After
The Evidence
Christopher Priest2020
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak0
Margaret and I
Kate Wilhelm1971
The story is narrated by the subconscious of a woman named Margaret. It follows her as she navigates a failing marriage and a mysterious discovery.
Same meditative register, still slipstream
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Icehenge
Kim Stanley Robinson1984
Three interconnected stories set centuries apart investigate a mysterious monument on Pluto. It uses unreliable narrators to explore history.
Same meditative register, still unreliable narrator
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Airside
Christopher Priest2023
A film critic becomes obsessed with the 1949 disappearance of a Hollywood actress at an airport. The story moves between his life and her past.
Same meditative register, still slipstream
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak+1
The Rift
Nina Allan2017
A woman returns home twenty years after disappearing, claiming she was on another planet. Her sister tries to verify her story.
meditative → elegiac, still slipstream
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
1 more ↓ ↑
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How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe
Charles Yu2010
A time-machine repairman searches for his father within a time loop. The narrative uses technical manuals and metafiction to explore memory.
Same meditative register, still unreliable narrator
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
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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.
meditative → dreamlike
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
- 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.
meditative → dreamlike, still unreliable narrator
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
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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.
Same meditative register, still unreliable narrator
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
City of Saints and Madmen
Jeff Vandermeer2001
A collection of stories, histories, and pamphlets about the city of Ambergris. It uses found documents to build a surreal urban history.
meditative → dreamlike, still unreliable narrator
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
Rakesfall
Vajra Chandrasekera2024
Two souls reincarnate across centuries of Sri Lankan history and a distant future. The narrative shifts through different bodies and realities.
meditative → dreamlike
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
To recover
- 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.
meditative → propulsive
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-2bleak-1
The Spellman Files
Lisa Lutz2007
A private investigator works for her family's firm while her parents and sister spy on her. She tries to solve a disappearance and her own life.
meditative → wry, still detective
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-2bleak-1
Steal Like an Artist
Austin Kleon2012
A series of short, illustrated principles for creative work. It focuses on remixing existing ideas and establishing productive daily habits.
meditative → playful
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-2bleak-1
Big Magic
Elizabeth Gilbert2015
The author shares her philosophy on the creative process through personal anecdotes. It focuses on overcoming fear and pursuing curiosity.
meditative → warm
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-2bleak-1
Dream Park
Steven Barnes1981
A security chief investigates a real death during a high-stakes holographic role-playing game. The story tracks the game mechanics and the murder.
meditative → propulsive
pace+1·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.
meditative → 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.
meditative → 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.
meditative → 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.
meditative → 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.
meditative → 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.
meditative → dreamlike, still unreliable narrator
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.
Same meditative register
pace-1·prose+1·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
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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.
Same meditative register
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.
meditative → 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.
meditative → earnest
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1
Heavier
- pace0prose0bleak+2
The Man Who Melted
Jack Dann1984
A man searches a chaotic, future Europe for his wife while a telepathic virus causes people to lose their identities.
meditative → dreamlike, still slipstream
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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, still unreliable narrator
pace0·prose0·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
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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
pace0·prose-1·bleak+2
- pace0prose+1bleak+2
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
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
- 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.
meditative → elegiac
pace0·prose0·bleak+2
