LitQueuelitqueue

After

Redshirts

John Scalzi2012

5 of 6 directions open — nothing to recover from

More like it

1 more ↓

  • Black Genesis

    L. Ron Hubbard1986

    An alien intelligence officer arrives on Earth to prevent humans from polluting themselves into extinction. It is a satirical space opera.

    playful → sardonic, still satire

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    playful → sardonic, still satire

    pace-1·prose+3·bleak+2

  • Naked Lunch: The Restored Text

    William S. Burroughs

    A series of nonlinear vignettes follow a drug addict's hallucinations and travels. The prose is fragmented and satirical.

    playful → sardonic, still satire

    pace-1·prose+3·bleak+3

  • Empty Space

    M. John Harrison2012

    Three interlocking timelines follow a widow in London, a detective in a neon city, and a pilot in deep space. The prose is dense and surreal.

    playful → dreamlike, still space opera

    pace-1·prose+3·bleak+2

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Red Rising

    Pierce Brown2014

    A laborer on Mars discovers his caste is being lied to and undergoes surgery to infiltrate the ruling elite. He joins a brutal war games academy.

    playful → propulsive, still space opera

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2

  • 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.

    playful → propulsive, still space opera

    pace+1·prose+2·bleak+1

  • The Android's Dream

    John Scalzi2006

    A diplomat must find a specific, genetically engineered sheep to prevent an interstellar war. The story is a fast-paced, irreverent space comedy.

    Same playful register, still space opera

    pace+1·prose0·bleak0

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    playful → meditative

    pace-2·prose+3·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.

    Same playful register

    pace-2·prose+3·bleak0

  • 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.

    Same playful register

    pace-2·prose+3·bleak+1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • The Stepford Wives

    Ira Levin1972

    A photographer moves to a suburb where the wives are unnervingly submissive. She investigates whether the local men are replacing them with robots.

    playful → tense, still satire

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+3

  • Cat's Cradle

    Kurt Vonnegut1963

    A writer researches the creator of the atomic bomb and discovers a substance that freezes all water. He joins an island cult.

    playful → sardonic, still satire

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+3

  • Chain-Gang All-Stars

    Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah2023

    Prisoners in a private American penal system fight to the death in televised matches for a chance at freedom.

    playful → bleak, still satire

    pace0·prose+2·bleak+3