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After

Six Wakes

Mur Lafferty2017

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • The Mote in God's Eye

    Jerry Pournelle1974

    Humans encounter an alien civilization with a unique biological and social structure. The focus is on diplomacy and technical problem-solving.

    Same tense register, still hard sci-fi

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • Seven Surrenders

    Ada Palmer2017

    The leaders of global Hives struggle to maintain a centuries-long peace as secrets emerge. The narrator is biased and uses archaic language.

    tense → sardonic

    pace0·prose+2·bleak+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.

    tense → clinical

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

  • Valis

    Philip K. Dick1981

    A man experiences a beam of pink light that imparts vast information. The narrative explores his mental breakdown and search for God in California.

    tense → meditative

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

To recover

tense → playful

3 more ↓

  • Walking Disaster

    Jamie McGuire2013

    This novel retells the events of 'Beautiful Disaster' from the perspective of Travis Maddox. It follows his college years and obsession with Abby.

    tense → propulsive

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • And One Last Thing...

    Molly Harper2010

    After a public divorce, a woman moves to a small town to start over and finds herself pursued by a local deputy.

    tense → wry

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Mile High

    Liz Tomforde2023

    A professional hockey player and a flight attendant clash on the team's private plane during a season-long road trip.

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Faster

3 more ↓

  • All Systems Red

    Martha Wells2017

    A self-aware security android hacks its own governor module to watch soap operas while protecting a team of scientists on a distant planet.

    tense → wry

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • 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.

    tense → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

  • 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.

    tense → playful

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

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.

    tense → meditative

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

  • White Mars, or, The mind set free

    Brian W. Aldiss1999

    A group of scientists and thinkers attempts to establish a utopian society on Mars after Earth is cut off by a global catastrophe.

    tense → earnest, still hard sci-fi

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak-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.

    tense → elegiac

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak-1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Echopraxia

    Peter Watts2014

    A biologist is caught on a mission toward the sun alongside a pilot and a group of transhuman monks. It explores consciousness and evolution.

    tense → bleak, still hard sci-fi

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2

  • Beyond the Aquila Rift

    Alastair Reynolds2001

    A spaceship crew wakes from cold sleep to find they have overshot their destination by light-years. They must face the reality of their location.

    tense → bleak, still hard sci-fi

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+2

  • The Killing Star

    Charles R. Pellegrino1995

    Relativistic missiles destroy Earth without warning. The few human survivors in the solar system are hunted by an alien species using logic.

    tense → bleak, still hard sci-fi

    pace0·prose0·bleak+2