After
Slan
A. E. van Vogt1946
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing faster
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak+1
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.
Same propulsive register, still space opera
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
- pace-1prose-1bleak0
Battlefield Earth
L. Ron Hubbard1984
One thousand years after an alien invasion, a young man leads a human rebellion. He learns to use the invaders' technology to fight back.
Same propulsive register, still space opera
pace-1·prose-1·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Star Trek - Into Darkness
Alan Dean Foster2013
The crew of the Enterprise pursues a rogue operative who has attacked Starfleet. It is a novelization of the 2013 film.
Same propulsive register, still space opera
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace-1prose0bleak0
Paradox
John Meaney2000
A young man on a dark, underground planet receives a crystal that allows him to manipulate the physics of space. He joins a rebellion.
propulsive → earnest, still space opera
pace-1·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak0
Deathstalker Destiny
Simon R. Green1999
Owen Deathstalker attempts to rescue his partner from genetic experimenters while protecting a leper colony on the planet Lachrymae Christi.
Same propulsive register, still space opera
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace-2prose+2bleak+1
Radiance
Catherynne M. Valente2015
A documentary filmmaker disappears on Venus in an alternate 1980s solar system. The story is told through scripts, interviews, and letters.
propulsive → dreamlike, still space opera
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
Perhaps the Stars
Ada Palmer2021
A global war between ideological factions reaches its conclusion. The story is told through a dense, 18th-century style narrative voice.
propulsive → meditative, still space opera
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+2bleak+1
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.
propulsive → sardonic, still dystopian
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+2bleak+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.
propulsive → sardonic, still dystopian
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace-2prose+2bleak+1
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.
propulsive → dreamlike, still space opera
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
To recover
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
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.
propulsive → wry, still space opera
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace-1prose-1bleak-1
Star Nomad
Lindsay Buroker2016
A fighter pilot and a small crew of strangers attempt to escape a system-wide war in a freighter. It is a character-driven space adventure.
propulsive → playful, still space opera
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose-1bleak-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.
propulsive → playful, still space opera
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace-1prose-1bleak-1
Smokin' Seventeen
Janet Evanovich2011
A bounty hunter investigates bodies found in her boss's lot while choosing between three suitors. The story follows her daily mishaps in New Jersey.
propulsive → playful
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
propulsive → wry
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
Slower
- pace-3prose+2bleak+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.
propulsive → dreamlike
pace-3·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-3prose+2bleak0
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.
propulsive → meditative
pace-3·prose+2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-3prose+2bleak0
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.
propulsive → meditative
pace-3·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-3prose+2bleak+2
Translated Accounts
James Kelman2001
Anonymous witnesses describe life under a military regime. The prose uses broken, bureaucratic syntax to mimic a literal translation.
propulsive → bleak, still dystopian
pace-3·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace-3prose+2bleak-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.
propulsive → playful
pace-3·prose+2·bleak-1
Heavier
- pace-1prose+1bleak+2
Consider Phlebas
Iain Banks1987
A shape-shifting mercenary works for an alien empire to retrieve a rogue AI during a galactic war. He faces a series of deadly set-pieces.
propulsive → bleak, still space opera
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace-2prose0bleak+2
The Testament of Jessie Lamb
Jane Rogers2011
A teenager decides to volunteer for a medical program that will end her life to save humanity from a biological catastrophe.
propulsive → earnest, still dystopian
pace-2·prose0·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+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.
propulsive → cold, still dystopian
pace-2·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace-1prose+1bleak+2
Watchmen
Alan Moore1986
Retired masked vigilantes investigate the murder of a former teammate. The story takes place in an alternate 1985 on the brink of nuclear war.
propulsive → bleak, still dystopian
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace-1prose+2bleak+2
A Clockwork Orange
Anthony Burgess1962
A teenage gang leader is imprisoned and subjected to state-mandated psychological conditioning. The story is told in a slang called Nadsat.
propulsive → sardonic, still dystopian
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2
