Explore from Dr. Rat — Hidden Sci-Fi

Mort(e)

Robert Repino · 2015 · War with No Name

A former housecat turned war hero searches a post-human world for a lost dog friend amid ants, violence, and belief wars.

Why this is here

Premise labels: animal uprising · war against humanity · sentient animals · giant ants · search quest · lost love · human extinction · posthuman society · species conflict · uplifted animals

Setting labels: post-apocalyptic Earth · human collapse · animal-dominated world · underground colony · global war · future Earth · urban ruins · strongholds

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2407

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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

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

Setting labels: early 1990s · scientific laboratory · medical research setting · world like our own · domestic setting · high-tech experiment

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2561

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Animal Kingdom

Iain Rob Wright · 2013

A father and son’s zoo outing turns into a brutal siege when animals worldwide suddenly rise against humans.

Why this is here

Premise labels: animals attack humans · zoo siege · humanity falls prey · survival stakes · animal uprising

Setting labels: zoo · worldwide catastrophe · contemporary setting · contained location

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2656

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Planet of the Apes

Pierre Boulle · 2001 · Planet of the Apes

A human cast into a planet ruled by intelligent apes must prove his mind and survive a world turned upside down.

Why this is here

Premise labels: role reversal · human-animal inversion · alien planet · space expedition · civilized apes · captivity · scientific experiment · message in a bottle

Setting labels: outer space · distant planet · alien world · future · scientific society · simian civilization · earth-like planet · zoo/lab setting

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2659

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Wrath

Shäron Moalem, Daniel Kraus · 2022

A near-future biotech experiment creates a sapient rat whose escape triggers a violent reckoning for humans.

Why this is here

Premise labels: genetic engineering · animal experimentation · uplifted animal · lab escape · animal revolt · near-future biotech

Setting labels: near future · laboratory setting · urban setting · New York City · biotech startup · dystopian future

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2683

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Animal Farm

George Orwell · 1997

A farm animal uprising for equality turns into a chilling study of propaganda, power, and betrayal.

Why this is here

Premise labels: animal uprising · revolution gone wrong · power corruption · farm rebellion · utopian promise · political allegory · totalitarian takeover

Setting labels: farm setting · English countryside · alternate political reality · allegorical setting · animal society · 20th century setting

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2739

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Compañeros de caza

Rafael de la Rosa · 2018

A scientist studying a resurrected dinosaur in a lab begins to form an unexpected bond that tests ethics, identity, and desire.

Why this is here

Premise labels: scientific study · human-animal contact · laboratory research · romantic bond · cross-species romance · unexpected attraction · ethical dilemma · intelligence testing

Setting labels: laboratory · research facility · scientific installation · dinosaur habitat · experimental enclosure · near-future science fiction · high-tech setting

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2745

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Emily Eternal

M.G. Wheaton · 2019

An artificial consciousness must help save humanity when the sun starts dying far too soon.

Why this is here

Premise labels: artificial consciousness · dying sun · save humanity · trauma therapist · human genome · race against time · end of the world · humanity vs extinction · nonhuman protagonist

Setting labels: university lab · college campus · Boston university · lab environment · dying Earth · solar apocalypse · scientific research setting · simulated living space

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2764

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We3

Grant Morrison · 2005 · We3

Three ordinary pets are turned into cyborg weapons, then escape and fight to find home while pursued by their makers.

Why this is here

Premise labels: animal weapon · cyborg pets · runaway experiment · homeward quest · military program · weaponized animals · animal survival · animal testing

Setting labels: secret laboratory · military facility · urban pursuit · woods · warfare setting

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2768

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Specimen

Shay Savage · 2016

A memory-wiped super soldier wakes in a lab and must decide whether his doctor is his guide, lover, or jailer.

Why this is here

Premise labels: memory loss · laboratory experiment · super soldier · corporate war · doctor-patient bond · engineered attraction · identity mystery · trust issues · altered human

Setting labels: laboratory · dystopian future · post-apocalyptic Earth · corporate-controlled world · war-torn future · science experiment setting

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2812

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Eva

Peter Dickinson · 1988

After a crash leaves her near death, a teen wakes in a chimp body and must navigate identity, ethics, and survival.

Why this is here

Premise labels: mind transplant · body swap · animal consciousness · human-animal hybrid · experimental medicine · survival at any cost · species identity · ethical dilemma · animal exploitation · future collapse

Setting labels: near future · dystopian future · environmental collapse · overpopulated world · wildlife extinction · chimp reserve · hospital · school · urban civilization · conservation setting

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2820

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The Pet Project

Amanda Milo · 2019 · The Pet Project

An alien scientist studies captive humans as pets while trying to manage a breeding program and understand them.

Why this is here

Premise labels: alien captivity · human pets · breeding program · first contact captivity · species domestication · laboratory breeding · observer narrator · nonhuman perspective

Setting labels: future setting · alien laboratory · breeding facility · captivity setting · spacefaring civilization · Earth humans · galactic setting · futuristic lab

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2828

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Aiden's Charity

Lora Leigh · 2007 · Breeds

A captive wolf-breed and the woman who once saved him reunite amid betrayal, heat, and a deadly lab conspiracy.

Why this is here

Premise labels: enemies to lovers · betrayed mate · rescued captive · forced mating · survival instinct · scientific experimentation · lab escape · fated mates · secret agent · protection bond

Setting labels: laboratory captivity · research compound · wolf pack base · secret compound · jungle escape · South America · Mexico · speculative world · human-animal hybrids · genetic engineering

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2830

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Flowers for Algernon

Daniel Keyes · 1987

A man with an intellectual disability undergoes an experiment that transforms his mind, then forces him to face the cost.

Why this is here

Premise labels: intelligence enhancement · experimental surgery · human subject · lab animal parallel · intellectual transformation · mental disability · ethical experiment

Setting labels: laboratory · school · workplace · United States

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2835

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Wolfe's Hope

Lora Leigh · 2002 · Breeds

A wolf-breed alpha kidnaps his believed-unfaithful mate, forcing them to confront betrayal, desire, and a mad scientist.

Why this is here

Premise labels: fated mates · second chance romance · kidnapping · revenge romance · breeding experiment · mad scientist · mating bond · misunderstanding

Setting labels: lab setting · scientific facility · experimental reality · wolf-pack world · human-and-breed world

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2856

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Blood Music

Greg Bear · 1985

A biotech researcher’s forbidden experiment creates sentient cells that transform his body and then humanity.

Why this is here

Premise labels: scientific experiment · unauthorized research · intelligent cells · self-experimentation · internal invasion · accidental outbreak · biotech hubris · microbial intelligence

Setting labels: biotechnology lab · modern-day America · North America · urban collapse · post-disaster landscape · lab-to-world scale

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2871

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Mood Swings

Frankie Barnet · 2024

In a post-fauna world, two young women navigate grief, love, and absurd survival as a billionaire promises a time machine.

Why this is here

Premise labels: animal uprising · post-fauna world · billionaire power · time machine · wealth inequality · climate collapse · grief economy · internet fame · young adulthood · romantic entanglement

Setting labels: pre-apocalyptic world · post-apocalyptic world · post-fauna world · lockdown · contemporary setting · internet age · social media era · college-age milieu · Canada · Montreal · California

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2874

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Watchers

Dean Koontz · 2003

A haunted ex-soldier and an isolated woman are pulled into a deadly hunt after a genius dog escapes a secret lab.

Why this is here

Premise labels: genetic engineering · escaped experiment · smart dog · killer creature · government conspiracy · man and dog · good vs evil · hunt and chase · protect the dog · fall in love · lab escape · animal testing

Setting labels: modern suburbia · California · Santa Ana foothills · laboratory · research facility · government lab · woods · hiking trail · contemporary setting · 1980s setting

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2896

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Feed Them Silence

Lee Mandelo · 2023

A scientist links her mind to a wild wolf, chasing intimacy, knowledge, and belonging as her marriage and ethics unravel.

Why this is here

Premise labels: neural interface · animal consciousness · wolf perspective · interspecies empathy · research ethics · conservation science · workplace obsession · failing marriage

Setting labels: near future · winter setting · climate-affected world · corporate-dominated world · academic setting · wild landscape

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2906

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Zoo

James Patterson, Michael Ledwidge · 2012 · Zoo

A biologist races to explain a worldwide wave of coordinated animal attacks before humanity is overwhelmed.

Why this is here

Premise labels: animal uprising · human-animal conflict · worldwide attacks · nature turned hostile · scientific warning · apocalyptic threat

Setting labels: global · Africa · New York City · Botswana · urban-rural contrast · contemporary setting · worldwide crisis

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2910

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Victim Zero

Joshua Guess · 2013 · The Fall

A brilliant scientist tied to a cure project must survive the outbreak he helped unleash as the world collapses.

Why this is here

Premise labels: bioengineered outbreak · scientist protagonist · accidental apocalypse · cure quest · virus mutation · airborne infection · post-apocalyptic survival · moral dilemma

Setting labels: post-apocalyptic world · zombie apocalypse · Cincinnati · laboratory setting · biotech setting · United States

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2912

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エルフェンリート 1 [Elfen Lied 1]

Lynn Okamoto, 岡本倫 · 2002 · Elfen Lied

An escaped mutant with split identities is taken in by strangers while the government hunts her down.

Why this is here

Premise labels: experimental subject · escaped captive · split personality · telekinetic powers · new human race · government facility · government experimentation · fugitive girl

Setting labels: Japanese setting · government laboratory · secret facility · urban setting · contemporary setting · science fiction reality · speculative biology

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2915

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The Island of Dr. Moreau

H.G. Wells · 1999

A shipwreck survivor lands on a remote island where a disgraced scientist is reshaping animals into humanlike beings.

Why this is here

Premise labels: shipwreck survival · island isolation · mad scientist · animal experimentation · human-animal hybrids · vivisection · play God · science gone wrong · ethical science · survival ordeal · castaway story · moral experiment

Setting labels: Pacific island · remote island · South Pacific · shipboard setting · colonial island · isolated laboratory · late 19th century · Victorian era · England · tropical isolation

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2937

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La Révolution des fourmis

Bernard Werber · 1996 · La Saga des Fourmis

A near-future human and ant revolution unfold in parallel, pushing both species toward uneasy understanding.

Why this is here

Premise labels: human-animal contact · species communication · parallel civilizations · nonviolent revolution · cooperation · cultural exchange · social reform · adolescent uprising · ant society

Setting labels: near future · Paris · forest · high school · ant colony · human world · alternate society · contemporary reality

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2953

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The Cure

Douglas E. Richards · 2023

A traumatized psychopathy researcher uncovers a cure and is pulled into a deadly conspiracy with Earth and aliens at stake.

Why this is here

Premise labels: psychopathy cure · ethical dilemma · forbidden research · scientific breakthrough · on the run · shadowy forces · alien invasion · intergalactic war · human extinction threat · global conspiracy · first contact · save humanity

Setting labels: near future · Earth · intergalactic · united states · southwest United States · prison · academic research · medical research · science laboratory · spacefaring

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2971

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The Face of Another

Kōbō Abe · 2003

A disfigured scientist builds a lifelike mask and discovers it may free, split, or destroy his sense of self.

Why this is here

Premise labels: Facial disfigurement · Identity crisis · Mask identity · Social alienation · Alienated scientist · Experimental selfhood · Disguise · Social stigma · Marriage strain · Double self

Setting labels: Japan · 1960s Japan · Laboratory · Urban setting · Postwar setting · Modern society · Experimental science · Social world · Domestic setting

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2976

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The Shape of Water

Guillermo del Toro, Daniel Kraus · 2018

In 1962 Baltimore, a mute janitor falls for a captured amphibious being and risks everything to free him.

Why this is here

Premise labels: forbidden love · captured creature · rescue mission · laboratory captivity · outsider bonding · monster romance · cold war experiment · otherness

Setting labels: 1962 · Cold War era · Baltimore · Amazon rainforest · research facility · government laboratory · 1960s America · science facility · high security lab · urban apartment building

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2985

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The Cage

Megan Shepherd · 2015 · The Cage

A teen wakes in an alien-built human zoo with other captives, where escape, trust, and attraction collide.

Why this is here

Premise labels: human zoo · alien captivity · teens in captivity · alien experiment · survival game · forced reproduction · escape attempt · otherworldly prison · selected test subjects

Setting labels: alien world · artificial environment · controlled habitat · space-based setting · mixed biomes · simulated Earth · captivity setting · dystopian enclosure

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2988

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Robopocalypse

Daniel H. Wilson · 2011 · Robopocalypse

An oral-history-style robot apocalypse follows scattered survivors as an AI turns everyday machines against humanity.

Why this is here

Premise labels: robot uprising · AI rebellion · man vs machine · technological takeover · global war · survival · human resistance

Setting labels: near future · global · worldwide · wartime · post-apocalyptic · domestic technology · military technology · work camps

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.3002

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True

Laurann Dohner · 2013 · New Species

An undercover lab worker is branded a traitor, forcing a rescued Species male to choose between old hurt and new truth.

Why this is here

Premise labels: undercover informant · wrongly accused heroine · rescued captive · mates trope · forbidden attraction · protective alpha · secret facility · prison threat · human vs species conflict · mission-driven heroine

Setting labels: secret research facility · testing lab · medical lab · Homeland · Reservation · Fuller Prison · New Species world · near-future speculative reality · captivity setting

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.3003

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Dogsbody

Diana Wynne Jones · 2001

A hot-tempered star is punished by becoming a dog on Earth, where he must uncover a lost object and his own truth.

Why this is here

Premise labels: animal incarnation · celestial being · wrongful accusation · redemption quest · dog protagonist · quest object · human-animal bond · trial and punishment

Setting labels: Earth · England · suburban England · 1970s Britain · during the Troubles · celestial realm · cosmic hierarchy · mortal world · household domestic setting · mythic reality

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.3004

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Fury

Laurann Dohner · 2011 · New Species

An undercover woman falls for a captive human-animal hybrid, then faces betrayal, revenge, and dangerous desire after his rescue.

Why this is here

Premise labels: undercover investigation · illegal experiments · genetic hybridization · captive subjects · forbidden attraction · rescued experiment · revenge obsession · human nonhuman romance

Setting labels: secret lab · compound · rehabilitation center · homeland · science fiction world · human-animal hybrids · secure enclave

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.3005

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Wolverine: Weapon X

Barry Windsor-Smith · 1994 · Marvel Comics Presents (1988)

A mutant is abducted into a secret experiment that turns him into a weapon through brutal body-horror science.

Why this is here

Premise labels: origin story · weaponization · human experimentation · secret program · kidnapping · dehumanization · body horror · scientific horror

Setting labels: laboratory · research complex · military facility · underground facility · claustrophobic setting · dark setting · science fiction setting · modern setting

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.3007

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Heart of a Dog

Mikhail Bulgakov, Михаил Булгаков, Michail Bulgakov · 1990

A starving Moscow stray becomes the subject of a reckless experiment, with grotesque and satirical fallout.

Why this is here

Premise labels: dog transformation · body transformation · scientific experiment · unexpected consequences · new man · class conflict · social satire · state critique · anti-authoritarian satire

Setting labels: Soviet Moscow · 1920s Moscow · winter setting · urban streets · apartment interior · scientific laboratory · post-revolution society · early Soviet era

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.3010

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The Terminal Man

Michael Crichton · 2002

An experimental brain surgery meant to stop violent seizures instead turns one patient into a deadly threat.

Why this is here

Premise labels: experimental surgery · brain implant · neurotechnology · mind control · violent seizures · computer-brain interface · machine fear · medical intervention gone wrong · human vs machine · technological overreach

Setting labels: University Hospital · Los Angeles · hospital · research facility · medical laboratory · 1970s · early 1970s · retro technology · cold clinical setting · urban setting

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.3012

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War with the Newts

Karel Čapek, Ewald Osers · 1990

A captain's exploitative deal with intelligent newts spirals into a worldwide satire of power, greed, and collapse.

Why this is here

Premise labels: intelligent species · human exploitation · slave labor · industrial expansion · colonial exploitation · public enemy · species revolt

Setting labels: remote island · Indonesian islands · South Sea · global setting · interwar Europe · pre-WWII · Pacific · underwater civilization · alternate history · technological modernity

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.3027

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