After
Scale
Greg Egan2023
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing denser
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak0
Schild's Ladder
Greg Egan2002
Physicists in the far future attempt to stop an expanding vacuum bubble that threatens to consume the universe. It focuses on theoretical physics.
clinical → meditative, still hard scifi
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose-1bleak0
The Integral Trees
Larry Niven1984
Humans live in a gas torus around a neutron star, inhabiting free-falling trees that are 100 kilometers long. There is no ground or gravity.
clinical → meditative, still hard scifi
pace0·prose-1·bleak0
- pace0prose-1bleak0
Red Moon
Kim Stanley Robinson2018
An American engineer, a travel reporter, and a pregnant revolutionary flee across a colonized Moon after a political murder.
clinical → meditative, still hard scifi
pace0·prose-1·bleak0
- pace0prose-1bleak0
Still River
Hal Clement1987
Five students of different alien species are dropped on a planet with a volatile atmosphere to solve a geological puzzle.
clinical → earnest, still hard scifi
pace0·prose-1·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose-1bleak0
Women in Deep Time
Greg Bear2003
Three stories explore the female perspective through hard science fiction, including multiversal travel and engineered space warfare.
clinical → meditative, still hard scifi
pace0·prose-1·bleak0
To recover
- pace+1prose-3bleak-1
The Last Question
Isaac Asimov2007
A short story told in seven vignettes spanning billions of years. Humanity asks a supercomputer if the heat death of the universe can be avoided.
clinical → meditative, still hard scifi
pace+1·prose-3·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-3bleak-1
Redshirts
John Scalzi2012
Low-ranking crew members on a starship realize they are disposable characters in a sci-fi television show. They attempt to escape their fate.
clinical → playful
pace+1·prose-3·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-3bleak-1
The Da Vinci Code
Dan Brown2003
A symbologist and a cryptologist flee the police while solving puzzles hidden in art. They search for a secret regarding the Holy Grail.
clinical → propulsive
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-3bleak-1
Fifty Shades of Grey
E.L. James2000
A college student enters a sexual contract with a wealthy businessman. The story focuses on their power dynamics and BDSM encounters.
clinical → earnest
pace+1·prose-3·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-3bleak-1
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
clinical → wry
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-1
Faster
- pace+2prose-2bleak-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.
clinical → sardonic, still hard scifi
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-3bleak-1
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
clinical → wry
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-3bleak-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.
clinical → propulsive
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-3bleak0
Skin Game
Jim Butcher2014
Wizard Harry Dresden joins a team of villains to rob a vault in the Underworld. It is a fast-paced heist set in a modern fantasy Chicago.
clinical → propulsive
pace+2·prose-3·bleak0
- pace+2prose-3bleak-1
The Kaiju Preservation Society
John Scalzi2022
A food delivery driver joins a secret organization that travels to an alternate Earth to care for massive, dinosaur-like creatures.
clinical → playful
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-1
Slower
- pace-1prose0bleak+1
His Master's Voice
Stanisław Lem2018
A mathematician works at a secret facility to decode a neutrino signal from space. The book is a philosophical essay disguised as a memoir.
Same clinical register, still hard scifi
pace-1·prose0·bleak+1
- pace-1prose0bleak+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.
clinical → dreamlike
pace-1·prose0·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose0bleak0
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.
clinical → meditative
pace-1·prose0·bleak0
- pace-1prose0bleak0
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.
clinical → meditative
pace-1·prose0·bleak0
- pace-1prose-1bleak-1
Dandelion Wine
Ray Bradbury1946
A twelve-year-old boy experiences a series of vignettes over one summer in 1928 Illinois. The chapters focus on small-town life and aging.
clinical → elegiac
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1
Heavier
- pace+1prose-2bleak+2
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.
clinical → cold, still hard scifi
pace+1·prose-2·bleak+2
- pace+1prose-1bleak+2
Maelstrom
Peter Watts2001
A bio-engineered virus spreads through the global network while a woman navigates a flooded, post-apocalyptic landscape.
clinical → bleak, still hard scifi
pace+1·prose-1·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose-1bleak+2
Fiasco
Stanisław Lem1986
Humans on a spaceship attempt to force communication with an alien civilization that refuses to respond. It ends in a total failure of logic.
Same clinical register, still hard scifi
pace0·prose-1·bleak+2
- pace0prose-1bleak+2
Salt
Adam Roberts2000
Two groups of colonists with opposing ideologies settle on a salt-covered planet, leading to a total breakdown of their society.
clinical → bleak, still hard scifi
pace0·prose-1·bleak+2
- pace0prose-1bleak+2
The Handmaid's Tale
Margaret Atwood1985
In a totalitarian state with a plummeting birth rate, a woman is enslaved as a reproductive vessel. She records her daily life and memories.
clinical → cold
pace0·prose-1·bleak+2
