After
News from nowhere, or, An epoch of rest, being some chapters from a utopian romance
William Morris1890
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
4 of 6 directions open — nothing to recover from, nothing slower
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak0
A Modern Utopia
H. G. Wells1900
Two travelers are transported to a parallel Earth where a global state manages all human activity. The book outlines the planet's social systems.
Same meditative register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace+1prose0bleak+1
The Dispossessed
Ursula K. Le Guin1974
A physicist leaves his anarchist moon to visit the capitalist mother planet, attempting to bridge the two societies through his work.
Same meditative register, still fish out of water
pace+1·prose0·bleak+1
- pace+1prose0bleak+1
Air
Geoff Ryman2004
A village woman becomes the first to test a brain-integrated internet technology. She must prepare her rural community for its forced arrival.
Same meditative register, still speculative fiction
pace+1·prose0·bleak+1
- pace0prose+1bleak0
The description of a new world
Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle
A woman travels through a portal to a world of animal-headed people. She becomes Empress and debates philosophy with her new subjects.
Same meditative register, still portal fantasy
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak0
Looking Backward
Edward Bellamy2007
A 19th-century man falls into a deep sleep and wakes up in the year 2000. He discovers a socialist utopia where all industry is nationalized.
meditative → earnest, still fish out of water
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace+2prose+1bleak+2
Star Maker
Olaf Stapledon1937
A narrator travels through space and time to observe the birth and death of civilizations across the universe.
meditative → elegiac, still speculative fiction
pace+2·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace0prose+1bleak+2
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.
meditative → dreamlike
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose+1bleak+2
Too Like the Lightning
Ada Palmer2016
In a 25th-century utopia, a convict narrates the discovery of a boy who can perform miracles. The prose uses 18th-century styles and gender terms.
meditative → sardonic
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace+1prose+1bleak+2
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.
Same meditative register
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace+1prose+1bleak+2
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.
Same meditative register
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2
Faster
- pace+3prose-2bleak0
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
meditative → wry
pace+3·prose-2·bleak0
- pace+3prose-2bleak0
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.
meditative → propulsive
pace+3·prose-2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+3prose-2bleak0
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.
meditative → wry
pace+3·prose-2·bleak0
- pace+3prose-2bleak+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.
meditative → propulsive
pace+3·prose-2·bleak+1
- pace+3prose-2bleak0
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.
meditative → playful, still portal fantasy
pace+3·prose-2·bleak0
Heavier
- pace+1prose0bleak+3
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.
meditative → cold, still speculative fiction
pace+1·prose0·bleak+3
- pace+2prose-1bleak+3
The Postmortal
Drew Magary2011
A lawyer records his life after a cure for aging is discovered. Society slowly collapses under the weight of overpopulation and eternal life.
meditative → sardonic, still speculative fiction
pace+2·prose-1·bleak+3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose0bleak+3
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.
meditative → bleak, still speculative fiction
pace+1·prose0·bleak+3
- pace+1prose0bleak+3
The Blood of Angels
Johanna Sinisalo2011
A father grieving his son discovers a portal to another world while bees disappear globally. It explores ecological collapse and grief.
meditative → elegiac, still speculative fiction
pace+1·prose0·bleak+3
- pace+1prose-1bleak+3
Doomsday Book
Connie Willis1992
A student travels to 14th-century England while a virus spreads in the present. She arrives during the Black Death due to a technical error.
meditative → bleak, still fish out of water
pace+1·prose-1·bleak+3
