Audrey's Door

The Only Good Indians

Stephen Graham Jones2020

Four Blackfeet men are pursued by a vengeful entity ten years after an illegal elk hunt. The entity targets them and their families one by one.

pace0·prose0·bleak0

Ambergris

Jeff VanderMeer2020

This collection follows the history of a city built atop a subterranean race. It uses fake histories, journals, and detective noir.

tense → dreamlike

pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner

James Hogg1824

A religious fanatic becomes convinced he is predestined for salvation and commits crimes at the behest of a mysterious stranger.

tense → cold, still psychological horror

pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

The Fall of the House of Usher

Edgar Allan Poe

A narrator visits a childhood friend in a decaying mansion. The house and the family's health decline simultaneously toward a collapse.

tense → dreamlike, still psychological horror

pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

Walking Disaster

Jamie McGuire2013

This novel retells the events of 'Beautiful Disaster' from the perspective of Travis Maddox. It follows his college years and obsession with Abby.

tense → propulsive

pace0·prose-2·bleak-2

This Man

Jodi Ellen Malpas2013

An interior designer begins an affair with a wealthy client who demands total control over her life and schedule.

Same tense register

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Fifty Shades of Grey

E.L. James2000

A college student enters a sexual contract with a wealthy businessman. The story focuses on their power dynamics and BDSM encounters.

tense → earnest

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The Rising

Brian Keene2003

A father travels across an apocalypse where the dead are possessed by malevolent, intelligent demons. The world is ending permanently.

tense → bleak

pace+1·prose-2·bleak+1

Shattered

Dean Koontz1973

A man and his future stepson drive across America while being stalked by the woman's vengeful ex-husband.

Same tense register

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

The Executioner

Chris Carter2010

A Los Angeles detective hunts a serial killer who murders victims using their specific phobias. Each crime scene features a blood-scrawled number.

Same tense register

pace+1·prose-2·bleak0

Ulysses

James Joyce1914

Three characters wander through Dublin on a single day in 1904. Each chapter uses a different literary style to mimic thoughts and sensations.

tense → playful

pace-2·prose+1·bleak-1

Absalom, Absalom!

William Faulkner1936

The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.

tense → elegiac

pace-2·prose+1·bleak+1

Either/Or

Søren Kierkegaard1992

A collection of papers presents two life philosophies: the aesthetic pursuit of pleasure and the ethical commitment to duty.

tense → meditative

pace-2·prose+1·bleak-1

Silent Children

Ramsey Campbell2000

A man discovers his father may have been a child killer, leading him into a confrontation with the past and a current threat.

tense → bleak, still psychological horror

pace-1·prose0·bleak+1

Nona

Stephen King2016

A hitchhiker and a woman named Nona go on a violent killing spree across Maine. The narrator recounts the events from a jail cell.

tense → bleak, still psychological horror

pace0·prose-1·bleak+1

Penpal

Dathan Auerbach2012

A man reconstructs his childhood by investigating a series of disconnected, disturbing memories. The story originated as online horror fiction.

Same tense register, still psychological horror

pace0·prose-1·bleak+1