After
Swords of Mars
Edgar Rice Burroughs1936
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing faster
More like it
- pace-1prose0bleak-1
Thuvia, Maid of Mars
Edgar Rice Burroughs1916
The son of John Carter travels across Mars to rescue a kidnapped princess. He faces various Martian creatures and hostile cities.
Same propulsive register, still planetary romance
pace-1·prose0·bleak-1
- pace-1prose0bleak0
The Magic Labyrinth
Philip José Farmer1980
Historical figures from all eras continue their journey down a massive river in an afterlife to find their creators.
Same propulsive register, still planetary romance
pace-1·prose0·bleak0
- pace-1prose0bleak0
Deathworld 1
Harry Harrison1960
A psychic gambler travels to a planet where every life form has evolved to kill humans. He tries to survive the world's hostile environment.
Same propulsive register, still planetary romance
pace-1·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Demolished Man
Alfred Bester1953
In a future where telepathic police make premeditated crime impossible, a businessman plans a murder. He uses a catchy song to block his thoughts.
Same propulsive register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak0
Timeline
Michael Crichton1999
Historians travel to 1357 France using quantum technology to rescue their professor. They must survive the Hundred Years' War to return home.
Same propulsive register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
- 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-2prose+2bleak+1
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.
propulsive → sardonic
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+2bleak+1
Valis
Philip K. Dick1981
A man experiences a beam of pink light that imparts vast information. The narrative explores his mental breakdown and search for God in California.
propulsive → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+2bleak+1
Shadow & Claw
Gene Wolfe1983
A torturer travels across a far-future Earth where technology is indistinguishable from magic. He recounts his exile in dense, archaic prose.
propulsive → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
- 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
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
To recover
- pace0prose0bleak-1
Mars trilogy
Edgar Rice Burroughs2012
A Civil War veteran is transported to Mars, where he fights monsters and rescues a princess. It is an omnibus of three pulp adventure novels.
Same propulsive register, still planetary romance
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
- pace-1prose-1bleak-1
Metro Girl
Janet Evanovich2004
Alexandra Barnaby travels to Miami to find her missing brother. She teams up with a NASCAR driver to track him through a series of boat chases.
propulsive → playful
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
Medusa
Clive Cussler2009
The NUMA team investigates a missing undersea lab and a bathysphere attack. They uncover a corporate plot involving a deadly virus and jellyfish.
Same propulsive register
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace-1prose-1bleak-1
Steamed
Katie MacAlister2010
A modern woman is transported to a Victorian steampunk world. She must navigate a romance with a local inventor while trying to return home.
propulsive → playful
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1
- 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
pace-1·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-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
- pace-3prose+2bleak0
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-3·prose+2·bleak0
Heavier
- pace-2prose+1bleak+2
Salt
Adam Roberts2000
Two groups of colonists with opposing ideologies settle on a salt-covered planet, leading to a total breakdown of their society.
propulsive → bleak, still planetary romance
pace-2·prose+1·bleak+2
- 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
pace-2·prose+1·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose0bleak+2
Doomsday Book
Connie Willis1992
A student travels to 14th-century England while a virus spreads in the present. She arrives during the Black Death due to a technical error.
propulsive → bleak
pace-2·prose0·bleak+2
- pace-2prose+2bleak+2
Perdido Street Station
China Miéville2000
A scientist in a sprawling, industrial city agrees to help a winged refugee fly again. His research accidentally unleashes a psychic predator.
propulsive → bleak
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace-2prose+1bleak+2
The Sparrow
Mary Doria Russell1996
A Jesuit priest joins a mission to a newly discovered planet. The story is told in flashbacks after he returns as the sole, traumatized survivor.
propulsive → elegiac
pace-2·prose+1·bleak+2
