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Edgar Allan Poe Stories [27 stories, 8 poems]

Edgar Allan Poe1961

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  • The Case of Charles Dexter Ward

    H.P. Lovecraft1965

    A young man becomes obsessed with an 18th-century ancestor who practiced alchemy. He physically transforms as he uncovers family secrets.

    bleak → tense, still gothic

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

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.

    bleak → dreamlike, still unreliable narrator

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

  • Gormenghast

    Mervyn Peake1950

    A young heir and a social climber navigate the rigid rituals of a decaying, labyrinthine castle. The prose is dense and descriptive.

    bleak → dark, still gothic

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Wieland and Memoirs of Carwin the Biloquist

    Charles Brockden Brown2009

    A religious man hears mysterious voices that drive him toward violence and madness. It is an early American gothic told through letters.

    bleak → tense, still unreliable narrator

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • The Da Vinci Code

    Dan Brown2003

    A symbologist and a cryptologist flee the police while solving puzzles hidden in art. They search for a secret regarding the Holy Grail.

    bleak → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2

  • Fifty Shades of Grey

    E.L. James2000

    A college student enters a sexual contract with a wealthy businessman. The story focuses on their power dynamics and BDSM encounters.

    bleak → earnest

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

  • The Martian

    Andy Weir2011

    A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.

    bleak → wry

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2

Faster

3 more ↓

  • The Rising

    Brian Keene2003

    A father travels across an apocalypse where the dead are possessed by malevolent, intelligent demons. The world is ending permanently.

    Same bleak register

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak+1

  • Shattered

    Dean Koontz1973

    A man and his future stepson drive across America while being stalked by the woman's vengeful ex-husband.

    bleak → tense

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

  • The Executioner

    Chris Carter2010

    A Los Angeles detective hunts a serial killer who murders victims using their specific phobias. Each crime scene features a blood-scrawled number.

    bleak → tense

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak0

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    bleak → 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.

    bleak → playful

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

  • The Conspiracy Against the Human Race

    Thomas Ligotti2010

    A series of philosophical essays arguing that human consciousness is a tragic evolutionary accident. It posits that non-existence is preferable.

    Same bleak register, still cosmic horror

    pace-1·prose0·bleak+1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • The Terror

    Dan Simmons2007

    Two British ships searching for the Northwest Passage in 1845 become trapped in ice and are hunted by a creature.

    Same bleak register, still cosmic horror

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

  • The Lottery

    Shirley Jackson1983

    Villagers gather for an annual ritual in a small town. The story follows the procedural steps of a lottery that ends in a public execution.

    bleak → cold, still gothic

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1

  • The Monk

    Matthew Gregory Lewis

    A celebrated monk is seduced by a woman in disguise and descends into a cycle of rape, murder, and sorcery. He eventually makes a pact with Satan.

    Same bleak register, still gothic

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+1