After
Something is Killing the Children, Book One
James Tynion IV2021
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing faster
More like it
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Hellsing
Kohta Hirano2003
A secret British organization uses a powerful vampire to fight a supernatural Nazi uprising. The Vatican intervenes as London is besieged.
tense → sardonic, still horror
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace-1prose+1bleak0
NOS4A2
Joe Hill2013
A woman with the ability to find lost objects hunts a supernatural kidnapper who takes children to a nightmare world in his 1938 Rolls-Royce.
Same tense register, still horror
pace-1·prose+1·bleak0
- pace-1prose+1bleak0
Everything's Eventual
Stephen King2002
Fourteen stories involving psychic assassins, haunted hotel rooms, and a man who hitches a ride with a corpse.
Same tense register, still horror
pace-1·prose+1·bleak0
- pace-1prose+1bleak0
Twilight Eyes
Dean Koontz1985
A young man who can see monsters disguised as humans joins a traveling carnival. He hunts the creatures while trying to avoid the police.
Same tense register, still horror
pace-1·prose+1·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
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Cabal
Clive Barker1988
A man who believes he is a serial killer finds refuge in Midian, an underground city of literal monsters.
Same tense register, still horror
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace-2prose+3bleak0
House of Leaves
Mark Z. Danielewski1998
A man finds a door in his house that should not exist. The story is told through layers of academic footnotes and a decaying manuscript.
tense → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+3·bleak0
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Ambergris
Jeff VanderMeer2020
This collection follows the history of a city built atop a subterranean race. It uses fake histories, journals, and detective noir.
tense → dreamlike, still dark fantasy
pace-2·prose+3·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
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Racconti [55 stories]
Edgar Allan Poe2011
A collection of 55 stories featuring unreliable narrators and gothic settings. Themes include obsession, premature burial, and the macabre.
tense → dreamlike, still horror
pace-2·prose+3·bleak0
- pace-1prose+3bleak+1
The Unholy Consult
R. Scott Bakker2017
A messiah leads his armies toward a final confrontation with an ancient, soul-devouring force. The world is ending.
tense → bleak, still dark fantasy
pace-1·prose+3·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+3bleak+1
Android Karenina
Лев Толстой2010
The text of Tolstoy's classic is modified to include robots, cyborgs, and space travel in a 19th-century Russian setting.
tense → elegiac, still horror
pace-2·prose+3·bleak+1
To recover
tense → warm
- pace-1prose0bleak-2
On Dublin Street
Samantha Young2012
An American woman in Scotland enters a sex-only arrangement with her roommate's brother to avoid emotional intimacy. It is a contemporary romance.
pace-1·prose0·bleak-2
- pace-2prose+1bleak-2
Under the Whispering Door
TJ Klune2021
A selfish lawyer dies and waits in a supernatural tea shop to transition to the afterlife. He befriends the shopkeeper and other ghosts.
pace-2·prose+1·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
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This Girl
Colleen Hoover2013
A husband retells the story of his early relationship to his wife. It uses dual timelines to revisit events from the first book in the series.
tense → earnest
pace-2·prose0·bleak-2
- pace-1prose0bleak-2
The Score
Elle Kennedy2016
A college senior has a one-night stand with a hockey player to get over a breakup. They continue the arrangement as graduation approaches.
tense → playful
pace-1·prose0·bleak-2
- pace-2prose+1bleak-2
Second chance pass
Robyn Carr2009
A widow in a small town raises her newborn while falling for her late husband's best friend. He has loved her in secret for years.
pace-2·prose+1·bleak-2
Slower
- pace-3prose0bleak-1
Lady Audley's Secret
Mary Elizabeth Braddon1862
A man returns from Australia to find his friend's wife is a governess with a hidden past. He investigates her identity after his friend disappears.
tense → mysterious, still horror
pace-3·prose0·bleak-1
- pace-3prose+3bleak0
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.
tense → dreamlike
pace-3·prose+3·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-3prose+3bleak-2
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.
tense → playful
pace-3·prose+3·bleak-2
- pace-3prose+3bleak-1
Ulysses
James Joyce1914
Three characters wander through Dublin on a single day in 1904. Each chapter uses a different literary style to mimic thoughts and sensations.
tense → playful
pace-3·prose+3·bleak-1
- pace-3prose+3bleak+1
Absalom, Absalom!
William Faulkner1936
The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.
tense → elegiac
pace-3·prose+3·bleak+1
Heavier
tense → bleak, still horror
- pace-1prose+1bleak+1
Mr. Hands
Gary A. Braunbeck2007
A grieving mother uses a supernatural entity to take revenge on those who harm children. The story follows the consequences of her vigilante pact.
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
Desperation
Stephen King1996
A demonic entity possesses a small-town sheriff and begins slaughtering travelers. A young boy who hears God leads the survivors.
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
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- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
Mapping the Interior
Stephen Graham Jones2017
A teenager follows a figure resembling his dead father into the hidden spaces of his home. He maps a shifting, dangerous interior.
tense → elegiac, still horror
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+1bleak+1
Flowers in the Attic
V.C. Andrews1979
Four children are hidden in an attic for years by their mother and grandmother to secure an inheritance. They face gradual poisoning and abuse.
tense → elegiac, still horror
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
