LitQueuelitqueue

After

Bite

Richard Laymon1997

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • Crota

    Owl Goingback1996

    A sheriff and a medicine man hunt an ancient, subterranean creature responsible for a series of mutilations in rural Missouri.

    Same propulsive register, still monster hunt

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

Denser prose

propulsive → dreamlike

3 more ↓

  • Ghost Stories

    Henry James2001

    A collection of Victorian tales where the existence of ghosts is often left to the reader's interpretation.

    propulsive → meditative

    pace-1·prose+3·bleak+1

  • 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.

    pace-1·prose+3·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.

    propulsive → dark

    pace-1·prose+3·bleak+2

To recover

Same propulsive register

3 more ↓

  • Moneyball

    Michael Lewis2003

    The Oakland A's general manager uses statistical analysis to build a competitive baseball team on a budget. It follows the 2002 season.

    propulsive → wry

    pace0·prose+1·bleak-1

  • This Man

    Jodi Ellen Malpas2013

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

    propulsive → tense

    pace0·prose0·bleak-1

  • Real Murders

    Charlaine Harris1990

    A librarian in a small Georgia town belongs to a club that studies famous crimes. A real murder occurs that mimics a historical case.

    propulsive → wry

    pace0·prose0·bleak-1

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Flesh

    Richard Laymon1987

    An eyeless, slug-like parasite enters human hosts and forces them to commit acts of extreme violence and sexual assault.

    propulsive → sardonic, still splatterpunk

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+1

  • Manhunt

    Gretchen Felker-Martin2022

    Two trans women and a trans man hunt feral men in a world where a virus transforms anyone with high testosterone. It features graphic gore.

    Same propulsive register, still splatterpunk

    pace+1·prose+2·bleak+1

  • Johnny Gruesome

    Greg Lamberson2008

    A murdered teenager returns from the grave to kill the classmates who betrayed him. It is a fast-paced slasher story with high gore.

    propulsive → sardonic, still splatterpunk

    pace+1·prose0·bleak0

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.

    propulsive → playful

    pace-2·prose+3·bleak0

  • Absalom, Absalom!

    William Faulkner1936

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

    propulsive → elegiac

    pace-2·prose+3·bleak+2

  • Either/Or

    Søren Kierkegaard1992

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

    propulsive → meditative

    pace-2·prose+3·bleak0

Heavier

propulsive → bleak, still splatterpunk

3 more ↓

  • The Rising

    Brian Keene2003

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

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+2

  • The Light at the End

    John Skipp2000

    A group of New Yorkers hunts a punk-rock vampire who is killing people in the subway system during the 1980s.

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+2

  • Suffer the Children

    Craig DiLouie2014

    A disease kills every child on Earth, but they return to life if fed human blood. Parents must decide who to kill to keep their children alive.

    propulsive → bleak, still vampire

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+2