Avilion

The Troupe

Robert Jackson Bennett2012

A teenage pianist joins a traveling vaudeville troupe to find his father. He discovers their performances protect the world from a dark force.

Same elegiac register, still dark fantasy

pace0·prose0·bleak-1

In the Night Garden

Catherynne M. Valente2006

A girl with tattooed eyelids tells a prince interlocking stories of monsters and folklore. The narrative is a series of nested myths.

elegiac → dreamlike, still mythic fiction

pace0·prose+1·bleak-1

Mortal Suns

Tanith Lee2003

A rejected princess in a mythic world seeks her place amidst prophecies and royal power struggles. The prose is dense and stylized.

elegiac → dreamlike, still mythic fiction

pace0·prose+1·bleak0

Vellum

Hal Duncan2005

Humans transformed into angels and demons fight across a multiverse for a book that controls reality. The narrative jumps through time and myth.

elegiac → dreamlike, still mythic fiction

pace0·prose+1·bleak0

Assistant to the Villain

Hannah Nicole Maehrer2023

A woman takes a job as an administrative assistant to a local villain to support her family. She manages his office while ignoring his evil deeds.

elegiac → playful

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

The Marriage Bargain

Jennifer Probst2012

A bookstore owner enters a one-year contract marriage with a billionaire to save her family's land. They must follow a set of rules to stay platonic.

elegiac → playful

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

A Quick Bite

Lynsay Sands2005

A vampire who faints at the sight of blood finds a psychologist tied to her bed as a gift. They navigate his kidnapping and her family dynamics.

elegiac → playful

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

Mind's Eye

Douglas E. Richards2014

A man discovers he has the ability to access the internet and process data directly with his mind. He is hunted by a secret organization.

elegiac → propulsive

pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

The Atlantis Gene

A.G. Riddle2013

A geneticist and a counter-terrorism agent uncover a global conspiracy involving human evolution and an ancient Antarctic discovery.

elegiac → propulsive

pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

Monster Hunter International

Larry Correia2007

An accountant kills his boss, who has become a werewolf, and is recruited by a private company that hunts monsters for government bounties.

elegiac → propulsive

pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

Love & Sleep

John Crowley1994

Pierce Moffett researches the history of magic while living in a small town. The narrative shifts between his life and the Renaissance.

elegiac → meditative

pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

Moonwise

Greer Gilman1991

Two women are pulled into a world created by their own folk-tales. The narrative uses dense, archaic language to describe a shifting landscape.

elegiac → dreamlike, still mythic fiction

pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

The Centaur

Algernon Blackwood1911

A traveler on a ship becomes obsessed with a man and his son who seem to be remnants of an older, non-human world.

elegiac → dreamlike, still mythic fiction

pace-1·prose0·bleak-1

The Damnation Game

Clive Barker1985

An ex-con becomes a bodyguard for a billionaire who made a deal with a supernatural gambler. The debt comes due through gore and resurrection.

pace+1·prose0·bleak+1

The Black Company

Glen Cook1984

An elite mercenary unit serves an immortal sorceress. The story is told through the cynical journals of the company's doctor and historian.

elegiac → grim, still dark fantasy

pace+1·prose0·bleak+1

Snow, Glass, Apples

Neil Gaiman2019

A retelling of Snow White from the stepmother's perspective. The princess is a vampiric creature and the queen struggles to protect the kingdom.

elegiac → cold, still dark fantasy

pace0·prose0·bleak+1