After
Heathern
Jack Womack1990
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing heavier
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak-1
The Jagged Orbit
John Brunner1969
In a segregated future US, a media personality and a psychic navigate a society controlled by arms dealers. The story uses fragmented perspectives.
Same sardonic register, still dystopian
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
- pace0prose-1bleak0
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.
Same sardonic register, still dystopian
pace0·prose-1·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
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.
sardonic → bleak, still dystopian
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace-1prose0bleak-1
The Gold Coast
Kim Stanley Robinson1988
In a future Orange County covered in concrete, a young man drifts through parties before joining an anti-war sabotage group.
Same sardonic register, still dystopian
pace-1·prose0·bleak-1
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
Analog/Virtual and Other Simulations of Your Future
Lavanya Lakshminarayan2020
A mosaic of stories set in a future Bangalore where social status is tied to technological productivity. Citizens are ranked by their digital merit.
Same sardonic register, still dystopian
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
Denser prose
- pace-1prose+1bleak-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+1·bleak-1
- pace-1prose+1bleak-1
Infinite Jest
David Foster Wallace1996
A sprawling narrative centered on a tennis academy, a halfway house, and a lethal film. The text includes hundreds of pages of detailed endnotes.
Same sardonic register, still dystopian
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak-1
Against the Day
Thomas Pynchon2006
A massive ensemble cast navigates the globe between the 1893 World's Fair and WWI. The plot spans airships, math, and secret societies.
sardonic → playful
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace-1prose+1bleak0
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 dystopian
pace-1·prose+1·bleak0
- pace-1prose+1bleak-1
Return to the Whorl
Gene Wolfe2001
A man returns to his home planet on a small spacecraft to find his family. The story is told through his complex, often confusing journals.
sardonic → elegiac
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
To recover
- pace+1prose-2bleak-3
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
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3
- pace+1prose-2bleak-3
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.
sardonic → propulsive
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose-2bleak-3
Starter Villain
John Scalzi2023
A substitute teacher inherits his uncle's secret supervillain business, including a volcano lair and talking cats.
sardonic → wry
pace0·prose-2·bleak-3
- pace0prose-2bleak-3
The Sentinel
Lee Child2020
A drifter helps an IT manager targeted by criminals after a cyberattack. He uses physical force to protect the man and uncover a conspiracy.
sardonic → propulsive
pace0·prose-2·bleak-3
- pace+1prose-2bleak-3
Artemis
Andy Weir2017
A porter and smuggler on a lunar colony takes a high-stakes sabotage job to pay off a debt. She uses technical knowledge to solve problems.
sardonic → propulsive
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3
Faster
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
The Long Run
Daniel Keys Moran1989
A genetically engineered outlaw with the ability to interface with computers runs from a global police force. He attempts a final heist.
sardonic → propulsive, still dystopian
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-2bleak-3
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
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-2bleak-1
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.
sardonic → propulsive, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-2bleak-2
Get Jiro!
Anthony Bourdain2012
In a future Los Angeles, master chefs rule as warlords. A sushi chef who kills rude customers is caught between two warring food factions.
Same sardonic register, still dystopian
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-2bleak-3
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
sardonic → wry
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3
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.
sardonic → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace-2prose+1bleak-2
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.
sardonic → meditative
pace-2·prose+1·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose0bleak-1
Stand on Zanzibar
John Brunner1968
A fragmented portrait of an overpopulated 2010. The story uses news feeds and slogans to track a spy and a student in a corporate-run world.
Same sardonic register, still dystopian
pace-1·prose0·bleak-1
- pace-2prose+1bleak-2
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+1·bleak-2
- pace-2prose+1bleak0
Translated Accounts
James Kelman2001
Anonymous witnesses describe life under a military regime. The prose uses broken, bureaucratic syntax to mimic a literal translation.
sardonic → bleak, still dystopian
pace-2·prose+1·bleak0
