The academy

White Trash Zombie Apocalypse

Diana Rowland2013

A zombie working at a morgue investigates a suspicious film crew in her town. She balances her cravings with a corporate conspiracy.

pace0·prose0·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.

sardonic → elegiac, still horror

pace-1·prose+3·bleak+1

Racconti [55 stories]

Edgar Allan Poe2011

A collection of 55 stories featuring unreliable narrators and gothic settings. Themes include obsession, premature burial, and the macabre.

sardonic → dreamlike, still horror

pace-1·prose+3·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.

sardonic → dark

pace-1·prose+3·bleak+1

Thief of Time

Terry Pratchett2001

A young clockmaker attempts to build a perfectly accurate clock that will stop time. A history monk and his apprentice must intervene.

sardonic → wry, still satire

pace0·prose+1·bleak-2

Bellwether

Connie Willis1996

Two corporate researchers study the mechanics of fads and sheep behavior. A series of bureaucratic errors forces them to work together.

sardonic → playful

pace0·prose+1·bleak-2

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.

pace0·prose0·bleak-2

The Rats

James Herbert1974

Giant, man-eating rats overrun London, attacking citizens in homes and subways. The story follows the escalating biological disaster.

sardonic → propulsive, still horror

pace+1·prose+1·bleak0

Shattered

Dean Koontz1973

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

sardonic → tense, still horror

pace+1·prose0·bleak-1

The Lesser Dead

Christopher Buehlman2014

A teenage vampire living in the 1978 New York City subways discovers a new, predatory threat lurking in the tunnels beneath the city.

sardonic → dark, still horror

pace+1·prose+2·bleak+1

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.

sardonic → playful

pace-2·prose+3·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.

sardonic → elegiac

pace-2·prose+3·bleak+1

The Pale King

David Foster Wallace2011

An unfinished, experimental novel about the mundane daily operations of an IRS processing center in 1985 Illinois.

Same sardonic register, still satire

pace-2·prose+3·bleak0

Mapping the Interior

Stephen Graham Jones2017

A teenager follows a figure resembling his dead father into the hidden spaces of his home. He maps a shifting, dangerous interior.

sardonic → elegiac, still horror

pace0·prose+2·bleak+1

Flowers in the Attic

V.C. Andrews1979

Four children are hidden in an attic for years by their mother and grandmother to secure an inheritance. They face gradual poisoning and abuse.

sardonic → elegiac, still horror

pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

The Lottery

Shirley Jackson1983

Villagers gather for an annual ritual in a small town. The story follows the procedural steps of a lottery that ends in a public execution.

sardonic → cold, still horror

pace0·prose+1·bleak+1