LitQueuelitqueue

After

Misspent Youth

Peter F. Hamilton2002

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

1 more ↓

  • Gateway

    Frederik Pohl1976

    A prospector recounts his sessions with a robot therapist after finding a fortune on an alien space station. He is haunted by a choice he made.

    Same sardonic register, still science fiction

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+1

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • Nova Express

    William S. Burroughs1964

    An experimental narrative uses the cut-up technique to depict a war between intergalactic criminals and the police. It is a collage of imagery.

    Same sardonic register, still science fiction

    pace0·prose+2·bleak+1

  • Sometimes a Great Notion

    Ken Kesey1964

    A family of independent loggers in Oregon refuses to join a local strike. The perspective shifts rapidly between characters, often mid-paragraph.

    sardonic → elegiac

    pace0·prose+2·bleak+1

  • Against the Day

    Thomas Pynchon2006

    A massive ensemble cast navigates the globe between the 1893 World's Fair and WWI. The plot spans airships, math, and secret societies.

    sardonic → playful

    pace0·prose+2·bleak+1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Murder boogies with Elvis

    Anne George2001

    Two sisters attend a charity event where an Elvis impersonator is stabbed on stage, prompting them to find the killer.

    sardonic → playful

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • The Stainless Steel Rat

    Harry Harrison1961

    A futuristic con man is caught by the Special Corps and forced to use his criminal skills to catch other lawbreakers.

    sardonic → playful, still science fiction

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1

  • A Veiled Deception

    Annette Blair2009

    A vintage shop owner investigates a murder during her sister's wedding preparations to clear her family's name.

    sardonic → playful

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Logan's run

    William F. Nolan1967

    In a future where everyone is executed at age 21, an enforcer becomes a fugitive. He attempts to reach a rumored sanctuary.

    sardonic → tense, still science fiction

    pace+2·prose0·bleak+1

  • Influx

    Daniel Suarez2014

    A physicist invents a gravity-reflecting device and is imprisoned by a secret agency that suppresses technology. He plots a high-tech escape.

    sardonic → propulsive, still science fiction

    pace+2·prose0·bleak0

  • Star Wars Episode VII - The Force Awakens

    Alan Dean Foster2001

    A scavenger and a defecting soldier join the fight against a new galactic power. They search for a missing hero from the previous generation.

    sardonic → propulsive, still science fiction

    pace+2·prose0·bleak0

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    sardonic → meditative

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

  • 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-1·prose+2·bleak-1

  • 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-1·prose+2·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    sardonic → tense, still science fiction

    pace+2·prose+1·bleak+2

  • The Running Man

    Richard Bachman

    A man enters a deadly reality show to fund medical care for his daughter. He must survive thirty days while the entire world hunts him for money.

    sardonic → propulsive, still science fiction

    pace+2·prose0·bleak+2

  • Strangers

    Gardner Dozois1978

    An artist living among the alien Cian on a distant planet falls in love with a local woman and attempts to navigate their incompatible biology.

    sardonic → elegiac, still science fiction

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+2