After
MaddAdam
Margaret Atwood2013
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak0
World Made by Hand
James Howard Kunstler2008
Residents of a small New York town navigate a summer without electricity or global trade. They rely on manual labor and local bartering.
wry → meditative, still post-apocalyptic
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Lost Everything
Brian Francis Slattery2012
A man travels a war-torn Susquehanna River by boat to find his son. The journey is slowed by climate collapse and military pursuit.
wry → elegiac, still post-apocalyptic
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Story of General Dann and Mara's daughter, Griot and the Snow Dog
Doris Lessing2005
In a cooling, flooded world, a man travels north with a child-soldier and a dog to find knowledge for his struggling civilization.
wry → meditative, still post-apocalyptic
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak+1
The Birth of the People's Republic of Antarctica
John Batchelor1983
A man born in Sweden travels south as Europe collapses into war. He eventually leads a group of refugees to found a new society in Antarctica.
wry → bleak, still post-apocalyptic
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak-1
Artificial Things
Karen Joy Fowler1986
A debut collection of short stories focusing on social structures and human-alien interactions. The tone is observational and ironic.
Same wry register, still speculative fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
Denser prose
- pace+1prose+1bleak0
Perhaps the Stars
Ada Palmer2021
A global war between ideological factions reaches its conclusion. The story is told through a dense, 18th-century style narrative voice.
wry → meditative
pace+1·prose+1·bleak0
- pace+1prose+1bleak0
Star Maker
Olaf Stapledon1937
A narrator travels through space and time to observe the birth and death of civilizations across the universe.
wry → elegiac, still speculative fiction
pace+1·prose+1·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak0
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.
wry → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+1·bleak0
- pace0prose+1bleak0
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.
wry → meditative
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
- pace0prose+1bleak0
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.
wry → meditative
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
To recover
- pace+2prose-2bleak-2
The Kaiju Preservation Society
John Scalzi2022
A food delivery driver joins a secret organization that travels to an alternate Earth to care for massive, dinosaur-like creatures.
wry → playful, still found family
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-2bleak-2
Smokin' Seventeen
Janet Evanovich2011
A bounty hunter investigates bodies found in her boss's lot while choosing between three suitors. The story follows her daily mishaps in New Jersey.
wry → playful
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-2bleak-2
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
Same wry register
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2
- pace0prose-2bleak-2
The Comfort Book
Matt Haig2021
A collection of short reflections, lists, and anecdotes intended to provide mental support. It is a non-linear book of philosophy and memoir.
wry → warm
pace0·prose-2·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-2bleak-2
Odessa Sea
Clive Cussler2016
Dirk Pitt investigates a ghost ship in the Black Sea and discovers a conspiracy involving a lost Romanov secret. It is a high-speed adventure.
wry → propulsive
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2
Faster
- pace+2prose-2bleak0
Hell Divers
Nicholas Sansbury Smith2016
Skydivers jump from massive airships to a ruined Earth to scavenge parts for humanity's survival. One team is stranded in a hostile zone.
wry → tense, still post-apocalyptic
pace+2·prose-2·bleak0
- pace+2prose-2bleak0
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.
wry → propulsive, still post-apocalyptic
pace+2·prose-2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-2bleak-2
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
Same wry register
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-2bleak-2
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.
wry → propulsive
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-2bleak-2
All Systems Red
Martha Wells2017
A self-aware security android hacks its own governor module to watch soap operas while protecting a team of scientists on a distant planet.
Same wry register, still found family
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2
Slower
- pace-1prose0bleak0
After London
Richard Jefferies1885
Nature reclaims England after an unspecified catastrophe destroys civilization. A young man explores the toxic swamps that were once London.
wry → elegiac, still post-apocalyptic
pace-1·prose0·bleak0
- pace-1prose+1bleak0
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.
wry → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+1·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak-1
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.
wry → meditative
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace-1prose+1bleak-1
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.
wry → meditative
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace-1prose0bleak-2
News from nowhere, or, An epoch of rest, being some chapters from a utopian romance
William Morris1890
A Victorian man wakes up in the year 2102. He explores a socialist agrarian society where private property and money have been abolished.
wry → meditative, still speculative fiction
pace-1·prose0·bleak-2
Heavier
- pace0prose0bleak+1
The Birth of the People's Republic of Antarctica
John Batchelor1983
A man born in Sweden travels south as Europe collapses into war. He eventually leads a group of refugees to found a new society in Antarctica.
wry → bleak, still post-apocalyptic
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
- pace0prose0bleak+1
The Handmaid's Tale
Margaret Atwood1985
In a totalitarian state with a plummeting birth rate, a woman is enslaved as a reproductive vessel. She records her daily life and memories.
wry → cold, still speculative fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
Zone One
Colson Whitehead2011
A sweeper squad clears Manhattan of lingering zombies and catatonic 'stragglers.' The focus is on the protagonist's memories and the city's decay.
wry → elegiac, still post-apocalyptic
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace0prose-1bleak+1
On the Beach
Nevil Shute1957
Survivors in Australia wait for a lethal radiation cloud to arrive after a nuclear war. They spend their final months in quiet, domestic routines.
wry → elegiac, still post-apocalyptic
pace0·prose-1·bleak+1
- pace+1prose-2bleak+1
The Walking Dead: Compendium One
Robert Kirkman2009
A sheriff wakes from a coma into a zombie apocalypse. He leads a group of survivors through various temporary shelters over several years.
wry → bleak, still post-apocalyptic
pace+1·prose-2·bleak+1
