LitQueuelitqueue

After

Hell's Gate

David Weber2006

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

1 more ↓

  • Nerilka's Story

    Anne McCaffrey1986

    During a plague on Pern, a woman flees her selfish father to deliver medical supplies. She joins a medical camp to help distribute vaccines.

    Same earnest register, still science fantasy

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

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.

    earnest → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+2·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.

    earnest → sardonic

    pace0·prose+2·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.

    earnest → meditative

    pace0·prose+2·bleak+1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • A Lie for a Lie

    Helena Hunting2019

    A professional hockey player and a woman reunite years after a summer fling that ended in a misunderstanding and a secret pregnancy.

    earnest → warm

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Speaking for Myself: Faith, Freedom, and the Fight of Our Lives Inside the Trump White House

    Sarah Huckabee Sanders

    The former Press Secretary recounts her time in the Trump administration. She describes daily operations and her defense of the president's policies.

    Same earnest register

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • 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.

    earnest → playful

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

Faster

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    earnest → wry

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Skin Game

    Jim Butcher2014

    Wizard Harry Dresden joins a team of villains to rob a vault in the Underworld. It is a fast-paced heist set in a modern fantasy Chicago.

    earnest → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak0

  • The Kaiju Preservation Society

    John Scalzi2022

    A food delivery driver joins a secret organization that travels to an alternate Earth to care for massive, dinosaur-like creatures.

    earnest → playful

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1

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.

    earnest → meditative

    pace-1·prose+2·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.

    earnest → playful

    pace-1·prose+2·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.

    earnest → playful

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Winterlong

    Elizabeth Hand1990

    In a decaying, post-apocalyptic Washington D.C., a girl with empathic powers is drawn into the plots of a decadent ruling class.

    earnest → dreamlike, still science fantasy

    pace0·prose+2·bleak+2

  • Sugar Rain

    Paul Park1989

    During a revolution against a theocracy, a doctor in exile tries to protect his family while a new, pragmatic faith rises.

    earnest → bleak, still science fantasy

    pace0·prose+2·bleak+2

  • The Handmaid's Tale

    Margaret Atwood1985

    In a totalitarian state with a plummeting birth rate, a woman is enslaved as a reproductive vessel. She records her daily life and memories.

    earnest → cold

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+2