LitQueuelitqueue

After

Unassigned Territory

Kem Nunn1987

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • The Devil All the Time

    Donald Ray Pollock2011

    Interconnected stories of a veteran, serial killers, and a corrupt preacher in post-WWII Appalachia. It is a series of violent encounters.

    Same bleak register, still noir

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+1

Denser prose

bleak → dreamlike

3 more ↓

  • Ghost Stories

    Henry James2001

    A collection of Victorian tales where the existence of ghosts is often left to the reader's interpretation.

    bleak → meditative

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

  • The Dream Cycle of H. P. Lovecraft

    H.P. Lovecraft2003

    A collection of stories following characters who travel into a shared dream world. It focuses on strange geography and cosmic entities.

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

  • Racconti [55 stories]

    Edgar Allan Poe2011

    A collection of 55 stories featuring unreliable narrators and gothic settings. Themes include obsession, premature burial, and the macabre.

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

To recover

bleak → propulsive

3 more ↓

  • This Man

    Jodi Ellen Malpas2013

    An interior designer begins an affair with a wealthy client who demands total control over her life and schedule.

    bleak → tense

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-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.

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2

  • Real Murders

    Charlaine Harris1990

    A librarian in a small Georgia town belongs to a club that studies famous crimes. A real murder occurs that mimics a historical case.

    bleak → wry

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Patient Zero

    Jonathan Maberry2009

    A detective joins a secret government task force to stop a terrorist group using a bio-weapon that reanimates the dead. It is an action thriller.

    bleak → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

  • The Rising

    Brian Keene2003

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

    Same bleak register

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak+1

  • Shattered

    Dean Koontz1973

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

    bleak → tense

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    bleak → playful

    pace-1·prose+1·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.

    bleak → playful

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

  • Either/Or

    Søren Kierkegaard1992

    A collection of papers presents two life philosophies: the aesthetic pursuit of pleasure and the ethical commitment to duty.

    bleak → meditative

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Seed

    Ania Ahlborn2011

    A man who survived a childhood encounter with a demon sees the same entity targeting his daughter. It is a story of inescapable family curses.

    Same bleak register, still southern gothic

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1

  • The Bleeding Season

    Greg F. Gifune2003

    Three friends investigate the suicide of a childhood companion. They uncover a history of violence and a supernatural secret in their small town.

    Same bleak register, still noir

    pace0·prose-1·bleak+1

  • The Devil All the Time

    Donald Ray Pollock2011

    Interconnected stories of a veteran, serial killers, and a corrupt preacher in post-WWII Appalachia. It is a series of violent encounters.

    Same bleak register, still noir

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+1