After
Becoming Alien
Rebecca Ore1988
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak0
Time and Again
Jack Finney1970
An artist is recruited by the government to travel to 1882 New York via self-hypnosis. He must observe the past without altering it.
Same earnest register, still fish out of water
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak-1
Phylogenesis
Alan Dean Foster1999
An insectoid poet and a human criminal meet by chance, initiating the first cultural bond between their two species.
Same earnest register, still space opera
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
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Summer of Love
Lisa Mason1994
A time traveler from a sterile future arrives in 1967 San Francisco. He observes the hippie movement while searching for a specific girl.
Same earnest register, still fish out of water
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace+1prose0bleak0
Armageddon 2419 AD
Philip Francis Nowlan1962
A man wakes up 500 years in the future to find America occupied by a foreign power and joins a guerrilla resistance using jetpacks.
Same earnest register, still space opera
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
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The Memory of Earth
Orson Scott Card1992
An AI controlling a human colony begins to fail, selecting a family to return to a long-abandoned Earth to find a solution.
Same earnest register, still space opera
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
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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.
earnest → dreamlike, still space opera
pace0·prose+2·bleak+1
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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.
earnest → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
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Perhaps the Stars
Ada Palmer2021
A global war between ideological factions reaches its conclusion. The story is told through a dense, 18th-century style narrative voice.
earnest → meditative, still space opera
pace+1·prose+2·bleak+1
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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.
earnest → sardonic
pace0·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace0prose+2bleak+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.
earnest → elegiac
pace0·prose+2·bleak+1
To recover
- pace+2prose-1bleak-1
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.
earnest → wry, still space opera
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-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.
earnest → playful
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
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The Mane Event
Shelly Laurenston2007
A female cop reunites with a childhood friend who is now a lion-shifter. They navigate a romantic attraction while he pursues her in New York.
earnest → playful
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
Redshirts
John Scalzi2012
Low-ranking crew members on a starship realize they are disposable characters in a sci-fi television show. They attempt to escape their fate.
earnest → playful, still space opera
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
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Mile High
Liz Tomforde2023
A professional hockey player and a flight attendant clash on the team's private plane during a season-long road trip.
earnest → playful
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
Faster
- pace+2prose-1bleak-1
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.
earnest → wry, still space opera
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-1bleak-1
The Android's Dream
John Scalzi2006
A diplomat must find a specific, genetically engineered sheep to prevent an interstellar war. The story is a fast-paced, irreverent space comedy.
earnest → playful, still space opera
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
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Chilling Effect
Valerie Valdes2019
A spaceship captain completes dangerous missions to pay off a ransom for her kidnapped sister. The crew includes a pilot who is a sentient plant.
earnest → playful, still space opera
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-1bleak-1
The Star Kings
Edmond Hamilton1949
A 20th-century man swaps bodies with a prince 200,000 years in the future. He must lead a galactic empire against a tyrant's fleet.
earnest → propulsive, still space opera
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+2prose0bleak0
The Star Wars Trilogy
George Lucas2018
A farm boy joins a rebellion against a galactic empire. He learns to use a mystical force under the guidance of an exiled knight.
Same earnest register, still space opera
pace+2·prose0·bleak0
Slower
- pace-1prose+2bleak+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.
earnest → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
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.
earnest → meditative
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
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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.
earnest → meditative
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-1prose+2bleak-1
Gödel, Escher, Bach
Douglas R. Hofstadter1979
An exploration of how cognition emerges from hidden neurological patterns. It uses math, art, and music to explain self-referential systems.
earnest → playful
pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1
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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.
earnest → playful
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
Heavier
- pace+1prose+1bleak+2
Consider Phlebas
Iain Banks1987
A shape-shifting mercenary works for an alien empire to retrieve a rogue AI during a galactic war. He faces a series of deadly set-pieces.
earnest → bleak, still space opera
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2
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The Sparrow
Mary Doria Russell1996
A Jesuit priest joins a mission to a newly discovered planet. The story is told in flashbacks after he returns as the sole, traumatized survivor.
earnest → elegiac, still first contact
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
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Blindsight
Peter Watts2006
A crew of specialists, including a vampire and a linguist, investigates an alien presence at the edge of the solar system.
earnest → cold, still first contact
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An Exchange of Hostages
Susan R. Matthews1997
A surgeon is drafted into a space empire's corps of torturers. He tries to maintain his ethics while being trained to inflict pain.
earnest → clinical, still space opera
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
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The Gap Into Conflict: The Real Story
Stephen R. Donaldson
A space pirate, a victim, and a police officer are trapped in a cycle of abuse and betrayal. The narrative shifts perspectives to reveal lies.
earnest → bleak, still space opera
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2