Hominids

The Proteus Operation

James P. Hogan1985

A team of scientists travels from a dystopian 1980s back to 1939 to prevent the Axis powers from winning World War II.

pace0·prose0·bleak0

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-2·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

pace-1·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

pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

Two for the dough

Janet Evanovich1996

An inexperienced bounty hunter tracks a man who jumped bail for shooting his friend. She competes with a vice cop to find him first.

earnest → playful

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Better Off Dead

Lee Child2021

Jack Reacher investigates a staged car crash in Arizona and infiltrates a dangerous local crew to find a missing woman.

earnest → propulsive

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Death by Darjeeling

Laura Childs2001

Theodosia Browning hosts a tea party where a guest is poisoned. She must find the killer among the local socialites of Charleston.

earnest → warm

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

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+1·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+1·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+1·prose-1·bleak-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.

earnest → meditative

pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

Hav

Jan Morris2006

A travel writer describes the culture and history of a fictional Mediterranean city-state before and after a massive political upheaval.

earnest → elegiac, still alternate history

pace-2·prose+1·bleak0

His Master's Voice

Stanisław Lem2018

A mathematician works at a secret facility to decode a neutrino signal from space. The book is a philosophical essay disguised as a memoir.

earnest → clinical, still hard scifi

pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1

Elvissey

Jack Womack1993

Travelers from a corporate dystopia visit an alternate 1954 to kidnap Elvis Presley. They find a version of him that is dangerous and unstable.

earnest → bleak, still alternate history

pace0·prose+1·bleak+2

Fiasco

Stanisław Lem1986

Humans on a spaceship attempt to force communication with an alien civilization that refuses to respond. It ends in a total failure of logic.

earnest → clinical, still hard scifi

pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2

Salt

Adam Roberts2000

Two groups of colonists with opposing ideologies settle on a salt-covered planet, leading to a total breakdown of their society.

earnest → bleak, still hard scifi

pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2