After
The surrogates
Robert Venditti2005
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
- pace0prose+1bleak-1
Islands in the Net
Bruce Sterling1988
A corporate PR specialist travels to data-haven islands to investigate a murder. She becomes entangled in global political and economic sabotage.
cold → clinical, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace0prose+2bleak-1
Spook Country
William Gibson2007
A journalist, a specialized courier, and a drug addict are drawn into a conspiracy involving locative art and a missing shipping container.
Same cold register, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose+2·bleak-1
- pace0prose+1bleak-1
Interface
Neal Stephenson1994
A presidential candidate receives a brain implant that connects him to real-time polling data. A shadowy group uses him to manipulate the public.
cold → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace0prose+1bleak-1
Kiln People
David Brin2002
A detective uses disposable clay clones of himself to investigate a scientist's disappearance in a world where souls can be copied.
cold → playful, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose+1·bleak-1
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+1bleak-1
Farewell Horizontal
K. W. Jeter1989
A freelance artist leaves the safe 'horizontal' levels of a massive cylinder building to live on its dangerous vertical exterior.
cold → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose+1·bleak-1
Denser prose
- pace-1prose+3bleak0
VAS
Steve Tomasula2002
A man considers a vasectomy while the book uses diagrams and varied typography to explore the history of eugenics and biotechnology.
cold → clinical, still cyberpunk
pace-1·prose+3·bleak0
- pace-2prose+3bleak0
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.
cold → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+3·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+3bleak0
Against the Day
Thomas Pynchon2006
A massive ensemble cast navigates the globe between the 1893 World's Fair and WWI. The plot spans airships, math, and secret societies.
cold → playful
pace-1·prose+3·bleak0
- pace-1prose+3bleak0
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.
cold → sardonic
pace-1·prose+3·bleak0
- pace-1prose+3bleak0
In Green's Jungles
Gene Wolfe2000
A narrator travels to different worlds while his physical form and memories shift. He recounts past voyages to prove his identity to his companions.
cold → elegiac
pace-1·prose+3·bleak0
To recover
- pace0prose+1bleak-2
Headcrash
Bruce Bethke1995
A computer programmer loses his job and enters a virtual reality underworld to seek revenge on the corporate elite. It is a satire of 1990s tech.
cold → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose+1·bleak-2
- pace0prose+1bleak-2
Perilous Waif
E. William Brown2017
An orphan with secret cybernetic enhancements joins a freighter crew. She hides her combat abilities while navigating a high-tech galaxy.
cold → propulsive, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose+1·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+1bleak-2
Snow Crash
Neal Stephenson1992
A pizza delivery driver and a teenage skateboarder investigate a digital virus that can crash the brains of hackers in a corporate-run Los Angeles.
cold → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose+1·bleak-2
- pace-1prose+2bleak-2
The Most Human Human
Brian Christian2011
A writer competes as a human confederate in the Turing Test. He examines the history of AI and what specific traits distinguish humans from code.
cold → meditative
pace-1·prose+2·bleak-2
- pace0prose+1bleak-2
Dream Park
Larry Niven1981
A security chief investigates a real murder committed inside a high-tech theme park during a live-action fantasy roleplaying game.
cold → playful, still scifi
pace0·prose+1·bleak-2
Faster
- pace+1prose0bleak-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.
cold → propulsive, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose0·bleak-2
- pace+1prose+2bleak-1
Accelerando
Charles Stross2005
Three generations of a family navigate the rapid evolution of technology toward a singularity. The pace accelerates as humanity is outpaced by AI.
cold → wry, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose+2·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose0bleak-2
Artemis
Andy Weir2017
A porter and smuggler on a lunar colony takes a high-stakes sabotage job to pay off a debt. She uses technical knowledge to solve problems.
cold → propulsive, still scifi
pace+1·prose0·bleak-2
- pace+1prose+2bleak-1
The Stars My Destination
Alfred Bester1956
Gully Foyle is left for dead in space and spends years seeking revenge. He travels a future where humans can teleport using their minds.
cold → propulsive, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose+2·bleak-1
- pace+1prose+1bleak-1
Nexus
Ramez Naam2012
A scientist develops a nanotech drug that links minds and is hunted by government agencies. It is a high-speed global conspiracy thriller.
cold → propulsive, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose+1·bleak-1
Slower
- pace-2prose+3bleak0
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.
cold → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+3·bleak0
- pace-2prose+3bleak-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.
cold → meditative
pace-2·prose+3·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+3bleak-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.
cold → meditative
pace-2·prose+3·bleak-1
- pace-2prose+3bleak-2
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.
cold → playful
pace-2·prose+3·bleak-2
- pace-2prose+3bleak-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.
cold → playful
pace-2·prose+3·bleak-1
Heavier
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
Dr. Adder
K. W. Jeter1984
In a broken future Los Angeles, a surgeon performs extreme genital modifications for a subculture of outcasts.
cold → cynical, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace0prose+2bleak+1
The Fifth Science
Exurb1a2019
Twelve stories trace the rise and fall of a human empire through the discovery of a science of the mind. It spans 100,000 years of history.
cold → elegiac, still scifi
pace0·prose+2·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
Market Forces
Richard K. Morgan2004
In a future where executives duel in armored cars for promotions, Chris Faulkner joins a firm that profits from civil wars. It is a corporate satire.
cold → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace0prose+2bleak+1
Random Acts of Senseless Violence
Jack Womack1994
A twelve-year-old girl records her life in a diary as New York City collapses into riots and hyperinflation. Her family falls into poverty.
cold → bleak, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace+1prose+2bleak+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.
cold → tense, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose+2·bleak+1
