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Tales of H.P. Lovecraft

H.P. Lovecraft

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  • The Fisherman

    John Langan2016

    Two widowers go fishing at a mysterious creek and discover a local legend involving a dark pact and a gateway to another world.

    dreamlike → elegiac, still cosmic horror

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Fifty Shades of Grey

    E.L. James2000

    A college student enters a sexual contract with a wealthy businessman. The story focuses on their power dynamics and BDSM encounters.

    dreamlike → earnest

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

  • The Martian

    Andy Weir2011

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

    dreamlike → wry

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2

  • Ready Player One

    Ernest Cline2008

    A teenager in a dystopian future hunts for a digital easter egg inside a massive simulation. The quest relies on 1980s pop culture trivia.

    dreamlike → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2

Faster

3 more ↓

  • The Rising

    Brian Keene2003

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

    dreamlike → bleak

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak+1

  • Shattered

    Dean Koontz1973

    A man and his future stepson drive across America while being stalked by the woman's vengeful ex-husband.

    dreamlike → tense

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

  • The Executioner

    Chris Carter2010

    A Los Angeles detective hunts a serial killer who murders victims using their specific phobias. Each crime scene features a blood-scrawled number.

    dreamlike → tense

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak0

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.

    dreamlike → playful

    pace-1·prose+1·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.

    dreamlike → playful

    pace-1·prose+1·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.

    dreamlike → bleak, still cosmic horror

    pace-1·prose0·bleak+1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • The New Annotated H. P. Lovecraft

    H.P. Lovecraft2014

    This collection presents twenty-two stories of cosmic horror alongside extensive footnotes regarding the author's life and influences.

    dreamlike → cold, still cosmic horror

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

  • Mr. Shivers

    Robert Jackson Bennett2010

    A father hunts a scarred vagrant across Depression-era America to avenge his daughter's murder. He joins other men seeking the same killer.

    dreamlike → bleak, still cosmic horror

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+1

  • The Terror

    Dan Simmons2007

    Two British ships searching for the Northwest Passage in 1845 become trapped in ice and are hunted by a creature.

    dreamlike → bleak, still cosmic horror

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1