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After

Bad Dolls

Rachel Harrison2023

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

1 more ↓

  • Odd Apocalypse

    Dean Koontz2012

    A man who can see ghosts visits a massive California estate where he discovers a billionaire is hiding a supernatural secret.

    Same wry register, still horror

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

wry → dreamlike

3 more ↓

  • Android Karenina

    Лев Толстой2010

    The text of Tolstoy's classic is modified to include robots, cyborgs, and space travel in a 19th-century Russian setting.

    wry → elegiac, still horror

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2

  • Racconti [55 stories]

    Edgar Allan Poe2011

    A collection of 55 stories featuring unreliable narrators and gothic settings. Themes include obsession, premature burial, and the macabre.

    wry → dreamlike, still horror

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

  • Gormenghast

    Mervyn Peake1950

    A young heir and a social climber navigate the rigid rituals of a decaying, labyrinthine castle. The prose is dense and descriptive.

    wry → dark

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2

To recover

Same wry register

3 more ↓

  • Someday, Someday, Maybe

    Lauren Graham2013

    A young actress in 1990s New York City gives herself a three-year deadline to find professional success before her money runs out.

    wry → playful

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-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.

    wry → playful

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-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.

    wry → playful

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Shattered

    Dean Koontz1973

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

    wry → tense, still horror

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

  • Grunge

    Larry Correia2016

    A Marine killed in a bombing is resurrected to hunt supernatural creatures. He joins a private company that kills monsters for government bounties.

    wry → sardonic, still horror

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Intercepts

    T.J. Payne2020

    A worker at a government facility monitors human test subjects driven insane by sensory deprivation. The experiment enters his private life.

    wry → tense, still horror

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak+2

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    wry → playful

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

  • Black House

    Peter Straub2001

    A retired detective investigates a series of child murders in a Wisconsin town that shares a border with another world.

    wry → tense, still horror

    pace-1·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.

    wry → elegiac

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Mapping the Interior

    Stephen Graham Jones2017

    A teenager follows a figure resembling his dead father into the hidden spaces of his home. He maps a shifting, dangerous interior.

    wry → elegiac, still horror

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+2

  • Flowers in the Attic

    V.C. Andrews1979

    Four children are hidden in an attic for years by their mother and grandmother to secure an inheritance. They face gradual poisoning and abuse.

    wry → elegiac, still horror

    pace0·prose0·bleak+2

  • The Lottery

    Shirley Jackson1983

    Villagers gather for an annual ritual in a small town. The story follows the procedural steps of a lottery that ends in a public execution.

    wry → cold, still horror

    pace0·prose0·bleak+2