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The Resurrectionist

E.B. Hudspeth2013

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  • The Monster of Elendhaven

    Jennifer Giesbrecht2019

    A shapeshifting monster and a black-magic practitioner form a violent bond in a decaying industrial city. They seek revenge on the world.

    clinical → cold, still gothic

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • Racconti [55 stories]

    Edgar Allan Poe2011

    A collection of 55 stories featuring unreliable narrators and gothic settings. Themes include obsession, premature burial, and the macabre.

    clinical → dreamlike, still gothic

    pace0·prose+2·bleak0

  • Gormenghast

    Mervyn Peake1950

    A young heir and a social climber navigate the rigid rituals of a decaying, labyrinthine castle. The prose is dense and descriptive.

    clinical → dark, still gothic

    pace0·prose+2·bleak+1

  • Ghost Stories

    Henry James2001

    A collection of Victorian tales where the existence of ghosts is often left to the reader's interpretation.

    clinical → meditative

    pace0·prose+2·bleak0

To recover

clinical → propulsive

3 more ↓

  • This Man

    Jodi Ellen Malpas2013

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

    clinical → tense

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

  • Real Murders

    Charlaine Harris1990

    A librarian in a small Georgia town belongs to a club that studies famous crimes. A real murder occurs that mimics a historical case.

    clinical → wry

    pace+1·prose-1·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.

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak-2

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Creepers

    David Morrell2005

    Five urban explorers break into a long-abandoned hotel in New Jersey and find themselves trapped with a killer.

    clinical → tense

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Patient Zero

    Jonathan Maberry2009

    A detective joins a secret government task force to stop a terrorist group using a bio-weapon that reanimates the dead. It is an action thriller.

    clinical → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1

  • The Rising

    Brian Keene2003

    A father travels across an apocalypse where the dead are possessed by malevolent, intelligent demons. The world is ending permanently.

    clinical → bleak

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak+1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    clinical → playful

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1

  • Absalom, Absalom!

    William Faulkner1936

    The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.

    clinical → elegiac

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

  • Either/Or

    Søren Kierkegaard1992

    A collection of papers presents two life philosophies: the aesthetic pursuit of pleasure and the ethical commitment to duty.

    clinical → meditative

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • The Monk

    Matthew Gregory Lewis

    A celebrated monk is seduced by a woman in disguise and descends into a cycle of rape, murder, and sorcery. He eventually makes a pact with Satan.

    clinical → bleak, still gothic

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • The House Next Door

    Anne Rivers Siddons1978

    A couple watches as a newly built house next door causes a series of tragedies for its occupants. The house preys on the flaws of those inside.

    clinical → dread, still gothic

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • The Elementals

    Michael McDowell1981

    Two families vacation at a coastal estate where one of three houses is slowly being buried by sand and inhabited by a malevolent presence.

    clinical → dread, still gothic

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1