After
Hell Divers
Nicholas Sansbury Smith2016
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing faster
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak0
The remaining
D. J Molles2014
A soldier emerges from a bunker into a world where a bacterium has turned most people into predators. He attempts to find survivors.
Same tense register, still post-apocalyptic
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose+1bleak0
Lines of Departure
Marko Kloos2014
An officer fights an interstellar war against alien giants while Earth collapses into poverty. It follows military campaigns across space.
Same tense register, still military sci-fi
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
- pace-1prose+1bleak0
Final blackout
L. Ron Hubbard1948
A British officer leads a small unit through a war-ravaged Europe to reclaim England. He rules with absolute authority in a lawless landscape.
tense → bleak, still post-apocalyptic
pace-1·prose+1·bleak0
- pace-1prose0bleak0
Day by Day Armageddon
J.L. Bourne2009
A naval officer records his daily survival in a handwritten journal during a zombie outbreak. He secures his home and scavenges for supplies.
Same tense register, still military sci-fi
pace-1·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak0
Earth Afire
Orson Scott Card2013
During an alien invasion, a mechanic tries to warn Earth while a soldier joins a specialized police unit to fight back.
Same tense register, still military sci-fi
pace-1·prose+1·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace-3prose+3bleak0
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.
tense → dreamlike
pace-3·prose+3·bleak0
- pace-2prose+3bleak0
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.
tense → sardonic
pace-2·prose+3·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+3bleak0
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.
tense → meditative
pace-2·prose+3·bleak0
- pace-2prose+3bleak0
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.
tense → meditative
pace-2·prose+3·bleak0
- pace-2prose+3bleak0
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.
tense → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+3·bleak0
To recover
- pace-1prose+1bleak-2
Mackenzie's Pleasure
Linda Howard1996
A Navy SEAL rescues an ambassador's daughter from a terrorist group. They must evade capture in the mountains while developing a physical bond.
Same tense register
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-2
- pace0prose0bleak-2
Grunge
Larry Correia2016
A Marine killed in a bombing is resurrected to hunt supernatural creatures. He joins a private company that kills monsters for government bounties.
tense → sardonic
pace0·prose0·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+1bleak-2
Project Hail Mary
Andy Weir2021
A man wakes up on a spaceship with amnesia and two dead crewmates. He must use scientific experiments to remember his mission and save the sun.
tense → propulsive
pace0·prose+1·bleak-2
- pace-1prose+1bleak-2
The Uplift War
David Brin1987
A gorilla-like alien race invades the planet Garth. A small group of humans and uplifted chimpanzees lead a guerrilla resistance in the mountains.
tense → earnest, still military sci-fi
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-2
- pace-1prose0bleak-2
A Galaxy Unknown
Thomas DePrima2010
An ensign uses her tactical skills to rise through the ranks of a space navy while fighting pirates and internal bureaucracy.
tense → earnest, still military sci-fi
pace-1·prose0·bleak-2
Slower
- pace-3prose+3bleak0
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.
tense → dreamlike
pace-3·prose+3·bleak0
- pace-3prose+3bleak-1
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.
tense → meditative
pace-3·prose+3·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-3prose+3bleak-1
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.
tense → meditative
pace-3·prose+3·bleak-1
- pace-3prose+3bleak-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.
tense → playful
pace-3·prose+3·bleak-2
- pace-3prose+3bleak-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.
tense → playful
pace-3·prose+3·bleak-1
Heavier
tense → elegiac, still post-apocalyptic
- pace-2prose+3bleak+1
Zone One
Colson Whitehead2011
A sweeper squad clears Manhattan of lingering zombies and catatonic 'stragglers.' The focus is on the protagonist's memories and the city's decay.
pace-2·prose+3·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+1bleak+1
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.
pace-2·prose+1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose0bleak+1
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.
tense → bleak, still post-apocalyptic
pace-1·prose0·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+1bleak+1
One Second After
William R. Forstchen2009
An EMP strike destroys the American power grid. A history professor attempts to manage the starvation and societal collapse of his small town.
tense → bleak, still post-apocalyptic
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+1bleak+1
The Death of Grass
John Christopher1956
A virus kills the world's grass and grain, causing total societal collapse. A family attempts to flee London for a farm in the north.
tense → bleak, still post-apocalyptic
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
