LitQueuelitqueue

After

Three

Jay Posey2013

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • Hammered

    Elizabeth Bear2004

    In 2062, a retired soldier with a failing cybernetic body is forced into a high-stakes government project. It is a gritty cyberpunk survival story.

    Same tense register, still cyberpunk

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

Denser prose

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+2·bleak0

  • 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.

    tense → sardonic

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

  • 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.

    tense → meditative

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Pleasure of a Dark Prince

    Kresley Cole2010

    A Lykae prince follows a Valkyrie through the Amazon to protect her. He intends to claim her as his mate while she hunts for a mystical object.

    tense → propulsive

    pace0·prose0·bleak-2

  • Perfection

    R.L. Mathewson2011

    A woman tries to ignore her neighbor, a man with a massive appetite who constantly steals her food. They bicker until a relationship forms.

    tense → playful

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

  • Walking Disaster

    Jamie McGuire2013

    This novel retells the events of 'Beautiful Disaster' from the perspective of Travis Maddox. It follows his college years and obsession with Abby.

    tense → propulsive

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

Faster

tense → propulsive, still post-apocalyptic

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    tense → propulsive, still cyberpunk

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

  • Hell Divers

    Nicholas Sansbury Smith2016

    Skydivers jump from massive airships to a ruined Earth to scavenge parts for humanity's survival. One team is stranded in a hostile zone.

    Same tense register, still post-apocalyptic

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

  • The Martian

    Andy Weir2011

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

    tense → wry

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    tense → meditative

    pace-2·prose+2·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+2·bleak-2

  • 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+2·bleak-1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • On the Beach

    Nevil Shute1957

    Survivors in Australia wait for a lethal radiation cloud to arrive after a nuclear war. They spend their final months in quiet, domestic routines.

    tense → elegiac, still post-apocalyptic

    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.

    tense → bleak, still post-apocalyptic

    pace0·prose-1·bleak+1

  • 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.

    tense → bleak, still post-apocalyptic

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1