After
Islands in the Net
Bruce Sterling1988
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
- pace0prose+1bleak0
Distress
Greg Egan1995
A journalist investigates a new mental illness and a physics conference where scientists attempt to find a Theory of Everything.
Same clinical register, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Eastern Standard Tribe
Cory Doctorow2004
A man in a mental institution recounts his life as a corporate saboteur. He belongs to a tribe that coordinates its life around the EST time zone.
clinical → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Interface
Neal Stephenson1994
A presidential candidate receives a brain implant that connects him to real-time polling data. A shadowy group uses him to manipulate the public.
clinical → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Farewell Horizontal
K. W. Jeter1989
A freelance artist leaves the safe 'horizontal' levels of a massive cylinder building to live on its dangerous vertical exterior.
clinical → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak0
Autopsy
Patricia Cornwell2021
Kay Scarpetta returns to Virginia as Chief Medical Examiner to investigate a laboratory murder and a potential biological threat.
Same clinical register, still conspiracy
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace-1prose+2bleak+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.
clinical → sardonic
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
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.
clinical → meditative
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
VAS
Steve Tomasula2002
A man considers a vasectomy while the book uses diagrams and varied typography to explore the history of eugenics and biotechnology.
Same clinical register, still cyberpunk
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+2bleak+2
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.
clinical → sardonic
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace-2prose+2bleak+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.
clinical → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
To recover
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
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.
clinical → propulsive, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
Fifty Shades of Grey
E.L. James2000
A college student enters a sexual contract with a wealthy businessman. The story focuses on their power dynamics and BDSM encounters.
clinical → earnest
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
Neon Gods
Katee Robert2021
In a modern city-state, Persephone flees an arranged marriage to Zeus by entering the underworld. She strikes a deal with Hades to stay there.
clinical → tense
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
Murderbot Diaries
Martha Wells2023
A self-aware security android hacks its governor module to watch soap operas while protecting humans. It navigates corporate conspiracies.
clinical → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
Starter Villain
John Scalzi2023
A substitute teacher inherits his uncle's secret supervillain business, including a volcano lair and talking cats.
clinical → wry
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
Faster
clinical → propulsive, still cyberpunk
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
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.
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak+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.
pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose+1bleak0
Accelerando
Charles Stross2005
Three generations of a family navigate the rapid evolution of technology toward a singularity. The pace accelerates as humanity is outpaced by AI.
clinical → wry, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose+1·bleak0
- pace+1prose+1bleak0
The Stars My Destination
Alfred Bester1956
Gully Foyle is left for dead in space and spends years seeking revenge. He travels a future where humans can teleport using their minds.
pace+1·prose+1·bleak0
- pace+1prose0bleak0
Nexus
Ramez Naam2012
A scientist develops a nanotech drug that links minds and is hunted by government agencies. It is a high-speed global conspiracy thriller.
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
Slower
- pace-2prose+2bleak+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.
clinical → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
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.
clinical → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
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.
clinical → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-2prose+2bleak-1
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.
clinical → playful
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
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.
clinical → playful
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
Heavier
- pace0prose0bleak+2
Dr. Adder
K. W. Jeter1984
In a broken future Los Angeles, a surgeon performs extreme genital modifications for a subculture of outcasts.
clinical → cynical, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak+2
- pace0prose0bleak+2
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.
clinical → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+1bleak+2
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.
clinical → bleak, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace+1prose+1bleak+2
Hellspark
Janet Kagan1988
A linguist travels to a new planet to investigate a murder. She must determine if the local species is sentient while navigating a conspiracy.
clinical → tense, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace0prose+1bleak+2
Golem100
Alfred Bester1980
In a future city, a group of women accidentally summon a psychic monster that commits acts of extreme violence while investigators track it.
clinical → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2