After
Code to zero
Ken Follett2000
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak0
Caliban's War
James S. A. Corey2012
A crew investigates a biological super-soldier on Ganymede while political tensions rise between Earth and Mars.
Same propulsive register, still conspiracy
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Blackout
Seanan McGuire2012
A woman escapes CDC captivity while her brother fights zombie bears and government conspiracies. It is the final book in a post-outbreak trilogy.
Same propulsive register, still conspiracy
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Planet of the Damned
Harry Harrison1962
A champion athlete is sent to a hostile planet to stop a nuclear war. He must survive the lethal environment and negotiate with its inhabitants.
Same propulsive register, still ticking clock
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Star Wars - Fate of the Jedi - Conviction
Aaron Allston2011
Luke and Ben Skywalker travel to Dorin to investigate the fall of Jacen Solo. Meanwhile, a Jedi suffering from madness targets Coruscant.
Same propulsive register, still conspiracy
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak0
This Is Not a Game
Walter Jon Williams2009
A game designer uses her global network of players to solve a real-world murder and navigate a financial conspiracy.
Same propulsive register, still conspiracy
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace-2prose+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.
propulsive → dreamlike, still amnesia
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+2bleak+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.
propulsive → sardonic
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
Valis
Philip K. Dick1981
A man experiences a beam of pink light that imparts vast information. The narrative explores his mental breakdown and search for God in California.
propulsive → meditative
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
Shadow & Claw
Gene Wolfe1983
A torturer travels across a far-future Earth where technology is indistinguishable from magic. He recounts his exile in dense, archaic prose.
propulsive → meditative
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
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.
propulsive → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
To recover
Same propulsive register
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
Ace of Hearts
Chantal Fernando2018
A woman finds herself drawn to a member of a motorcycle club after a chance encounter leads to a series of dates.
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
Dark Lover
J. R. Ward2005
A vampire king seeks revenge against the slayers who killed his parents while protecting a woman discovering her own supernatural heritage.
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
Hot mahogany
Stuart Woods2008
A lawyer guards a former spy with amnesia who restores antique furniture. They uncover a conspiracy linked to the man's service in Vietnam.
propulsive → wry, still conspiracy
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
Assistant to the Villain
Hannah Nicole Maehrer2023
A woman takes a job as an administrative assistant to a local villain to support her family. She manages his office while ignoring his evil deeds.
propulsive → playful
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
Fearless Fourteen
Janet Evanovich2008
A bounty hunter searches for a missing bank robber while a stoner guards a cop's house. The plot involves a hidden nine-million-dollar fortune.
propulsive → playful
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
Faster
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
propulsive → wry
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
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.
Same propulsive register
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-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.
propulsive → wry
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak0
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.
Same propulsive register
pace+1·prose-1·bleak0
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
The Kaiju Preservation Society
John Scalzi2022
A food delivery driver joins a secret organization that travels to an alternate Earth to care for massive, dinosaur-like creatures.
propulsive → playful
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
Slower
- pace-2prose+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.
propulsive → dreamlike, still amnesia
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+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.
propulsive → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
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.
propulsive → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-2prose+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.
propulsive → playful
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
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+2·bleak0
Heavier
- pace-1prose+1bleak+2
The Handmaid's Tale
Margaret Atwood1985
In a totalitarian state with a plummeting birth rate, a woman is enslaved as a reproductive vessel. She records her daily life and memories.
propulsive → cold
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace-1prose0bleak+2
Doomsday Book
Connie Willis1992
A student travels to 14th-century England while a virus spreads in the present. She arrives during the Black Death due to a technical error.
propulsive → bleak
pace-1·prose0·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+2bleak+2
Perdido Street Station
China Miéville2000
A scientist in a sprawling, industrial city agrees to help a winged refugee fly again. His research accidentally unleashes a psychic predator.
propulsive → bleak
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace-1prose+1bleak+2
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.
propulsive → elegiac
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace0prose+1bleak+2
Watchmen
Alan Moore1986
Retired masked vigilantes investigate the murder of a former teammate. The story takes place in an alternate 1985 on the brink of nuclear war.
propulsive → bleak, still conspiracy
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
