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Axiomatic

Greg Egan

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Similar in tone + premise

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

Tone labels used: philosophical, disturbing, intellectual, cool, clinical, haunting, unsettling, melancholic, dark, prescient

Premise labels used: idea-driven, thought experiments, future technology, identity crisis, consciousness, selfhood, moral dilemma, bioethics, speculative extrapolation, human augmentation

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

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Valuable Humans in Transit and Other Stories

qntm, Sam Hughes · 2022

A compact collection of experimental SF stories probing AI, uploads, simulation, and technological dread.

Why this is here

Tone labels: chilling · eerie · darkly humorous · clinical · detached · ominous · philosophical · horrific · thought-provoking · existential · clever · weird · unsettling · blackly comic

Premise labels: thought experiments · AI ethics · uploaded minds · brain scanning · sentience simulation · self-driving cars · first contact · contact with unknown intelligence · simulated reality · mind uploading · existential risk · humanity at technological extremes · hypercomputer · interdimensional waste dumping · digital immortality

Semantic match: ranked by tone + premise

Distance: 0.1309

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Robot

Adam Wiśniewski-Snerg · 2005

A robot-like investigator in an underground world must solve his identity while uncovering the rules of a reality that won’t stay fixed.

Why this is here

Tone labels: surreal · hypnotic · bizarre · eerie · claustrophobic · unsettling · bleak · intellectual · ambiguous dread · existential · dreamlike · absurd · philosophical

Premise labels: identity crisis · human or machine · controlled environment · hidden controller · mystery quest · free will · epistemic uncertainty · thought experiment

Semantic match: ranked by tone + premise

Distance: 0.1478

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Upgrade Soul

Ezra Claytan Daniels · 2018 · Upgrade Soul

An elderly couple enters a risky rejuvenation experiment and must face the unsettling consequences of cloning, memory, and identity.

Why this is here

Tone labels: dark · unsettling · creepy · horrifying · philosophical · thought-provoking · melancholic · tense · claustrophobic · disturbing · emotional · haunting · oddly tender

Premise labels: experimental rejuvenation · cloning · identity crisis · human experimentation · ethical dilemma · body swap · immortality quest · aging · transhumanism · medical experiment · life extension · double self

Semantic match: ranked by tone + premise

Distance: 0.1485

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We Lived on the Horizon

Erika Swyler · 2025

In an AI-run walled city built on sacrifice, an aging bioprosthetist gives her house AI a body as murder and revolt spread.

Why this is here

Tone labels: thoughtful · philosophical · quiet · melancholic · tense · uneasy · cold · clinical · somber

Premise labels: AI-run city · walled city · post-cataclysm survival · class hierarchy · social debt · body autonomy · bio-prosthetics · AI consciousness · human-machine boundary · murder cover-up · revolution · legacy transfer

Semantic match: ranked by tone + premise

Distance: 0.1487

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Under the Eye of the Big Bird

Hiromi Kawakami · 2024

Interlinked future-fables track humanity’s strange, fragmented attempts to survive extinction, love, and change.

Why this is here

Tone labels: melancholy · mournful · eerie · brooding · gentle dystopia · quiet · dreamlike · surreal · utopic · pastoral · technical · haunting · uneasy · contemplative

Premise labels: human extinction · future humanity · posthuman survival · cloning · bioengineering · AI governance · interlinked stories · evolutionary experiment · communal life · reproduction crisis

Semantic match: ranked by tone + premise

Distance: 0.1493

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موسم صيد الغزلان

Ahmed Mourad, أحمد مراد · 2017

A future-set, controversial novel follows an atheist scientist drawn into a strange experiment, desire, and unsettling questions of faith.

Why this is here

Tone labels: provocative · controversial · dark · cerebral · sensational · sardonic · philosophical · turbulent · dreamlike · kaleidoscopic

Premise labels: future dystopia · scientific skepticism · existential inquiry · reincarnation · philosophical debate · sex obsession

Semantic match: ranked by tone + premise

Distance: 0.1495

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The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick 3: Second Variety

Philip K. Dick · 1998

A mid-1950s PKD story collection of paranoia, mutations, robots, and reality-bending ideas in compact form.

Why this is here

Tone labels: dark · paranoid · haunting · creepy · surreal · pessimistic · disturbing · bitter · spooky · uneasy · bleak · thriller-like · despairing

Premise labels: idea-driven SF · dystopian futures · post-apocalyptic survival · human vs nonhuman · identity confusion · alien intrusion · robot uprising · mutation

Semantic match: ranked by tone + premise

Distance: 0.1514

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Void Star

Zachary Mason · 2017

In a climate-changed near future, three disparate lives collide around AI, memory implants, and a hidden struggle for power.

Why this is here

Tone labels: dark · gritty · oppressive · philosophical · thoughtful · haunting · propulsive · dreamlike · fugue-like · cold · uncanny

Premise labels: artificial intelligence · memory implants · near-future dystopia · cyberpunk intrigue · wealth inequality · climate collapse · rogue AI · human-machine interface

Semantic match: ranked by tone + premise

Distance: 0.1540

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Luminous

Greg Egan · 1999

A hard-SF collection of ten concept-heavy stories exploring consciousness, genetics, mathematics, and the ethics of future technology.

Why this is here

Tone labels: intellectual · thought-provoking · cold · clinical · poetic · dark · cynical · uneasy · mind-bending

Premise labels: high-concept science fiction · idea-driven fiction · scientific speculation · near-future extrapolation · philosophical SF · hard SF premises

Semantic match: ranked by tone + premise

Distance: 0.1543

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Starość aksolotla

Jacek Dukaj · 2015

After an extinction event, uploaded minds in machine bodies struggle to rebuild society and define what remains human.

Why this is here

Tone labels: melancholic · bleak · grim · philosophical · intellectual · haunting · alienating · serious · contemplative · pessimistic

Premise labels: global extinction · mind upload · digital survival · posthuman society · robot bodies · rebuilding civilization · body-soul question · humanity after apocalypse · virtual consciousness · machine habitation

Semantic match: ranked by tone + premise

Distance: 0.1560

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Life Ever After

Carla Grauls · 2019

In a future of AI upgrades and long life, two lovers question how much of themselves they can keep intact.

Why this is here

Tone labels: melancholy · thought-provoking · cautionary · disturbing · poetic · naturalistic · intense · sad · wistful · philosophical

Premise labels: technology and humanity · AI enhancement · cyborg future · immortality · memory manipulation · autonomy vs control · relationship under augmentation · ethical dilemma

Semantic match: ranked by tone + premise

Distance: 0.1571

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All Tomorrows: The Myriad Species and Mixed Fortunes of Man

C.M. Kosemen · 2008

An illustrated future-history follows humanity across deep time, until alien meddling turns evolution into punishment.

Why this is here

Tone labels: dark · disturbing · optimistic · haunting · eerie · grotesque · philosophical · cold · matter-of-fact · bittersweet · unsettling · weird · melancholic · fun

Premise labels: future history · human evolution · alien conquest · genetic modification · posthuman future · space colonization · terraforming · speculative biology · cosmic punishment

Semantic match: ranked by tone + premise

Distance: 0.1577

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