LitQueuelitqueue

After

30 Days of Night

Steve Niles2002

5 of 6 directions open — nothing faster

More like it

1 more ↓

  • The End of Everything: Book 1

    Christopher Artinian

    Two sisters navigate the immediate aftermath of a zombie outbreak in the UK. They must find supplies and safety as society collapses.

    Same tense register, still survival horror

    pace-1·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

tense → dreamlike

3 more ↓

  • 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

    pace-2·prose+3·bleak+1

  • The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner

    James Hogg1824

    A religious fanatic becomes convinced he is predestined for salvation and commits crimes at the behest of a mysterious stranger.

    tense → cold

    pace-2·prose+3·bleak+1

  • Ghost Stories

    Henry James2001

    A collection of Victorian tales where the existence of ghosts is often left to the reader's interpretation.

    tense → meditative

    pace-2·prose+3·bleak0

To recover

3 more ↓

  • The Man Who Quit Money

    Mark Sundeen2012

    A biography of Daniel Suelo, who abandoned currency in 2000. It follows his daily life scavenging and living in caves in the Utah wilderness.

    tense → meditative

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak-2

  • The Zen of Zombie: Better Living Through the Undead (Zen of Zombie Series)

    Scott Kenemore

    A satirical self-help guide that uses the behavior of zombies as a model for achieving mindfulness and reducing stress.

    tense → playful

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak-2

  • The Colour of Magic

    Terry Pratchett1983

    A failed wizard and a naive tourist travel across a flat world carried by a turtle. The story parodies fantasy tropes and clichés.

    tense → playful

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-2

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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-3·prose+3·bleak-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-3·prose+3·bleak+1

  • Either/Or

    Søren Kierkegaard1992

    A collection of papers presents two life philosophies: the aesthetic pursuit of pleasure and the ethical commitment to duty.

    tense → meditative

    pace-3·prose+3·bleak-1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Darkness on the Edge of Town

    Brian Keene2010

    A small Virginia town is surrounded by a wall of absolute blackness. The residents struggle to survive as the darkness begins to change them.

    tense → bleak, still survival horror

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Suffer the Children

    Craig DiLouie2014

    A disease kills every child on Earth, but they return to life if fed human blood. Parents must decide who to kill to keep their children alive.

    tense → bleak, still apocalyptic

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • The Border

    Robert McCammon2015

    Humanity hides in a fortified town while two warring alien factions destroy Earth. An amnesiac boy arrives as survivors begin to mutate.

    tense → bleak, still apocalyptic

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1