LitQueuelitqueue

After

The Machine

James Smythe2013

5 of 6 directions open — nothing heavier

More like it

1 more ↓

  • HARM

    Brian Aldiss2007

    A British Muslim man is detained and tortured in a secret prison. He hallucinates a second life on a distant planet to escape the pain.

    Same bleak register, still dystopian

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    bleak → sardonic, still dystopian

    pace0·prose+2·bleak-1

  • City of Saints and Madmen

    Jeff Vandermeer2001

    A collection of stories, histories, and pamphlets about the city of Ambergris. It uses found documents to build a surreal urban history.

    bleak → dreamlike, still unreliable narrator

    pace0·prose+2·bleak-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.

    bleak → dreamlike

    pace0·prose+2·bleak-1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • The Score

    Elle Kennedy2016

    A college senior has a one-night stand with a hockey player to get over a breakup. They continue the arrangement as graduation approaches.

    bleak → playful

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-3

  • Walking Disaster

    Jamie McGuire2013

    This novel retells the events of 'Beautiful Disaster' from the perspective of Travis Maddox. It follows his college years and obsession with Abby.

    bleak → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-3

  • This Man

    Jodi Ellen Malpas2013

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

    bleak → tense

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-3

Faster

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    bleak → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak-3

  • Red Rising

    Pierce Brown2014

    A laborer on Mars discovers his caste is being lied to and undergoes surgery to infiltrate the ruling elite. He joins a brutal war games academy.

    bleak → propulsive, still dystopian

    pace+2·prose0·bleak-1

  • Never Lie

    Freida McFadden2022

    A couple trapped in a blizzard at a missing psychiatrist's estate find hidden tapes of her sessions. The story alternates between past and present.

    bleak → propulsive, still psychological thriller

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak-2

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    bleak → meditative

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak-2

  • Translated Accounts

    James Kelman2001

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

    Same bleak register, still dystopian

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

  • 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.

    bleak → playful

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak-3