After
The description of a new world
Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
3 of 6 directions open — nothing to recover from, nothing denser, nothing slower
More like it
- pace0prose-1bleak0
A Modern Utopia
H. G. Wells1900
Two travelers are transported to a parallel Earth where a global state manages all human activity. The book outlines the planet's social systems.
Same meditative register, still utopian
pace0·prose-1·bleak0
- pace+1prose-1bleak+1
The Coming Race
Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron Lytton1871
An American traveler discovers a subterranean civilization powered by a mysterious energy called Vril. He observes their utopian social order.
Same meditative register, still utopian
pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1
- pace0prose-1bleak0
News from nowhere, or, An epoch of rest, being some chapters from a utopian romance
William Morris1890
A Victorian man wakes up in the year 2102. He explores a socialist agrarian society where private property and money have been abolished.
Same meditative register, still portal fantasy
pace0·prose-1·bleak0
- pace0prose-2bleak0
Mizora
Mary E. Bradley Lane1890
A Russian noblewoman escapes Siberian exile and discovers an all-female civilization at the North Pole. It is a detailed utopian travelogue.
meditative → earnest, still utopian
pace0·prose-2·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak+1
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.
Same meditative register
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
Faster
- pace+3prose-3bleak0
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
meditative → wry
pace+3·prose-3·bleak0
- pace+3prose-3bleak0
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.
meditative → propulsive
pace+3·prose-3·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+3prose-3bleak0
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.
meditative → wry
pace+3·prose-3·bleak0
- pace+3prose-3bleak+1
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.
meditative → propulsive
pace+3·prose-3·bleak+1
- pace+3prose-3bleak0
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.
meditative → playful, still portal fantasy
pace+3·prose-3·bleak0
Heavier
- pace+1prose-1bleak+3
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.
meditative → cold
pace+1·prose-1·bleak+3
- pace+1prose-2bleak+3
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.
meditative → bleak
pace+1·prose-2·bleak+3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose0bleak+3
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.
meditative → bleak
pace+1·prose0·bleak+3
- pace+1prose-1bleak+3
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.
meditative → elegiac
pace+1·prose-1·bleak+3
- pace+2prose-1bleak+3
Watchmen
Alan Moore1986
Retired masked vigilantes investigate the murder of a former teammate. The story takes place in an alternate 1985 on the brink of nuclear war.
meditative → bleak
pace+2·prose-1·bleak+3
