Ilario

The War Hound and the World's Pain

Michael Moorcock1981

A mercenary in the Thirty Years' War seeks a cure for the world's pain from Lucifer. He travels through a landscape of historical and occult chaos.

Same meditative register, still historical fantasy

pace0·prose0·bleak0

Love & Sleep

John Crowley1994

Pierce Moffett researches the history of magic while living in a small town. The narrative shifts between his life and the Renaissance.

Same meditative register, still historical fantasy

pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

Ficciones

Jorge Luis Borges1945

A collection of short stories exploring philosophical paradoxes, infinite libraries, and imaginary encyclopedias.

Same meditative register

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The Habitation of the Blessed

Catherynne M. Valente2010

A priest finds the lost kingdom of Prester John. The story is told through three nested layers of journals, myths, and historical accounts.

meditative → dreamlike, still historical fantasy

pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

Mile High

Liz Tomforde2023

A professional hockey player and a flight attendant clash on the team's private plane during a season-long road trip.

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

Behind the Net

Stephanie Archer2024

A former musician becomes the live-in assistant for a professional hockey goalie she knew in high school.

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

She Went All the Way

Meg Cabot2002

A screenwriter and an actor survive a helicopter crash in the Alaskan wilderness and must hike to safety while being pursued by a killer.

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

Mind's Eye

Douglas E. Richards2014

A man discovers he has the ability to access the internet and process data directly with his mind. He is hunted by a secret organization.

meditative → propulsive

pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

The Atlantis Gene

A.G. Riddle2013

A geneticist and a counter-terrorism agent uncover a global conspiracy involving human evolution and an ancient Antarctic discovery.

meditative → propulsive

pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

Monster Hunter International

Larry Correia2007

An accountant kills his boss, who has become a werewolf, and is recruited by a private company that hunts monsters for government bounties.

meditative → propulsive

pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

Boneland

Alan Garner2012

An adult Colin searches for his lost sister while an ancient shaman performs rituals in the same landscape. The two timelines mirror one another.

meditative → elegiac

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Cloud & Ashes: Three Winter's Tales

Greer Gilman2009

A triptych of stories set in a mythic Yorkshire, told in dense, archaic dialect. It follows the intersections of folk magic and celestial myth.

meditative → dreamlike, still historical fantasy

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Unfinished Tales

J.R.R. Tolkien1980

A collection of incomplete narratives and essays that expand the history, geography, and lore of Middle-earth.

Same meditative register

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A Man Lies Dreaming

Lavie Tidhar2014

A Jewish writer in a concentration camp imagines a world where Hitler is a disgraced private eye in London. The two narratives intertwine.

meditative → sardonic, still alternate history

pace+1·prose0·bleak+1

Mees, kes teadis ussisõnu

Andrus Kivirähk2015

A boy in medieval Estonia learns the ancient language of snakes to command animals as his forest culture is erased by Christian invaders.

meditative → elegiac, still historical fantasy

pace0·prose-1·bleak+1

The sad tale of the brothers Grossbart

Jesse Bullington2009

Two murderous brothers travel across 14th-century Europe to rob Egyptian tombs. They encounter monsters and religious zealots along the way.

meditative → sardonic, still historical fantasy

pace+1·prose0·bleak+1