After
The Wind Through the Keyhole
Stephen King1925
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak0
City
Clifford D. Simak1952
A series of linked stories told by dogs over thousands of years as they debate whether the human race ever actually existed.
Same elegiac register, still frame story
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Sea of Tranquility
Emily St. John Mandel2022
A time traveler links an exiled Englishman in 1912, a writer in 2203, and a moon colonist. The story follows a glitch in time across centuries.
Same elegiac register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Boat of a Million Years
Poul Anderson1989
A small group of humans born with natural immortality find each other and live through thousands of years of history into the space age.
Same elegiac register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Songs of Distant Earth
Arthur C. Clarke1986
Refugees from a destroyed Earth arrive at a peaceful water-world. The story follows the cultural clash and the technical logistics of the visit.
Same elegiac register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak0
From Time to Time
Jack Finney1995
A man travels back in time to 1911 to prevent the sinking of the Titanic and alter the course of the twentieth century.
Same elegiac register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
elegiac → dreamlike
- pace0prose+2bleak+1
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.
pace0·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+2bleak+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.
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+2bleak+1
Too Like the Lightning
Ada Palmer2016
In a 25th-century utopia, a convict narrates the discovery of a boy who can perform miracles. The prose uses 18th-century styles and gender terms.
elegiac → sardonic
pace0·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace0prose+2bleak+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.
elegiac → meditative
pace0·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace0prose+2bleak+1
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
pace0·prose+2·bleak+1
To recover
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
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-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
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-1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon
Kimberly Lemming2021
A spice trader saves a demon while intoxicated and joins his quest to kill a witch. The story features frequent sexual content and humor.
elegiac → playful
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
To Sir Phillip, With Love
Julia Quinn2003
Eloise Bridgerton travels to meet a widowed baronet she has only known through letters. They consider a marriage of convenience.
elegiac → warm
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
All Rhodes Lead Here
Mariana Zapata2021
A woman moves back to her Colorado hometown after a breakup and rents a garage apartment from a grumpy single father.
elegiac → warm
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
Faster
- pace+2prose-1bleak-1
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
elegiac → wry
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-1bleak-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, still quest
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-1bleak-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-1·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-1bleak0
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-1·bleak0
- pace+2prose-1bleak-1
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-1·bleak-1
Slower
- pace-1prose+2bleak+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.
elegiac → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
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, still frame story
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
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+2·bleak0
- pace-1prose+1bleak-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
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace-1prose0bleak-1
For Us, the Living
Robert A. Heinlein2003
A 1930s pilot wakes up in the year 2086. The book consists of long dialogues explaining the social, economic, and sexual norms of the future.
elegiac → earnest
pace-1·prose0·bleak-1
Heavier
- pace+1prose+1bleak+2
Black Easter
James Blish1968
An arms dealer hires a black magician to release all the demons of Hell onto Earth for one night. It is a technical look at ritual magic.
elegiac → cold, still dark fantasy
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace0prose+2bleak+2
Black Leopard, Red Wolf
Marlon James2019
A hunter with a supernatural sense of smell joins a group to find a missing child. The journey through mythical Africa is violent and hallucinatory.
elegiac → bleak, still dark fantasy
pace0·prose+2·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+1bleak+2
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
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace0prose0bleak+2
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·prose0·bleak+2
- pace0prose+2bleak+2
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+2·bleak+2
