After
The Rift
Nina Allan2017
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Race
Nina Allan2014
Four interconnected stories set in a near-future Britain follow characters linked by a telepathic connection to racing dogs and a missing girl.
Same elegiac register, still slipstream
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Biography of X
Catherine Lacey2023
A widow investigates the secret life of her late wife, a famous artist, in an alternate United States that was divided by a wall.
Same elegiac register, still unreliable narrator
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak-1
Airside
Christopher Priest2023
A film critic becomes obsessed with the 1949 disappearance of a Hollywood actress at an airport. The story moves between his life and her past.
elegiac → meditative, still slipstream
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
- pace0prose0bleak0
Polystom
Adam Roberts2003
In a solar system where planets share one atmosphere, a wealthy man pursues poetry and marriage. War and a mysterious plague disrupt his life.
Same elegiac register, still unreliable narrator
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak-1
Icehenge
Kim Stanley Robinson1984
Three interconnected stories set centuries apart investigate a mysterious monument on Pluto. It uses unreliable narrators to explore history.
elegiac → meditative, still mystery
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
Denser prose
- pace0prose+1bleak0
Radiance
Catherynne M. Valente2015
A documentary filmmaker disappears on Venus in an alternate 1980s solar system. The story is told through scripts, interviews, and letters.
elegiac → dreamlike
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
- pace0prose+1bleak0
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.
elegiac → meditative, still unreliable narrator
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+1bleak0
Rakesfall
Vajra Chandrasekera2024
Two souls reincarnate across centuries of Sri Lankan history and a distant future. The narrative shifts through different bodies and realities.
elegiac → dreamlike
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
- pace0prose+1bleak0
Empty Space
M. John Harrison2012
Three interlocking timelines follow a widow in London, a detective in a neon city, and a pilot in deep space. The prose is dense and surreal.
elegiac → dreamlike
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
- pace-1prose+1bleak-1
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.
elegiac → meditative
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
To recover
elegiac → propulsive, still mystery
- pace+2prose-2bleak-2
The Da Vinci Code
Dan Brown2003
A symbologist and a cryptologist flee the police while solving puzzles hidden in art. They search for a secret regarding the Holy Grail.
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-2bleak-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.
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-2bleak-2
Hot mahogany
Stuart Woods2008
A lawyer guards a former spy with amnesia who restores antique furniture. They uncover a conspiracy linked to the man's service in Vietnam.
elegiac → wry, still mystery
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2
- pace0prose-2bleak-2
This Girl
Colleen Hoover2013
A husband retells the story of his early relationship to his wife. It uses dual timelines to revisit events from the first book in the series.
elegiac → earnest
pace0·prose-2·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-2bleak-2
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.
elegiac → playful
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2
Faster
- pace+2prose-2bleak-2
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
elegiac → wry
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-2bleak-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.
elegiac → propulsive
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-2bleak-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.
elegiac → wry
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-2bleak-1
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.
elegiac → propulsive
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-2bleak-2
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.
elegiac → playful
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2
Slower
- pace-1prose+1bleak0
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.
elegiac → dreamlike, still unreliable narrator
pace-1·prose+1·bleak0
- pace-1prose+1bleak-1
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.
elegiac → meditative
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak-1
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.
elegiac → meditative
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace-1prose+1bleak-1
Blood on the dining-room floor
Gertrude Stein1948
A repetitive, circular narrative about a death in a country house. It uses experimental prose to obscure the facts of a traditional mystery.
elegiac → playful, still mystery
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace-1prose0bleak-2
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.
Same elegiac register
pace-1·prose0·bleak-2
Heavier
- pace0prose0bleak+1
The Man Who Melted
Jack Dann1984
A man searches a chaotic, future Europe for his wife while a telepathic virus causes people to lose their identities.
elegiac → dreamlike, still slipstream
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
- pace+1prose-1bleak+1
The Doomsday Book
Joel Levy2006
This nonfiction guide analyzes various global catastrophe scenarios, from nuclear war to pandemics, and calculates the probability of each.
elegiac → tense, still mystery
pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak+1
The Handmaid's Tale
Margaret Atwood1985
In a totalitarian state with a plummeting birth rate, a woman is enslaved as a reproductive vessel. She records her daily life and memories.
elegiac → cold, still unreliable narrator
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
- pace0prose-1bleak+1
Doomsday Book
Connie Willis1992
A student travels to 14th-century England while a virus spreads in the present. She arrives during the Black Death due to a technical error.
elegiac → bleak
pace0·prose-1·bleak+1
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
Perdido Street Station
China Miéville2000
A scientist in a sprawling, industrial city agrees to help a winged refugee fly again. His research accidentally unleashes a psychic predator.
elegiac → bleak
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
