LitQueuelitqueue

After

Disappearance at Devil's Rock

Paul G. Tremblay2016

5 of 6 directions open — nothing heavier

More like it

1 more ↓

  • Isis

    Douglas Clegg2006

    A girl in a Victorian estate attempts to resurrect her brother using ancient ruins. The story follows the consequences of her pact.

    Same elegiac register, still horror

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

elegiac → dreamlike, still psychological horror

3 more ↓

  • Ambergris

    Jeff VanderMeer2020

    This collection follows the history of a city built atop a subterranean race. It uses fake histories, journals, and detective noir.

    elegiac → dreamlike, still unreliable narrator

    pace0·prose+1·bleak-1

  • The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner

    James Hogg1824

    A religious fanatic becomes convinced he is predestined for salvation and commits crimes at the behest of a mysterious stranger.

    elegiac → cold, still psychological horror

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

  • Ghost Stories

    Henry James2001

    A collection of Victorian tales where the existence of ghosts is often left to the reader's interpretation.

    elegiac → meditative, still psychological horror

    pace0·prose+1·bleak-1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • To Sir Phillip, With Love

    Julia Quinn2003

    Eloise Bridgerton travels to meet a widowed baronet she has only known through letters. They consider a marriage of convenience.

    elegiac → warm

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3

  • Everything Beautiful in Its Time

    Jenna Bush Hager2020

    The author reflects on the lives and deaths of her grandparents, including a former President and First Lady. It is a series of personal essays.

    elegiac → warm

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-3

  • Love Comes Softly

    Janette Oke1979

    A widow on the 19th-century frontier enters a marriage of convenience with a widower to survive the winter and care for his daughter.

    elegiac → tender

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-3

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Intercepts

    T.J. Payne2020

    A worker at a government facility monitors human test subjects driven insane by sensory deprivation. The experiment enters his private life.

    elegiac → tense, still horror

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak0

  • Infected

    Bobby Adair

    A slow-acting virus turns the population into aggressive predators. The story follows a survivor navigating the initial societal collapse.

    elegiac → propulsive, still horror

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

  • The Undead Day One

    R.R. Haywood

    A supermarket manager attempts to survive the first twenty-four hours of a zombie outbreak in England. The story is told in real-time.

    elegiac → propulsive, still horror

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    elegiac → dreamlike, still unreliable narrator

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-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.

    elegiac → playful

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-3

  • 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.

    elegiac → playful

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-2