LitQueuelitqueue

After

Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse

Victor Gischler2008

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • The Space Merchants

    Frederik Pohl1952

    An advertising executive in a corporate-run future struggles to maintain his status while marketing a colony on Venus.

    Same sardonic register, still satire

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

Denser prose

Same sardonic register, still satire

3 more ↓

  • 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-2·prose+3·bleak+1

  • 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.

    Same sardonic register

    pace-1·prose+3·bleak+1

  • 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.

    sardonic → meditative

    pace-1·prose+3·bleak+1

To recover

sardonic → playful, still satire

3 more ↓

  • Sharps

    Tom Holt2012

    Two fencers from warring nations are sent on a diplomatic mission. They navigate bureaucratic absurdity and political maneuvering with dry humor.

    sardonic → wry

    pace0·prose+1·bleak-1

  • Spondulix: A Romance of Hoboken

    Paul Di Filippo2003

    A sandwich shop owner in Hoboken deals with a local currency scheme and strange occurrences. It is a satirical look at urban life.

    pace0·prose+2·bleak-1

  • A Confederacy of Dunces

    John Kennedy Toole1980

    An eccentric, misanthropic man living with his mother in New Orleans is forced to find a job. He encounters various local subcultures.

    pace0·prose+2·bleak-1

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits

    David Wong2015

    A young woman inherits her estranged father's criminal empire in a lawless future city. She must survive assassins using high-tech gadgets.

    Same sardonic register, still satire

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak0

  • Equations of Life

    Simon Morden2011

    A Russian physics student in a post-apocalyptic London gets caught between warring factions. It is a fast-paced cyberpunk thriller.

    sardonic → propulsive, still post-apocalyptic

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Slaughtermatic

    Steve Aylett1998

    A bank heist goes wrong when a time-traveling version of the protagonist appears in the vault. Reality and virtual simulations begin to blur.

    Same sardonic register, still satire

    pace+1·prose+2·bleak0

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-2·prose+3·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-2·prose+3·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-2·prose+3·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • On the Beach

    Nevil Shute1957

    Survivors in Australia wait for a lethal radiation cloud to arrive after a nuclear war. They spend their final months in quiet, domestic routines.

    sardonic → elegiac, still post-apocalyptic

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2

  • 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

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+2

  • The Walking Dead: Compendium One

    Robert Kirkman2009

    A sheriff wakes from a coma into a zombie apocalypse. He leads a group of survivors through various temporary shelters over several years.

    sardonic → bleak, still post-apocalyptic

    pace0·prose0·bleak+2