A Deepness in the Sky

Marrow

Robert Reed2000

A planet-sized ship traveling for millennia hides a secret world at its core. The immortal crew discovers a new land and faces a long war.

tense → cold, still space opera

pace0·prose0·bleak0

Radiance

Catherynne M. Valente2015

A documentary filmmaker disappears on Venus in an alternate 1980s solar system. The story is told through scripts, interviews, and letters.

tense → dreamlike, still space opera

pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

Perhaps the Stars

Ada Palmer2021

A global war between ideological factions reaches its conclusion. The story is told through a dense, 18th-century style narrative voice.

tense → meditative, still space opera

pace0·prose+1·bleak0

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.

tense → playful

pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

The Android's Dream

John Scalzi2006

A diplomat must find a specific, genetically engineered sheep to prevent an interstellar war. The story is a fast-paced, irreverent space comedy.

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

The Last Question

Isaac Asimov2007

A short story told in seven vignettes spanning billions of years. Humanity asks a supercomputer if the heat death of the universe can be avoided.

tense → meditative, still hard scifi

pace0·prose-2·bleak-2

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.

tense → wry, still space opera

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

Chilling Effect

Valerie Valdes2019

A spaceship captain completes dangerous missions to pay off a ransom for her kidnapped sister. The crew includes a pilot who is a sentient plant.

tense → playful, still space opera

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

The Star Kings

Edmond Hamilton1949

A 20th-century man swaps bodies with a prince 200,000 years in the future. He must lead a galactic empire against a tyrant's fleet.

tense → propulsive, still space opera

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

The Star Wars Trilogy

George Lucas2018

A farm boy joins a rebellion against a galactic empire. He learns to use a mystical force under the guidance of an exiled knight.

tense → earnest, still space opera

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-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.

tense → meditative

pace-2·prose+1·bleak-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.

tense → meditative

pace-2·prose+1·bleak-1

Cosm

Gregory Benford1998

A physicist accidentally creates a miniature universe in a particle accelerator. She must protect the object from government and media scrutiny.

tense → elegiac, still space opera

pace-1·prose0·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 hard scifi

pace0·prose0·bleak+1

An Exchange of Hostages

Susan R. Matthews1997

A surgeon is drafted into a space empire's corps of torturers. He tries to maintain his ethics while being trained to inflict pain.

tense → clinical, still space opera

pace-1·prose0·bleak+1

The Gap Into Conflict: The Real Story

Stephen R. Donaldson

A space pirate, a victim, and a police officer are trapped in a cycle of abuse and betrayal. The narrative shifts perspectives to reveal lies.

tense → bleak, still space opera

pace0·prose0·bleak+1