A strange manuscript found in a copper cylinder

The Heart Goes Last

Margaret Atwood2015

A couple joins a social experiment where they spend every second month as prisoners and every other month as homeowners. Paranoia grows.

pace0·prose0·bleak0

Naked Lunch: The Restored Text

William S. Burroughs

A series of nonlinear vignettes follow a drug addict's hallucinations and travels. The prose is fragmented and satirical.

Same sardonic register, still satire

pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2

All Those Vanished Engines

Paul Park2014

Three linked stories follow the Park family through an alternate history where the American Civil War ended in a two-nation settlement.

sardonic → dreamlike

pace-1·prose+2·bleak+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.

sardonic → dreamlike

pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1

Twelve Sharp

Janet Evanovich2006

Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum is stalked by a mysterious woman while investigating a murder linked to her associate, Ranger.

sardonic → playful

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Rich People Problems

Kevin Kwan2017

An extended family gathers in Singapore as their matriarch lies dying. They scheme against one another to inherit a massive estate.

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Wielding a Red Sword

Piers Anthony1986

An Indian prince avoids an arranged marriage by accepting the supernatural office of War. He wields a sword that draws him into a conflict in Hell.

pace0·prose-1·bleak-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.

sardonic → propulsive

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-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.

sardonic → wry

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

Skin Game

Jim Butcher2014

Wizard Harry Dresden joins a team of villains to rob a vault in the Underworld. It is a fast-paced heist set in a modern fantasy Chicago.

sardonic → propulsive

pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

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.

sardonic → meditative

pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

Dandelion Wine

Ray Bradbury1946

A twelve-year-old boy experiences a series of vignettes over one summer in 1928 Illinois. The chapters focus on small-town life and aging.

sardonic → elegiac

pace-2·prose+1·bleak-1

For Us, the Living

Robert A. Heinlein2003

A 1930s pilot wakes up in the year 2086. The book consists of long dialogues explaining the social, economic, and sexual norms of the future.

sardonic → earnest

pace-2·prose0·bleak-1

Cat's Cradle

Kurt Vonnegut1963

A writer researches the creator of the atomic bomb and discovers a substance that freezes all water. He joins an island cult.

Same sardonic register, still satire

pace0·prose0·bleak+2

Chain-Gang All-Stars

Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah2023

Prisoners in a private American penal system fight to the death in televised matches for a chance at freedom.

sardonic → bleak, still satire

pace0·prose+1·bleak+2

This Is the Way the World Ends

James Morrow1986

A man buys a suit to survive a nuclear war and is put on trial by the ghosts of people who will never be born. It is a satire of nuclear policy.

Same sardonic register, still satire

pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2