Unicorn Mountain

The Brief History of the Dead

Kevin Brockmeier2006

The dead live in a city as long as someone on Earth remembers them. When a virus hits, the city shrinks until only one living woman remains.

Same elegiac register, still magical realism

pace0·prose0·bleak0

Tours of the Black Clock

Steve Erickson1989

A ghostwriter for Hitler's private pornography lives in a surreal version of the 20th century where history and memory blur.

elegiac → dreamlike, still magical realism

pace0·prose+1·bleak0

Boneland

Alan Garner2012

An adult Colin searches for his lost sister while an ancient shaman performs rituals in the same landscape. The two timelines mirror one another.

Same elegiac register

pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

The Light and the Dark

Mikhail Shishkin2013

Two lovers exchange letters that transcend time and space. One writes from a domestic life while the other writes from the front lines of a war.

Same elegiac register

pace0·prose+1·bleak0

Twenty Wishes

Debbie Macomber2008

A widow in Seattle makes a list of twenty goals to change her life and begins mentoring an eight-year-old girl. It follows her emotional recovery.

pace0·prose-2·bleak-2

The Bodyguard

Katherine Center2022

A female bodyguard is hired to protect a famous actor from a stalker, leading to a fake relationship at his family's ranch.

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

The Collected Regrets of Clover

Mikki Brammer2023

A death doula in New York City helps people through their final moments but has no social life. An old woman's final wishes force her to travel.

pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

Mind's Eye

Douglas E. Richards2014

A man discovers he has the ability to access the internet and process data directly with his mind. He is hunted by a secret organization.

elegiac → propulsive

pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

The Atlantis Gene

A.G. Riddle2013

A geneticist and a counter-terrorism agent uncover a global conspiracy involving human evolution and an ancient Antarctic discovery.

elegiac → propulsive

pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

Monster Hunter International

Larry Correia2007

An accountant kills his boss, who has become a werewolf, and is recruited by a private company that hunts monsters for government bounties.

elegiac → propulsive

pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

The Habitation of the Blessed

Catherynne M. Valente2010

A priest finds the lost kingdom of Prester John. The story is told through three nested layers of journals, myths, and historical accounts.

elegiac → dreamlike

pace-1·prose+1·bleak-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.

elegiac → meditative, still magical realism

pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

Among Others

Jo Walton2011

A teenage girl at a 1970s boarding school copes with her twin's death through books and subtle magic. It is written as a series of diary entries.

elegiac → tender, still magical realism

pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1

Pet Sematary

Stephen King1983

A family moves to Maine and discovers a burial ground that can return the dead to life. They use it, and the consequences are absolute.

elegiac → tense

pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1

The Poppy War

R.F. Kuang2018

A war orphan enters a military academy and discovers shamanic powers. She leads a unit into a total war inspired by 20th-century Chinese history.

elegiac → bleak

pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1

The Traitor Baru Cormorant

Seth Dickinson2015

An accountant infiltrates the empire that conquered her home to destroy it from within. She uses economics and politics as her primary weapons.

elegiac → cold

pace+1·prose0·bleak+1