After
Airside
Christopher Priest2023
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
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The Rift
Nina Allan2017
A woman returns home twenty years after disappearing, claiming she was on another planet. Her sister tries to verify her story.
meditative → elegiac, still slipstream
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
- pace0prose0bleak0
Icehenge
Kim Stanley Robinson1984
Three interconnected stories set centuries apart investigate a mysterious monument on Pluto. It uses unreliable narrators to explore history.
Same meditative register, still mystery
pace0·prose0·bleak0
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Margaret and I
Kate Wilhelm1971
The story is narrated by the subconscious of a woman named Margaret. It follows her as she navigates a failing marriage and a mysterious discovery.
Same meditative register, still slipstream
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The Evidence
Christopher Priest2020
A crime writer travels to a strange island to investigate a murder where the geography itself is distorted. It is a slow-paced procedural.
Same meditative register, still slipstream
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
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Into Everywhere
Paul J. McAuley2016
Two people infected with sentient alien code are pursued by a policeman across several planets. They seek the origin of the technology.
Same meditative register, still mystery
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
In Green's Jungles
Gene Wolfe2000
A narrator travels to different worlds while his physical form and memories shift. He recounts past voyages to prove his identity to his companions.
meditative → elegiac, still unreliable narrator
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+1bleak+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.
meditative → dreamlike, still unreliable narrator
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
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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.
meditative → dreamlike, still missing person
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
City of Saints and Madmen
Jeff Vandermeer2001
A collection of stories, histories, and pamphlets about the city of Ambergris. It uses found documents to build a surreal urban history.
meditative → dreamlike, still unreliable narrator
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
Rakesfall
Vajra Chandrasekera2024
Two souls reincarnate across centuries of Sri Lankan history and a distant future. The narrative shifts through different bodies and realities.
meditative → dreamlike
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
To recover
- pace+1prose-2bleak-1
Real Murders
Charlaine Harris1990
A librarian in a small Georgia town belongs to a club that studies famous crimes. A real murder occurs that mimics a historical case.
meditative → wry, still mystery
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything
Joshua Foer
A journalist spends a year training for the U.S. Memory Championship while explaining the history and biology of mnemonic techniques.
meditative → playful
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
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Truly, Madly
Heather Webber2010
A woman with the psychic ability to find lost objects takes over her family's matchmaking business. She teams up with a cynical private investigator.
meditative → playful, still mystery
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-2bleak-1
Size 14 Is Not Fat Either
Meg Cabot
A former pop star working at a college dormitory investigates the murder of a cheerleader. She balances the case with her own personal life.
meditative → playful, still mystery
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-2bleak-1
Vampires Are Forever
Lynsay Sands2008
A woman suspects her business partner is a vampire after he attempts to bite her. He tries to convince her they are fated mates.
meditative → playful
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1
Faster
- pace+2prose-2bleak-1
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
meditative → wry
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-2bleak-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.
meditative → propulsive
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
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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.
meditative → wry
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-2bleak0
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.
meditative → propulsive
pace+2·prose-2·bleak0
- pace+2prose-2bleak-1
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.
meditative → playful
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1
Slower
- pace-1prose+1bleak+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.
meditative → dreamlike, still unreliable narrator
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+1bleak0
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.
Same meditative register
pace-1·prose+1·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak0
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.
Same meditative register
pace-1·prose+1·bleak0
- pace-1prose+1bleak0
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.
meditative → playful, still mystery
pace-1·prose+1·bleak0
- pace-1prose0bleak-1
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.
meditative → elegiac
pace-1·prose0·bleak-1
Heavier
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The Man Who Melted
Jack Dann1984
A man searches a chaotic, future Europe for his wife while a telepathic virus causes people to lose their identities.
meditative → dreamlike, still slipstream
pace0·prose0·bleak+2
- pace+1prose-1bleak+2
The Doomsday Book
Joel Levy2006
This nonfiction guide analyzes various global catastrophe scenarios, from nuclear war to pandemics, and calculates the probability of each.
meditative → tense, still mystery
pace+1·prose-1·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
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The Handmaid's Tale
Margaret Atwood1985
In a totalitarian state with a plummeting birth rate, a woman is enslaved as a reproductive vessel. She records her daily life and memories.
meditative → cold, still unreliable narrator
pace0·prose0·bleak+2
- pace0prose-1bleak+2
Doomsday Book
Connie Willis1992
A student travels to 14th-century England while a virus spreads in the present. She arrives during the Black Death due to a technical error.
meditative → bleak
pace0·prose-1·bleak+2
- pace0prose+1bleak+2
Perdido Street Station
China Miéville2000
A scientist in a sprawling, industrial city agrees to help a winged refugee fly again. His research accidentally unleashes a psychic predator.
meditative → bleak
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
