LitQueuelitqueue

After

The Woods All Black

Lee Mandelo2024

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

1 more ↓

  • Middle of the Night

    Riley Sager2024

    Thirty years after his friend was abducted from a backyard tent, Ethan returns home and finds evidence the kidnapper may still be active nearby.

    Same tense register, still small town secrets

    pace0·prose-1·bleak0

Denser prose

tense → dreamlike

3 more ↓

  • The Bride of Lammermoor

    Walter Scott1800

    In 1703 Scotland, two lovers from feuding families attempt to stay together despite political instability and a family curse.

    tense → elegiac, still historical fiction

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2

  • 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.

    tense → dark

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2

  • The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner

    James Hogg1824

    A religious fanatic becomes convinced he is predestined for salvation and commits crimes at the behest of a mysterious stranger.

    tense → cold

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2

To recover

tense → playful

3 more ↓

  • Mile High

    Liz Tomforde2023

    A professional hockey player and a flight attendant clash on the team's private plane during a season-long road trip.

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Behind the Net

    Stephanie Archer2024

    A former musician becomes the live-in assistant for a professional hockey goalie she knew in high school.

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-1

  • She Went All the Way

    Meg Cabot2002

    A screenwriter and an actor survive a helicopter crash in the Alaskan wilderness and must hike to safety while being pursued by a killer.

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-1

Faster

3 more ↓

  • The Rising

    Brian Keene2003

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

    tense → bleak

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak+2

  • Shattered

    Dean Koontz1973

    A man and his future stepson drive across America while being stalked by the woman's vengeful ex-husband.

    Same tense register

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak0

  • The Executioner

    Chris Carter2010

    A Los Angeles detective hunts a serial killer who murders victims using their specific phobias. Each crime scene features a blood-scrawled number.

    Same tense register

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak+1

Slower

tense → elegiac, still historical fiction

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    tense → dreamlike

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak+1

  • 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.

    tense → playful

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak-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.

    tense → playful

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • The Witch's Trinity

    Erika Mailman2007

    During a 1500s famine, an elderly woman is accused of witchcraft by her daughter-in-law. She struggles with dementia and a friar's torture.

    tense → bleak, still historical fiction

    pace-1·prose-1·bleak+2

  • Blood Meridian, or, the Evening Redness in the West

    Cormac McCarthy

    A teenager rides with a scalp-hunting gang across the 1850s border. The violence is the subject, not the obstacle.

    tense → cold, still historical fiction

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2

  • Last Days

    Adam L.G. Nevill

    A documentary filmmaker investigates the history of a 1970s cult. As he visits their former sites, he realizes he is being followed.

    Same tense register, still folk horror

    pace0·prose-1·bleak+2