Polar City Blues

The Second Shooter

Nick Mamatas2021

A journalist investigates conspiracy theorists and finds himself pursued by a mysterious figure present at every mass shooting.

Same sardonic register, still mystery

pace0·prose0·bleak0

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+2·bleak0

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

pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

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.

pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

Artemis

Andy Weir2017

A porter and smuggler on a lunar colony takes a high-stakes sabotage job to pay off a debt. She uses technical knowledge to solve problems.

sardonic → propulsive, still conspiracy

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

Two for the dough

Janet Evanovich1996

An inexperienced bounty hunter tracks a man who jumped bail for shooting his friend. She competes with a vice cop to find him first.

sardonic → playful, still mystery

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An Offer From a Gentleman

Julia Quinn2001

The illegitimate daughter of an earl works as a servant for her stepmother. She sneaks into a masquerade ball and meets Benedict Bridgerton.

sardonic → playful

pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

The Martian

Andy Weir2011

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

sardonic → wry

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

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.

sardonic → wry, still cyberpunk

pace+1·prose+1·bleak-1

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-1·bleak-2

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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Blood on the dining-room floor

Gertrude Stein1948

A repetitive, circular narrative about a death in a country house. It uses experimental prose to obscure the facts of a traditional mystery.

sardonic → playful, still mystery

pace-2·prose+2·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+2·bleak-2

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.

sardonic → bleak, still cyberpunk

pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

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.

sardonic → tense, still cyberpunk

pace+1·prose+1·bleak+1

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.

Same sardonic register, still cyberpunk

pace0·prose+1·bleak+1