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After

2001: A Space Odyssey

Arthur C. Clarke1968

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

1 more ↓

  • The Three-Body Problem

    Liu Cixin2006

    During China's Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends a signal into space. Decades later, scientists face a global conspiracy.

    Same clinical register, still hard sci-fi

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+1

Denser prose

clinical → dreamlike

3 more ↓

  • Ficciones

    Jorge Luis Borges1945

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

    clinical → meditative

    pace0·prose+2·bleak0

  • 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.

    clinical → playful

    pace0·prose+2·bleak-1

  • 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.

    clinical → meditative

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Stardance

    Jeanne Robinson1979

    A dancer who cannot find work on Earth travels to a zero-gravity space station. She develops a new art form and encounters aliens.

    clinical → earnest, still hard sci-fi

    pace0·prose0·bleak-1

  • Stardance

    Spider Robinson1979

    A frustrated dancer goes to a zero-gravity space station to develop a new form of movement. She eventually communicates with visiting aliens.

    clinical → earnest, still hard sci-fi

    pace0·prose0·bleak-1

  • Project Hail Mary

    Andy Weir2021

    A man wakes up on a spaceship with amnesia and two dead crewmates. He must use scientific experiments to remember his mission and save the sun.

    clinical → propulsive, still hard sci-fi

    pace+2·prose0·bleak-1

Faster

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    clinical → playful

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1

  • 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.

    clinical → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak0

  • 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.

    clinical → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak0

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.

    clinical → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

  • Unfinished Tales

    J.R.R. Tolkien1980

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

    clinical → meditative

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

  • White Mars, or, The mind set free

    Brian W. Aldiss1999

    A group of scientists and thinkers attempts to establish a utopian society on Mars after Earth is cut off by a global catastrophe.

    clinical → earnest, still hard sci-fi

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • The Poppy War

    R.F. Kuang2018

    A war orphan enters a military academy and discovers shamanic powers. She leads a unit into a total war inspired by 20th-century Chinese history.

    clinical → bleak

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+2

  • The Traitor Baru Cormorant

    Seth Dickinson2015

    An accountant infiltrates the empire that conquered her home to destroy it from within. She uses economics and politics as her primary weapons.

    clinical → cold

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2

  • Song of Kali

    Dan Simmons1985

    An American poet travels to Calcutta to find a manuscript by a dead writer. He encounters a cult that worships the goddess of destruction.

    clinical → bleak

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2