After
The Blue, Beautiful World
Karen Lord2023
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak-1
New York 2140
Kim Stanley Robinson2017
In a flooded future New York, residents live in the upper floors of skyscrapers. Multiple characters navigate the city's new economy and tides.
Same earnest register, still ensemble cast
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
- pace0prose0bleak0
Termination Shock
Neal Stephenson2021
A billionaire builds a giant gun to fire sulfur into the atmosphere to cool the planet. Multiple characters react to this unilateral climate action.
earnest → wry, still ensemble cast
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace+1prose-1bleak0
The Measure
Nikki Erlick2022
Every person on Earth receives a box containing a string that reveals their lifespan. The story follows an ensemble dealing with the fallout.
Same earnest register, still ensemble cast
pace+1·prose-1·bleak0
- pace+1prose-1bleak0
January Fifteenth
Rachel Swirsky2022
Four women experience the day the Universal Basic Income is distributed. The story follows their differing social and economic perspectives.
Same earnest register, still ensemble cast
pace+1·prose-1·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak+1
Mindscape
Andrea Hairston2006
A barrier divides Earth into isolated zones. After a diplomat's death, her successor attempts to navigate the politics and physics of the wall.
earnest → meditative, still ensemble cast
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
Denser prose
- pace-1prose+1bleak+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.
earnest → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace0prose+1bleak+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.
earnest → sardonic
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+1bleak+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.
earnest → meditative
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace0prose+1bleak+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.
earnest → meditative
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace0prose+1bleak+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.
earnest → dreamlike
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
To recover
- pace+2prose-2bleak-1
The Android's Dream
John Scalzi2006
A diplomat must find a specific, genetically engineered sheep to prevent an interstellar war. The story is a fast-paced, irreverent space comedy.
earnest → playful
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-2bleak-1
The Da Vinci Code
Dan Brown2003
A symbologist and a cryptologist flee the police while solving puzzles hidden in art. They search for a secret regarding the Holy Grail.
earnest → propulsive
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-2bleak-1
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.
Same earnest register
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-2bleak-1
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
earnest → wry
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-2bleak-1
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.
earnest → propulsive
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1
Faster
- pace+2prose-2bleak-1
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
earnest → wry
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-2bleak-1
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.
earnest → propulsive
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-2bleak-1
All Systems Red
Martha Wells2017
A self-aware security android hacks its own governor module to watch soap operas while protecting a team of scientists on a distant planet.
earnest → wry
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-2bleak0
Skin Game
Jim Butcher2014
Wizard Harry Dresden joins a team of villains to rob a vault in the Underworld. It is a fast-paced heist set in a modern fantasy Chicago.
earnest → propulsive
pace+2·prose-2·bleak0
- pace+2prose-2bleak-1
The Kaiju Preservation Society
John Scalzi2022
A food delivery driver joins a secret organization that travels to an alternate Earth to care for massive, dinosaur-like creatures.
earnest → playful
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1
Slower
- pace-1prose+1bleak+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.
earnest → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+1bleak0
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.
earnest → meditative
pace-1·prose+1·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak0
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.
earnest → meditative
pace-1·prose+1·bleak0
- pace-1prose0bleak-1
Dandelion Wine
Ray Bradbury1946
A twelve-year-old boy experiences a series of vignettes over one summer in 1928 Illinois. The chapters focus on small-town life and aging.
earnest → elegiac
pace-1·prose0·bleak-1
- pace-1prose-1bleak-1
For Us, the Living
Robert A. Heinlein2003
A 1930s pilot wakes up in the year 2086. The book consists of long dialogues explaining the social, economic, and sexual norms of the future.
Same earnest register
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1
Heavier
- pace0prose0bleak+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.
earnest → elegiac, still first contact
pace0·prose0·bleak+2
- pace0prose0bleak+2
Blindsight
Peter Watts2006
A crew of specialists, including a vampire and a linguist, investigates an alien presence at the edge of the solar system.
earnest → cold, still first contact
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3 more ↓ ↑
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Fiasco
Stanisław Lem1986
Humans on a spaceship attempt to force communication with an alien civilization that refuses to respond. It ends in a total failure of logic.
earnest → clinical, still first contact
pace0·prose0·bleak+2
- pace0prose0bleak+2
The Blood of Angels
Johanna Sinisalo2011
A father grieving his son discovers a portal to another world while bees disappear globally. It explores ecological collapse and grief.
earnest → elegiac, still climate fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak+2
- pace0prose0bleak+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.
earnest → cold
pace0·prose0·bleak+2
