After
The Doomsday Book
Joel Levy2006
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing heavier
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak-1
Emissaries from the Dead
Adam-Troy Castro2008
A legal investigator travels to a space station to solve two murders while navigating the politics of sentient alien species.
Same tense register, still mystery
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
- pace0prose0bleak-1
- pace0prose0bleak-1
If Books Could Kill
Kate Carlisle2010
A book restorer is accused of murdering her ex-boyfriend at a convention. She investigates a 200-year-old text to clear her name.
Same tense register, still crime
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
- pace0prose+1bleak0
The Virgin Suicides
Jeffrey Eugenides
A group of neighborhood boys obsessively observes five sisters in 1970s Michigan. They document the girls' lives leading up to their suicides.
Same tense register, still crime
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak-1
Against a Dark Background
Iain Banks1993
A former soldier leads a team across a solar system to find a legendary weapon before a religious cult can assassinate her.
tense → dark, still mystery
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
Denser prose
- pace-2prose+2bleak-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.
tense → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1
- pace-1prose+2bleak-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.
tense → sardonic
pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+2bleak-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.
tense → meditative
pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1
- pace-1prose+2bleak-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.
tense → meditative
pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1
- pace-1prose+2bleak-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.
tense → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1
To recover
- pace0prose-1bleak-3
Hot mahogany
Stuart Woods2008
A lawyer guards a former spy with amnesia who restores antique furniture. They uncover a conspiracy linked to the man's service in Vietnam.
tense → wry, still mystery
pace0·prose-1·bleak-3
- pace0prose-1bleak-3
Two for the dough
Janet Evanovich1996
An inexperienced bounty hunter tracks a man who jumped bail for shooting his friend. She competes with a vice cop to find him first.
tense → playful, still mystery
pace0·prose-1·bleak-3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-1bleak-3
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.
tense → propulsive, still mystery
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-3
- pace0prose-1bleak-3
Catering to Nobody
Diane Mott Davidson1990
A Colorado caterer is accused of poisoning a guest at a wake. She investigates the murder to save her business and includes recipes in the text.
tense → warm, still mystery
pace0·prose-1·bleak-3
- pace0prose-1bleak-3
Real Murders
Charlaine Harris1990
A librarian in a small Georgia town belongs to a club that studies famous crimes. A real murder occurs that mimics a historical case.
tense → wry, still mystery
pace0·prose-1·bleak-3
Faster
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
Run Away
Harlan Coben2019
A father searches for his estranged, drug-addicted daughter in New York. The search uncovers a conspiracy involving a cult and multiple murders.
tense → propulsive, still crime
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-1bleak-3
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
tense → wry
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-1bleak-3
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.
tense → propulsive
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-3
- pace+1prose-1bleak-3
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.
tense → wry
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-3
- pace+1prose-1bleak-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.
tense → propulsive
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
Slower
- pace-2prose+2bleak-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.
tense → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1
- pace-2prose+2bleak-2
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.
tense → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+2bleak-2
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.
tense → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-2
- pace-2prose+2bleak-2
Blood on the dining-room floor
Gertrude Stein1948
A repetitive, circular narrative about a death in a country house. It uses experimental prose to obscure the facts of a traditional mystery.
tense → playful, still mystery
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-2
- pace-2prose+2bleak-3
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.
tense → playful
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-3
