After
After Atlas
Emma Newman2016
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak-1
Company Town
Madeline Ashby2016
An unaugmented woman works as a bodyguard for a wealthy family on a city-sized oil rig while a serial killer targets the population.
Same tense register, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
- pace0prose0bleak0
Polar City Blues
Katharine Kerr1990
A detective investigates a murder involving an alien body on a winter-locked planet. The case uncovers a conspiracy between humans and aliens.
tense → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak-1
The Crystal Crypt
Philip K. Dick2013
On a spaceship fleeing Mars for Earth, Martian authorities search the passengers for three saboteurs who destroyed a city.
Same tense register, still locked room
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
- pace0prose0bleak-1
Red Team Blues
Cory Doctorow2023
A 67-year-old forensic accountant living in a luxury bus is hired to find a stolen encryption key in Silicon Valley.
tense → wry, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak0
Glasshouse
Charles Stross2006
An amnesiac veteran joins a social experiment simulating a 20th-century society. He must find a killer while living in a total panopticon.
Same tense register, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
VAS
Steve Tomasula2002
A man considers a vasectomy while the book uses diagrams and varied typography to explore the history of eugenics and biotechnology.
tense → clinical, still cyberpunk
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
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
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
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
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
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.
tense → meditative
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
Shadow & Claw
Gene Wolfe1983
A torturer travels across a far-future Earth where technology is indistinguishable from magic. He recounts his exile in dense, archaic prose.
tense → meditative
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
To recover
- pace0prose-1bleak-2
Hot mahogany
Stuart Woods2008
A lawyer guards a former spy with amnesia who restores antique furniture. They uncover a conspiracy linked to the man's service in Vietnam.
tense → wry, still mystery
pace0·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
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.
tense → propulsive, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose-1bleak-2
The 4-Hour Workweek
Timothy Ferriss2006
A guide to lifestyle design that explains how to automate a business and outsource life tasks to achieve a four-hour workweek.
tense → wry
pace0·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace0prose-1bleak-2
Split Infinity
Piers Anthony1980
A man travels between a high-tech world of games and a parallel world of magic. He must master both systems to avoid being assassinated.
tense → playful
pace0·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace0prose-1bleak-2
That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon
Kimberly Lemming2021
A spice trader saves a demon while intoxicated and joins his quest to kill a witch. The story features frequent sexual content and humor.
tense → playful
pace0·prose-1·bleak-2
Faster
tense → propulsive, still cyberpunk
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
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.
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-1bleak0
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.
pace+1·prose-1·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
tense → wry
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose+1bleak-1
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.
tense → wry, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-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
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
Slower
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
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
- pace-2prose+2bleak-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+2·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+2bleak-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+2·bleak-1
- pace-2prose+2bleak-1
Blood on the dining-room floor
Gertrude Stein1948
A repetitive, circular narrative about a death in a country house. It uses experimental prose to obscure the facts of a traditional mystery.
tense → playful, still mystery
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1
- pace-2prose+2bleak-2
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.
tense → playful
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-2
Heavier
- pace0prose0bleak+1
Dr. Adder
K. W. Jeter1984
In a broken future Los Angeles, a surgeon performs extreme genital modifications for a subculture of outcasts.
tense → cynical, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
- pace0prose0bleak+1
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.
tense → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
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.
tense → bleak, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace+1prose+1bleak+1
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.
Same tense register, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
Golem100
Alfred Bester1980
In a future city, a group of women accidentally summon a psychic monster that commits acts of extreme violence while investigators track it.
tense → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1