Whiskey and Water

The Wood Wife

Terri Windling1996

A poet moves to the Arizona desert to investigate a friend's death and discovers the local landscape is inhabited by spirits.

elegiac → dreamlike, still urban fantasy

pace0·prose0·bleak-1

Soldier of Sidon

Gene Wolfe2006

A mercenary in ancient Egypt loses his memory every time he sleeps. He records his days in a scroll while interacting with gods and spirits.

elegiac → meditative, still mythic fiction

pace0·prose+1·bleak-1

Vellum

Hal Duncan2005

Humans transformed into angels and demons fight across a multiverse for a book that controls reality. The narrative jumps through time and myth.

elegiac → dreamlike, still mythic fiction

pace0·prose+1·bleak0

Moonwise

Greer Gilman1991

Two women are pulled into a world created by their own folk-tales. The narrative uses dense, archaic language to describe a shifting landscape.

elegiac → dreamlike, still mythic fiction

pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

The Score

Elle Kennedy2016

A college senior has a one-night stand with a hockey player to get over a breakup. They continue the arrangement as graduation approaches.

elegiac → playful

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

Dark Lover

J. R. Ward2005

A vampire king seeks revenge against the slayers who killed his parents while protecting a woman discovering her own supernatural heritage.

elegiac → propulsive, still urban fantasy

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

Night Pleasures

Sherrilyn Kenyon2002

An immortal warrior and a skeptical accountant are handcuffed together while being hunted by supernatural predators.

elegiac → playful, still urban fantasy

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

Battle Ground

Jim Butcher2020

A wizard leads the supernatural defense of Chicago against an invading army led by a Titan. The book is a single, continuous battle.

pace+2·prose-1·bleak0

Blood Engines

Tim Pratt2007

A sorceress who uses blood magic to power her spells defends her city from a rival. She makes ruthless choices to maintain her power.

elegiac → sardonic, still urban fantasy

pace+2·prose-1·bleak0

Sandman Slim

Richard Kadrey2009

A magician crawls out of Hell to hunt the people who murdered his girlfriend in Los Angeles. He uses black magic and a stolen shotgun.

elegiac → sardonic, still urban fantasy

pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1

Love & Sleep

John Crowley1994

Pierce Moffett researches the history of magic while living in a small town. The narrative shifts between his life and the Renaissance.

elegiac → meditative

pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

Moonwise

Greer Gilman1991

Two women are pulled into a world created by their own folk-tales. The narrative uses dense, archaic language to describe a shifting landscape.

elegiac → dreamlike, still mythic fiction

pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

The Centaur

Algernon Blackwood1911

A traveler on a ship becomes obsessed with a man and his son who seem to be remnants of an older, non-human world.

elegiac → dreamlike, still mythic fiction

pace-1·prose0·bleak-1

Mees, kes teadis ussisõnu

Andrus Kivirähk2015

A boy in medieval Estonia learns the ancient language of snakes to command animals as his forest culture is erased by Christian invaders.

Same elegiac register, still mythic fiction

pace0·prose-1·bleak+1

A Matter of Blood

Sarah Pinborough2010

A detective investigates a serial killer in a London plagued by a failing economy and a supernatural virus. The tone is consistently grim.

elegiac → bleak, still urban fantasy

pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1

The Fifth Season

N. K. Jemisin2015

A mother searches for her daughter across a continent undergoing a tectonic apocalypse. Some chapters address the reader in the second person.

elegiac → bleak

pace+1·prose0·bleak+1