LitQueuelitqueue

After

Flashback

Dan Simmons2011

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • The Body Library

    Jeff Noon2018

    A detective in a city built on stories investigates a murder where words become physical. He experiences the world through shifting narratives.

    bleak → dreamlike, still noir

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

bleak → sardonic, still dystopian

3 more ↓

  • City of Saints and Madmen

    Jeff Vandermeer2001

    A collection of stories, histories, and pamphlets about the city of Ambergris. It uses found documents to build a surreal urban history.

    bleak → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

  • Empty Space

    M. John Harrison2012

    Three interlocking timelines follow a widow in London, a detective in a neon city, and a pilot in deep space. The prose is dense and surreal.

    bleak → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+1·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.

    bleak → dreamlike

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak0

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.

    bleak → warm

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-2

  • All Rhodes Lead Here

    Mariana Zapata2021

    A woman moves back to her Colorado hometown after a breakup and rents a garage apartment from a grumpy single father.

    bleak → warm

    pace-1·prose-2·bleak-2

  • Hannah's List

    Debbie Macomber2010

    A widower receives a letter from his late wife suggesting three women he should date. He begins to interact with each woman over the following year.

    bleak → warm

    pace-1·prose-2·bleak-2

Faster

bleak → propulsive, still cyberpunk

3 more ↓

  • 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·bleak0

  • Get Jiro!

    Anthony Bourdain2012

    In a future Los Angeles, master chefs rule as warlords. A sushi chef who kills rude customers is caught between two warring food factions.

    bleak → sardonic, still dystopian

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

  • The Martian

    Andy Weir2011

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

    bleak → wry

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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-1

  • Translated Accounts

    James Kelman2001

    Anonymous witnesses describe life under a military regime. The prose uses broken, bureaucratic syntax to mimic a literal translation.

    Same bleak register, still dystopian

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Stand on Zanzibar

    John Brunner1968

    A fragmented portrait of an overpopulated 2010. The story uses news feeds and slogans to track a spy and a student in a corporate-run world.

    bleak → sardonic, still cyberpunk

    pace-1·prose0·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    Same bleak register, still cyberpunk

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

  • Noir

    K. W. Jeter1998

    An investigator navigates a corporate-owned city where people trade in simulated experiences and legal technicalities.

    bleak → sardonic, still cyberpunk

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

  • 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.

    Same bleak register, still cyberpunk

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1