Lent

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister

Gregory Maguire1999

A plain girl and her mother arrive at a painter's house in 17th-century Haarlem. It is a cynical retelling of Cinderella through the eyes of a sister.

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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

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Ficciones

Jorge Luis Borges1945

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

Same meditative register

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At Swim-Two-Birds

Flann O'Brien1939

A student writes a story about a man whose own characters rebel and plot against him. It incorporates Irish myth and multiple layers of fiction.

meditative → playful

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On a Pale Horse

Piers Anthony1983

After accidentally killing the personification of Death, a man must take over the office. He navigates the bureaucracy of the afterlife.

meditative → playful

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Love Comes Softly

Janette Oke1979

A widow on the 19th-century frontier enters a marriage of convenience with a widower to survive the winter and care for his daughter.

meditative → tender

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Carpe Jugulum

Terry Pratchett1998

A family of modern, sophisticated vampires attempts to take over a kingdom. Three local witches must find a way to stop them.

meditative → wry

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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

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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

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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

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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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Among Others

Jo Walton2011

A teenage girl at a 1970s boarding school copes with her twin's death through books and subtle magic. It is written as a series of diary entries.

meditative → tender

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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

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The Fifth Season

N. K. Jemisin2015

A mother searches for her daughter across a continent undergoing a tectonic apocalypse. Some chapters address the reader in the second person.

meditative → bleak

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Pet Sematary

Stephen King1983

A family moves to Maine and discovers a burial ground that can return the dead to life. They use it, and the consequences are absolute.

meditative → tense, still deal with the devil

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