LitQueuelitqueue

After

The People of the Crater

Andre Norton2009

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • Sandworms of Dune

    Kevin J. Anderson1994

    Refugees on a starship flee an artificial intelligence while a planet-sized sandworm is bred. It concludes the original series' major plot arcs.

    Same earnest register, still science fiction

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Denser prose

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  • 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

    pace-1·prose+2·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-2·prose+2·bleak+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

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To recover

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  • 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.

    earnest → playful

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Tarzan the Invincible

    Edgar Rice Burroughs1931

    Tarzan and his allies attempt to stop Soviet communists from looting the treasures of a lost city in the jungle.

    earnest → propulsive

    pace0·prose0·bleak-1

  • Miss Butterworth and the Mad Baron

    Julia Quinn2022

    A graphic novel adaptation of a fictional melodrama where an orphan flees a cruel aunt and encounters a man in a remote castle.

    earnest → playful

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Faster

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  • The Lake House

    James Patterson

    A veterinarian and an FBI agent protect six genetically engineered children who can fly. They are pursued by a global conspiracy.

    earnest → propulsive, still science fiction

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

  • The Martian

    Andy Weir2011

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

    earnest → wry

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-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, still chosen one

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

Slower

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  • 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-2·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.

    earnest → playful

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-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.

    earnest → playful

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

Heavier

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  • 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.

    earnest → tense, still science fiction

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2

  • 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 science fiction

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+2

  • 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.

    earnest → elegiac, still science fiction

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2