After
The Kaiju Preservation Society
John Scalzi2022
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
4 of 6 directions open — nothing to recover from, nothing faster
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak0
Chilling Effect
Valerie Valdes2019
A spaceship captain completes dangerous missions to pay off a ransom for her kidnapped sister. The crew includes a pilot who is a sentient plant.
Same playful register, still found family
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace-1prose0bleak0
The Butterfly Kid
Chester Anderson1967
Hippie protagonists in Greenwich Village discover that a new drug allows them to manifest hallucinations into reality to fight an alien invasion.
Same playful register, still science fiction
pace-1·prose0·bleak0
- pace-1prose+1bleak+1
Short stories
H. G. Wells1900
A collection of stories involving biological experiments, time travel, and early aviation. The narratives focus on scientific speculation.
Same playful register, still science fiction
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+1bleak0
Fugitive Telemetry
Martha Wells2021
A security android discovers a dead body on a space station and must work with human authorities to solve the murder without being blamed.
playful → sardonic, still science fiction
pace-1·prose+1·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Android's Dream
John Scalzi2006
A diplomat must find a specific, genetically engineered sheep to prevent an interstellar war. The story is a fast-paced, irreverent space comedy.
Same playful register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace-3prose+3bleak+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.
playful → meditative, still science fiction
pace-3·prose+3·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+3bleak+2
Too Like the Lightning
Ada Palmer2016
In a 25th-century utopia, a convict narrates the discovery of a boy who can perform miracles. The prose uses 18th-century styles and gender terms.
playful → sardonic, still science fiction
pace-2·prose+3·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+3bleak+2
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.
playful → sardonic, still science fiction
pace-2·prose+3·bleak+2
- pace-3prose+3bleak+2
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.
playful → dreamlike
pace-3·prose+3·bleak+2
- pace-2prose+3bleak+2
Valis
Philip K. Dick1981
A man experiences a beam of pink light that imparts vast information. The narrative explores his mental breakdown and search for God in California.
playful → meditative
pace-2·prose+3·bleak+2
Slower
- pace-3prose+3bleak+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.
playful → meditative, still science fiction
pace-3·prose+3·bleak+1
- pace-3prose+3bleak+2
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.
playful → dreamlike
pace-3·prose+3·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-3prose+3bleak+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.
playful → meditative
pace-3·prose+3·bleak+1
- pace-3prose+3bleak0
Gödel, Escher, Bach
Douglas R. Hofstadter1979
An exploration of how cognition emerges from hidden neurological patterns. It uses math, art, and music to explain self-referential systems.
Same playful register
pace-3·prose+3·bleak0
- pace-3prose+3bleak+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.
Same playful register
pace-3·prose+3·bleak+1
Heavier
- pace-2prose+2bleak+3
Hard to be a god
Аркадий Стругацкий2014
An observer from a technologically advanced Earth lives undercover on a planet stuck in a medieval state. He must watch atrocities without helping.
playful → bleak, still science fiction
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+3
- pace-1prose+1bleak+3
The Jaunt
Stephen King2009
A father explains the history of teleportation to his family while they wait to travel. He describes the danger of being awake during the trip.
playful → tense, still science fiction
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+2bleak+3
Hellspark
Janet Kagan1988
A linguist travels to a new planet to investigate a murder. She must determine if the local species is sentient while navigating a conspiracy.
playful → tense, still science fiction
pace0·prose+2·bleak+3
- pace0prose+1bleak+3
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.
playful → propulsive, still science fiction
pace0·prose+1·bleak+3
- pace-2prose+2bleak+3
Strangers
Gardner Dozois1978
An artist living among the alien Cian on a distant planet falls in love with a local woman and attempts to navigate their incompatible biology.
playful → elegiac, still science fiction
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+3
