The Machine Stops

At the Mountains of Madness

Howard Phillips Lovecraft2015

A 1930s Antarctic expedition discovers a prehistoric city in the mountains. The story is told through a detailed, clinical scientific report.

dystopian → clinical, still science fiction

pace0·prose0·bleak0

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.

dystopian → sardonic, still science fiction

pace0·prose+1·bleak0

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.

dystopian → dreamlike

pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

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.

dystopian → meditative

pace0·prose+1·bleak0

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.

dystopian → meditative, still science fiction

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

Dream Park

Steven Barnes1981

A security chief investigates a real death during a high-stakes holographic role-playing game. The story tracks the game mechanics and the murder.

dystopian → propulsive, still science fiction

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

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.

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

The Martian

Andy Weir2011

A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.

dystopian → wry

pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2

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.

dystopian → propulsive

pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2

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.

dystopian → wry

pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2

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.

dystopian → meditative

pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

How to Read a Book

Mortimer J. Adler1940

This is a guide to active reading techniques for different genres. It outlines levels of reading from basic literacy to syntopical analysis.

dystopian → mysterious, still speculative

pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

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.

dystopian → playful

pace-1·prose+1·bleak-2

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.

dystopian → tense, still science fiction

pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1

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.

dystopian → tense, still science fiction

pace+2·prose0·bleak+1

The Unit

Ninni Holmqvist2008

Childless adults over fifty are sent to a clinical facility where they live in luxury until they are harvested for their organs.

dystopian → clinical, still speculative

pace0·prose-1·bleak+1