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After

Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits

David Wong2015

5 of 6 directions open — nothing faster

More like it

Same sardonic register, still cyberpunk

1 more ↓

  • Immortality, Inc.

    Robert Sheckley1959

    A man dies in a car crash and wakes up in the future, where his mind has been placed into a stranger's body. He navigates a world of body-trading.

    sardonic → satirical, still cyberpunk

    pace-1·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • Naked Lunch: The Restored Text

    William S. Burroughs

    A series of nonlinear vignettes follow a drug addict's hallucinations and travels. The prose is fragmented and satirical.

    Same sardonic register, still satire

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+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.

    sardonic → clinical, still cyberpunk

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1

  • 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.

    sardonic → dreamlike

    pace-3·prose+2·bleak+1

To recover

Same sardonic register, still cyberpunk

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    sardonic → playful, still satire

    pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • 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.

    sardonic → propulsive, still cyberpunk

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Year zero

    Reid, Robert2012

    Aliens discover that Earth's music is the best in the galaxy and they owe humanity trillions in copyright fines.

    sardonic → playful, still satire

    pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1

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.

    sardonic → meditative

    pace-3·prose+2·bleak0

  • 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.

    sardonic → playful

    pace-3·prose+2·bleak-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.

    sardonic → playful

    pace-3·prose+2·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • The Stepford Wives

    Ira Levin1972

    A photographer moves to a suburb where the wives are unnervingly submissive. She investigates whether the local men are replacing them with robots.

    sardonic → tense, still satire

    pace-1·prose0·bleak+2

  • Cat's Cradle

    Kurt Vonnegut1963

    A writer researches the creator of the atomic bomb and discovers a substance that freezes all water. He joins an island cult.

    Same sardonic register, still satire

    pace-1·prose0·bleak+2

  • Chain-Gang All-Stars

    Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah2023

    Prisoners in a private American penal system fight to the death in televised matches for a chance at freedom.

    sardonic → bleak, still satire

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2