After
The Ministry for the Future
Kim Stanley Robinson2020
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
- pace0prose+1bleak0
Fifty Degrees Below
Kim Stanley Robinson2005
A scientist lives in a treehouse in a frozen Washington D.C. He uses bureaucracy and engineering to mitigate a sudden ice age.
Same earnest register, still cli-fi
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Earth
David Brin1990
Scientists and citizens react as a microscopic black hole sinks toward the center of the planet, threatening to consume the world.
Same earnest register, still cli-fi
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Cauldron
Jack McDevitt2007
A retired pilot joins a mission to the galactic core using a new star drive. They seek the source of clouds that destroy civilizations.
Same earnest register, still hard scifi
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Rama Revealed
Gentry Lee1993
A group of humans lives inside a massive alien spacecraft. They deal with internal political conflict and the biology of the ship's creators.
Same earnest register, still hard scifi
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak0
Final Encyclopedia
Gordon R. Dickson1984
Hal Mayne seeks to protect a massive space-station archive containing all human knowledge from a splintered humanity.
Same earnest register, still hard scifi
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace0prose+2bleak0
Schild's Ladder
Greg Egan2002
Physicists in the far future attempt to stop an expanding vacuum bubble that threatens to consume the universe. It focuses on theoretical physics.
earnest → meditative, still hard scifi
pace0·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-1prose+2bleak+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+2·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+2bleak+1
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.
earnest → sardonic
pace0·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace0prose+2bleak+1
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.
earnest → meditative
pace0·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace0prose+2bleak+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.
earnest → meditative
pace0·prose+2·bleak+1
To recover
earnest → playful
- pace+2prose-1bleak-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.
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
Smokin' Seventeen
Janet Evanovich2011
A bounty hunter investigates bodies found in her boss's lot while choosing between three suitors. The story follows her daily mishaps in New Jersey.
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-1bleak-1
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
earnest → wry
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace0prose+1bleak-1
Star Light
Hal Clement1970
Caterpillar-like aliens explore a high-gravity planet on behalf of humans. The plot centers on the physics of the environment and logistics.
Same earnest register, still hard scifi
pace0·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
The Comfort Book
Matt Haig2021
A collection of short reflections, lists, and anecdotes intended to provide mental support. It is a non-linear book of philosophy and memoir.
earnest → warm
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
Faster
- pace+2prose-1bleak-1
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
earnest → wry
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-1bleak-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.
earnest → propulsive
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-1bleak-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.
earnest → wry
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-1bleak0
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.
earnest → propulsive
pace+2·prose-1·bleak0
- pace+2prose-1bleak-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.
earnest → playful
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1
Slower
- pace-1prose+2bleak+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+2·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
His Master's Voice
Stanisław Lem2018
A mathematician works at a secret facility to decode a neutrino signal from space. The book is a philosophical essay disguised as a memoir.
earnest → clinical, still hard scifi
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
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+2·bleak0
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
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
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-1prose+1bleak-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.
earnest → elegiac
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
Heavier
- pace+1prose0bleak+2
Titan
Stephen Baxter1997
A crew of astronauts embarks on a one-way mission to Saturn's moon. The narrative details the technical and psychological decay of the mission.
earnest → cold, still hard scifi
pace+1·prose0·bleak+2
- pace+1prose+1bleak+2
The Sheep Look Up
John Brunner1972
The United States collapses under total environmental toxicity and corporate greed. It follows several characters through a series of disasters.
earnest → bleak, still cli-fi
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+1bleak+2
The Sea and Summer
George Turner1987
In a future Melbourne drowned by rising seas, the population is divided into the employed 'Sweet' and the welfare-dependent 'Swill'.
earnest → bleak, still cli-fi
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace+1prose+1bleak+2
Maelstrom
Peter Watts2001
A bio-engineered virus spreads through the global network while a woman navigates a flooded, post-apocalyptic landscape.
earnest → bleak, still hard scifi
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace+1prose+1bleak+2
The Deluge
Stephen Markley2023
A large cast of characters navigates the political, social, and environmental collapse of America over several decades of climate change.
earnest → bleak, still cli-fi
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2
