After
Frek and the Elixir
Rudy Rucker2004
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing to recover from
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak+1
Steel Beach
John Varley1992
A journalist on a colonized Moon investigates why the governing AI is ignoring a rise in suicide. It features frequent body-swapping and cynicism.
playful → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
- pace0prose0bleak0
Roadmarks
Roger Zelazny1979
A man drives a literal road that connects all of history and alternate timelines. He is being hunted by assassins hired by his own son.
Same playful register, still quest
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Running from the Deity
Alan Dean Foster2005
An empathic traveler and his flying snake land on a primitive planet to investigate an ancient threat to the galaxy.
Same playful register, still chosen one
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak+1
Take Back Plenty
Colin Greenland1990
A freelance pilot and her sentient ship get caught between alien mysteries and corporate interests in a colorful, crowded solar system.
Same playful register, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak+1
Star Wars - Fate of the Jedi - Abyss
Troy Denning2009
Luke and Ben Skywalker travel to the Maw Cluster to find the Mind Walkers. They seek the truth behind Jacen Solo's fall to the dark side.
playful → tense, still quest
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
Denser prose
- pace-1prose+2bleak+2
Sometimes a Great Notion
Ken Kesey1964
A family of independent loggers in Oregon refuses to join a local strike. The perspective shifts rapidly between characters, often mid-paragraph.
playful → elegiac
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace-1prose+2bleak+2
VAS
Steve Tomasula2002
A man considers a vasectomy while the book uses diagrams and varied typography to explore the history of eugenics and biotechnology.
playful → clinical, still cyberpunk
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+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.
playful → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2
- 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.
playful → sardonic
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2
- 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.
playful → meditative
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2
Faster
playful → propulsive, still cyberpunk
- pace+1prose-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.
pace+1·prose-1·bleak0
- pace+1prose-1bleak+2
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-1·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-1bleak0
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
playful → wry
pace+1·prose-1·bleak0
- pace+1prose+1bleak+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.
playful → wry, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace+1prose-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.
playful → wry
pace+1·prose-1·bleak0
Slower
- pace-2prose+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.
playful → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace-2prose+2bleak+1
Invisible Cities
Italo Calvino1972
Marco Polo describes fifty-five imaginary cities to Kublai Khan. The book is a series of short, prose-poem meditations on urban existence.
playful → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+2bleak+1
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.
playful → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
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.
Same playful register
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-2prose+2bleak+1
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.
Same playful register
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
Heavier
- pace0prose0bleak+3
Dr. Adder
K. W. Jeter1984
In a broken future Los Angeles, a surgeon performs extreme genital modifications for a subculture of outcasts.
playful → cynical, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak+3
- pace0prose0bleak+3
Market Forces
Richard K. Morgan2004
In a future where executives duel in armored cars for promotions, Chris Faulkner joins a firm that profits from civil wars. It is a corporate satire.
playful → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak+3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+1bleak+3
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.
playful → bleak, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose+1·bleak+3
- pace+1prose+1bleak+3
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.
playful → tense, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+3
- pace0prose+1bleak+3
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.
playful → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose+1·bleak+3