LitQueuelitqueue

After

Sweeney Todd

Anonymous2009

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

Same propulsive register, still horror

1 more ↓

  • Deadline

    Mira Grant2011

    A journalist investigates a conspiracy involving the CDC and the origins of the zombie virus while grieving his sister's death.

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • Ambergris

    Jeff VanderMeer2020

    This collection follows the history of a city built atop a subterranean race. It uses fake histories, journals, and detective noir.

    propulsive → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

  • Gormenghast

    Mervyn Peake1950

    A young heir and a social climber navigate the rigid rituals of a decaying, labyrinthine castle. The prose is dense and descriptive.

    propulsive → dark, still gothic

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+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.

    propulsive → elegiac, still horror

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

To recover

Same propulsive register

3 more ↓

  • Two-Dollar bill

    Stuart Woods2005

    Attorney Stone Barrington deals with a flamboyant Texas con man who is being pursued by the CIA.

    propulsive → wry

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

  • Secrets in Death

    J.D. Robb2017

    Lt. Eve Dallas investigates the murder of a professional gossip columnist in a futuristic New York City.

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

  • Ghost Ship

    Clive Cussler2014

    Kurt Austin survives a yacht sinking but suffers from conflicting memories. He investigates a global cybercrime conspiracy to find the truth.

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Intercepts

    T.J. Payne2020

    A worker at a government facility monitors human test subjects driven insane by sensory deprivation. The experiment enters his private life.

    propulsive → tense, still horror

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1

  • Infected

    Bobby Adair

    A slow-acting virus turns the population into aggressive predators. The story follows a survivor navigating the initial societal collapse.

    Same propulsive register, still horror

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

  • The Undead Day One

    R.R. Haywood

    A supermarket manager attempts to survive the first twenty-four hours of a zombie outbreak in England. The story is told in real-time.

    Same propulsive register, still horror

    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.

    propulsive → 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.

    propulsive → playful

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-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.

    propulsive → elegiac

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1

Heavier

3 more ↓