The Eyes Are the Best Part

Penpal

Dathan Auerbach2012

A man reconstructs his childhood by investigating a series of disconnected, disturbing memories. The story originated as online horror fiction.

pace0·prose0·bleak+1

Ghost Stories

Henry James2001

A collection of Victorian tales where the existence of ghosts is often left to the reader's interpretation.

tense → meditative, still psychological horror

pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner

James Hogg1824

A religious fanatic becomes convinced he is predestined for salvation and commits crimes at the behest of a mysterious stranger.

tense → cold, still psychological horror

pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

Racconti [55 stories]

Edgar Allan Poe2011

A collection of 55 stories featuring unreliable narrators and gothic settings. Themes include obsession, premature burial, and the macabre.

tense → dreamlike, still unreliable narrator

pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

This Man

Jodi Ellen Malpas2013

An interior designer begins an affair with a wealthy client who demands total control over her life and schedule.

Same tense register

pace0·prose-1·bleak-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+1·prose-1·bleak-2

Love on the Brain

Ali Hazelwood2022

A neuroscientist must co-lead a NASA project with a man she believes has hated her since grad school.

tense → playful

pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

Creepers

David Morrell2005

Five urban explorers break into a long-abandoned hotel in New Jersey and find themselves trapped with a killer.

Same tense register

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

Patient Zero

Jonathan Maberry2009

A detective joins a secret government task force to stop a terrorist group using a bio-weapon that reanimates the dead. It is an action thriller.

tense → propulsive

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

The Rising

Brian Keene2003

A father travels across an apocalypse where the dead are possessed by malevolent, intelligent demons. The world is ending permanently.

tense → bleak

pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1

Ulysses

James Joyce1914

Three characters wander through Dublin on a single day in 1904. Each chapter uses a different literary style to mimic thoughts and sensations.

tense → playful

pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

Absalom, Absalom!

William Faulkner1936

The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.

tense → elegiac, still unreliable narrator

pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1

Either/Or

Søren Kierkegaard1992

A collection of papers presents two life philosophies: the aesthetic pursuit of pleasure and the ethical commitment to duty.

tense → meditative

pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

Zombie

Joyce Carol Oates1995

A serial killer keeps a diary of his attempts to create a lobotomized slave. The prose mimics his fractured, clinical thought process.

tense → clinical, still psychological horror

pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

A Head Full of Ghosts

Paul G. Tremblay2015

A camera crew films a family whose daughter exhibits signs of possession. The story is told through the sister's memory and the footage.

Same tense register, still psychological horror

pace0·prose0·bleak+1

Silent Children

Ramsey Campbell2000

A man discovers his father may have been a child killer, leading him into a confrontation with the past and a current threat.

tense → bleak, still psychological horror

pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1