Pashazade

Noir

K. W. Jeter1998

An investigator navigates a corporate-owned city where people trade in simulated experiences and legal technicalities.

Same sardonic register, still cyberpunk

pace0·prose0·bleak+1

Radiance

Catherynne M. Valente2015

A documentary filmmaker disappears on Venus in an alternate 1980s solar system. The story is told through scripts, interviews, and letters.

sardonic → dreamlike, still alternate history

pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

In Green's Jungles

Gene Wolfe2000

A narrator travels to different worlds while his physical form and memories shift. He recounts past voyages to prove his identity to his companions.

sardonic → elegiac

pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

All Those Vanished Engines

Paul Park2014

Three linked stories follow the Park family through an alternate history where the American Civil War ended in a two-nation settlement.

sardonic → dreamlike, still alternate history

pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

The Mane Event

Shelly Laurenston2007

A female cop reunites with a childhood friend who is now a lion-shifter. They navigate a romantic attraction while he pursues her in New York.

pace0·prose-2·bleak-2

Murderbot Diaries

Martha Wells2023

A self-aware security android hacks its governor module to watch soap operas while protecting humans. It navigates corporate conspiracies.

Same sardonic register, still cyberpunk

pace0·prose-2·bleak-2

Mile High

Liz Tomforde2023

A professional hockey player and a flight attendant clash on the team's private plane during a season-long road trip.

pace0·prose-2·bleak-2

The Martian

Andy Weir2011

A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.

sardonic → wry

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

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

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

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-1

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

pace-2·prose+1·bleak-1

Hav

Jan Morris2006

A travel writer describes the culture and history of a fictional Mediterranean city-state before and after a massive political upheaval.

sardonic → elegiac, still alternate history

pace-2·prose0·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.

sardonic → playful

pace-2·prose+1·bleak-2

Tomorrow and Tomorrow

Thomas Sweterlitsch2014

In a future where Pittsburgh was destroyed, a man investigates a murder using a digital archive of the city. He discovers data is being deleted.

sardonic → bleak, still cyberpunk

pace0·prose0·bleak+1

A Scanner Darkly

Philip K. Dick1977

An undercover narcotics agent in a near-future California becomes addicted to the drug he is investigating and begins to spy on himself.

sardonic → bleak, still noir

pace-1·prose0·bleak+1

Watchmen

Dave Gibbons1986

Retired costumed vigilantes investigate a conspiracy after one of their own is murdered. The story uses a comic-within-a-comic and backmatter.

sardonic → cold, still noir

pace0·prose0·bleak+1