LitQueuelitqueue

After

Stranded

Bracken MacLeod2016

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

1 more ↓

  • FantasticLand

    Mike Bockoven2016

    Interviews and documents recount how employees at a flooded theme park turned into violent factions. It is told as a non-fiction oral history.

    Same tense register, still survival horror

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

To recover

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    tense → playful

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

  • The Comfort Book

    Matt Haig2021

    A collection of short reflections, lists, and anecdotes intended to provide mental support. It is a non-linear book of philosophy and memoir.

    tense → warm

    pace-1·prose-1·bleak-2

  • On a Pale Horse

    Piers Anthony1983

    After accidentally killing the personification of Death, a man must take over the office. He navigates the bureaucracy of the afterlife.

    tense → playful

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

Faster

Same tense register, still survival horror

3 more ↓

  • The Walking Dead, Vol. 1: Days Gone Bye

    Robert Kirkman

    A small-town deputy wakes from a coma to find a zombie apocalypse. He searches for his family and leads a group of survivors.

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

  • Patient Zero

    Jonathan Maberry2009

    A detective joins a secret government task force to stop a terrorist group using a bio-weapon that reanimates the dead. It is an action thriller.

    tense → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • The Rising

    Brian Keene2003

    A father travels across an apocalypse where the dead are possessed by malevolent, intelligent demons. The world is ending permanently.

    tense → bleak

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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

  • The Conspiracy Against the Human Race

    Thomas Ligotti2010

    A series of philosophical essays arguing that human consciousness is a tragic evolutionary accident. It posits that non-existence is preferable.

    tense → bleak, still cosmic horror

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak+1

Heavier

tense → bleak, still cosmic horror

3 more ↓

  • The Troop

    Nick Cutter2014

    A scoutmaster and five boys are stranded on an island with a man carrying a parasitic infection. The organism spreads through the group.

    tense → bleak, still survival horror

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

  • The Hellbound Heart

    Clive Barker1991

    A man opens a puzzle box that summons demonic beings to harvest his soul through sensory extremes. His brother's wife attempts to bring him back.

    tense → cold, still cosmic horror

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • The Ruins

    Scott Smith2005

    Four tourists are trapped on a hill in Mexico by locals and a predatory vine. The plant mimics sounds and grows inside their skin.

    Same tense register, still survival horror

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1