Necroscope

Kin

Kealan Patrick Burke2011

A woman escapes a family of cannibals in Alabama, only to return for vengeance. It follows the aftermath of trauma and the hunt.

propulsive → tense, still horror

pace0·prose0·bleak0

Android Karenina

Лев Толстой2010

The text of Tolstoy's classic is modified to include robots, cyborgs, and space travel in a 19th-century Russian setting.

propulsive → elegiac, still horror

pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

Racconti [55 stories]

Edgar Allan Poe2011

A collection of 55 stories featuring unreliable narrators and gothic settings. Themes include obsession, premature burial, and the macabre.

propulsive → dreamlike, still horror

pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

Gormenghast

Mervyn Peake1950

A young heir and a social climber navigate the rigid rituals of a decaying, labyrinthine castle. The prose is dense and descriptive.

propulsive → dark

pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

Better Off Dead

Lee Child2021

Jack Reacher investigates a staged car crash in Arizona and infiltrates a dangerous local crew to find a missing woman.

Same propulsive register

pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

Starter Villain

John Scalzi2023

A substitute teacher inherits his uncle's secret supervillain business, including a volcano lair and talking cats.

propulsive → wry

pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

Playing with Fire

Gena Showalter2006

A barista gains elemental superpowers after being poisoned and must flee from a government agent. They eventually work together to escape.

propulsive → playful

pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

Flesh

Richard Laymon1987

An eyeless, slug-like parasite enters human hosts and forces them to commit acts of extreme violence and sexual assault.

propulsive → sardonic, still splatterpunk

pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

Grunge

Larry Correia2016

A Marine killed in a bombing is resurrected to hunt supernatural creatures. He joins a private company that kills monsters for government bounties.

propulsive → sardonic, still horror

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

Intercepts

T.J. Payne2020

A worker at a government facility monitors human test subjects driven insane by sensory deprivation. The experiment enters his private life.

propulsive → tense, still horror

pace+1·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.

propulsive → 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.

propulsive → playful

pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

Absalom, Absalom!

William Faulkner1936

The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.

propulsive → elegiac

pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1

Desperation

Stephen King1996

A demonic entity possesses a small-town sheriff and begins slaughtering travelers. A young boy who hears God leads the survivors.

pace+1·prose0·bleak+1

Flowers in the Attic

V.C. Andrews1979

Four children are hidden in an attic for years by their mother and grandmother to secure an inheritance. They face gradual poisoning and abuse.

propulsive → elegiac, still horror

pace0·prose0·bleak+1

The Lottery

Shirley Jackson1983

Villagers gather for an annual ritual in a small town. The story follows the procedural steps of a lottery that ends in a public execution.

propulsive → cold, still horror

pace0·prose0·bleak+1