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After

The Iron Heel

Jack London1907

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • The Unincorporated Man

    Dani Kollin2009

    A billionaire is resurrected in a future where every person is a corporation owned by shareholders. He refuses to be incorporated.

    Same earnest register, still dystopian

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • Nova Express

    William S. Burroughs1964

    An experimental narrative uses the cut-up technique to depict a war between intergalactic criminals and the police. It is a collage of imagery.

    earnest → sardonic, still science fiction

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

  • 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.

    earnest → meditative, still science fiction

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-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.

    earnest → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

To recover

3 more ↓

  • An Offer From a Gentleman

    Julia Quinn2001

    The illegitimate daughter of an earl works as a servant for her stepmother. She sneaks into a masquerade ball and meets Benedict Bridgerton.

    earnest → playful

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

  • King of Pride

    Ana Huang2023

    A buttoned-up billionaire heir falls for an impulsive bartender while trying to secure a CEO position. They navigate a forbidden workplace romance.

    earnest → playful

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

  • The Inspector and Mrs. Jeffries

    Emily Brightwell1993

    A Victorian housekeeper and her staff secretly solve crimes for their employer, a clueless Scotland Yard inspector.

    earnest → playful

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-2

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.

    earnest → propulsive, still dystopian

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak+1

  • 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.

    earnest → tense, still dystopian

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak0

  • 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.

    earnest → sardonic, still dystopian

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • Translated Accounts

    James Kelman2001

    Anonymous witnesses describe life under a military regime. The prose uses broken, bureaucratic syntax to mimic a literal translation.

    earnest → bleak, still dystopian

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+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.

    earnest → meditative

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

  • 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.

    Same earnest register, still science fiction

    pace-1·prose-1·bleak-2

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    earnest → cold, still dystopian

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

  • 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.

    earnest → bleak, still dystopian

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+1

  • 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.

    earnest → sardonic, still dystopian

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak+1