LitQueuelitqueue

After

State of Decay

James Knapp2010

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

1 more ↓

  • Ancestral Night

    Elizabeth Bear2019

    Two salvage operators discover an ancient ship and become entangled in a conflict involving a machine intelligence and their own memories.

    Same tense register, still noir

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • Nova Swing

    M. John Harrison2006

    In a city bordering a reality-warping zone, a travel agent and a detective deal with illegal artifacts. The prose is dense and non-linear.

    tense → cold, still cyberpunk

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

  • 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-2·prose+2·bleak0

  • Too Like the Lightning

    Ada Palmer2016

    In a 25th-century utopia, a convict narrates the discovery of a boy who can perform miracles. The prose uses 18th-century styles and gender terms.

    tense → sardonic

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Tuesdays with Morrie

    Mitch Albom1994

    A journalist reconnects with his dying college professor for weekly lessons on life. They discuss aging, regret, and love as the professor declines.

    tense → tender

    pace-1·prose-1·bleak-2

  • 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.

    tense → meditative

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

  • Murderbot Diaries

    Martha Wells2023

    A self-aware security android hacks its governor module to watch soap operas while protecting humans. It navigates corporate conspiracies.

    tense → sardonic, still cyberpunk

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

Faster

tense → propulsive, still cyberpunk

3 more ↓

  • The Martian

    Andy Weir2011

    A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.

    tense → wry

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

  • Accelerando

    Charles Stross2005

    Three generations of a family navigate the rapid evolution of technology toward a singularity. The pace accelerates as humanity is outpaced by AI.

    tense → wry, still cyberpunk

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak-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.

    tense → wry, still cyborg

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

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·bleak-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.

    tense → playful

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-2

  • 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-2·prose+2·bleak-1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • A Scanner Darkly

    Philip K. Dick1977

    An undercover narcotics agent in a near-future California becomes addicted to the drug he is investigating and begins to spy on himself.

    tense → bleak, still noir

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Watchmen

    Dave Gibbons1986

    Retired costumed vigilantes investigate a conspiracy after one of their own is murdered. The story uses a comic-within-a-comic and backmatter.

    tense → cold, still noir

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Market Forces

    Richard K. Morgan2004

    In a future where executives duel in armored cars for promotions, Chris Faulkner joins a firm that profits from civil wars. It is a corporate satire.

    tense → sardonic, still cyberpunk

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1