Dreamfall

Void Star

Zachary Mason2017

Three people navigate a future of rising seas and AI. One has an artificial memory, one is a refugee, and one is a corporate fixer.

Same meditative register, still cyberpunk

pace0·prose0·bleak0

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.

meditative → dreamlike

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.

Same meditative register, still science fiction

pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

Rakesfall

Vajra Chandrasekera2024

Two souls reincarnate across centuries of Sri Lankan history and a distant future. The narrative shifts through different bodies and realities.

meditative → dreamlike

pace0·prose+1·bleak0

It Happened One Summer

Tessa Bailey2021

A socialite is sent to a small fishing town to run a dive bar. She enters a relationship with a local sea captain who doubts her competence.

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

Bitten & Smitten

Michelle Rowen2006

Sarah is accidentally turned into a vampire and must rely on a grumpy, centuries-old vampire to teach her how to survive.

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

Fugitive Telemetry

Martha Wells2021

A security android discovers a dead body on a space station and must work with human authorities to solve the murder without being blamed.

meditative → sardonic, still science fiction

pace+1·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.

meditative → tense, still cyberpunk

pace+2·prose0·bleak+1

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.

meditative → propulsive, still cyberpunk

pace+2·prose-2·bleak0

The Lake House

James Patterson

A veterinarian and an FBI agent protect six genetically engineered children who can fly. They are pursued by a global conspiracy.

meditative → propulsive, still science fiction

pace+2·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.

Same meditative register

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.

meditative → playful

pace-1·prose+1·bleak-2

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.

meditative → playful

pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

Dr. Adder

K. W. Jeter1984

In a broken future Los Angeles, a surgeon performs extreme genital modifications for a subculture of outcasts.

meditative → cynical, still cyberpunk

pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1

Hard to be a god

Аркадий Стругацкий2014

An observer from a technologically advanced Earth lives undercover on a planet stuck in a medieval state. He must watch atrocities without helping.

meditative → bleak, still science fiction

pace0·prose0·bleak+1

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.

meditative → sardonic, still cyberpunk

pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1