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After

All Our Wrong Todays

Elan Mastai2017

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • Remake

    Connie Willis1994

    In a future where movies are digitally manipulated and actors are replaced by software, a man meets a woman who wants to dance in films for real.

    Same wry register, still science fiction

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    wry → meditative, still science fiction

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

  • Sometimes a Great Notion

    Ken Kesey1964

    A family of independent loggers in Oregon refuses to join a local strike. The perspective shifts rapidly between characters, often mid-paragraph.

    wry → elegiac

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

  • Nova Express

    William S. Burroughs1964

    An experimental narrative uses the cut-up technique to depict a war between intergalactic criminals and the police. It is a collage of imagery.

    wry → sardonic, still science fiction

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Going Cowboy Crazy

    Katie Lane2011

    A woman travels to a small Texas town to find her secret twin sister and is mistaken for her by the local residents and her sister's ex-flame.

    wry → playful

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Marrying Mr. Wrong

    Claire Kingsley

    Two rivals wake up married in Las Vegas and decide to stay together to help their respective careers.

    wry → playful

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Hot Number

    Carly Phillips

    A sports publicist undergoes a physical makeover to shed her tomboy image. She attempts to catch the attention of a professional ballplayer.

    wry → playful

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Faster

3 more ↓

  • The Lake House

    James Patterson

    A veterinarian and an FBI agent protect six genetically engineered children who can fly. They are pursued by a global conspiracy.

    wry → propulsive, still science fiction

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

  • The Martian

    Andy Weir2011

    A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.

    Same wry register

    pace+1·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.

    wry → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    wry → meditative

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

  • Looking Backward, 2000-1887

    Edward Bellamy1888

    A man falls into a hypnotic sleep in 1887 and wakes up in the year 2000 to find the United States transformed into a socialist utopia.

    wry → earnest, still science fiction

    pace-2·prose0·bleak-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.

    wry → elegiac

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak-1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Behold the Man

    Michael Moorcock1968

    A man uses a time machine to travel to 28 AD to meet Jesus. Finding only a disabled man who cannot fulfill the gospels, he takes the role himself.

    wry → bleak, still time travel

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2

  • The Year of the Quiet Sun

    Wilson Tucker1970

    A social scientist travels forward in time to document the collapse of the United States through racial conflict and nuclear war.

    wry → bleak, still time travel

    pace-1·prose0·bleak+2

  • The Jaunt

    Stephen King2009

    A father explains the history of teleportation to his family while they wait to travel. He describes the danger of being awake during the trip.

    wry → tense, still science fiction

    pace0·prose0·bleak+2