It Came From Del Rio

Rupert Wong, Cannibal Chef

Cassandra Khaw2015

A sorcerer in Kuala Lumpur cooks for ghouls and works for the Chinese Hells. He investigates a divine murder to buy his ghost girlfriend's freedom.

pace0·prose0·bleak0

Android Karenina

Лев Толстой2010

The text of Tolstoy's classic is modified to include robots, cyborgs, and space travel in a 19th-century Russian setting.

sardonic → elegiac, still horror

pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

Racconti [55 stories]

Edgar Allan Poe2011

A collection of 55 stories featuring unreliable narrators and gothic settings. Themes include obsession, premature burial, and the macabre.

sardonic → dreamlike, still horror

pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

Gormenghast

Mervyn Peake1950

A young heir and a social climber navigate the rigid rituals of a decaying, labyrinthine castle. The prose is dense and descriptive.

sardonic → dark

pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

Assistant to the Villain

Hannah Nicole Maehrer2023

A woman takes a job as an administrative assistant to a local villain to support her family. She manages his office while ignoring his evil deeds.

sardonic → playful

pace0·prose-2·bleak-2

The Marriage Bargain

Jennifer Probst2012

A bookstore owner enters a one-year contract marriage with a billionaire to save her family's land. They must follow a set of rules to stay platonic.

sardonic → playful

pace0·prose-2·bleak-2

A Quick Bite

Lynsay Sands2005

A vampire who faints at the sight of blood finds a psychologist tied to her bed as a gift. They navigate his kidnapping and her family dynamics.

sardonic → playful

pace0·prose-2·bleak-2

Intercepts

T.J. Payne2020

A worker at a government facility monitors human test subjects driven insane by sensory deprivation. The experiment enters his private life.

sardonic → tense, still horror

pace+1·prose-2·bleak+1

Infected

Bobby Adair

A slow-acting virus turns the population into aggressive predators. The story follows a survivor navigating the initial societal collapse.

sardonic → propulsive, still horror

pace+1·prose-2·bleak0

The Undead Day One

R.R. Haywood

A supermarket manager attempts to survive the first twenty-four hours of a zombie outbreak in England. The story is told in real-time.

sardonic → propulsive, still horror

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-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.

sardonic → playful

pace-2·prose+1·bleak-2

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.

sardonic → playful

pace-2·prose+1·bleak-1

Absalom, Absalom!

William Faulkner1936

The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.

sardonic → elegiac

pace-2·prose+1·bleak+1

Mapping the Interior

Stephen Graham Jones2017

A teenager follows a figure resembling his dead father into the hidden spaces of his home. He maps a shifting, dangerous interior.

sardonic → elegiac, still horror

pace0·prose0·bleak+1

Flowers in the Attic

V.C. Andrews1979

Four children are hidden in an attic for years by their mother and grandmother to secure an inheritance. They face gradual poisoning and abuse.

sardonic → elegiac, still horror

pace0·prose-1·bleak+1

The Lottery

Shirley Jackson1983

Villagers gather for an annual ritual in a small town. The story follows the procedural steps of a lottery that ends in a public execution.

sardonic → cold, still horror

pace0·prose-1·bleak+1