After
Ready Player Two
Ernest Cline2019
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
- pace+1prose0bleak-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.
earnest → propulsive, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose0·bleak-1
- pace0prose+1bleak0
Perfect State
Brandon Sanderson2015
A man living in a custom-designed digital utopia meets a woman from another simulation. They navigate a physical world date while hiding secrets.
Same earnest register, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
- pace0prose+1bleak0
Opening Moves
Cosimo Yap2016
A man enters a high-stakes virtual reality game to escape his life. He must navigate cyberpunk mechanics and level up to survive.
earnest → propulsive, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
- pace0prose+1bleak0
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
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+1bleak0
Star Wars - Tatooine Ghost
Troy Denning2003
Han and Leia travel to Tatooine to recover a piece of Alderaanian art containing a hidden rebel code. They encounter ghosts of Han's past.
Same earnest register, still quest
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace-1prose+3bleak+1
City of Saints and Madmen
Jeff Vandermeer2001
A collection of stories, histories, and pamphlets about the city of Ambergris. It uses found documents to build a surreal urban history.
earnest → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+3·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+3bleak+1
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.
earnest → playful
pace-1·prose+3·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+3bleak+1
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+3·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+3bleak+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+3·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+3bleak+1
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+3·bleak+1
To recover
- pace+1prose0bleak-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.
earnest → propulsive, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose0·bleak-1
- pace0prose+1bleak-1
Candyfreak: A Journey through the Chocolate Underbelly of America
Steve Almond
An author visits small, independent candy factories across the United States. He documents the history of regional bars and his own obsession.
earnest → wry
pace0·prose+1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+1bleak-1
Snow Crash
Neal Stephenson1992
A pizza delivery driver and a teenage skateboarder investigate a digital virus that can crash the brains of hackers in a corporate-run Los Angeles.
earnest → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace0prose+1bleak-1
Headcrash
Bruce Bethke1995
A computer programmer loses his job and enters a virtual reality underworld to seek revenge on the corporate elite. It is a satire of 1990s tech.
earnest → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace0prose+1bleak-1
Ringworld
Larry Niven1970
Four explorers travel to a massive artificial ring around a distant star. The story focuses on the mechanics and scale of the structure.
earnest → playful
pace0·prose+1·bleak-1
Faster
- pace+1prose0bleak-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.
earnest → propulsive, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose0·bleak-1
- pace+1prose+2bleak0
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+2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose+2bleak0
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.
earnest → propulsive, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose+2·bleak0
- pace+1prose+1bleak0
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.
earnest → propulsive, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose+1·bleak0
- pace+1prose+1bleak0
Freedom™
Daniel Suarez2010
An autonomous computer program reorganizes global society into a decentralized network. A group of rebels fights to maintain human agency.
earnest → propulsive, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose+1·bleak0
Slower
- pace-2prose+3bleak+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+3·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+3bleak0
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+3·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+3bleak0
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+3·bleak0
- pace-2prose+3bleak-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.
earnest → playful
pace-2·prose+3·bleak-1
- pace-2prose+3bleak0
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+3·bleak0
Heavier
- pace0prose+1bleak+2
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
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace0prose+1bleak+2
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·prose+1·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+2bleak+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.
earnest → bleak, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace+1prose+2bleak+2
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+2·bleak+2
- pace0prose+2bleak+2
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+2·bleak+2