Constance

Freedom™

Daniel Suarez2010

An autonomous computer program reorganizes global society into a decentralized network. A group of rebels fights to maintain human agency.

pace+1·prose0·bleak0

The Fractal Prince

Hannu Rajaniemi2012

A post-human thief is sent to Earth to steal a memory from a city made of digital ghosts. The prose uses dense, unexplained jargon.

propulsive → dreamlike

pace0·prose+2·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.

propulsive → elegiac

pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

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

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-1

Murderbot Diaries

Martha Wells2023

A self-aware security android hacks its governor module to watch soap operas while protecting humans. It navigates corporate conspiracies.

propulsive → sardonic, still cyberpunk

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

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.

pace0·prose-1·bleak-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, still cyberpunk

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

Daemon

Leinad Zeraus2006

A deceased game designer leaves behind a computer program that begins killing people and restructuring society. It is a high-tech manhunt.

pace+1·prose0·bleak0

Lost in Time

A.G. Riddle2022

A man is exiled to the Triassic period for a murder he didn't commit while his daughter tries to bring him back.

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.

propulsive → meditative

pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

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

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

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.

propulsive → sardonic, still cyberpunk

pace0·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.

propulsive → bleak, still cyberpunk

pace0·prose+1·bleak+2

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.

propulsive → tense, still cyberpunk

pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2