After
Timelike Infinity
Stephen Baxter1992
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
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Shaman
Kim Stanley Robinson2013
A young man undergoes a vision quest and struggles to survive in a Paleolithic tribe during the last Ice Age.
Same tense register, still hard science fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Empire Games
Charles Stross2017
Two parallel timelines, one a high-tech surveillance state and one a nuclear-capable empire, prepare for inter-world conflict.
Same tense register, still hard science fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Brother Termite
Patricia Anthony1993
An alien serving as the White House Chief of Staff manages political crises while his own species prepares to harvest humanity.
Same tense register, still hard science fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Two Faces of Tomorrow
James P. Hogan1979
To test a super-intelligent AI, scientists move it to a remote space station and stage a series of attacks to observe its response.
Same tense register, still time travel
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
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Distraction
Bruce Sterling1998
A political fixer manages a campaign in a collapsed, high-tech future America. He battles rival factions and his own genetic secrets.
Same tense register, still time travel
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
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
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
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
3 more ↓ ↑
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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
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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.
tense → meditative
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
Radiance
Catherynne M. Valente2015
A documentary filmmaker disappears on Venus in an alternate 1980s solar system. The story is told through scripts, interviews, and letters.
tense → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
To recover
- pace+1prose-1bleak-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.
tense → propulsive, still hard science fiction
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace0prose-1bleak-2
Redshirts
John Scalzi2012
Low-ranking crew members on a starship realize they are disposable characters in a sci-fi television show. They attempt to escape their fate.
tense → playful
pace0·prose-1·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
The Da Vinci Code
Dan Brown2003
A symbologist and a cryptologist flee the police while solving puzzles hidden in art. They search for a secret regarding the Holy Grail.
tense → propulsive
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace0prose-1bleak-2
Fifty Shades of Grey
E.L. James2000
A college student enters a sexual contract with a wealthy businessman. The story focuses on their power dynamics and BDSM encounters.
tense → earnest
pace0·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-1bleak-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.
tense → propulsive
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
Faster
- pace+1prose-1bleak-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.
tense → propulsive, still hard science fiction
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
Lost in Time
A.G. Riddle2022
A man is exiled to the Triassic period for a murder he didn't commit while his daughter tries to bring him back.
tense → propulsive, still time travel
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-1bleak-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.
tense → propulsive
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
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.
tense → wry
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
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.
tense → propulsive
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
Slower
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
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
- pace-2prose+2bleak-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.
tense → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+2bleak-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.
tense → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1
- pace-2prose+2bleak-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.
tense → playful
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-2
- pace-2prose+2bleak-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+2·bleak-1
Heavier
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Evolution
Stephen Baxter2002
The narrative follows the lineage of humanity over 165 million years. It begins with shrew-like ancestors and ends with post-human extinction.
tense → clinical, still hard science fiction
pace-1·prose0·bleak+1
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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.
tense → bleak, still time travel
pace-1·prose0·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
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Behold the Man
Michael Moorcock1968
A man uses a time machine to travel to 28 AD to meet Jesus. Finding only a disabled man who cannot fulfill the gospels, he takes the role himself.
tense → bleak, still time travel
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace-1prose0bleak+1
The Year of the Quiet Sun
Wilson Tucker1970
A social scientist travels forward in time to document the collapse of the United States through racial conflict and nuclear war.
tense → bleak, still time travel
pace-1·prose0·bleak+1
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
The Gone World
Tom Sweterlitsch2018
An investigator travels to possible futures to solve a murder and stop an approaching apocalypse. The timeline changes based on her observations.
tense → bleak, still time travel
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
