Foundation and Earth

Falling Free

Lois McMaster Bujold1988

An engineer discovers a corporation has genetically engineered four-armed children for zero-gravity labor. He decides to lead their escape.

pace+1·prose+1·bleak0

Perhaps the Stars

Ada Palmer2021

A global war between ideological factions reaches its conclusion. The story is told through a dense, 18th-century style narrative voice.

earnest → meditative, still space opera

pace+1·prose+3·bleak+1

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.

earnest → dreamlike, still space opera

pace0·prose+3·bleak+1

Echopraxia

Peter Watts2014

A biologist is caught on a mission toward the sun alongside a pilot and a group of transhuman monks. It explores consciousness and evolution.

earnest → bleak, still hard sci-fi

pace0·prose+3·bleak+2

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.

earnest → playful, still space opera

pace+1·prose0·bleak-1

Starplex

Robert J. Sawyer1996

The crew of a research vessel investigates a mysterious ship and the origins of a network of artificial wormholes.

Same earnest register, still space opera

pace+1·prose+1·bleak-1

Red thunder

John Varley2004

A group of friends builds a makeshift spacecraft from old tanker cars. They attempt to beat a government-funded mission to Mars.

Same earnest register, still space opera

pace+1·prose+1·bleak-1

The Star Wars Trilogy

George Lucas2018

A farm boy joins a rebellion against a galactic empire. He learns to use a mystical force under the guidance of an exiled knight.

Same earnest register, still space opera

pace+2·prose+1·bleak0

Red Rising

Pierce Brown2014

A laborer on Mars discovers his caste is being lied to and undergoes surgery to infiltrate the ruling elite. He joins a brutal war games academy.

earnest → propulsive, still space opera

pace+2·prose+1·bleak+1

Accelerando

Charles Stross2005

Three generations of a family navigate the rapid evolution of technology toward a singularity. The pace accelerates as humanity is outpaced by AI.

earnest → wry, still hard sci-fi

pace+2·prose+2·bleak0

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.

earnest → meditative

pace-1·prose+3·bleak0

White Mars, or, The mind set free

Brian W. Aldiss1999

A group of scientists and thinkers attempts to establish a utopian society on Mars after Earth is cut off by a global catastrophe.

Same earnest register, still hard sci-fi

pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1

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.

earnest → playful

pace-1·prose+3·bleak-1

Flood

Stephen Baxter2008

The sea level rises globally due to water leaking from the Earth's crust. Four former hostages watch as civilization slowly drowns over decades.

earnest → clinical, still hard sci-fi

pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2

Echopraxia

Peter Watts2014

A biologist is caught on a mission toward the sun alongside a pilot and a group of transhuman monks. It explores consciousness and evolution.

earnest → bleak, still hard sci-fi

pace0·prose+3·bleak+2

Beyond the Aquila Rift

Alastair Reynolds2001

A spaceship crew wakes from cold sleep to find they have overshot their destination by light-years. They must face the reality of their location.

earnest → bleak, still hard sci-fi

pace+1·prose+2·bleak+2