Cloud Atlas discussion

here is a list of books that are similar to Cloud Atlas as they are set in the past, present and future. They are:

Specimen Days (2005) - Michael Cunningham, set in New York in 1850s, 2000s and 2150s. Has genres of historical fiction, contemporary thriller and science fiction.

Arcadia (2015) - Iain Pears, set in 1960 Oxford, 23rd century Mull, and a Medieval-like world called Anterworld. Also has multiple genres such as YA fantasy, YA romance, portal fantasy, time travel, dystopian future, cyberpunk, epic fantasy, spy story, metafiction.

The Shore (2015) - Sara Taylor, set from 1870s, 1910s, 1930s, 1980s, 1990s, 2010s, 2030s and 2140s. Family saga going from historical fiction to drama to science fiction to post-apocalyptic fantasy

Speak (2015) - Louisa Hall, set from the 1660s Diary, to 1920s-1950s letters of Alan Turing, 1960s-1980s letters of estranged husband and wife, 2040s recollections of memories set around 2000s, transcripts of interviews between a child and AI in the 2030s, and a narration by an AI robot in the further future.

The History of Bees (2015) - Maja Lunde. Set in three time periods, 2090s, 2000s, and 1850s, so science fiction, contemporary and historical.

Storyland (2017) - Catherine McKinnon. Set in Australia in 1796, 1822, 1900, 1998, 2033 and 2717, so historical, contemporary, science fiction. Also structured like Cloud Atlas, the first half of the first four time periods are told, the 2033 and 2717 period is told complete, and then resumes second haves in reverse chronological order.

Midwinterblood (2011) - Marcus Sedgwick. Set in 2073, 2011, 1944, 1902, 1848, 10th century AD and a time unknown in the distant past. Follows a reincarnation idea.

Geoydssey series - Piers Anthony, goes from 8 million years in the past to 2050 with many in between. Covered in 5 books, each covering millions of years and various time periods in between. Books are: Volume 1: Isle of Woman (1993). Volume 2: Shame of Man (1994). Volume 3: Hope of Earth (1997). Volume 4: Muse of Art (1999). Volume 5: Climate of Change (2010).

A Possible Life (2012) - Sebastian Faulks. Covers five stories set in the 1800s, 1880s, 1930s-1950s, 1970s and near-future post 2020s. Historical to contemporary to science ficton.

The Stone Gods (2007) - Jeanette WInterson. Set in multiple time periods, distant past, 18th century, dystopian near future, and almost post-apocalyptic time period. Covers again reincarnated or repeating characters Billy and Spike.

The Ragnorak Trilogy - Absorption (2010), Transmission (2012), Resonance (2013). - John Meaney. Set in multiple time periods. 8th century AD, 1920s - 1950s, 1970s, 2030s, 2150s, 27th century AD, and distant future periods from 3400s to 5500s to 50,000s AD 65,000s AD to about 1,000,000s AD. Viking stories, World War 2, Cold War, Near Future, Space Opera

Age of Scorpio Trilogy - Age of Scorpio (2013), A Quantum Mythology (2015), The Beauty of Destruction (2016) - Gavin Smith. Set mostly in three time periods: Ancient Britain (distant past, like a fantasy tale), Present day (contemporary period), and A Long Time After The Loss (distant future, space opera science fiction tale).

Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful (2018) - Arwen Elys Dayton - several short stories set from near-present to about 100 or more years from now. Various degrees of science fiction to post-apocalyptic.

Reincarnation Blues (2017) - Michael Poole. Set in different time periods, 2017AD, 2600BC, 2115AD, 2025AD, 3417AD, 1948–1972AD, 500BC, 2150AD, concerns multiple lives in historical, contemporary, near and far future time periods and genres.

Greenwood (2019) - Michael Christie. Set in 2038, 2008, 1974, 1934 and 1908, covering different family generations from historical to contemporary to near-science fiction

The Birth of Love (2010) - Joanna Kavenna, set in three time periods: 1865 (1 story), 2009 (2 stories), and 2153 (1 story), so historical fiction, contemporary fiction and science fiction dystopia.

The Years of Rice and Salt (2002) - Kim Stanley Robinson, covers 10 time periods from the 1400s to 2080s, and many in between in an alternate history where europeans didn’t survive the black plague. Also has reincarnating characters from story to story.

Dreams Before The Start of Time (2017) - Anne Charnock. Set in three time periods, 2034, 2084–2085, and 2120. Science fiction but in literary style, covering family generations and new ways of reproduction.

Evolution (2002) - Stephen Baxter. Covers from 150 million years ago BCE to roughly 500 million AD with many many stages in between, covering the evolution of primates to humans to post-human descendents. Epic story made of 19 smaller stories.

Cowl (2004) - Neal Asher. Time travel story ranging from 43rd century AD to 3 billion BC. COvers many time periods and thus historical and future genres.

Mr Eternity (2016) - Aaron Thier. Covers five time periods: 2016, 1560, 2200, 1750 and 2500 AD. Covers different writing styles from five main characters all interacting with seemingly immortal sea-voyager. Historical to contemporary to post-apocalyptic science fiction.

The Old Drift (2019) - Namwali Serpell. Covers from 1870s to 2020s, historical, contemporary and near-future science fiction.

Bangkok Wakes to Rain (2019) - Pitchaya Sudbanthad. Set in Thailand from late 19th century to 1970s to present to near future (2060s?) covering historical, contemporary and post-apocalyptic science fiction.

A Traveler at the Gates of Wisdom (2020) - John Boyne. Covers 51 different countries from 1AD to 2080 AD, historical to contemporary to science fiction.

A Canticle For Leibowitz (1959) - Walter M Miller Jnr. Covers 26th century 32nd century and 38th century AD, post-apocalyptic novel, but the time periods also reflect the Dark Ages, Renaissance and Modern periods of Europe in their version of cyclical history.

Cloud Cuckoo Land (2021) - Anthony Doerr. Covers an Ancient Greek Codex linking 15th-16th century Constantinople, present day America and 22nd century starship.

Sea of Tranquility (2022) - Emily St John Mandel, covers several major time periods 1912, 1918, 1990, 2008, 2020, 2203 and 2401.

Thrust (2022) - Lidia Yuknavitch. covers time periods 2079, 2085, 1870, 1885, 1995,

To Paradise (2022) - Hanya Yanagihara, covers alternate history of US set in 1893, 1993 and 2093

The Actual Star (2021) - Monica Byrne set in 1012 AD, 2012 AD, and 3012 AD on multiple locations

I hope these books inspire you and help you find similar works to Cloud Atlas.

I'd like to contribute another text that has some overlap with Cloud Atlas in terms of both themes and execution, though it isn't a novel: the play "Indecent" (2015) by Paula Vogel. Watching was a punch to the gut. I believe it has been filmed about 2017.