After
Day by Day Armageddon
J.L. Bourne2009
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
- pace0prose+1bleak0
Earth Afire
Orson Scott Card2013
During an alien invasion, a mechanic tries to warn Earth while a soldier joins a specialized police unit to fight back.
Same tense register, still military sci-fi
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
- pace0prose+1bleak0
War Dogs
Greg Bear2014
Soldiers are deployed to Mars to fight an alien threat on behalf of another species. The narrator recounts the mission from a hospital bed.
Same tense register, still military sci-fi
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
- pace0prose+1bleak0
Nightfall
Isaac Asimov1969
On a planet with six suns that never sees darkness, scientists realize a total eclipse is imminent. It follows the collapse of a civilization.
Same tense register, still apocalyptic
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
- pace0prose+1bleak0
Robopocalypse
Daniel H. Wilson2011
An artificial intelligence takes control of global technology to exterminate humanity. Survivors recount the war through oral histories.
Same tense register, still apocalyptic
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak0
Of Monsters and Mainframes
Barbara Truelove2025
A sentient spaceship teams up with a werewolf and a reanimated engineer to stop a vampire killing passengers. It is a paranormal space opera.
Same tense register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace-2prose+3bleak0
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.
tense → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+3·bleak0
- pace-1prose+3bleak0
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.
tense → sardonic
pace-1·prose+3·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
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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.
tense → meditative
pace-1·prose+3·bleak0
- pace-1prose+3bleak0
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.
tense → meditative
pace-1·prose+3·bleak0
- pace-1prose+3bleak0
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.
tense → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+3·bleak0
To recover
- pace+1prose0bleak-2
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
tense → wry
pace+1·prose0·bleak-2
- pace-1prose+1bleak-2
The Valley of Horses
Jean M. Auel1899
A woman lives alone in a valley after being exiled from her tribe. She tames a horse and eventually meets a man from her own ethnic group.
tense → earnest
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+1bleak-2
The Uplift War
David Brin1987
A gorilla-like alien race invades the planet Garth. A small group of humans and uplifted chimpanzees lead a guerrilla resistance in the mountains.
tense → earnest, still military sci-fi
pace0·prose+1·bleak-2
- pace-1prose+1bleak-2
The Book of Hope
Jane Goodall2021
A dialogue-based book where Jane Goodall discusses her life's work and her reasons for remaining optimistic about the environment.
tense → earnest
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-2
- pace-1prose+1bleak-2
The Man Who Quit Money
Mark Sundeen2012
A biography of Daniel Suelo, who abandoned currency in 2000. It follows his daily life scavenging and living in caves in the Utah wilderness.
tense → meditative
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-2
Faster
Same tense register, still military sci-fi
- pace+1prose+1bleak0
Lines of Departure
Marko Kloos2014
An officer fights an interstellar war against alien giants while Earth collapses into poverty. It follows military campaigns across space.
pace+1·prose+1·bleak0
- pace+1prose0bleak0
Hell Divers
Nicholas Sansbury Smith2016
Skydivers jump from massive airships to a ruined Earth to scavenge parts for humanity's survival. One team is stranded in a hostile zone.
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose+1bleak-1
A Plague of Demons
Keith Laumer1965
A secret agent investigates the disappearance of entire battalions. He discovers an alien invasion and has his brain transplanted into a giant tank.
tense → propulsive, still military sci-fi
pace+1·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose+1bleak-1
Fortune's Pawn
Rachel Bach
A power-armored mercenary joins the crew of a suspicious cargo ship to earn enough money for her elite military dreams.
tense → propulsive, still military sci-fi
pace+1·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose+1bleak-1
The Killing of Worlds
Scott Westerfeld2003
Captain Laurent Zai fights a lone ship-to-ship battle against invaders while Senator Nara Oxham uncovers the Emperor's secrets.
tense → propulsive, still military sci-fi
pace+1·prose+1·bleak-1
Slower
- pace-2prose+3bleak0
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.
tense → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+3·bleak0
- pace-2prose+3bleak-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.
tense → meditative
pace-2·prose+3·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+3bleak-1
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.
tense → meditative
pace-2·prose+3·bleak-1
- pace-2prose+3bleak-2
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.
tense → playful
pace-2·prose+3·bleak-2
- pace-2prose+3bleak-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.
tense → playful
pace-2·prose+3·bleak-1
Heavier
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
The Forge of God
Greg Bear1987
Scientists and government officials realize Earth is being systematically dismantled by an alien presence.
tense → elegiac, still apocalyptic
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
Cat's Cradle
Kurt Vonnegut1963
A writer researches the creator of the atomic bomb and discovers a substance that freezes all water. He joins an island cult.
tense → sardonic, still apocalyptic
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
Flood
Stephen Baxter2008
The sea level rises globally due to water leaking from the Earth's crust. Four former hostages watch as civilization slowly drowns over decades.
tense → clinical, still apocalyptic
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace0prose+2bleak+1
Kalki
Gore Vidal1978
A female pilot is hired to investigate a Vietnam veteran who claims to be the Hindu god Kalki. He plans to end the human race with biological agents.
tense → sardonic, still apocalyptic
pace0·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
The Killing Star
Charles R. Pellegrino1995
Relativistic missiles destroy Earth without warning. The few human survivors in the solar system are hunted by an alien species using logic.
tense → bleak, still apocalyptic
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
