Bone Dance

Idlewild

Nick Sagan2003

A student at a school for the elite wakes up with no memory. He discovers he is in a virtual reality simulation while a virus kills the real world.

wry → tense, still cyberpunk

pace0·prose0·bleak+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.

wry → elegiac

pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

Deep Wheel Orcadia

Harry Josephine Giles2021

A verse novel written in the Orcadian dialect follows a community on a space station. It focuses on the arrival of a researcher and local life.

wry → meditative

pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

Too Like the Lightning

Ada Palmer2016

In a 25th-century utopia, a convict narrates the discovery of a boy who can perform miracles. The prose uses 18th-century styles and gender terms.

wry → sardonic

pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

Undead and Unwed

MaryJanice Davidson2004

After dying in a car crash, a fashion-obsessed woman wakes up as a vampire. She resists the local undead community's claim that she is their queen.

wry → playful, still urban fantasy

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Bitten & Smitten

Michelle Rowen2006

Sarah is accidentally turned into a vampire and must rely on a grumpy, centuries-old vampire to teach her how to survive.

wry → playful, still urban fantasy

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Gentlemen Prefer Succubi

Jill Myles2009

After encounters with a vampire and a fallen angel, a woman gains supernatural powers and a high libido. She is caught in a war between factions.

wry → playful, still urban fantasy

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Equations of Life

Simon Morden2011

A Russian physics student in a post-apocalyptic London gets caught between warring factions. It is a fast-paced cyberpunk thriller.

pace+1·prose0·bleak+1

Skin Game

Jim Butcher2014

Wizard Harry Dresden joins a team of villains to rob a vault in the Underworld. It is a fast-paced heist set in a modern fantasy Chicago.

wry → propulsive, still urban fantasy

pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

Warbound

Larry Correia2013

In an alternate 1930s, people with magical abilities fight a war against a trans-dimensional threat. It is the final book in a trilogy.

wry → propulsive, still urban fantasy

pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

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.

wry → meditative

pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

After London

Richard Jefferies1885

Nature reclaims England after an unspecified catastrophe destroys civilization. A young man explores the toxic swamps that were once London.

wry → elegiac, still post-apocalyptic

pace-2·prose+1·bleak+1

Dandelion Wine

Ray Bradbury1946

A twelve-year-old boy experiences a series of vignettes over one summer in 1928 Illinois. The chapters focus on small-town life and aging.

wry → elegiac

pace-2·prose+1·bleak-1

On the Beach

Nevil Shute1957

Survivors in Australia wait for a lethal radiation cloud to arrive after a nuclear war. They spend their final months in quiet, domestic routines.

wry → elegiac, still post-apocalyptic

pace-1·prose0·bleak+2

The Walking Dead: Compendium One

Robert Kirkman2009

A sheriff wakes from a coma into a zombie apocalypse. He leads a group of survivors through various temporary shelters over several years.

wry → bleak, still post-apocalyptic

pace0·prose-1·bleak+2

One Second After

William R. Forstchen2009

An EMP strike destroys the American power grid. A history professor attempts to manage the starvation and societal collapse of his small town.

wry → bleak, still post-apocalyptic

pace0·prose0·bleak+2