A Day for Damnation

Earth Afire

Orson Scott Card2013

During an alien invasion, a mechanic tries to warn Earth while a soldier joins a specialized police unit to fight back.

Same tense register, still military sci-fi

pace0·prose0·bleak0

Take Back the Sky

Greg Bear2016

Soldiers and former enemies unite to uncover the true motives of an alien race. The story moves from Saturn's moons to the edge of the system.

Same tense register, still alien invasion

pace0·prose0·bleak0

Star Wars - The New Jedi Order - Dark Tide I - Onslaught

Michael A. Stackpole2000

The New Republic faces an invasion by the Yuuzhan Vong, an alien race that exists outside the Force and uses organic technology.

Same tense register, still alien invasion

pace0·prose0·bleak0

Ninth City burning

J. Patrick Black2016

Five centuries after an alien invasion, humans use a magical force called thelemity to fight back. The story follows multiple perspectives.

tense → propulsive, still military sci-fi

pace0·prose0·bleak0

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.

tense → dreamlike

pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

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.

tense → sardonic

pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

The Uplift War

David Brin1987

A gorilla-like alien race invades the planet Garth. A small group of humans and uplifted chimpanzees lead a guerrilla resistance in the mountains.

tense → earnest, still military sci-fi

pace0·prose0·bleak-2

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.

tense → playful

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

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.

pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

Lines of Departure

Marko Kloos2014

An officer fights an interstellar war against alien giants while Earth collapses into poverty. It follows military campaigns across space.

pace+1·prose0·bleak0

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.

tense → dreamlike

pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

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.

tense → meditative

pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

Maelstrom

Peter Watts2001

A bio-engineered virus spreads through the global network while a woman navigates a flooded, post-apocalyptic landscape.

tense → bleak, still biopunk

pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

Kaleidoscope Century

John Barnes1995

A mercenary wakes every ten years to a new body and a changing world. He uncovers his own history of atrocities across the 21st century.

tense → bleak, still military sci-fi

pace0·prose0·bleak+1