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Searoad

Ursula K. Le Guin

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Similar in premise + setting

These books are ranked using the premise + setting labels extracted for Searoad. Books rank higher when they are close on every selected axis.

Premise labels used: small-town chronicle, linked stories, women’s lives, coastal community

Setting labels used: Oregon coast, small seaside town, fictional town, Northwest coast

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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The Shadow over Innsmouth

H.P. Lovecraft · 1936

A curious traveler visits a shunned seaside town and uncovers a terrifying secret about its people and his own past.

Why this is here

Premise labels: isolated town · forbidden town · family history · hidden ancestry · cosmic horror · seaside horror · cult secrets · underwater beings

Setting labels: New England · seaside town · small town · decaying town · isolated community · coastal setting · underwater realm · fictional town

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2420

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The Unreal and the Real: Selected Stories, Volume One: Where on Earth

Ursula K. Le Guin · 2012 · The Unreal and the Real

A self-selected collection of Le Guin’s earthbound short fiction, mixing realist, folkloric, and quietly strange stories.

Why this is here

Premise labels: selected stories · earthbound stories · realist fiction · speculative elements

Setting labels: Earth · small-town Oregon · fictional central Europe · Orsinia · revolutionary setting · summer camp · rural setting · sea-side holiday · contemporary setting · historical setting

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2508

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The Deading

Nicholas Belardes · 2024

A quarantined seaside town unravels after an ocean-borne contagion triggers eerie deaths, returns, and escalating chaos.

Why this is here

Premise labels: small town outbreak · ocean-borne contagion · quarantine · infection spreads through wildlife · survival under isolation · body transformation · death-and-return infection · social collapse · cult formation

Setting labels: small coastal town · fishing town · seaside town · California coast · oyster farm · birding community · quarantined town · isolated community · oceanic setting · dystopian setting

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2595

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Red Clocks

Leni Zumas · 2018

In a near-future Oregon town, five women navigate new laws that criminalize reproductive choice and redefine family.

Why this is here

Premise labels: reproductive rights · personhood law · women's autonomy · restricted fertility · adoption barriers · female agency

Setting labels: near future · small town · coastal town · Oregon · United States · alternative present · speculative present · politically altered reality

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2669

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Huck, Book 1: All-American

Mark Millar · 2016 · Huck

A gentle gas-station clerk with secret powers sees his quiet good deeds turn into a public crisis.

Why this is here

Premise labels: quiet hero · secret powers · daily good deed · small-town hero · identity exposed · media firestorm · found family · search for origins

Setting labels: small seaside town · small American town · rural town · real-world setting · Cold War Russia · superhero world

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2749

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Key Lime Sky

Al Hess · 2024

A non-binary autistic pie blogger becomes the only witness to a small-town alien invasion and teams up with a bartender to stop it.

Why this is here

Premise labels: alien invasion · small-town crisis · outcast protagonist · pie blogger · truth-seeking · unseen threat · possible coverup · race against time · found family · budding romance

Setting labels: small town · Wyoming · rural America · roadside diner · apocalyptic setting · alien incursion · surreal reality · psychic vortex · time warp · dimensional folding

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2753

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The Secret History of Twin Peaks

Mark Frost · 2016 · Twin Peaks

An in-universe dossier uncovers Twin Peaks’ hidden history through documents, notes, and conspiracy-laced evidence.

Why this is here

Premise labels: secret history · town mystery · conspiracy web · archival investigation · mythology expansion · gap filler · bridge novel · in-universe dossier · investigative file · occult history

Setting labels: small town · Pacific Northwest · Washington state · American history · 19th century to modern day · in-universe fiction · government archive · rural town · occult landscape

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2763

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Steven Universe Vol. 1

Jeremy Sorese · 2015 · Steven Universe

A series of cute, short Steven Universe adventures in Beach City, centered on friendship, fun, and small-scale trouble.

Why this is here

Premise labels: found family · friendship · neighborly life · episodic adventures · monster of the week · daily life · team adventure · character vignettes · small-scale stakes

Setting labels: Beach City · cartoon world · fictional coastal town · early-season timeline · slice-of-life setting

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2780

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Gravity Falls: Journal 3

Alex Hirsch, Rob Renzetti · 2022

A replica mystery journal from Gravity Falls adds hidden codes, new notes, and extra lore around the show’s secrets.

Why this is here

Premise labels: found journal · monster lore · hidden secrets · cryptic messages · supernatural mystery · town oddities · fan companion · show expansion · epilogue · worldbuilding add-on

Setting labels: small town · Oregon · supernatural town · mystery shack · multiverse · portal travel · summer vacation · fictional reality · after finale

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2846

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Under the Dome: Part One

Stephen King · 2014 · Under the Dome Split-Volume

A Maine town is suddenly sealed inside an invisible dome, forcing its people into a deadly struggle for power and survival.

Why this is here

Premise labels: small town under siege · invisible barrier · isolation crisis · power struggle · survival under pressure · closed community · human nature under stress

Setting labels: small town · Maine · contemporary setting · isolated community · sealed-off town · limited area

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2854

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Under the Dome

Stephen King · 2009

A Maine town is trapped under an invisible barrier, and isolation turns neighbors into rivals in a fight for control.

Why this is here

Premise labels: sealed town · isolation crisis · social breakdown · power grab · survival under pressure · siege narrative · small-town collapse · human nature test

Setting labels: small town · Maine · rural town · isolated community · contemporary world · contained setting · pressure-cooker setting · dystopian setting

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2881

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Elsewhere

Alexis Schaitkin · 2022

In an isolated mountain town, a young mother fears the same mysterious fate that has taken other mothers into the clouds.

Why this is here

Premise labels: isolated community · disappearing mothers · motherhood crisis · womanhood pressure · stranger arrives · outside world

Setting labels: isolated mountain town · cloud-covered village · small town · remote community · insular community · timeless setting · unspecified time · unnamed place · speculative world · damp climate

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2899

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