The Bridge

Bold as Love

Gwyneth Jones2001

In a near-future Britain collapsing from climate change, a trio of rock stars is thrust into positions of revolutionary political power.

Same dreamlike register, still speculative fiction

pace0·prose0·bleak0

The golden age

John C. Wright2002

In a far-future utopia, an immortal man discovers he has had his memories erased. He searches for his identity while defying a collective mind.

dreamlike → meditative, still amnesia

pace0·prose+1·bleak-1

In Green's Jungles

Gene Wolfe2000

A narrator travels to different worlds while his physical form and memories shift. He recounts past voyages to prove his identity to his companions.

dreamlike → elegiac, still unreliable narrator

pace0·prose+1·bleak0

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.

dreamlike → meditative

pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

Mile High

Liz Tomforde2023

A professional hockey player and a flight attendant clash on the team's private plane during a season-long road trip.

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

Behind the Net

Stephanie Archer2024

A former musician becomes the live-in assistant for a professional hockey goalie she knew in high school.

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

She Went All the Way

Meg Cabot2002

A screenwriter and an actor survive a helicopter crash in the Alaskan wilderness and must hike to safety while being pursued by a killer.

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

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.

dreamlike → wry

pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2

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.

dreamlike → propulsive

pace+2·prose-2·bleak-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.

dreamlike → playful

pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2

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.

Same dreamlike register, still unreliable narrator

pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

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.

dreamlike → elegiac

pace-1·prose0·bleak-2

Tinkers

Paul Harding2009

An elderly clock repairman lies dying while his thoughts drift through his father's life as a peddler. The prose focuses on nature and mechanics.

dreamlike → meditative, still psychological fiction

pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

The Postmortal

Drew Magary2011

A lawyer records his life after a cure for aging is discovered. Society slowly collapses under the weight of overpopulation and eternal life.

dreamlike → sardonic, still speculative fiction

pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1

The Birth of the People's Republic of Antarctica

John Batchelor1983

A man born in Sweden travels south as Europe collapses into war. He eventually leads a group of refugees to found a new society in Antarctica.

dreamlike → bleak, still speculative fiction

pace0·prose0·bleak+1

An Exchange of Hostages

Susan R. Matthews1997

A surgeon is drafted into a space empire's corps of torturers. He tries to maintain his ethics while being trained to inflict pain.

dreamlike → clinical, still psychological fiction

pace0·prose0·bleak+1