LitQueuelitqueue

After

'Salem's Lot

Stephen King1975

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

Same tense register, still horror

1 more ↓

  • The Nice House on the Lake

    James Tynion IV2023

    Ten acquaintances are invited to a lake house by a friend who reveals the world has ended. They are trapped in a high-tech, isolated paradise.

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • Dæmonomania

    John Crowley2000

    In the third book of the Aegypt cycle, characters in the 1970s and the Renaissance navigate secret histories and alchemy. It is a slow study.

    tense → meditative

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1

  • Ficciones

    Jorge Luis Borges1945

    A collection of short stories exploring philosophical paradoxes, infinite libraries, and imaginary encyclopedias.

    tense → meditative

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1

  • At Swim-Two-Birds

    Flann O'Brien1939

    A student writes a story about a man whose own characters rebel and plot against him. It incorporates Irish myth and multiple layers of fiction.

    tense → playful

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak-2

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Love Comes Softly

    Janette Oke1979

    A widow on the 19th-century frontier enters a marriage of convenience with a widower to survive the winter and care for his daughter.

    tense → tender

    pace-1·prose-1·bleak-2

  • The perfect Christmas

    Debbie Macomber2009

    A woman hires a grumpy matchmaker to find a husband. He assigns her three tasks to complete before he will introduce her to his chosen candidate.

    tense → warm

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

  • Danger in the Shadows

    Dee Henderson2002

    A woman in witness protection hides from a kidnapper while a FBI agent works to keep her safe. The story incorporates elements of Christian faith.

    tense → earnest

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Mind's Eye

    Douglas E. Richards2014

    A man discovers he has the ability to access the internet and process data directly with his mind. He is hunted by a secret organization.

    tense → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • The Atlantis Gene

    A.G. Riddle2013

    A geneticist and a counter-terrorism agent uncover a global conspiracy involving human evolution and an ancient Antarctic discovery.

    tense → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Monster Hunter International

    Larry Correia2007

    An accountant kills his boss, who has become a werewolf, and is recruited by a private company that hunts monsters for government bounties.

    tense → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • The Habitation of the Blessed

    Catherynne M. Valente2010

    A priest finds the lost kingdom of Prester John. The story is told through three nested layers of journals, myths, and historical accounts.

    tense → dreamlike

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

  • Unfinished Tales

    J.R.R. Tolkien1980

    A collection of incomplete narratives and essays that expand the history, geography, and lore of Middle-earth.

    tense → meditative

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

  • Moonwise

    Greer Gilman1991

    Two women are pulled into a world created by their own folk-tales. The narrative uses dense, archaic language to describe a shifting landscape.

    tense → dreamlike

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • The Damnation Game

    Clive Barker1985

    An ex-con becomes a bodyguard for a billionaire who made a deal with a supernatural gambler. The debt comes due through gore and resurrection.

    tense → bleak, still horror

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Last Days

    Brian Evenson2009

    A detective is kidnapped by a cult that practices ritual amputation and forced to investigate a murder within their ranks.

    tense → clinical, still horror

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Let the Right One In

    John Ajvide Lindqvist2004

    A bullied boy befriends a vampire who appears to be a young girl. The story depicts their relationship alongside a series of gruesome murders.

    tense → bleak, still horror

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1