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After

Mister Magic

Kiersten White2023

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

Same tense register, still psychological horror

1 more ↓

  • Misery

    Stephen King1987

    A famous author is rescued from a car crash by an obsessed fan. She holds him captive and forces him to write a novel just for her.

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

tense → dreamlike, still psychological horror

3 more ↓

  • The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner

    James Hogg1824

    A religious fanatic becomes convinced he is predestined for salvation and commits crimes at the behest of a mysterious stranger.

    tense → cold, still psychological horror

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

  • Ghost Stories

    Henry James2001

    A collection of Victorian tales where the existence of ghosts is often left to the reader's interpretation.

    tense → meditative, still psychological horror

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

  • Blindness

    José Saramago1999

    An epidemic of sudden blindness strikes a city, leading to the collapse of social order. A small group struggles to survive in a filthy asylum.

    tense → bleak, still psychological horror

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • The Duke and I

    Julia Quinn2000

    A duke and a debutante enter a fake courtship to avoid social pressure. They navigate Regency London's marriage market while hiding their deal.

    tense → playful

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

  • On Dublin Street

    Samantha Young2012

    An American woman in Scotland enters a sex-only arrangement with her roommate's brother to avoid emotional intimacy. It is a contemporary romance.

    tense → warm

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

  • Night Pleasures

    Sherrilyn Kenyon2002

    An immortal warrior and a skeptical accountant are handcuffed together while being hunted by supernatural predators.

    tense → playful

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

Faster

Same tense register, still psychological horror

3 more ↓

  • Creepers

    David Morrell2005

    Five urban explorers break into a long-abandoned hotel in New Jersey and find themselves trapped with a killer.

    Same tense register

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Patient Zero

    Jonathan Maberry2009

    A detective joins a secret government task force to stop a terrorist group using a bio-weapon that reanimates the dead. It is an action thriller.

    tense → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • The Rising

    Brian Keene2003

    A father travels across an apocalypse where the dead are possessed by malevolent, intelligent demons. The world is ending permanently.

    tense → bleak

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    tense → dreamlike

    pace-2·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.

    tense → playful

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-2

  • 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.

    tense → playful

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Silent Children

    Ramsey Campbell2000

    A man discovers his father may have been a child killer, leading him into a confrontation with the past and a current threat.

    tense → bleak, still psychological horror

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Nona

    Stephen King2016

    A hitchhiker and a woman named Nona go on a violent killing spree across Maine. The narrator recounts the events from a jail cell.

    tense → bleak, still psychological horror

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

  • Penpal

    Dathan Auerbach2012

    A man reconstructs his childhood by investigating a series of disconnected, disturbing memories. The story originated as online horror fiction.

    Same tense register, still psychological horror

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1