After
The Impossible Bird
Patrick O'Leary2002
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak+1
The Glamour
Christopher Priest2005
An amnesiac man recovers from a bombing and learns about a group of people who are invisible to others. He reconstructs his past through diaries.
Same dreamlike register, still slipstream
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
- 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.
dreamlike → meditative, still slipstream
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak+1
Acceptance
Jeff VanderMeer2014
The final expedition enters Area X as the narrative shifts between the past and present to explain the zone's origin.
Same dreamlike register, still unreliable narrator
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
- 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.
Same dreamlike register, still slipstream
pace0·prose0·bleak+2
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak+1
The Silver Wind
Nina Allan2019
Interconnected stories follow a watchmaker across different versions of time and reality. The focus is on atmosphere and recurring symbols.
Same dreamlike register, still slipstream
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
Denser prose
- pace0prose+1bleak+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.
dreamlike → meditative, still unreliable narrator
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace0prose+1bleak+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.
Same dreamlike register
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
Sometimes a Great Notion
Ken Kesey1964
A family of independent loggers in Oregon refuses to join a local strike. The perspective shifts rapidly between characters, often mid-paragraph.
dreamlike → elegiac
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.
Same dreamlike register
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
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.
Same dreamlike register
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
To recover
- pace+1prose-2bleak-1
The Manning Brides
Debbie Macomber2008
Two brothers navigate unconventional paths to marriage. One enters a marriage of convenience for a child, while the other finds love after loss.
dreamlike → warm
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-2bleak-1
The Takeover
T.L. Swan
A billionaire attempts to acquire a widow's family company but ends up moving into her home. It follows their power struggle and her three sons.
dreamlike → playful
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-2bleak-1
To Sir Phillip, With Love
Julia Quinn2003
Eloise Bridgerton travels to meet a widowed baronet she has only known through letters. They consider a marriage of convenience.
dreamlike → warm
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace0prose-2bleak-1
Everything Beautiful in Its Time
Jenna Bush Hager2020
The author reflects on the lives and deaths of her grandparents, including a former President and First Lady. It is a series of personal essays.
dreamlike → warm
pace0·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace0prose-2bleak-1
Love Comes Softly
Janette Oke1979
A widow on the 19th-century frontier enters a marriage of convenience with a widower to survive the winter and care for his daughter.
dreamlike → tender
pace0·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.
dreamlike → 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.
dreamlike → 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.
dreamlike → 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.
dreamlike → 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.
dreamlike → 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.
Same dreamlike register, 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.
dreamlike → meditative
pace-1·prose+1·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak0
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.
dreamlike → meditative
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.
dreamlike → 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.
dreamlike → earnest
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1
Heavier
- pace0prose-1bleak+2
On the Beach
Nevil Shute1957
Survivors in Australia wait for a lethal radiation cloud to arrive after a nuclear war. They spend their final months in quiet, domestic routines.
dreamlike → elegiac, still soft sci-fi
pace0·prose-1·bleak+2
- 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.
Same dreamlike register, still slipstream
pace0·prose0·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak+2
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.
dreamlike → cold, still unreliable narrator
pace0·prose0·bleak+2
- pace0prose-1bleak+2
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.
dreamlike → 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.
dreamlike → bleak
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
