Fools

Dreaming in Smoke

Tricia Sullivan1999

On a colony planet, a technician tries to fix a failing AI that manages the oxygen supply and the colonists' shared virtual reality.

Same tense register, still cyberpunk

pace0·prose0·bleak0

Diaspora

Greg Egan1997

In the 30th century, a digital being is born into a society of software. When an astronomical disaster occurs, they seek a way to survive.

tense → elegiac, still cyberpunk

pace0·prose+1·bleak0

Red Spider White Web

Misha1990

In a corporate-owned wasteland, an artist survives by scavenging. The prose is dense and focuses on body modification and urban decay.

tense → dreamlike, still cyberpunk

pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

Nova Swing

M. John Harrison2006

In a city bordering a reality-warping zone, a travel agent and a detective deal with illegal artifacts. The prose is dense and non-linear.

tense → cold, still cyberpunk

pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

Vampires Are Forever

Lynsay Sands2008

A woman suspects her business partner is a vampire after he attempts to bite her. He tries to convince her they are fated mates.

tense → playful

pace0·prose-2·bleak-2

The Mane Event

Shelly Laurenston2007

A female cop reunites with a childhood friend who is now a lion-shifter. They navigate a romantic attraction while he pursues her in New York.

tense → playful

pace0·prose-2·bleak-2

Headcrash

Bruce Bethke1995

A computer programmer loses his job and enters a virtual reality underworld to seek revenge on the corporate elite. It is a satire of 1990s tech.

tense → sardonic, still cyberpunk

pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

Nexus

Ramez Naam2012

A scientist develops a nanotech drug that links minds and is hunted by government agencies. It is a high-speed global conspiracy thriller.

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

Freedom™

Daniel Suarez2010

An autonomous computer program reorganizes global society into a decentralized network. A group of rebels fights to maintain human agency.

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits

David Wong2015

A young woman inherits her estranged father's criminal empire in a lawless future city. She must survive assassins using high-tech gadgets.

tense → sardonic, still cyberpunk

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

For Us, the Living

Robert A. Heinlein2003

A 1930s pilot wakes up in the year 2086. The book consists of long dialogues explaining the social, economic, and sexual norms of the future.

tense → earnest

pace-2·prose-1·bleak-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.

tense → elegiac

pace-2·prose0·bleak-1

Kolyma tales

Varlam SHALAMOV1980

Short stories documenting daily life and survival in a Soviet labor camp. The prose is detached and focuses on the physical reality of starvation.

tense → clinical

pace-2·prose+1·bleak+1

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.

tense → bleak, still cyberpunk

pace0·prose0·bleak+1

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.

Same tense register, still cyberpunk

pace+1·prose0·bleak+1

Golem100

Alfred Bester1980

In a future city, a group of women accidentally summon a psychic monster that commits acts of extreme violence while investigators track it.

tense → sardonic, still cyberpunk

pace0·prose0·bleak+1