gets caught between warring factions. It is a fast-paced cyberpunk thriller.
Same propulsive register, still post-apocalyptic
pace+1·prose+1·bleak0
Slower
- pace-2prose+3bleak0
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-2·prose+3·bleak0
- pace-2prose+3bleak-1
Invisible Cities
Italo Calvino1972
Marco Polo describes fifty-five imaginary cities to Kublai Khan. The book is a series of short, prose-poem meditations on urban existence.
propulsive → meditative
pace-2·prose+3·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+3bleak-1
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.
propulsive → meditative
pace-2·prose+3·bleak-1
- pace-2prose+3bleak+1
Translated Accounts
James Kelman2001
Anonymous witnesses describe life under a military regime. The prose uses broken, bureaucratic syntax to mimic a literal translation.
propulsive → bleak, still dystopian
pace-2·prose+3·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+3bleak0
Riddley Walker
Russell Hoban1980
A twelve-year-old boy travels across a primitive, post-nuclear England. The story is written entirely in a broken, phonetic future dialect.
propulsive → meditative, still post-apocalyptic
pace-1·prose+3·bleak0
Heavier
propulsive → bleak, still post-apocalyptic
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
The Death of Grass
John Christopher1956
A virus kills the world's grass and grain, causing total societal collapse. A family attempts to flee London for a farm in the north.
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace0prose+2bleak+1
American War
Omar El Akkad2017
A girl grows up in a displaced persons camp during a second American Civil War fought over fossil fuels.
pace0·prose+2·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
Wolves
Simon Ings2014
Two friends navigate a near-future Britain collapsing under environmental decay and augmented reality addiction. It is a study of memory.
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
The People of the Ruins
Edward Shanks1920
A man wakes up in a future England that has regressed into a primitive, feudal society. He navigates the ruins of a collapsed civilization.
propulsive → elegiac, still post-apocalyptic
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
