The Wild Shore

The Dog Stars

Peter Heller2012

A pilot and his dog live at a small airport after a flu pandemic kills most of humanity. He flies his Cessna into the unknown to find a radio signal.

Same elegiac register, still post-apocalyptic

pace0·prose0·bleak+1

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·bleak+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·bleak0

All Those Vanished Engines

Paul Park2014

Three linked stories follow the Park family through an alternate history where the American Civil War ended in a two-nation settlement.

elegiac → dreamlike

pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

Alpine for you

Maddy Hunter2003

A woman leads a group of senior citizens on a tour of the Swiss Alps. When a passenger dies, she must investigate her fellow travelers.

pace0·prose-2·bleak-1

How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf

Molly Harper2011

A librarian in Alaska finds her neighbor caught in a trap and discovers he is a werewolf. They investigate a series of local attacks together.

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

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.

elegiac → wry

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

The Martian

Andy Weir2011

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

elegiac → wry

pace+2·prose-2·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.

elegiac → propulsive

pace+2·prose-2·bleak-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.

elegiac → wry

pace+2·prose-2·bleak-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·bleak0

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

Ocean Vuong2019

A son writes a letter to his illiterate mother, recounting his family's history in Vietnam and his own experiences growing up in America.

Same elegiac register, still coming of age

pace-1·prose0·bleak+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.

Same elegiac register, still coming of age

pace-1·prose0·bleak-1

The Walking Dead: Compendium One

Robert Kirkman2009

A sheriff wakes from a coma into a zombie apocalypse. He leads a group of survivors through various temporary shelters over several years.

elegiac → bleak, still post-apocalyptic

pace+1·prose-2·bleak+2

One Second After

William R. Forstchen2009

An EMP strike destroys the American power grid. A history professor attempts to manage the starvation and societal collapse of his small town.

elegiac → bleak, still post-apocalyptic

pace+1·prose-1·bleak+2

The Death of Grass

John Christopher1956

A virus kills the world's grass and grain, causing total societal collapse. A family attempts to flee London for a farm in the north.

elegiac → bleak, still post-apocalyptic

pace+1·prose-1·bleak+2