After
Elvissey
Jack Womack1993
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing heavier
More like it
Same bleak register, still cyberpunk
- pace0prose0bleak0
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.
pace0·prose0·bleak0
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Demons
John Shirley2002
In a near-future setting, seven clans of monstrous entities harvest humans for pain. It follows survivors navigating an apocalyptic landscape.
pace0·prose0·bleak0
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Tomorrow and Tomorrow
Thomas Sweterlitsch2014
In a future where Pittsburgh was destroyed, a man investigates a murder using a digital archive of the city. He discovers data is being deleted.
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak-1
Graft
Matt Hill2016
In a near-future Manchester, a car thief finds a woman with a mechanical arm. They are hunted through a landscape of body modification and crime.
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
1 more ↓ ↑
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Watchmen
Alan Moore1986
Retired masked vigilantes investigate the murder of a former teammate. The story takes place in an alternate 1985 on the brink of nuclear war.
Same bleak register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
bleak → dreamlike, still alternate history
- pace-1prose+1bleak-1
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.
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace-1prose+1bleak-1
All Those Vanished Engines
Paul Park2014
Three linked stories follow the Park family through an alternate history where the American Civil War ended in a two-nation settlement.
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak-1
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.
bleak → sardonic
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace-1prose+1bleak-1
VAS
Steve Tomasula2002
A man considers a vasectomy while the book uses diagrams and varied typography to explore the history of eugenics and biotechnology.
bleak → clinical, still cyberpunk
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace-2prose+1bleak-1
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.
bleak → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+1·bleak-1
To recover
- pace+1prose-2bleak-3
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.
bleak → propulsive, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3
- pace0prose-2bleak-3
Murderbot Diaries
Martha Wells2023
A self-aware security android hacks its governor module to watch soap operas while protecting humans. It navigates corporate conspiracies.
bleak → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose-2·bleak-3
3 more ↓ ↑
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The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible
A.J. Jacobs
A journalist spends one year attempting to follow every rule and commandment in the Bible as literally as possible.
bleak → playful
pace0·prose-2·bleak-3
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Redshirts
John Scalzi2012
Low-ranking crew members on a starship realize they are disposable characters in a sci-fi television show. They attempt to escape their fate.
bleak → playful
pace0·prose-2·bleak-3
- pace+1prose-2bleak-3
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+1·prose-2·bleak-3
Faster
bleak → propulsive, still cyberpunk
- pace+1prose-2bleak-3
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.
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3
- pace+1prose-2bleak-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.
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-2bleak-3
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
bleak → wry
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3
- pace+1prose-2bleak-3
All Systems Red
Martha Wells2017
A self-aware security android hacks its own governor module to watch soap operas while protecting a team of scientists on a distant planet.
bleak → wry
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3
- pace+1prose-2bleak-2
Skin Game
Jim Butcher2014
Wizard Harry Dresden joins a team of villains to rob a vault in the Underworld. It is a fast-paced heist set in a modern fantasy Chicago.
bleak → propulsive
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2
Slower
- pace-2prose+1bleak-1
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.
bleak → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace-2prose+1bleak-2
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.
bleak → meditative
pace-2·prose+1·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+1bleak-2
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.
bleak → meditative
pace-2·prose+1·bleak-2
- pace-2prose0bleak-2
Hav
Jan Morris2006
A travel writer describes the culture and history of a fictional Mediterranean city-state before and after a massive political upheaval.
bleak → elegiac, still alternate history
pace-2·prose0·bleak-2
- pace-2prose+1bleak-3
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-2·prose+1·bleak-3
