After
Glimpse
Jonathan Maberry2018
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
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The Servants of Twilight
Leigh Nichols
A mother and her young son flee from a fanatical religious cult that believes the boy is the Antichrist.
Same propulsive register, still supernatural thriller
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Mister Magic
Kiersten White2023
The surviving cast of a 1990s children's show reunites at a remote filming location. They try to remember a fatal accident they have suppressed.
propulsive → tense, still psychological horror
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Just Like Mother
Anne Heltzel2022
A woman reunites with a cousin she escaped from a cult with as a child. She discovers her cousin's new life is built on a different kind of cult.
propulsive → tense, still psychological horror
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Necroscope
Brian Lumley1988
A man who can speak to the dead is recruited into a psychic spy war. Meanwhile, a Russian agent learns necromancy from a buried vampire.
Same propulsive register
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1 more ↓ ↑
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Feed
Mira Grant
Two bloggers follow a presidential campaign twenty years after a zombie outbreak. They uncover a conspiracy while reporting on the trail.
Same propulsive register
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Denser prose
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House of Leaves
Mark Z. Danielewski1998
A man finds a door in his house that should not exist. The story is told through layers of academic footnotes and a decaying manuscript.
propulsive → dreamlike, still psychological horror
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Ambergris
Jeff VanderMeer2020
This collection follows the history of a city built atop a subterranean race. It uses fake histories, journals, and detective noir.
propulsive → dreamlike
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3 more ↓ ↑
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The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner
James Hogg1824
A religious fanatic becomes convinced he is predestined for salvation and commits crimes at the behest of a mysterious stranger.
propulsive → cold, still psychological horror
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Ghost Stories
Henry James2001
A collection of Victorian tales where the existence of ghosts is often left to the reader's interpretation.
propulsive → meditative, still psychological horror
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Edgar Allen Poe (Black Cat / Cask of Amontillado / Fall of the House of Usher / Gold Bug / Metzengerstein / Murders in the Rue Morgue / Narrative of Arthur Gordn Pym / Never Bet the Devil Your Head / Pit and the Pendulum / Purloined Letter / Tell-Tale Heart)
Edgar Allan Poe2005
A collection of gothic stories and a novel. Narrators deal with psychological collapse, premature burial, and macabre crimes.
propulsive → bleak
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
To recover
- pace0prose-1bleak-2
Play
Kylie Scott2014
A drummer for a famous rock band hires a woman to pose as his girlfriend to improve his public image. They live together to sell the lie.
propulsive → playful
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Final Offer
Lauren Asher2023
An alcoholic heir returns to his family's lake house to secure his inheritance. He finds his ex-girlfriend living there with a child he never knew.
propulsive → earnest
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3 more ↓ ↑
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Thoughtful
S.C. Stephens2015
Kellan Kyle falls for his best friend's girlfriend, Anna. The story retells the events of Thoughtless from Kellan's perspective.
propulsive → earnest
pace0·prose-1·bleak-2
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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.
propulsive → playful
pace0·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
The Da Vinci Code
Dan Brown2003
A symbologist and a cryptologist flee the police while solving puzzles hidden in art. They search for a secret regarding the Holy Grail.
Same propulsive register
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
Faster
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Creepers
David Morrell2005
Five urban explorers break into a long-abandoned hotel in New Jersey and find themselves trapped with a killer.
propulsive → tense
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
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Patient Zero
Jonathan Maberry2009
A detective joins a secret government task force to stop a terrorist group using a bio-weapon that reanimates the dead. It is an action thriller.
Same propulsive register
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
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The Rising
Brian Keene2003
A father travels across an apocalypse where the dead are possessed by malevolent, intelligent demons. The world is ending permanently.
propulsive → bleak
pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1
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Shattered
Dean Koontz1973
A man and his future stepson drive across America while being stalked by the woman's vengeful ex-husband.
propulsive → tense
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
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The Executioner
Chris Carter2010
A Los Angeles detective hunts a serial killer who murders victims using their specific phobias. Each crime scene features a blood-scrawled number.
propulsive → tense
pace+1·prose-1·bleak0
Slower
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
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.
propulsive → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-2prose+2bleak-2
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.
propulsive → playful
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
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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.
propulsive → playful
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Absalom, Absalom!
William Faulkner1936
The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.
propulsive → elegiac
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Either/Or
Søren Kierkegaard1992
A collection of papers presents two life philosophies: the aesthetic pursuit of pleasure and the ethical commitment to duty.
propulsive → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1
Heavier
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Zombie
Joyce Carol Oates1995
A serial killer keeps a diary of his attempts to create a lobotomized slave. The prose mimics his fractured, clinical thought process.
propulsive → clinical, still psychological horror
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A Head Full of Ghosts
Paul G. Tremblay2015
A camera crew films a family whose daughter exhibits signs of possession. The story is told through the sister's memory and the footage.
propulsive → tense, still psychological horror
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
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Silent Children
Ramsey Campbell2000
A man discovers his father may have been a child killer, leading him into a confrontation with the past and a current threat.
propulsive → bleak, still psychological horror
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
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Nona
Stephen King2016
A hitchhiker and a woman named Nona go on a violent killing spree across Maine. The narrator recounts the events from a jail cell.
propulsive → bleak, still psychological horror
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
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Penpal
Dathan Auerbach2012
A man reconstructs his childhood by investigating a series of disconnected, disturbing memories. The story originated as online horror fiction.
propulsive → tense, still psychological horror
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
