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Mania

Lionel Shriver

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Similar in premise + setting

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

Premise labels used: intellectual equality, language policing, culture war, anti-intellectualism, cancel culture, thought experiment, satire

Setting labels used: alternate America, near future, contemporary setting, small-town America, university setting, media world, home and family setting

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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In Persuasion Nation

George Saunders · 2006

A short story collection using surreal satire to probe consumerism, media, fear, and fragile humanity in American life.

Why this is here

Premise labels: consumer culture · media manipulation · advertising saturation · satirical fiction · near-future extrapolation · corporate dystopia · social satire · absurdist fiction · humanity under pressure

Setting labels: American settings · suburban America · urban America · near future · alternative reality · consumerist dystopia · media-saturated world · late-capitalist world · contemporary America

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1794

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Welcome to the Monkey House

Kurt Vonnegut Jr. · 2013

A varied anthology of Vonnegut short fiction blending satire, dystopia, romance, war, and strange speculative ideas.

Why this is here

Premise labels: social satire · speculative futures · overpopulation · equality politics · war critique · romance · everyday life

Setting labels: midcentury America · postwar era · future dystopia · Cold War era · small-town settings · overcrowded future · wartime settings

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1974

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Fahrenheit 451

Ray Bradbury · 2011 · Fahrenheit 451

In a future where books are illegal and firemen burn them, one man begins to question everything he knows.

Why this is here

Premise labels: book banning · book burning · censorship · anti-intellectualism · media saturation · state control · knowledge preservation

Setting labels: dystopian future · surveillance state · post-war society · media-saturated society · urban domestic setting · technology-dominated future

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1993

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Adjustment Day

Chuck Palahniuk · 2019

A satirical dystopia follows a violent American revolution that splits society into separate nations by identity.

Why this is here

Premise labels: mysterious book · social upheaval · political revolution · identity politics · conspiracy theory · ethnostate · social satire · mass violence · new order · alt-right fantasy

Setting labels: near future · United States · alternate society · dystopian future · internet age

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2060

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Hazards of Time Travel

Joyce Carol Oates · 2018

A punished teen from a surveilled future is exiled to 1950s Wisconsin, where identity, love, and reality blur.

Why this is here

Premise labels: totalitarian future · time travel punishment · exile to the past · state surveillance · forced reeducation · authoritarian control · forbidden questioning · oppressive society · love under coercion

Setting labels: near-future America · North American States · 1950s Wisconsin · university setting · campus setting · small college town · post-9/11 future · Cold War era · dystopian society · alternate America

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2070

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The Chaperone

M. Hendrix · 2023

In a future America that controls girls through chaperones, one teen starts questioning everything after a sudden death.

Why this is here

Premise labels: authoritarian society · patriarchal control · coming of age · female autonomy · restricted freedom · social awakening · rebellion · forbidden knowledge · safe-keeping ideology · state control

Setting labels: New America · near future · dystopian future · alternate America · post-secession America · patriarchal society · gender-segregated society · high school setting · library setting · road trip setting

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2088

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Bears Discover Fire

Terry Bisson · 1993

A collection of brief, funny, unsettling speculative stories where everyday life meets impossible ideas and sharp social satire.

Why this is here

Premise labels: high concept · absurdist premise · ordinary world disrupted · speculative conceit · social satire · what if scenario

Setting labels: real-world setting · near future · dystopian future · post-apocalyptic future · alternate reality · American setting · rural setting · urban setting

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2092

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Fahrenheit 451: The Authorized Adaptation

Tim Hamilton, Ray Bradbury · 2009 · Ray Bradbury Graphic Novels

An authorized graphic adaptation of a classic dystopia about a fireman who begins questioning the burning of books.

Why this is here

Premise labels: book burning · censorship · banned books · thought control · state control · cultural repression · awakening protagonist · forbidden reading

Setting labels: future America · dystopian society · surveillance state · postwar fear · technological dominance · media-saturated world · city setting · war background

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2131

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Bear v. Shark

Chris Bachelder · 2001

A family road trip to a nation-obsessed televised animal showdown becomes a savage satire of media, consumerism, and talk.

Why this is here

Premise labels: culture war spectacle · media saturation · reality show spectacle · family road trip · barbed entertainment · attention economy · national obsession · public contest · satirical showdown · consumer spectacle

Setting labels: near future · dystopian America · Las Vegas · road trip · media-saturated world · television-dominated society

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2158

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Liberation Day

George Saunders · 2022

Nine darkly funny, unsettling stories trace power, guilt, love, and oppression across near-future and everyday worlds.

Why this is here

Premise labels: power · ethics · justice · community · exploitation · memory wipe · political oppression · class divide · workplace conflict · revenge · love

Setting labels: near future · dystopian future · contemporary America · underground amusement park · workplace · home/family setting · small-town setting · political regime · alternate reality · hell-themed setting

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2166

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Ring Around the Sun

Clifford D. Simak · 1992

A writer uncovers why forever products and vanishing people are unraveling the economy, identity, and reality itself.

Why this is here

Premise labels: economic collapse · forever products · parallel worlds · mutants · hidden abilities · identity mystery · societal disruption · world-infiltration · class conflict · post-scarcity

Setting labels: small-town America · rural America · future America · Cold War era · 1950s future · parallel Earths · alternate worlds · Earthbound · pastoral setting

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2175

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Schrödinger's Cat Trilogy

Robert Anton Wilson · 2003 · Schrödinger's Cat

A satirical multiverse trilogy where shifting realities, sex, politics, and quantum ideas collide in a wildly fractured world.

Why this is here

Premise labels: alternate realities · parallel universes · multiple worlds · quantum mechanics · satirical dystopia · conspiracy thriller · metafiction · social satire · utopian speculation · identity shifts

Setting labels: alternate universe · parallel universes · multiverse · future America · contemporary America · global politics · science fictional reality

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2207

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