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Victor LaValle's Destroyer

Victor LaValle

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Similar in premise + setting

These books are ranked using the premise + setting labels extracted for Victor LaValle's Destroyer. Books rank higher when they are close on every selected axis.

Premise labels used: Frankenstein retelling, modern retelling, sequel retelling, family tragedy, revenge quest, grieving parent, mad science, artificial life, resurrection, race commentary

Setting labels used: modern-day United States, present day, near future, Arctic, Antarctica, contemporary social reality, science lab

This does not mean the books share the same plot, setting, quality, or difficulty. It means their premise + setting embeddings are close.

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Dean Koontz's Frankenstein, Volume 1: Prodigal Son

Dean Koontz, Kevin J. Anderson · 2009

A modern Frankenstein retelling sends a tattooed immortal and two New Orleans detectives after a killer and his creator.

Why this is here

Premise labels: Frankenstein retelling · modern update · serial killer investigation · monster versus creator · immortal being · secret experiment · new race · humanity replacement · detective partnership · world domination

Setting labels: present day · New Orleans · Tibetan monastery · modern urban · Louisiana · contemporary setting · global travel · secret laboratories · science fictional reality

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2161

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The Traveler

Joseph Eckert · 2026

A father is involuntarily thrust forward through time in ever-longer leaps, as his son races to bring him back.

Why this is here

Premise labels: time slip · involuntary time travel · exponential time jumps · father and son · family separation · future witness · search for answers · trying to reverse time travel · humanity's future

Setting labels: contemporary America · near future · far future · post-apocalyptic future · utopian future · dystopian future · deep time · Earth

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2303

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Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century

Kim Fu · 2022

Twelve uncanny stories twist modern life, turning grief, technology, and desire into strange new monsters.

Why this is here

Premise labels: modern monsters · small-world distortions · human condition · speculative twists · everyday uncanny · tech consequences · memory loss · grief and longing · coming of age · human frailty

Setting labels: modern world · near future · futuristic · contemporary · dystopian future · everyday reality · surreal reality · high-tech future · suburbia · workplace

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2306

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Noggin

John Corey Whaley · 2014

A terminally ill teen wakes five years later in a new body and must face the life, love, and friends that moved on without him.

Why this is here

Premise labels: second chance at life · head transplant · cryogenic preservation · medical miracle · life after death · time displacement · return to a changed world · grief and recovery

Setting labels: contemporary United States · high school · hospital · family home · post-teen transition · near-future science

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2334

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Shatterday

Harlan Ellison · 1980

A dark short-story collection of uncanny premises, personal dreads, and sharp-voiced introspections about self, time, and regret.

Why this is here

Premise labels: alternate self · double · eternal youth · nostalgia · alien encounter · revenge · apocalypse · doppelganger · life reevaluation · moral reckoning · human condition

Setting labels: contemporary America · modern life · urban grit · alternate reality · space setting · alien world

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2335

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City of Night

Dean Koontz, Ed Gorman · 2005 · Dean Koontz's Frankenstein

A rogue creator unleashes a perfected new race in modern New Orleans, while a monster and two detectives fight back.

Why this is here

Premise labels: Frankenstein retelling · mad scientist · engineered beings · human replacement · monster vs creator · apocalypse threat · detectives vs conspiracy · reign of terror

Setting labels: modern-day New Orleans · contemporary setting · urban setting · secret lab setting · dump/landfill setting · monastery setting · Tibet · nighttime setting

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2351

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Version Control

Dexter Palmer · 2016

A near-future marriage, a troubled physicist, and a device that may rewrite reality pull one woman into an eerie puzzle.

Why this is here

Premise labels: near future · causality violation · time travel · marriage crisis · grief · alternate reality · technology and society

Setting labels: near future · alternate reality · United States · information age · high-tech future

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2433

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The Golden Apples of the Sun

Ray Bradbury · 1997

A varied Ray Bradbury story collection blending wonder, warning, and lyrical strangeness across many short tales.

Why this is here

Premise labels: speculative tales · future shock · social commentary · human condition · time travel · technological intrusion · small-town life · literary fables · dystopian warning

Setting labels: near future · distant future · past · present-day America · small towns · rural America · Mars · Venus · lighthouse · spaceships

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2433

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The Door Into Summer

Robert A. Heinlein · 1997

An inventor betrayed by his partners wakes decades later and uses time travel to reclaim his work and his future.

Why this is here

Premise labels: time travel · cryogenic sleep · suspended animation · revenge · inventor protagonist · household robots

Setting labels: near future · 1970 · 2000 · 2001 · alternate future · postwar future · American setting

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2452

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Remember You Will Die

Eden Robins · 2024

An AI mother searches for the truth behind her human daughter’s death through a web of obituaries across time.

Why this is here

Premise labels: AI grief · motherhood · mystery search · interconnected lives · obituary narrative · human history · legacy · memory · death investigation

Setting labels: far future · centuries-spanning · cross-century · global · intercontinental · interplanetary · alternate history · dystopian future · Mars · New York City

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2453

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Genome

A.G. Riddle · 2017 · The Extinction Files

A genetic code, a hidden project, and a global conspiracy collide as old secrets threaten humanity’s future.

Why this is here

Premise labels: genetic mystery · human evolution · global conspiracy · race against time · hidden code · lost research · apocalyptic survival · virtual reality

Setting labels: near future · contemporary · global · international · post-pandemic world · Arctic · Australia · United States · Berlin · virtual world · alternate reality · human genome

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2456

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Wherever Seeds May Fall

Peter Cawdron · 2021 · Seeds

A mysterious object skips through the solar system toward Earth, forcing humanity to confront first contact, fear, and misinformation.

Why this is here

Premise labels: first contact · alien arrival · extraterrestrial probe · solar system approach · global response · existential threat · Fermi Paradox · human reaction

Setting labels: near future · present day · solar system · Earth · United States-centered · global · space mission · current-day realism

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2464

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