After
Tonguing the Zeitgeist
Lance Olsen1994
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
Same sardonic register, still cyberpunk
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Jagged Orbit
John Brunner1969
In a segregated future US, a media personality and a psychic navigate a society controlled by arms dealers. The story uses fragmented perspectives.
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Venomous Lumpsucker
Ned Beauman2022
A corporate consultant and a scientist track an extinct fish across a future Earth. They navigate a market where species are traded as credits.
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Little Heroes
Norman Spinrad1987
A record company creates a computer-generated rock star to bypass human musicians. A cynical aging rocker is hired to give the digital avatar soul.
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak-1
Stable Strategies and Others
Eileen Gunn2004
Short stories featuring corporate workers who use genetic engineering to become more competitive. The tone is satirical and surreal.
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1 more ↓ ↑
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The Futurological Congress: From the Memoirs of Ijon Tichy
Stanisław Lem
A space traveler attends a conference in a world where the government uses hallucinogenic chemicals to hide a global resource collapse.
sardonic → satirical, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace-1prose+1bleak+1
Red Spider White Web
Misha1990
In a corporate-owned wasteland, an artist survives by scavenging. The prose is dense and focuses on body modification and urban decay.
sardonic → dreamlike, still cyberpunk
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+1bleak0
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.
sardonic → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+1·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
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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.
sardonic → dreamlike
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Infinite Jest
David Foster Wallace1996
A sprawling narrative centered on a tennis academy, a halfway house, and a lethal film. The text includes hundreds of pages of detailed endnotes.
Same sardonic register, still satire
pace-1·prose+1·bleak0
- pace-1prose+1bleak0
City of Saints and Madmen
Jeff Vandermeer2001
A collection of stories, histories, and pamphlets about the city of Ambergris. It uses found documents to build a surreal urban history.
sardonic → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+1·bleak0
To recover
- pace0prose-2bleak-2
Year zero
Reid, Robert2012
Aliens discover that Earth's music is the best in the galaxy and they owe humanity trillions in copyright fines.
sardonic → playful, still satire
pace0·prose-2·bleak-2
- pace0prose-1bleak-2
Headcrash
Bruce Bethke1995
A computer programmer loses his job and enters a virtual reality underworld to seek revenge on the corporate elite. It is a satire of 1990s tech.
Same sardonic register, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose-1·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose-2bleak-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.
sardonic → playful, still satire
pace0·prose-2·bleak-2
- pace0prose-1bleak-2
Snow Crash
Neal Stephenson1992
A pizza delivery driver and a teenage skateboarder investigate a digital virus that can crash the brains of hackers in a corporate-run Los Angeles.
Same sardonic register, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-2bleak-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.
sardonic → propulsive, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2
Faster
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits
David Wong2015
A young woman inherits her estranged father's criminal empire in a lawless future city. She must survive assassins using high-tech gadgets.
Same sardonic register, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-2bleak-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.
sardonic → propulsive, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose0bleak-1
Slaughtermatic
Steve Aylett1998
A bank heist goes wrong when a time-traveling version of the protagonist appears in the vault. Reality and virtual simulations begin to blur.
Same sardonic register, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose0·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-2bleak0
Akira, Vol. 1
Katsuhiro Ōtomo1984
In a rebuilt post-WWIII Tokyo, two teenage bikers get caught in a government conspiracy after one develops psychic powers.
sardonic → propulsive, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose-2·bleak0
- pace+1prose-2bleak-1
Get Jiro!
Anthony Bourdain2012
In a future Los Angeles, master chefs rule as warlords. A sushi chef who kills rude customers is caught between two warring food factions.
Same sardonic register, still satire
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1
Slower
- pace-2prose+1bleak0
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.
sardonic → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+1·bleak0
- pace-2prose+1bleak-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.
sardonic → meditative
pace-2·prose+1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+1bleak-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.
sardonic → meditative
pace-2·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace-2prose+1bleak-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.
sardonic → playful
pace-2·prose+1·bleak-2
- pace-2prose+1bleak-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.
sardonic → playful
pace-2·prose+1·bleak-1
Heavier
- pace0prose-1bleak+1
Dr. Adder
K. W. Jeter1984
In a broken future Los Angeles, a surgeon performs extreme genital modifications for a subculture of outcasts.
sardonic → cynical, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose-1·bleak+1
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
A Clockwork Orange
Anthony Burgess1962
A teenage gang leader is imprisoned and subjected to state-mandated psychological conditioning. The story is told in a slang called Nadsat.
Same sardonic register, still satire
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose-1bleak+1
The Stepford Wives
Ira Levin1972
A photographer moves to a suburb where the wives are unnervingly submissive. She investigates whether the local men are replacing them with robots.
sardonic → tense, still satire
pace0·prose-1·bleak+1
- pace0prose-1bleak+1
Cat's Cradle
Kurt Vonnegut1963
A writer researches the creator of the atomic bomb and discovers a substance that freezes all water. He joins an island cult.
Same sardonic register, still satire
pace0·prose-1·bleak+1
- pace0prose0bleak+1
Chain-Gang All-Stars
Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah2023
Prisoners in a private American penal system fight to the death in televised matches for a chance at freedom.
sardonic → bleak, still satire
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
