After
Noir
K. W. Jeter1998
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing heavier
More like it
Same sardonic register, still cyberpunk
- pace0prose0bleak-1
Only Forward
Michael Marshall Smith1994
A fixer in a city of themed neighborhoods searches for a kidnapped man while navigating his own ability to enter a dream world.
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End of the World Blues
Jon Courtenay Grimwood2006
A British expat running a Tokyo biker bar and a schoolgirl who stole millions collide in a world of Yakuza and high-tech assassins.
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Altered Carbon
Richard K. Morgan2002
A soldier is resurrected in a new body to solve the murder of a billionaire. It takes place in a future where consciousness is digitized.
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
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When Gravity Fails
George Alec Effinger1987
A private investigator in a futuristic Middle Eastern city hunts a serial killer who uses high-tech personality-altering implants.
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
1 more ↓ ↑
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Gun, with Occasional Music
Jonathan Lethem1994
A private eye investigates a murder in a future where animals are evolved into citizens and people use drugs to manage their karma.
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
Denser prose
sardonic → cold, still cyberpunk
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Neuromancer
William Gibson1984
A washed-up data thief is hired for one last job in a high-tech underworld. The prose is dense with technical jargon.
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Nova Swing
M. John Harrison2006
In a city bordering a reality-warping zone, a travel agent and a detective deal with illegal artifacts. The prose is dense and non-linear.
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
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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
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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
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VAS
Steve Tomasula2002
A man considers a vasectomy while the book uses diagrams and varied typography to explore the history of eugenics and biotechnology.
sardonic → clinical, still cyberpunk
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
To recover
- pace+1prose-2bleak-3
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.
sardonic → propulsive, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3
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The Sentinel
Lee Child2020
A drifter helps an IT manager targeted by criminals after a cyberattack. He uses physical force to protect the man and uncover a conspiracy.
sardonic → propulsive
pace0·prose-2·bleak-3
3 more ↓ ↑
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Sea of Greed
Clive Cussler2018
Kurt Austin investigates the destruction of oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. The trail leads to a billionaire with a plan to end the oil age.
sardonic → propulsive
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Modern Romance
Aziz Ansari2015
A comedian and a sociologist analyze how technology and culture have changed dating. It uses data and interviews to compare eras.
sardonic → playful
pace0·prose-2·bleak-3
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Building a Second Brain
Tiago Forte2022
A guide to a digital organization system designed to store and retrieve ideas, notes, and information for long-term projects.
sardonic → earnest
pace0·prose-2·bleak-3
Faster
sardonic → propulsive, still cyberpunk
- pace+1prose-2bleak-3
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.
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3
- pace+1prose-2bleak-1
Akira, Vol. 1
Katsuhiro Ōtomo1984
In a rebuilt post-WWIII Tokyo, two teenage bikers get caught in a government conspiracy after one develops psychic powers.
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
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The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
sardonic → wry
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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.
sardonic → wry
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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.
sardonic → propulsive
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2
Slower
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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.
sardonic → dreamlike
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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
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3 more ↓ ↑
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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.
sardonic → meditative
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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
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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
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