After
Machinehood
S. B. Divya2021
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
Same propulsive register, still cyberpunk
- pace+1prose0bleak0
Apex
Ramez Naam2015
Global revolutions erupt as a neural-link technology connects minds. A post-human scientist attempts to seize the world's digital systems.
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Noor
Nnedi Okorafor2021
A heavily augmented woman and a nomadic herdsman flee across a high-tech Nigeria. They are pursued by a corporation that monitors everything.
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Crossover
Joel Shepherd2001
An android super-soldier attempts to live a civilian life on a space station while being hunted by political factions.
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
City Come A-Walkin'
John Shirley1980
The personification of San Francisco manifests as a man to fight a criminal syndicate. It is an early example of the cyberpunk genre.
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak0
This Is Not a Game
Walter Jon Williams2009
A game designer uses her global network of players to solve a real-world murder and navigate a financial conspiracy.
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
- 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.
propulsive → clinical, still cyberpunk
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
- 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.
propulsive → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- 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.
propulsive → sardonic
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+2bleak+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.
propulsive → meditative
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.
propulsive → meditative
pace-1·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.
Same propulsive register, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
The President Is Missing
Bill Clinton2018
The U.S. President goes underground to stop a cyberattack that threatens to wipe out the nation's electrical and financial infrastructure.
Same propulsive register, still techno thriller
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- 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.
propulsive → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
Redshirts
John Scalzi2012
Low-ranking crew members on a starship realize they are disposable characters in a sci-fi television show. They attempt to escape their fate.
propulsive → playful
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
The Da Vinci Code
Dan Brown2003
A symbologist and a cryptologist flee the police while solving puzzles hidden in art. They search for a secret regarding the Holy Grail.
Same propulsive register
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
Faster
Same propulsive register, still cyberpunk
- pace+1prose0bleak0
Apex
Ramez Naam2015
Global revolutions erupt as a neural-link technology connects minds. A post-human scientist attempts to seize the world's digital systems.
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
- 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
3 more ↓ ↑
- 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
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
propulsive → wry
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- 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.
propulsive → wry, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose+1·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.
propulsive → 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.
propulsive → 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.
propulsive → 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.
propulsive → 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.
propulsive → 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.
propulsive → 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.
propulsive → 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.
propulsive → 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.
propulsive → 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.
propulsive → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2