After
For Us, the Living
Robert A. Heinlein2003
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
4 of 6 directions open — nothing to recover from, nothing slower
More like it
- pace0prose+1bleak0
Looking Backward
Edward Bellamy2007
A 19th-century man falls into a deep sleep and wakes up in the year 2000. He discovers a socialist utopia where all industry is nationalized.
Same earnest register, still sci-fi
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
- pace+1prose0bleak0
Ecotopia
Ernest Callenbach1975
A journalist visits the Pacific Northwest, which has seceded to form an ecological society. He records their social and technical innovations.
Same earnest register, still utopian
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Mizora
Mary E. Bradley Lane1890
A Russian noblewoman escapes Siberian exile and discovers an all-female civilization at the North Pole. It is a detailed utopian travelogue.
Same earnest register, still utopian
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace+1prose0bleak+1
Time and Again
Jack Finney1970
An artist is recruited by the government to travel to 1882 New York via self-hypnosis. He must observe the past without altering it.
Same earnest register, still fish out of water
pace+1·prose0·bleak+1
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose0bleak+1
Summer of Love
Lisa Mason1994
A time traveler from a sterile future arrives in 1967 San Francisco. He observes the hippie movement while searching for a specific girl.
Same earnest register, still fish out of water
pace+1·prose0·bleak+1
Denser prose
- pace+1prose+2bleak+2
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.
earnest → sardonic
pace+1·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace0prose+2bleak+2
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.
earnest → dreamlike
pace0·prose+2·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose+2bleak+2
Valis
Philip K. Dick1981
A man experiences a beam of pink light that imparts vast information. The narrative explores his mental breakdown and search for God in California.
earnest → meditative
pace+1·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace+1prose+2bleak+2
Shadow & Claw
Gene Wolfe1983
A torturer travels across a far-future Earth where technology is indistinguishable from magic. He recounts his exile in dense, archaic prose.
earnest → meditative
pace+1·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace+1prose+2bleak+2
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.
earnest → dreamlike
pace+1·prose+2·bleak+2
Faster
- pace+3prose-1bleak0
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
earnest → wry
pace+3·prose-1·bleak0
- pace+3prose-1bleak0
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.
earnest → propulsive
pace+3·prose-1·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+3prose-1bleak0
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.
earnest → wry
pace+3·prose-1·bleak0
- pace+3prose-1bleak+1
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.
earnest → propulsive
pace+3·prose-1·bleak+1
- pace+3prose-1bleak0
The Kaiju Preservation Society
John Scalzi2022
A food delivery driver joins a secret organization that travels to an alternate Earth to care for massive, dinosaur-like creatures.
earnest → playful
pace+3·prose-1·bleak0
Heavier
earnest → bleak, still sci-fi
- pace+1prose0bleak+3
Make Room! Make Room!
Harry Harrison1966
A detective investigates a murder in a 1999 New York City suffering from extreme overpopulation, food riots, and resource exhaustion.
pace+1·prose0·bleak+3
- pace+1prose+1bleak+3
Guernica Night
Barry N. Malzberg1975
In a future where suicide is a social norm, a man navigates a society obsessed with death. The prose is dense and repetitive.
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose+1bleak+3
Coelestis
Paul Park1993
A human diplomat and a surgically altered native woman navigate a colonized planet. The story focuses on identity and forced biological change.
earnest → dreamlike, still sci-fi
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+3
- pace+1prose+1bleak+3
The Handmaid's Tale
Margaret Atwood1985
In a totalitarian state with a plummeting birth rate, a woman is enslaved as a reproductive vessel. She records her daily life and memories.
earnest → cold
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+3
- pace+1prose0bleak+3
Doomsday Book
Connie Willis1992
A student travels to 14th-century England while a virus spreads in the present. She arrives during the Black Death due to a technical error.
earnest → bleak, still fish out of water
pace+1·prose0·bleak+3
