LitQueuelitqueue

After

Everville

Clive Barker1994

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • Annihilation

    Jeff VanderMeer2014

    Four women explore a coastal zone where nature has mutated into strange forms. The biologist narrator records her growing detachment.

    Same dreamlike register, still cosmic horror

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Denser prose

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  • Blood on the dining-room floor

    Gertrude Stein1948

    A repetitive, circular narrative about a death in a country house. It uses experimental prose to obscure the facts of a traditional mystery.

    dreamlike → playful

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak-1

  • The Doves Necklace

    Raja Alem2014

    A detective investigates an unidentified woman's body found in a Mecca alleyway. The city itself narrates parts of the story.

    Same dreamlike register

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

  • American Psycho

    Bret Easton Ellis1991

    A wealthy investment banker details his daily routines, consumer habits, and graphic murders. The narrative is cold and repetitive.

    dreamlike → cold

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To recover

dreamlike → playful

3 more ↓

  • Rock Me

    Cherrie Lynn2010

    Candace visits her cousin's ex-boyfriend for a tattoo and begins a sexual relationship with him. The story focuses on their physical chemistry.

    dreamlike → tender

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  • The One Night Stand Before Christmas

    Jana Aston

    A woman has a one-night stand with a man she later discovers is her new boss during the holiday season.

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  • Here Be Sexist Vampires

    Suzanne Wright2013

    A female vampire enters a male-dominated pack and challenges their hierarchy while being pursued by their leader.

    dreamlike → sardonic

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Faster

dreamlike → propulsive

3 more ↓

  • Behind Closed Doors

    B.A. Paris2016

    A woman is held captive by her husband in a high-security home. She must find a way to escape before her sister moves in with them.

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Kiss the Girls

    James Patterson1995

    Detective Alex Cross tracks two serial killers operating on opposite coasts who are communicating and competing with one another.

    dreamlike → tense

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  • Verity

    Colleen Hoover2018

    A ghostwriter moves into a secluded estate to finish a series for an injured author and finds a hidden, disturbing autobiography.

    dreamlike → tense

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak0

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.

    Same dreamlike register

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak0

  • 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.

    dreamlike → playful

    pace-2·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.

    dreamlike → playful

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak-1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • In Cold Blood

    Truman Capote1965

    A reconstruction of the 1959 murder of a Kansas family and the subsequent investigation. It follows both the victims and the killers.

    dreamlike → clinical

    pace-1·prose0·bleak+1

  • Lord of the Flies

    William Golding1954

    Schoolboys are stranded on an island and try to organize a society. Order collapses into tribalism and violence.

    dreamlike → tense

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

  • Shutter Island

    Dennis Lehane2003

    dreamlike → tense

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1