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These books are ranked using the setting labels extracted for Paper Girls, Volume 1.
Setting labels used: 1980s, late 80s, 1988, post-Halloween, suburban America, Cleveland suburb, small town, nostalgic period setting, alternate reality
This does not mean the books share the same plot, setting, quality, or difficulty. It means their setting embeddings are close.
Four 12-year-old newspaper delivery girls are swept into a chaotic time-travel mystery that tests friendship and identity.
Why this is here
Setting labels: 1988 · Cleveland, Ohio · suburban setting · future settings · past settings · multi-era · time rifts · interdimensional reality · Halloween night · 1980s nostalgia
Semantic match: ranked by setting
Distance: 0.0870
Four 12-year-old paper girls on an 1988 Halloween morning stumble into a strange mystery that turns ordinary routes extraordinary.
Why this is here
Setting labels: 1980s · 1988 · Halloween night · day after Halloween · early morning · suburban America · small town · Ohio · sleepy town · nostalgic setting
Semantic match: ranked by setting
Distance: 0.0966
A Mormon family’s move to North Carolina brings everyday tensions, eerie friendships, and a slow-building threat to their young son.
Why this is here
Setting labels: 1980s · early 1980s · North Carolina · small Southern town · suburban neighborhood · workplace setting · church community · household setting · real-world setting · contemporary setting
Semantic match: ranked by setting
Distance: 0.2252
A short-story collection of macabre, uncanny tales that culminates in a forbidden attraction between a priest and a porn star.
Why this is here
Setting labels: small town · rural town · desert heat · truck stop · prison · post-apocalypse · suburban neighborhood · Hollywood · San Francisco · Halloween · 1980s · 1990s · old serial era · modern setting
Semantic match: ranked by setting
Distance: 0.2258
Lucas Sinclair’s own voice fills the gap between seasons, tracing high school, racism, friendship strain, and change.
Why this is here
Setting labels: 1980s · small town · Midwest · high school · fictional town · rural town · white majority town · school setting
Semantic match: ranked by setting
Distance: 0.2260
Four loosely linked novellas twist memory, weather, guns, and survival into unsettling, high-concept horror.
Why this is here
Setting labels: 1980s · American settings · Silicon Valley · Boulder, Colorado · Colorado · coastal Florida · mall · suburban town · post-apocalyptic world · contemporary America · small town · skyborne setting · alternate reality
Semantic match: ranked by setting
Distance: 0.2308
A stranded alien botanist befriends a boy on Earth while trying to stay hidden and find a way home.
Why this is here
Setting labels: suburban home · 1980s suburban family · Earth · small neighborhood · school · government pursuit · residential area
Semantic match: ranked by setting
Distance: 0.2360
Will Byers' survival in the Upside Down is retold through his own hidden side of Stranger Things season 1.
Why this is here
Setting labels: Upside Down · alternate dimension · small-town America · 1980s · suburban setting · monster world · dark mirror world
Semantic match: ranked by setting
Distance: 0.2365
A late-career Bradbury collection of 21 short, fantastical tales blending nostalgia, wonder, menace, and wit.
Why this is here
Setting labels: American settings · small-town America · nostalgic past · contemporary pastiche · alternate reality
Semantic match: ranked by setting
Distance: 0.2403
After a deadly riddle contest, Roland tells his companions the tragic story of his youth, first love, and path to the Tower.
Why this is here
Setting labels: alternate reality · post-apocalyptic · deserted town · small town · western frontier · war-torn world · multiverse · parallel worlds · 1980s America · Mid-World
Semantic match: ranked by setting
Distance: 0.2415
A death-haunted professor and his blended family face a toxic disaster in a darkly comic, media-saturated world.
Why this is here
Setting labels: Midwestern college town · campus setting · supermarket setting · suburban setting · 1980s America · small town · domestic setting · media-saturated world · toxic disaster zone · contemporary reality
Semantic match: ranked by setting
Distance: 0.2451
A late Bradbury story collection of 21 brief, nostalgic vignettes mixing memory, mystery, humor, and uncanny turns.
Why this is here
Setting labels: small-town America · 20th century · midcentury America · United States · nostalgic past · domestic settings · pubs · circus
Semantic match: ranked by setting
Distance: 0.2462
