Capacity

Autonomous

Annalee Newitz2017

A drug pirate creates a lethal work-addiction pill while being hunted by a military agent and a robot. It explores property and autonomy in 2144.

clinical → propulsive, still cyberpunk

pace0·prose0·bleak0

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.

clinical → elegiac

pace-1·prose+2·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.

clinical → meditative

pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

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.

clinical → sardonic

pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

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.

pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

Self Comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious Brain

António Damásio2012

A neuroscientist maps how the brain builds a sense of self. He argues that consciousness emerges from biological processes that manage life.

Same clinical register

pace-1·prose+1·bleak-2

She Went All the Way

Meg Cabot2002

A screenwriter and an actor survive a helicopter crash in the Alaskan wilderness and must hike to safety while being pursued by a killer.

pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

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.

clinical → propulsive, still cyberpunk

pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

Accelerando

Charles Stross2005

Three generations of a family navigate the rapid evolution of technology toward a singularity. The pace accelerates as humanity is outpaced by AI.

clinical → wry, still cyberpunk

pace+1·prose+1·bleak-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.

clinical → wry

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-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.

clinical → meditative

pace-2·prose+2·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.

clinical → elegiac

pace-2·prose+1·bleak-2

For Us, the Living

Robert A. Heinlein2003

A 1930s pilot wakes up in the year 2086. The book consists of long dialogues explaining the social, economic, and sexual norms of the future.

clinical → earnest

pace-2·prose0·bleak-2

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.

clinical → bleak, still cyberpunk

pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

Hellspark

Janet Kagan1988

A linguist travels to a new planet to investigate a murder. She must determine if the local species is sentient while navigating a conspiracy.

clinical → tense, still cyberpunk

pace+1·prose+1·bleak+1

Golem100

Alfred Bester1980

In a future city, a group of women accidentally summon a psychic monster that commits acts of extreme violence while investigators track it.

clinical → sardonic, still cyberpunk

pace0·prose+1·bleak+1