After
Godplayers
Damien Broderick2005
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
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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·prose-1·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Nova
Samuel R. Delany1968
A starship captain recruits a crew to fly into a collapsing sun to harvest rare fuel. It uses elements of the Grail myth in a space setting.
playful → propulsive, still cyberpunk
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Saturn's Children
Charles Stross2008
In a future where humans are extinct, an android courier transports a package across the solar system while being hunted by rival factions.
playful → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak0
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Schismatrix
Bruce Sterling1985
Abelard Lindsay travels the solar system as humanity splits into warring factions of cybernetic Mechanists and genetic Shapers.
playful → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
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Falcon
Emma Bull1989
A dispossessed prince becomes a star-pilot using a cybernetic enhancement drug that is killing him. He seeks revenge against those who took his world.
playful → tense, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
playful → dreamlike, still space opera
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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.
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
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Radiance
Catherynne M. Valente2015
A documentary filmmaker disappears on Venus in an alternate 1980s solar system. The story is told through scripts, interviews, and letters.
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
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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+1·bleak+1
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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+1·bleak+1
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Shadow & Claw
Gene Wolfe1983
A torturer travels across a far-future Earth where technology is indistinguishable from magic. He recounts his exile in dense, archaic prose.
playful → meditative
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To recover
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Murderbot Diaries
Martha Wells2023
A self-aware security android hacks its governor module to watch soap operas while protecting humans. It navigates corporate conspiracies.
playful → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose-2·bleak-1
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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.
Same playful register, still space opera
pace0·prose-2·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
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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.
playful → propulsive, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1
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Fifty Shades of Grey
E.L. James2000
A college student enters a sexual contract with a wealthy businessman. The story focuses on their power dynamics and BDSM encounters.
playful → earnest
pace0·prose-2·bleak-1
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Neon Gods
Katee Robert2021
In a modern city-state, Persephone flees an arranged marriage to Zeus by entering the underworld. She strikes a deal with Hades to stay there.
playful → tense
pace0·prose-2·bleak-1
Faster
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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, still space opera
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1
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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.
playful → propulsive, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
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The Stars My Destination
Alfred Bester1956
Gully Foyle is left for dead in space and spends years seeking revenge. He travels a future where humans can teleport using their minds.
playful → propulsive, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
- pace+1prose-2bleak-1
The Android's Dream
John Scalzi2006
A diplomat must find a specific, genetically engineered sheep to prevent an interstellar war. The story is a fast-paced, irreverent space comedy.
Same playful register, still space opera
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1
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Chilling Effect
Valerie Valdes2019
A spaceship captain completes dangerous missions to pay off a ransom for her kidnapped sister. The crew includes a pilot who is a sentient plant.
Same playful register, still space opera
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1
Slower
- pace-2prose+1bleak+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.
playful → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+1·bleak+1
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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
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3 more ↓ ↑
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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
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Dandelion Wine
Ray Bradbury1946
A twelve-year-old boy experiences a series of vignettes over one summer in 1928 Illinois. The chapters focus on small-town life and aging.
playful → elegiac
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For Us, the Living
Robert A. Heinlein2003
A 1930s pilot wakes up in the year 2086. The book consists of long dialogues explaining the social, economic, and sexual norms of the future.
playful → earnest
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Heavier
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Consider Phlebas
Iain Banks1987
A shape-shifting mercenary works for an alien empire to retrieve a rogue AI during a galactic war. He faces a series of deadly set-pieces.
playful → bleak, still space opera
pace0·prose0·bleak+2
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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·prose-1·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
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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·prose-1·bleak+2
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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·prose0·bleak+2
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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·prose0·bleak+2
