Robots and Empire

Seeker

Jack McDevitt2005

Two antiquities dealers trace a 9,000-year-old cup to find a legendary lost colony ship. The story follows their research and travel.

Same earnest register, still mystery

pace0·prose+1·bleak0

The Ministry for the Future

Kim Stanley Robinson2020

A global organization uses diplomacy, economics, and sabotage to combat climate change through a series of fictional eyewitness accounts.

Same earnest register, still hard scifi

pace0·prose+1·bleak0

Bannerless

Carrie Vaughn2017

In a post-collapse society where birth is a regulated privilege, an investigator looks into a mysterious death. It follows the protocol of a mystery.

Same earnest register, still mystery

pace0·prose+1·bleak0

The Long Utopia

Terry Pratchett2015

In a multiverse where humans can step between parallel Earths, a new threat emerges in the 2050s. It explores the evolution of a new human species.

earnest → meditative, still hard scifi

pace0·prose+1·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.

earnest → clinical

pace0·prose+3·bleak+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-1·prose+3·bleak+1

The Masque of the Black Tulip

Lauren Willig2005

In 1803, a young woman goes undercover in the French court to unmask a Napoleonic spy known as the Black Tulip.

pace+1·prose+1·bleak-1

How to Solve Your Own Murder

Kristen Perrin2024

A woman inherits a country estate on the condition that she solves her great-aunt's murder. The victim had spent sixty years expecting the crime.

pace+1·prose+1·bleak-1

Rogue Protocol

Martha Wells2018

A self-aware security android travels to a space station to find evidence against a corrupt corporation while hiding its autonomy.

earnest → sardonic, still hard scifi

pace+2·prose+1·bleak-1

The Demolished Man

Alfred Bester1953

In a future where telepathic police make premeditated crime impossible, a businessman plans a murder. He uses a catchy song to block his thoughts.

earnest → propulsive, still mystery

pace+2·prose+1·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.

earnest → dreamlike

pace-1·prose+3·bleak+1

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-1·prose+3·bleak0

Titan

Stephen Baxter1997

A crew of astronauts embarks on a one-way mission to Saturn's moon. The narrative details the technical and psychological decay of the mission.

earnest → cold, still hard scifi

pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2

Maelstrom

Peter Watts2001

A bio-engineered virus spreads through the global network while a woman navigates a flooded, post-apocalyptic landscape.

earnest → bleak, still hard scifi

pace+1·prose+2·bleak+2