After
A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor
Hank Green2020
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
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Perfect State
Brandon Sanderson2015
A man living in a custom-designed digital utopia meets a woman from another simulation. They navigate a physical world date while hiding secrets.
Same earnest register, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Makers
Cory Doctorow2009
Two inventors create low-cost 3D printing and open-source business models. The book follows the economic and social shifts across America.
Same earnest register, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Persephone Station
Stina Leicht2021
A crew of female mercenaries is hired to protect an indigenous population on a planet targeted by a greedy corporation.
Same earnest register, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak0
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The green brain
Frank Herbert1966
In an overpopulated future, humans use chemical and sonic weapons to exterminate insects. The insects develop a collective intelligence to fight back.
earnest → tense, still scifi
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
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Kiln People
David Brin2002
A detective uses disposable clay clones of himself to investigate a scientist's disappearance in a world where souls can be copied.
earnest → playful, still scifi
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
Against the Day
Thomas Pynchon2006
A massive ensemble cast navigates the globe between the 1893 World's Fair and WWI. The plot spans airships, math, and secret societies.
earnest → playful
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
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VAS
Steve Tomasula2002
A man considers a vasectomy while the book uses diagrams and varied typography to explore the history of eugenics and biotechnology.
earnest → clinical, still cyberpunk
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+2bleak+1
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.
earnest → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
Too Like the Lightning
Ada Palmer2016
In a 25th-century utopia, a convict narrates the discovery of a boy who can perform miracles. The prose uses 18th-century styles and gender terms.
earnest → sardonic
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
Valis
Philip K. Dick1981
A man experiences a beam of pink light that imparts vast information. The narrative explores his mental breakdown and search for God in California.
earnest → meditative
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
To recover
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Modern Romance
Aziz Ansari2015
A comedian and a sociologist analyze how technology and culture have changed dating. It uses data and interviews to compare eras.
earnest → playful
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
Artemis
Andy Weir2017
A porter and smuggler on a lunar colony takes a high-stakes sabotage job to pay off a debt. She uses technical knowledge to solve problems.
earnest → propulsive, still scifi
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
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Snow Crash
Neal Stephenson1992
A pizza delivery driver and a teenage skateboarder investigate a digital virus that can crash the brains of hackers in a corporate-run Los Angeles.
earnest → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
Ready Player One
Ernest Cline2008
A teenager in a dystopian future hunts for a digital easter egg inside a massive simulation. The quest relies on 1980s pop culture trivia.
earnest → propulsive, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
Starter Villain
John Scalzi2023
A substitute teacher inherits his uncle's secret supervillain business, including a volcano lair and talking cats.
earnest → wry
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
Faster
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
Ready Player One
Ernest Cline2008
A teenager in a dystopian future hunts for a digital easter egg inside a massive simulation. The quest relies on 1980s pop culture trivia.
earnest → propulsive, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
Artemis
Andy Weir2017
A porter and smuggler on a lunar colony takes a high-stakes sabotage job to pay off a debt. She uses technical knowledge to solve problems.
earnest → propulsive, still scifi
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-1bleak+1
Akira, Vol. 1
Katsuhiro Ōtomo1984
In a rebuilt post-WWIII Tokyo, two teenage bikers get caught in a government conspiracy after one develops psychic powers.
earnest → propulsive, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1
- pace+1prose+1bleak0
Accelerando
Charles Stross2005
Three generations of a family navigate the rapid evolution of technology toward a singularity. The pace accelerates as humanity is outpaced by AI.
earnest → wry, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose+1·bleak0
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
All Systems Red
Martha Wells2017
A self-aware security android hacks its own governor module to watch soap operas while protecting a team of scientists on a distant planet.
earnest → wry, still found family
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
Slower
- pace-2prose+2bleak+1
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.
earnest → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
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.
earnest → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
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.
earnest → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-2prose+2bleak-1
Gödel, Escher, Bach
Douglas R. Hofstadter1979
An exploration of how cognition emerges from hidden neurological patterns. It uses math, art, and music to explain self-referential systems.
earnest → playful
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
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.
earnest → playful
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
Heavier
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Dr. Adder
K. W. Jeter1984
In a broken future Los Angeles, a surgeon performs extreme genital modifications for a subculture of outcasts.
earnest → cynical, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak+2
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The Fifth Science
Exurb1a2019
Twelve stories trace the rise and fall of a human empire through the discovery of a science of the mind. It spans 100,000 years of history.
earnest → elegiac, still scifi
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
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Market Forces
Richard K. Morgan2004
In a future where executives duel in armored cars for promotions, Chris Faulkner joins a firm that profits from civil wars. It is a corporate satire.
earnest → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak+2
- pace0prose+1bleak+2
Random Acts of Senseless Violence
Jack Womack1994
A twelve-year-old girl records her life in a diary as New York City collapses into riots and hyperinflation. Her family falls into poverty.
earnest → bleak, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace+1prose+1bleak+2
Hellspark
Janet Kagan1988
A linguist travels to a new planet to investigate a murder. She must determine if the local species is sentient while navigating a conspiracy.
earnest → tense, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2
