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Strung

Per Jacobsen

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Similar in premise + setting

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

Premise labels used: homecoming, missing child, small-town collapse, widespread strange behavior, body-horror mystery, apocalyptic outbreak, author protagonist, family search, social contagion

Setting labels used: modern day, small town, hometown, isolated cabin, post-apocalyptic world, dystopian world, town under collapse, hospital, roadside crime scene

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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Nothing but the Rain

Naomi Salman · 2023

A quarantined town suffers memory-erasing rain, and one retired doctor journals a fight to survive and stay herself.

Why this is here

Premise labels: memory loss · amnesia rain · quarantine town · isolation · survival · collapse of self · locked-in community · mysterious disaster

Setting labels: small town · isolated town · rainy town · quarantine zone · postapocalyptic setting · dystopian setting · closed community · military blockade · constant rain · technology outage

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1742

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The Leftovers

Tom Perrotta · 2011

After a mass disappearance upends a suburban town, the survivors struggle with grief, cults, and unfinished lives.

Why this is here

Premise labels: mass disappearance · left behind · grief aftermath · post-rapture · survivor crisis · community trauma · family fracture · meaning-making

Setting labels: small town · suburban setting · contemporary America · post-disaster world · post-rapture world · apocalyptic aftermath · fictional town · worldwide event

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1805

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Monsters

Ilsa J. Bick · 2013 · Ashes Trilogy

In a brutal post-apocalyptic winter, Alex and her scattered allies fight evolving monsters, betrayal, and each other.

Why this is here

Premise labels: post-apocalyptic survival · zombie outbreak · evolving monsters · teen survival group · brain anomaly · mysterious apocalypse · betrayal and terror

Setting labels: post-apocalyptic world · winter survival · wilderness · small-town enclave · dystopian America · apocalyptic America · isolated community · post-EMP world

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1823

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This Census-Taker

China Miéville · 2016

A traumatized boy in a remote hilltown confronts family secrets, a strange census taker, and an uncertain truth.

Why this is here

Premise labels: isolated child · traumatic event · missing parent · mysterious authority · unreliable memory · family secret · investigation

Setting labels: remote house · hilltop · town below · bridge town · cave · post-apocalyptic world · post-war world · ruined society · isolated settlement · mysterious country

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1878

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Well Fed

Keith C. Blackmore · 2014 · Mountain Man

A hardened survivor leaves his fragile farm refuge to find missing scavengers and confront a new human menace.

Why this is here

Premise labels: zombie apocalypse · post-apocalyptic survival · human antagonists · missing persons search · community under threat · reluctant rescue mission · survival horror

Setting labels: post-apocalyptic world · community farm · open highway · mansion · apocalyptic rural setting · declining zombie outbreak

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1883

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Veil

Jonathan Janz · 2025

A devastated father joins survivors to confront invisible alien abductors and risk everything to bring his family back.

Why this is here

Premise labels: invisible threat · alien invasion · family rescue · parental desperation · apocalyptic survival · abduction mystery · survivor group · cross-dimensional rescue

Setting labels: modern day · American town · Indiana · university setting · home invasion atmosphere · post-apocalyptic world · alien world · other dimension · small-town crisis · domestic setting

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1937

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Yesterday's Gone: Season One

Sean Platt, David W. Wright · 2011 · Yesterday's Gone

After most of humanity vanishes overnight, a scattered group of survivors faces monsters, secrets, and each other.

Why this is here

Premise labels: mass disappearance · survivor ensemble · empty world · mystery catastrophe · post-collapse survival · unknown threat · search for loved ones · apocalypse aftermath · humanity vanished

Setting labels: post-apocalyptic Earth · United States · empty cities · Manhattan · survival world · civilization collapse

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1943

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Harrow

Joy Williams · 2021

A teenage girl searches a broken world for her missing mother amid climate collapse, absurdity, and revenge-minded elders.

Why this is here

Premise labels: environmental apocalypse · post-collapse society · mother disappearance · boarding school · gifted teens · eco-terrorism · survival quest · young protagonist · intergenerational collapse · mysterious lake resort

Setting labels: post-apocalyptic America · environmental collapse · dead landscape · boarding school · decaying resort · mysterious lake · dilapidated motel · collapsed society

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1949

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The Armies of Those I Love

Ken Liu · 2021

An orphan girl in a ruined future city sets out to uncover the truth about her family and the world that survived collapse.

Why this is here

Premise labels: post-apocalyptic quest · orphan protagonist · mysterious stranger · search for truth · family history · mobile cities · rare electricity · lost knowledge

Setting labels: post-apocalyptic Earth · future North America · mobile cities · wilderness · depleted world · high-tech remnant world · post-industrial collapse

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1951

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Safari

Keith C. Blackmore · 2012 · Mountain Man

A lone zombie-apocalypse survivor faces a new horror when the dead begin vanishing and something worse starts hunting.

Why this is here

Premise labels: zombie apocalypse · lone survivor · disappearing zombies · mysterious new threat · survival · isolation · human scavengers

Setting labels: post-apocalyptic world · zombie apocalypse · mountain fortress · solitary hideout · winter survival · ruined town

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1952

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Nona the Ninth

Tamsyn Muir · 2022 · The Locked Tomb

An amnesiac young woman navigates a war-torn future city, hidden identities, and a body that may not be hers.

Why this is here

Premise labels: amnesiac protagonist · body swap · war-torn city · apocalyptic conflict · found family · school life · identity mystery · civilian perspective

Setting labels: siege city · post-apocalypse · spacefaring future · refugee setting · school setting · war zone · planetary collapse · outside the Houses

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1967

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Sweet Tooth, Vol. 1: Out of the Deep Woods

Jeff Lemire · 2010 · Sweet Tooth

A sheltered hybrid boy leaves the woods with a dangerous guardian in a bleak post-plague world.

Why this is here

Premise labels: post-apocalyptic survival · hybrid children · plague aftermath · protective journey · safe haven quest · hunted child · outcast survivor

Setting labels: post-apocalyptic world · isolated woods · ravaged America · near future · devastated landscape · rural setting · forest cabin · post-pandemic world · American heartland

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1967

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