Loreful
HomeDiscover
Search series, authors…⌘K
Loreful

Reading orders for SF/F series and shared universes — with your place kept in every one.

Explore

UniversesSeriesWorksAuthorsAtlas

Help

FAQAboutSite map

Account & legal

Sign inCreate accountPrivacyTerms

Data

Built on ISFDB, Wikipedia, Wikidata and Open Library. Curated reading orders carry their reasoning on the page; the rest follow publication order. Data sources & licenses

© Loreful · data: ISFDB · CC BY

More like Cold Print

anchored on:horrorcosmic horrormid 20th centuryshort story cyclemadnessbritish isles+3 more

but

Mood

The mood the book leaves you in.

  • The reading experience is propelled by journeys, exploration, and physical risk; excitement and forward momentum dominate over dread or introspection.
  • Joy and loss are deliberately mixed; the resolution grants characters something real while taking something else away, leaving warmth and sorrow together.
  • The book demands work from the reader — dense prose, difficult structure, unfamiliar ideas, or morally uncomfortable material — as part of its intended effect.
  • Grim events, cruelty, or despair dominate the atmosphere, and the book does not soften them with comfort or comic relief.
  • The atmosphere is quietly unsettling — wrongness, unease, and the uncanny pervade the book without necessarily escalating into overt horror.
  • The book is built to move the reader; character feeling is foregrounded and major scenes aim at a strong emotional response.
  • Humor is a primary aim and the prose plays for laughs — comic situations, wit, or dialogue produce sustained comedy, not occasional levity.
  • The book insists that things can improve; effort and decency are shown to matter, and the arc bends toward better outcomes even through hardship.
  • The book teaches as it goes — real facts, history, science, or craft are conveyed in enough depth that learning is part of the reading experience.
  • The book is designed to uplift and motivate, presenting perseverance or achievement in a way that invites the reader to aspire or act.
  • The overall register is cheerful and easygoing; stakes are kept gentle and the book avoids dwelling on pain or dread.
  • Withheld information drives the experience; the book sustains enigmas and secrets the reader wants resolved, whatever its genre.
  • The book is contemplative and inward-looking, giving more weight to thought, memory, and meaning than to external events.
  • The book works as comfort reading — low tension, a soothing pace, and an atmosphere the reader can unwind in.
  • Grief, loss, or melancholy set the dominant register, and the book lets sorrow stand rather than resolving it into comfort.
  • Sustained suspense is the point; the book keeps the reader braced for what happens next through danger, pressure, or impending revelation.
  • Playful invention and charm define the register — fanciful conceits, light absurdity, and a narration that delights in its own oddity.

About

What the story runs on.

  • Stories in which extraterrestrial beings are central — as characters, cultures, or the object of the plot.
  • Stories structured as a quest — a journey undertaken to find, deliver, or destroy something of great import.
  • Stories in which staying alive against nature, catastrophe, or scarcity is the central problem.
  • Stories of lovers kept apart by law, family, faith, or station, where the obstacle to love is the plot.
  • Stories of growing up — a young protagonist crossing from childhood into adult knowledge and responsibility.
  • Stories about who a character truly is — self-discovery, doubled lives, and the search for a self.
  • Stories about mental unraveling — descent into madness, delusion, and minds at war with themselves.
  • Stories about mourning — living through the death of a loved one and what loss does to the survivors.
  • Stories in which a buried family truth — hidden parentage, crimes, or shames — surfaces and reorders the present.
  • Stories driven by maneuvering for power — factions, conspiracies, and statecraft conducted in shadow.
  • Stories in which war itself is the subject — combat, occupation, and what warfare does to soldiers and civilians.
  • Stories organized around investigating a killing — the case, the clues, and the pursuit of the killer, in any genre's clothing.

Shelf

Where it sits in the library.

    • Fiction built on magic or other supernatural elements that have no scientific explanation.
    • Secondary-world fantasy at large scale, where the fate of nations or the world turns on the protagonists' struggle.
    • Fantasy set in a recognizably modern city or contemporary world where the supernatural intrudes on everyday life.
    • Fantasy that blends in horror's atmosphere and imagery, keeping a fantastical frame around grim or frightening material.
    • Action-driven fantasy following warriors or rogues with personal stakes against sorcerous threats, rather than world-spanning conflicts.
    • Fantasy set in a real historical period or a close analogue of one, with magic woven into the era.
    • Fantasy in which protagonists cross from the ordinary world into another world through a portal or similar passage.
    • Fiction that retells or reworks a traditional fairy tale in a new form or setting.
    • Fantasy drawing directly on myths, legends, and folklore, retelling them or building on their figures and logic.
    • Fantasy of ghosts, vampires, shapeshifters, psychics, and similar phenomena, usually set in an otherwise ordinary world.
    • Fiction mixing science-fictional trappings with overtly magical or impossible elements in one setting.
    • Low-stakes fantasy emphasizing comfort, community, and everyday pleasures over conflict and peril.
    • Speculative fiction of pervasive moral ambiguity, violence, and cynicism that rejects heroic conventions — fantasy and SF alike.
      • Fiction that extrapolates from science and technology — future societies, space travel, or speculative inventions — within at least nominally natural laws.
      • Science fiction of interstellar scope — starships, galactic polities, and adventure across star systems.
      • Science fiction committed to scientific rigor, where technical plausibility constrains the story.
      • Science fiction centered on armed forces and warfare, told largely from a military point of view.
      • Science fiction of networked, corporate-dominated near futures, pairing high technology with social decay.
      • Science fiction styled on nineteenth-century steam-powered technology, often in a Victorian or pseudo-Victorian setting.
      • Fiction depicting an oppressive or catastrophic society, presented as a warning.
      • Fiction set after civilization's collapse, following survivors in the ruins of the old world.
      • Fiction in which characters move between past and future, and the mechanics or consequences of that travel drive the plot.
      • Fiction exploring a world where a historical event went differently and history diverged from ours.
      • Science fiction about humanity's first encounter and communication with an alien intelligence.
      • Science fiction in which extraterrestrial forces attack or occupy Earth and humanity resists.
      • Fiction whose primary aim is to frighten or unsettle the reader through dread, menace, or the monstrous.
      • Horror of vast, indifferent, incomprehensible entities before which humanity is insignificant, in the Lovecraft tradition.
      • Horror of decaying houses, buried family secrets, and oppressive atmosphere in the Gothic literary tradition.
      • Horror centered on hauntings and the returning dead.
      • Horror located in the mind — paranoia, obsession, and unreliable perception rather than external monsters.
      • Horror built around the reanimated dead and survival amid their outbreaks.
      • Horror defined by explicit, transgressive gore that refuses to cut away from violence.
      • Speculative fiction of the strange and uncanny that resists both natural explanation and standard genre categories.
      • Fiction organized around solving a crime or puzzle, typically following an investigator toward the identification of a culprit.
      • A puzzle-first mystery that lays out clues so the culprit's identity can be deduced before the reveal.
      • Crime fiction of moral ambiguity, fatalism, and hard-edged style, set among the corrupt and the doomed.
      • A mystery following the realistic routines of police work — forensics, interviews, and case-building.
      • A gentle mystery with an amateur sleuth, a small community, and violence kept off the page.
      • A mystery set in a past era, where the investigation works within that period's methods and society.
      • Fast-paced fiction driven by imminent danger, pursuit, or high-stakes conspiracy, built to sustain tension.
      • A thriller of espionage — agents, tradecraft, and intelligence services in conflict.
      • A thriller centered on lawyers and the courtroom, where litigation carries the suspense.
      • A thriller driven by detailed contemporary or near-future technology, often military or scientific.
      • A thriller whose tension comes from mental states and manipulation between characters rather than external action.
      • Fiction whose central plot is a romantic relationship and its development toward an emotionally satisfying resolution.
      • Romance in which one or both partners are supernatural beings, blending fantasy elements into the love story.
      • A fantasy-romance hybrid in which the romantic arc and the fantasy plot carry equal weight.
      • Romance set in a past era, with courtship shaped by the period's society and manners.
      • Romance set in the present day, without supernatural or historical elements.
      • Fiction set in a real past period, where the historical setting materially shapes characters and events.
        • General and literary fiction emphasizing prose style, character interiority, or formal ambition over genre plot conventions.
        • Fiction in a realistic world where magical events occur and are treated as ordinary, in the tradition of Latin American literature.
        • Fiction that ridicules people, institutions, or society in order to criticize them.
        • Fiction of dreamlike, irrational imagery and logic that breaks from realistic representation.
        • Fiction that plays with narrative convention through metafiction, fragmentation, and self-reference.
        • Fiction propelled by journeys, exploration, and physical peril, where action and survival carry the plot.
        • Adventure fiction of ships and seafaring — naval engagements, voyages, and life at sea.
        • Fiction of the American frontier West — gunmen, ranchers, and lawmen, typically in the late nineteenth century.
        • Fiction centered on soldiers, campaigns, and the experience of warfare, historical or imagined.
          • Fiction written primarily to amuse, using comedic situations, wit, or parody as its organizing principle.
            • Multi-generational fiction following a family or dynasty across decades, with inheritance and kinship as the through-line.
              • Fiction whose world runs on explicit game mechanics — levels, stats, and skills that characters can see and exploit.
                • Fiction about costumed or superpowered heroes and their conflicts with comparable villains.

                Practical

                How long a commitment, whether it stands alone, and whether it has finished.

                Tap a chip to ask for it · tap again to rule it out · once more to clear. Numbers show what would be left.

                • Cover of The House on the Borderland
                  The House on the Borderland

                  William Hope Hodgson · standalone novel · 1908

                  similar bymadnessbritish islesdarkeeriehorrorweird fiction

                  The House on the Borderland (1908) is a supernatural horror novel by British fantasist William Hope Hodgson. The novel is a hallucinatory account of a recluse's stay at a remote house, and his experiences of supernatural creatures and otherworldly dimensions.

                • Cover of The Haunting of Hill House
                  The Haunting of Hill House

                  Shirley Jackson · standalone novel · 1959

                  similar bymadnessmid 20th centurydarkeeriehorrorweird fiction

                  The Haunting of Hill House is a 1959 gothic horror novel by American author Shirley Jackson. It was a finalist for the National Book Award and has been made into two feature films, a play, and is the basis of a Netflix series.

                • Cover of The Haunting of Toby Jugg
                  The Haunting of Toby Jugg

                  Dennis Wheatley · standalone novel · 1948

                  similar bymadnessbritish islesmid 20th centurydarkeeriehorror

                  The Haunting of Toby Jugg is a 1948 psychological thriller novel on an occult theme by English writer Dennis Wheatley, incorporating his usual themes of satanic possession and madness, in what was at that time a fresh situation: a disabled British airman recovering from his experiences in the last stages of World War II, in which he played a part in the bombardment of Germany.

                • Cover of The Philosopher's Stone
                  The Philosopher's Stone

                  Colin Wilson · standalone novel · 1969

                  similar bymadnessmid 20th centurydarkeeriehorrorcosmic horror

                  The Philosopher's Stone is a 1969 horror novel by the English writer Colin Wilson. It tells the story of two researchers who find a way to reach a higher state of consciousness, which leads to frightening revelations about humanity's distant history. Like Wilson's 1967 novel The Mind Parasites, The Philosopher's Stone uses motifs from H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos.

                • Cover of Shadow Dance
                  Shadow Dance

                  Angela Carter · standalone novel · 1966

                  similar bymadnessbritish islesmid 20th centurydarkeerie

                  Shadow Dance was Angela Carter's first novel, published in England by Heinemann in 1966. It was published under the name Honeybuzzard in the United States. Upon publication it was acclaimed by Anthony Burgess, who wrote that he "read this book with admiration, horror and other relevant emotions... Angela Carter has remarkable descriptive gifts, a powerful imagination, and... a capacity for looking at the mess of contemporary life without flinching."

                • Cover of Some of Your Blood
                  Some of Your Blood

                  Theodore Sturgeon · standalone novel · 1961

                  similar bymadnessmid 20th centurydarkeeriehorror

                  Some of Your Blood is a short horror novel in epistolary form by American writer Theodore Sturgeon, first published in 1961.

                • Cover of We Have Always Lived in the Castle
                  We Have Always Lived in the Castle

                  Shirley Jackson · standalone novel · 1962

                  similar bymadnessmid 20th centuryeeriehorror+1 more

                  A young woman lives with her older sister and sickly uncle in their old family house, after a mysterious tragedy turns the townsfolk against them.

                • Cover of Moon
                  Moon

                  James Herbert · standalone novel · 1985

                  similar bymadnessbritish islesdarkeeriehorror

                  Jon Childes is considered with suspicion by the inhabitants of the island he moved to. Yet, he has a respectable job in the local school; he misses the daughter, remained with the mother, but he feels free from the past nightmares... Suddenly everything restarts: visions, at first blurred and then clear. Sequences of atrocity and blood go through his mind as he sees the "slaughtering thing" in action, and cannot prevent it. [translated from back cover]

                • Cover of Little Eve
                  Little Eve

                  Catriona Ward · standalone novel · 2018

                  similar bymadnessbritish islesdarkeeriehorror

                  Little Eve is a 2018 gothic horror novel by Catriona Ward, published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson.

                • Cover of Move Under Ground
                  Move Under Ground

                  Nick Mamatas · standalone novel · 2004

                  similar bymadnessmid 20th centurydarkeeriehorrorcosmic horror

                  Move Under Ground is a horror novel mashup by American writer Nick Mamatas, which combines the Beat style of Jack Kerouac with the cosmic horror of H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. It is available as a free download via a Creative Commons license, CC BY-NC-ND 2.5 according to the License information in the CC version of the book.

                • Cover of Penguin Classics Lovecraft
                  Penguin Classics Lovecraft

                  series · 3 books · 1999

                  completed

                  similar bymadnessdarkeeriehorrorcosmic horrorweird fiction+1 more

                • Cover of The Course of the Heart
                  The Course of the Heart

                  M. John Harrison · standalone novel · 1992

                  similar bymadnessbritish islesdarkeerieweird fiction+1 more

                  On a hot May night, three Cambridge students carry out a ritualistic act that changes their lives. Years later, none of the participants can remember what exactly transpired, but their clouded memories can't rid them of an overwhelming sense of dread.

                • Cover of Dagon
                  Dagon

                  Fred Chappell · standalone novel · 1968

                  similar bymadnessmid 20th centurydarkeeriehorrorcosmic horror

                  Dagon is a novel by author Fred Chappell published in 1968. The novel is a psychological thriller with supernatural elements, attempting to tell a Cthulhu Mythos story as a psychologically realistic Southern Gothic novel. It was awarded the Best Foreign Book of the Year prize by the French Academy in 1972.

                • Cover of Revival
                  Revival

                  Stephen King · standalone novel · 2014

                  similar bymadnessdarkeeriehorrorcosmic horror

                  The protagonist details how his life keeps intersecting with that of the man he first met as the pastor of his church in childhood, whose experiments with electricity lead to mastery of a cosmic power which he uses to help people, until his obsession leads to physical and spiritual disaster for all.

                • Cover of Richard Matheson: Collected Stories
                  Richard Matheson: Collected Stories

                  series · 4 books · 1989

                  completed

                  similar bymadnessdarkeeriemid 20th centuryhorrorshort story cycle+1 more

                • Cover of The Tooth Fairy
                  The Tooth Fairy

                  Graham Joyce · standalone novel · 1996

                  similar bybritish islesmid 20th centurydarkeeriehorror+1 more

                  The Tooth Fairy is a fantasy and horror novel by English writer Graham Joyce. It was first published in the United Kingdom in paperback in 1996 by Signet Books, and in hardcover in the United States in 1998 by Tor Books. It is about Sam and his friends growing up in Coventry, England in the 1960s, and a mischievous fairy who torments Sam.

                • Cover of Last Days
                  Last Days

                  Adam Nevill · standalone novel · 2012

                  similar bymadnessbritish islesdarkeeriehorror

                  Last Days is a 2012 horror novel by the British author Adam Nevill. The book was first published in the United Kingdom on 24 May 2012 by Pan Macmillan and was published in the United States on 26 February 2013 through St. Martin's Griffin. It won the 2013 British Fantasy Award for Best Horror Novel and film rights for Last Days were first optioned by Adam Storke in early 2014. The option has subsequently passed to another film production company.

                • Cover of The Fog
                  The Fog

                  James Herbert · standalone novel · 1975

                  similar bymadnessbritish islesdarkhorror

                  The Fog is a horror novel by English writer James Herbert, published in 1975. It is about a deadly fog that drives its victims insane when they come into contact with it.

                • Cover of Enoch Coffin
                  Enoch Coffin

                  series · 13 books · 2013

                  similar bymadnessdarkeeriehorrorshort story cyclecosmic horrorweird fiction

                • Cover of Creed
                  Creed

                  James Herbert · standalone novel · 1990

                  similar bymadnessbritish islesdarkeeriehorror

                  Remember with fear. Sometimes horror is in the mind. And sometimes it's real. Telling the difference isn't always easy. It wasn't for Joe Creed. He'd just photographed the unreal. Now he had to pay the price. Because he always thought that demons were just a joke. But the joke was on him. And it wasn't very funny. It was deadly.

                • Cover of The Hungry Moon
                  The Hungry Moon

                  Ramsey Campbell · standalone novel · 1986

                  similar bymadnessdarkeeriehorrorcosmic horror

                  The Hungry Moon is a novel by Ramsey Campbell published in 1986.

                • Cover of The Slitherers
                  The Slitherers

                  John Russell Fearn · standalone novel · 1970

                  similar bymadnessbritish islesmid 20th centuryeeriehorrorcosmic horror

                  A rediscovered classic of cosmic horror by John Russell Fearn. The obscure village of Coxwold had suddenly become the centre of attention of every daily newspaper. People from all over had descended upon it, investigating, questioning, and sending reports to London. Something had happened in a nearby wheat field which had reduced two normal, healthy men to insanity and death. The police, suspecting foul play, lacked any evidence. So what could it be that had driven the victims to madness?

                • Cover of The Third Policeman
                  The Third Policeman

                  Flann O'Brien · standalone novel · 1967

                  similar bymadnessbritish islesmid 20th centuryeerie

                  The Third Policeman is a novel by Irish writer Brian O'Nolan, writing under the pseudonym Flann O'Brien. It was written in 1939 and 1940, but after it initially failed to find a publisher, the author withdrew the manuscript from circulation and claimed he had lost it. The book remained unpublished at the time of his death in 1966. It was published by MacGibbon & Kee in 1967.

                • Cover of Apartment 16
                  Apartment 16

                  Adam Nevill · standalone novel · 2010

                  similar bymadnessbritish islesdarkeeriehorror

                  Apartment 16 is a 2010 horror novel by British author Adam Nevill. The book was first published in the United Kingdom on 7 May 2010. Apartment 16 took four and a half years for Nevill to complete, during which time he wrote seventeen drafts. Film rights to Apartment 16 were under option by Blind Monkey Pictures, the horror movie portion of Festival Film & TV, but have since lapsed.