After
The Extremes
Christopher Priest1998
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak0
Solitaire
Kelley Eskridge2002
A woman groomed for global leadership is framed for a crime and sentenced to years of solitary confinement in a virtual reality cell.
clinical → meditative, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Queen of Angels
Greg Bear1990
In a future where nanotechnology can 'cure' mental illness, a detective hunts a murderer. A scientist enters the killer's mind via a digital link.
Same clinical register, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Nekropolis
Maureen F. McHugh2001
In a future Morocco, a chemically bonded servant falls in love with an artificial man. They attempt to escape their masters and the city.
Same clinical register, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
The caryatids
Bruce Sterling2009
In 2060, three cloned sisters struggle for influence on a dying Earth. Global factions clash over how to manage environmental collapse.
Same clinical register, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
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Killing time
Caleb Carr2000
In 2023, a criminologist investigates a digital disc that suggests major historical events and assassinations were faked using special effects.
Same clinical register, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
clinical → dreamlike
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Rakesfall
Vajra Chandrasekera2024
Two souls reincarnate across centuries of Sri Lankan history and a distant future. The narrative shifts through different bodies and realities.
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
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Empty Space
M. John Harrison2012
Three interlocking timelines follow a widow in London, a detective in a neon city, and a pilot in deep space. The prose is dense and surreal.
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
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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.
pace-1·prose+1·bleak0
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VAS
Steve Tomasula2002
A man considers a vasectomy while the book uses diagrams and varied typography to explore the history of eugenics and biotechnology.
Same clinical register, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
- pace+1prose+1bleak0
Star Maker
Olaf Stapledon1937
A narrator travels through space and time to observe the birth and death of civilizations across the universe.
clinical → elegiac, still speculative fiction
pace+1·prose+1·bleak0
To recover
- pace+1prose-2bleak-2
On Dublin Street
Samantha Young2012
An American woman in Scotland enters a sex-only arrangement with her roommate's brother to avoid emotional intimacy. It is a contemporary romance.
clinical → warm
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2
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This Girl
Colleen Hoover2013
A husband retells the story of his early relationship to his wife. It uses dual timelines to revisit events from the first book in the series.
clinical → earnest
pace0·prose-2·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
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Murderbot Diaries
Martha Wells2023
A self-aware security android hacks its governor module to watch soap operas while protecting humans. It navigates corporate conspiracies.
clinical → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2
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The Score
Elle Kennedy2016
A college senior has a one-night stand with a hockey player to get over a breakup. They continue the arrangement as graduation approaches.
clinical → playful
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2
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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.
clinical → earnest
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2
Faster
clinical → propulsive, still cyberpunk
- pace+2prose-2bleak-2
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.
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2
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Akira, Vol. 1
Katsuhiro Ōtomo1984
In a rebuilt post-WWIII Tokyo, two teenage bikers get caught in a government conspiracy after one develops psychic powers.
pace+2·prose-2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
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The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
clinical → wry
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2
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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.
clinical → wry
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-2bleak-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.
clinical → propulsive
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1
Slower
- pace-1prose+1bleak0
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.
clinical → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+1·bleak0
- pace-1prose+1bleak-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.
clinical → meditative
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak-1
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.
clinical → meditative
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace-1prose0bleak0
After London
Richard Jefferies1885
Nature reclaims England after an unspecified catastrophe destroys civilization. A young man explores the toxic swamps that were once London.
clinical → elegiac, still speculative fiction
pace-1·prose0·bleak0
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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.
clinical → meditative, still speculative fiction
pace-1·prose0·bleak-2
Heavier
- pace0prose0bleak+1
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.
clinical → cold, still speculative fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
- pace+1prose-1bleak+1
Dr. Adder
K. W. Jeter1984
In a broken future Los Angeles, a surgeon performs extreme genital modifications for a subculture of outcasts.
clinical → cynical, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
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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.
clinical → sardonic, still speculative fiction
pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1
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Market Forces
Richard K. Morgan2004
In a future where executives duel in armored cars for promotions, Chris Faulkner joins a firm that profits from civil wars. It is a corporate satire.
clinical → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1
- pace+1prose0bleak+1
Random Acts of Senseless Violence
Jack Womack1994
A twelve-year-old girl records her life in a diary as New York City collapses into riots and hyperinflation. Her family falls into poverty.
clinical → bleak, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose0·bleak+1
