After
Perfect State
Brandon Sanderson2015
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
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When HARLIE Was One
David Gerrold1972
A psychologist engages in a series of philosophical dialogues with a sentient computer to prove it is alive before its funding is cut.
Same earnest register, still cyberpunk
pace-1·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Islands in the Net
Bruce Sterling1988
A corporate PR specialist travels to data-haven islands to investigate a murder. She becomes entangled in global political and economic sabotage.
earnest → clinical, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak0
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Software
Rudy Rucker1982
An aging man is offered immortality by robots on the moon if he allows them to upload his consciousness. It is a foundational cyberpunk story.
earnest → sardonic, still cyberpunk
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Eastern Standard Tribe
Cory Doctorow2004
A man in a mental institution recounts his life as a corporate saboteur. He belongs to a tribe that coordinates its life around the EST time zone.
earnest → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
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A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor
Hank Green2020
A group of friends navigates the aftermath of an alien departure and the rise of a mind-altering social media platform.
Same earnest register, still cyberpunk
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Denser prose
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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.
earnest → clinical, still cyberpunk
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
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Infinite Jest
David Foster Wallace1996
A sprawling narrative centered on a tennis academy, a halfway house, and a lethal film. The text includes hundreds of pages of detailed endnotes.
earnest → sardonic
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
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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.
earnest → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
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.
earnest → elegiac
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
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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.
earnest → sardonic
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
To recover
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Murderbot Diaries
Martha Wells2023
A self-aware security android hacks its governor module to watch soap operas while protecting humans. It navigates corporate conspiracies.
earnest → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
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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.
earnest → propulsive, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
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Vampires Are Forever
Lynsay Sands2008
A woman suspects her business partner is a vampire after he attempts to bite her. He tries to convince her they are fated mates.
earnest → playful
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
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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.
earnest → playful
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
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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.
earnest → playful, still enemies to lovers
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
Faster
earnest → propulsive, still cyberpunk
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
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-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak+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-1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
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Accelerando
Charles Stross2005
Three generations of a family navigate the rapid evolution of technology toward a singularity. The pace accelerates as humanity is outpaced by AI.
earnest → wry, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose+1·bleak0
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The Stars My Destination
Alfred Bester1956
Gully Foyle is left for dead in space and spends years seeking revenge. He travels a future where humans can teleport using their minds.
pace+1·prose+1·bleak0
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Nexus
Ramez Naam2012
A scientist develops a nanotech drug that links minds and is hunted by government agencies. It is a high-speed global conspiracy thriller.
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
Slower
- pace-2prose+2bleak+1
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.
earnest → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
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.
earnest → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
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.
earnest → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
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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.
earnest → 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.
earnest → playful
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
Heavier
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Dr. Adder
K. W. Jeter1984
In a broken future Los Angeles, a surgeon performs extreme genital modifications for a subculture of outcasts.
earnest → cynical, still cyberpunk
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Market Forces
Richard K. Morgan2004
In a future where executives duel in armored cars for promotions, Chris Faulkner joins a firm that profits from civil wars. It is a corporate satire.
earnest → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
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Random Acts of Senseless Violence
Jack Womack1994
A twelve-year-old girl records her life in a diary as New York City collapses into riots and hyperinflation. Her family falls into poverty.
earnest → bleak, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
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Hellspark
Janet Kagan1988
A linguist travels to a new planet to investigate a murder. She must determine if the local species is sentient while navigating a conspiracy.
earnest → tense, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2
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Golem100
Alfred Bester1980
In a future city, a group of women accidentally summon a psychic monster that commits acts of extreme violence while investigators track it.
earnest → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2