After
Black Man
Richard K. Morgan2007
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing heavier
More like it
- pace0prose-1bleak0
Market Forces
Richard K. Morgan2004
In a future where executives duel in armored cars for promotions, Chris Faulkner joins a firm that profits from civil wars. It is a corporate satire.
cold → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose-1·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Random Acts of Senseless Violence
Jack Womack1994
A twelve-year-old girl records her life in a diary as New York City collapses into riots and hyperinflation. Her family falls into poverty.
cold → bleak, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak-1
Burning Chrome
William Gibson1986
A collection of short stories featuring hackers, mercenaries, and high-tech criminals. It establishes the aesthetic of the cyberpunk genre.
Same cold register, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
- pace0prose0bleak-1
He, She and It
Marge Piercy1991
In a corporate-run future, a woman returns to a Jewish free town and helps program an illegal, sentient cyborg designed to protect the community.
cold → earnest, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak-1
The Jagged Orbit
John Brunner1969
In a segregated future US, a media personality and a psychic navigate a society controlled by arms dealers. The story uses fragmented perspectives.
cold → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
Denser prose
- pace-1prose+1bleak-1
VAS
Steve Tomasula2002
A man considers a vasectomy while the book uses diagrams and varied typography to explore the history of eugenics and biotechnology.
cold → clinical, still cyberpunk
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace-2prose+1bleak-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.
cold → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak-1
Infinite Jest
David Foster Wallace1996
A sprawling narrative centered on a tennis academy, a halfway house, and a lethal film. The text includes hundreds of pages of detailed endnotes.
cold → sardonic, still dystopian
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace-1prose+1bleak-1
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.
cold → sardonic
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace-1prose+1bleak-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.
cold → elegiac
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
To recover
- pace0prose-2bleak-3
Murderbot Diaries
Martha Wells2023
A self-aware security android hacks its governor module to watch soap operas while protecting humans. It navigates corporate conspiracies.
cold → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose-2·bleak-3
- pace0prose-2bleak-3
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.
cold → playful
pace0·prose-2·bleak-3
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.
cold → playful
pace0·prose-2·bleak-3
- pace+1prose-2bleak-3
Ready Player One
Ernest Cline2008
A teenager in a dystopian future hunts for a digital easter egg inside a massive simulation. The quest relies on 1980s pop culture trivia.
cold → propulsive, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3
- pace0prose-2bleak-3
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.
cold → playful
pace0·prose-2·bleak-3
Faster
cold → propulsive, still cyberpunk
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
The Long Run
Daniel Keys Moran1989
A genetically engineered outlaw with the ability to interface with computers runs from a global police force. He attempts a final heist.
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-2bleak-3
Ready Player One
Ernest Cline2008
A teenager in a dystopian future hunts for a digital easter egg inside a massive simulation. The quest relies on 1980s pop culture trivia.
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-2bleak-1
Akira, Vol. 1
Katsuhiro Ōtomo1984
In a rebuilt post-WWIII Tokyo, two teenage bikers get caught in a government conspiracy after one develops psychic powers.
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-2bleak-2
Get Jiro!
Anthony Bourdain2012
In a future Los Angeles, master chefs rule as warlords. A sushi chef who kills rude customers is caught between two warring food factions.
cold → sardonic, still dystopian
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-2bleak-3
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
cold → wry
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3
Slower
- pace-2prose+1bleak-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.
cold → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace-2prose+1bleak-2
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.
cold → meditative
pace-2·prose+1·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose0bleak-1
Stand on Zanzibar
John Brunner1968
A fragmented portrait of an overpopulated 2010. The story uses news feeds and slogans to track a spy and a student in a corporate-run world.
cold → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace-1·prose0·bleak-1
- pace-2prose+1bleak-2
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.
cold → meditative
pace-2·prose+1·bleak-2
- pace-2prose+1bleak0
Translated Accounts
James Kelman2001
Anonymous witnesses describe life under a military regime. The prose uses broken, bureaucratic syntax to mimic a literal translation.
cold → bleak, still dystopian
pace-2·prose+1·bleak0
