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The Arrest

Jonathan Lethem

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Similar in premise + setting

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

Premise labels used: technology shutdown, post-apocalyptic community, survivor enclave, outsider disruption, rural self-sufficiency, friction with past

Setting labels used: rural Maine, coastal Maine, peninsula community, post-collapse America, near future, small fictional town, fragmented United States, post-technological world

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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A History of the Future

James Howard Kunstler · 2014 · World Made by Hand

In a collapsed near-future America, a small New York town faces murder, faith, and a fractured nation beyond its borders.

Why this is here

Premise labels: civilizational collapse · post-collapse survival · small-town survival · community justice · fractured nation · social order · returning traveler · lawless future

Setting labels: upstate New York · small town · post-collapse America · holiday season · winter setting · near future · rural setting · fragmented nation · post-oil world · post-electric world

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1679

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The Lightest Object in the Universe

Kimi Eisele · 2019

After a grid failure and flu collapse society, two lovers on opposite coasts struggle toward reunion and renewal.

Why this is here

Premise labels: grid failure · societal collapse · cross-country search · lost lovers · rebuilding community · survival · hope after collapse · post-collapse adaptation · finding home · communication breakdown

Setting labels: post-apocalyptic America · near future · United States · East Coast · West Coast · California · New York · San Francisco · cross-country · railroad line · off-grid · pandemic aftermath · collapsed infrastructure · radio age

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1704

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Dies the Fire

S.M. Stirling · 2005 · Emberverse

After a global tech collapse, survivors in the Pacific Northwest rebuild through survival skills, clans, and new power struggles.

Why this is here

Premise labels: civilization collapse · technology failure · post-collapse survival · survival communities · new feudalism

Setting labels: Pacific Northwest · Oregon · Idaho · contemporary world · post-apocalyptic world · technologically regressed world · medieval-like society

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1734

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World Made by Hand

James Howard Kunstler · 2008 · World Made by Hand

After collapse and fuel loss, an upstate New York town struggles to rebuild order, food supply, and community.

Why this is here

Premise labels: civilization collapse · post-oil society · local survival · community rebuilding · lawless world · resource scarcity · energy shortage · agrarian return · post-collapse adaptation · post-disaster community

Setting labels: upstate New York · small town · post-apocalyptic · near future · post-industrial · rural · local economy · abandoned infrastructure · post-collapse America · colonial echo

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1750

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Burn

Peter Heller · 2024

Two lifelong friends leave a Maine hunting trip to find a shattered world and a dangerous road home.

Why this is here

Premise labels: post-apocalyptic · survival story · civil war · secession crisis · off-grid · brotherhood · chosen family

Setting labels: rural Maine · wilderness · fall · near-future · civil war setting · post-collapse · North Central Maine

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1755

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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: 0.1780

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Restoring Harmony

Joelle Anthony · 2010

In a post-collapse 2041, a teen must cross borders to rescue her grandparents and find a way home.

Why this is here

Premise labels: family rescue · cross-border journey · post-collapse survival · resource scarcity · stranded relative · crime-controlled city · homecoming quest · self-sufficient community · music as aid

Setting labels: near future · 2041 · post-collapse world · Pacific Northwest · Canada · United States · British Columbia · Portland · Portland suburbs · abandoned cities · isolated island · agrarian community · rural setting · urban decay · border crossing · post-oil society

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1790

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Goliath

Tochi Onyebuchi · 2022

In a near-future US emptied by off-world flight, those left behind struggle to survive as the past comes back to claim Earth.

Why this is here

Premise labels: left behind · space colonies · collapsing civilization · survival under scarcity · off-world elites · gentrified Earth · futures of inequality · systemic oppression · community rebuilding · near-future decline

Setting labels: near future · 2050s · United States · New Haven, Connecticut · Earth · space colonies · post-apocalyptic · post-climate apocalypse · radioactive Earth · irradiated land · crumbling cities · urban ruins · domed habitats · off-world colonies · American future

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1800

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On Such a Full Sea

Chang-rae Lee · 2014

In a stratified future America, a young labor-colony diver leaves home to search for a vanished loved one.

Why this is here

Premise labels: dystopian quest · missing person · class stratification · labor colony · post-collapse society · search for lover · community rupture

Setting labels: future America · post-collapse America · walled communities · labor colonies · lawless countryside · abandoned cities · charter villages · post-apocalyptic world

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1800

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The Book of Koli

M.R. Carey · 2020 · Rampart Trilogy

A teenage outcast in a walled future village discovers secrets about old tech, power, and a deadly changed world.

Why this is here

Premise labels: post-apocalyptic survival · killer plants · forbidden outside world · coming of age · lost technology · rite of passage · social hierarchy · outcast journey

Setting labels: far-future Earth · post-collapse Britain · future England · isolated village · walled settlement · hostile wilderness · rural dystopia · post-industrial future · medieval-like society · future Earth

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1805

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Edge of Darkness

Kyla Stone · 2020 · Edge of Collapse

After an EMP collapse, separated survivors race home and fight sabotage, militia power grabs, and a relentless pursuer.

Why this is here

Premise labels: EMP fallout · power outage · journey home · survival under collapse · small-town breakdown · hunted protagonist · town under sabotage · resource scarcity

Setting labels: post-apocalyptic America · rural Michigan · small town · winter setting · winter survival · collapsed society · EMP aftermath · road journey

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1813

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The Folk of the Fringe

Orson Scott Card · 2001

Linked post-apocalyptic stories follow survivors in a Mormon-led Utah rebuilding civilization after war and collapse.

Why this is here

Premise labels: post-apocalyptic survival · civilization rebuilding · faith community · utopian enclave · fringe communities · survivalist society

Setting labels: post-apocalyptic America · post-nuclear future · post-biological collapse · desert reclamation · Rocky Mountains · Utah · Salt Lake City · Great Salt Lake · flooded city · alternate future · theocratic state

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1827

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