Mars Crossing

The Legacy of Heorot

Steven Barnes1987

Human colonists on Avalon believe they have found paradise until the local ecology reacts violently to their presence.

pace0·prose0·bleak0

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.

tense → meditative

pace-1·prose+2·bleak+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.

tense → meditative

pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

Radiance

Catherynne M. Valente2015

A documentary filmmaker disappears on Venus in an alternate 1980s solar system. The story is told through scripts, interviews, and letters.

tense → dreamlike

pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

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.

tense → playful

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

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.

tense → warm

pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1

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.

tense → propulsive

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

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.

tense → wry, still hard sci-fi

pace+1·prose+1·bleak0

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.

tense → wry

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

Skin Game

Jim Butcher2014

Wizard Harry Dresden joins a team of villains to rob a vault in the Underworld. It is a fast-paced heist set in a modern fantasy Chicago.

tense → propulsive

pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

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.

tense → meditative

pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

White Mars, or, The mind set free

Brian W. Aldiss1999

A group of scientists and thinkers attempts to establish a utopian society on Mars after Earth is cut off by a global catastrophe.

tense → earnest, still hard sci-fi

pace-2·prose+1·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.

tense → playful

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Flood

Stephen Baxter2008

The sea level rises globally due to water leaking from the Earth's crust. Four former hostages watch as civilization slowly drowns over decades.

tense → clinical, still hard sci-fi

pace0·prose0·bleak+2

Echopraxia

Peter Watts2014

A biologist is caught on a mission toward the sun alongside a pilot and a group of transhuman monks. It explores consciousness and evolution.

tense → bleak, still hard sci-fi

pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2

Beyond the Aquila Rift

Alastair Reynolds2001

A spaceship crew wakes from cold sleep to find they have overshot their destination by light-years. They must face the reality of their location.

tense → bleak, still hard sci-fi

pace0·prose+1·bleak+2