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After

The Future

Naomi Alderman2023

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • Null-ABC

    H. Beam Piper2006

    In a future where literacy is blamed for a global collapse, a secret society tries to preserve knowledge in a society that hates books.

    propulsive → earnest, still dystopian

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    propulsive → meditative

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

  • Against the Day

    Thomas Pynchon2006

    A massive ensemble cast navigates the globe between the 1893 World's Fair and WWI. The plot spans airships, math, and secret societies.

    propulsive → playful

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

  • Infinite Jest

    David Foster Wallace1996

    A sprawling narrative centered on a tennis academy, a halfway house, and a lethal film. The text includes hundreds of pages of detailed endnotes.

    propulsive → sardonic, still dystopian

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • The Last Question

    Isaac Asimov2007

    A short story told in seven vignettes spanning billions of years. Humanity asks a supercomputer if the heat death of the universe can be avoided.

    propulsive → meditative, still science fiction

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • 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.

    propulsive → earnest

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Smokin' Seventeen

    Janet Evanovich2011

    A bounty hunter investigates bodies found in her boss's lot while choosing between three suitors. The story follows her daily mishaps in New Jersey.

    propulsive → playful

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Faster

3 more ↓

  • The Running Man

    Richard Bachman

    A man enters a deadly reality show to fund medical care for his daughter. He must survive thirty days while the entire world hunts him for money.

    Same propulsive register, still dystopian

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+2

  • The Test

    Sylvain Neuvel2019

    An immigrant takes a British citizenship test that turns into a high-stakes psychological simulation. It is a short, dialogue-heavy novella.

    propulsive → tense, still dystopian

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+1

  • Get Jiro!

    Anthony Bourdain2012

    In a future Los Angeles, master chefs rule as warlords. A sushi chef who kills rude customers is caught between two warring food factions.

    propulsive → sardonic, still dystopian

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    propulsive → meditative

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

  • Looking Backward, 2000-1887

    Edward Bellamy1888

    A man falls into a hypnotic sleep in 1887 and wakes up in the year 2000 to find the United States transformed into a socialist utopia.

    propulsive → earnest, still science fiction

    pace-2·prose0·bleak-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.

    propulsive → elegiac

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak-1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    propulsive → bleak, still dystopian

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+2

  • A Clockwork Orange

    Anthony Burgess1962

    A teenage gang leader is imprisoned and subjected to state-mandated psychological conditioning. The story is told in a slang called Nadsat.

    propulsive → sardonic, still dystopian

    pace0·prose+2·bleak+2

  • The Testament of Jessie Lamb

    Jane Rogers2011

    A teenager decides to volunteer for a medical program that will end her life to save humanity from a biological catastrophe.

    propulsive → earnest, still dystopian

    pace-1·prose0·bleak+2