OCTAVIA E. BUTLERwas a renowned writer who received a MacArthur "Genius" Grant and PEN West Lifetime Achievement Award for her body of work. She was the author of several award-winning novels including Parable of the Sower, which was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and was acclaimed for her lean prose, strong protagonists, and social observations in stories that range from the distant past to the far future. Sales of her books have increased enormously since her death as the issues she addressed in her Afrofuturistic, feminist novels and short fiction have only become more relevant. She passed away on February 24, 2006.
"A brilliant, endlessly rich dystopian novel that pairs well with
1984 or The Handmaid's Tale, and it's also a fascinating
exploration of how crises can fuel new religious and ideological
movements."--John Green, #1 New York Times bestselling author of
Turtles All the Way Down, New York Times
"A dystopian classic."--Kirkus Reviews
"A gripping tale of survival and a poignant account of growing up
sane in a disintegrating world."--New York Times Book Review
"A powerful story of hope and faith."--Denver Post
"A prophetic odyssey."--Essence
"A real gut-wrencher . . . What makes Butler's fiction compelling
is that it is as crisply detailed as journalism. . . Often the
smallest details are the most revelatory."--Washington Post
"Artfully conceived and elegantly written . . . Butler's success in
making Lauren's subsequent odyssey feel real is only the most
obvious measure of this fine novel's worth."--Cleveland Plain
Dealer
"Butler felt to me like a lighthouse blinking from an island of
understanding way out at sea. I had no idea how to get there, but I
knew she had found something life-saving. She had found a form of
resistance. Butler and other writers like Ursula Le Guin, Toni
Morrison and Margaret Atwood...used the tenets of genre to reveal
the injustices of the present and imagine our evolution."--Brit
Marling, New York Times
"Butler tells her story with unusual warmth, sensitivity, honesty,
and grace; though science fiction readers will recognize this
future Earth, Lauren Olamina and her vision make this novel stand
out like a tree among saplings."--Publishers Weekly (starred
review)
"Butler [had a] practically psychic ability to predict the
future."--New York Magazine, "The Best Books for Budding Black
Feminists, According to Experts"
"In the ongoing contest over which dystopian classic is most
applicable to our time, Octavia Butler's 'Parable' books may be
unmatched."--New Yorker
"Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower is a stunner. It's a
terrifying vision of a dismal future brought on by the willful
ignorance, racism and greed of human beings, and an eerily
dangerous parallel to our present path. Ms. Butler gives us a
satisfying protagonist in the hypersensitive teenager Lauren, whose
courage and wits are an infinite source of inspiration."--Flea,
Wall Street Journal
"One of science fiction's most important figures, an author who
wrote cracking, crackling, accessible and fast-moving adventure
stories shot through with trenchant and smart allegories about
race, gender and power . . . Parable of the Sower has never been
more relevant."--Boing Boing
"One of the most important and groundbreaking science-fiction
authors."--Entertainment Weekly
"One of Butler's most visceral, accomplished works . . . this is
the stuff of the best dystopian science fiction: a real-life
warning made fictional. Even in 1993, Butler understood climate
change could well be the spark that ignites the dry kindling of
race, class, and religious strife into a conflagration that will
consume our nation. If anything, those issues are even more
pressing a quarter-century later . . . Butler's vision of hard-won
hope in challenging times is more essential now than ever before,
and well worth seeking out in this new edition."--B&NBlog
"There isn't a page in this vivid and frightening story that fails
to grip the reader."--San Jose Mercury News
In 21st-century California, a land of walled enclaves, drug-crazed arsonists, and rampant joblessness, 18-year-old Lauren Olamina discovers a new way of looking at a hopeless world. When circumstances cut her adrift from the only community she knows, she takes to the road, attempting to put her ideals into practice. The author of Kindred ( LJ 8/79) and Wild Seed (Doubleday, 1980) infuses this tale with an allegorical quality that is part meditation, part warning. Simple, direct, and deeply felt, this should reach both mainstream and sf audiences.
YA-On Friday, July 30, 2027, Lauren Oya Olamina's California walled neighborhood is burned and plundered by pyro addicts. She and two other teens appear to be the only survivors and join the seemingly endless stream of poverty-stricken people looking for a better life or, at least, for another day. Like her Baptist minister father before her, Lauren carries her faith in her religion, Earthseed, with her. In the insanity of this future world, her faith, practical skills, and determination to survive (whatever the cost) are enhanced by the basic goodness of the folks who expand her group. YAs may see the similarity between Lauren's world and the nightly TV-news coverage of current war-torn nations. They should appreciate this tender coming-of-age story and/or the glimpse into a future they can work to prevent. Romance; science fiction; a strong, black, female protagonist; and a hopeful ending should attract readers to this novel.-Barbara Hawkins, Oakton High School, Fairfax, VA
"A brilliant, endlessly rich dystopian novel that pairs well with
1984 or The Handmaid's Tale, and it's also a
fascinating exploration of how crises can fuel new religious and
ideological movements."--John Green, #1 New York Times bestselling
author of Turtles All the Way Down, New York Times
"A dystopian classic."--Kirkus Reviews
"A gripping tale of survival and a poignant account of growing up
sane in a disintegrating world."--New York Times Book Review
"A powerful story of hope and faith."--Denver Post
"A prophetic odyssey."--Essence
"A real gut-wrencher . . . What makes Butler's fiction compelling
is that it is as crisply detailed as journalism. . . Often the
smallest details are the most revelatory."--Washington Post
"Artfully conceived and elegantly written . . . Butler's success in
making Lauren's subsequent odyssey feel real is only the most
obvious measure of this fine novel's worth."--Cleveland Plain
Dealer
"Butler felt to me like a lighthouse blinking from an island of
understanding way out at sea. I had no idea how to get there, but I
knew she had found something life-saving. She had found a form of
resistance. Butler and other writers like Ursula Le Guin, Toni
Morrison and Margaret Atwood...used the tenets of genre to reveal
the injustices of the present and imagine our evolution."--Brit
Marling, New York Times
"Butler tells her story with unusual warmth, sensitivity, honesty,
and grace; though science fiction readers will recognize this
future Earth, Lauren Olamina and her vision make this novel stand
out like a tree among saplings."--Publishers Weekly (starred
review)
"Butler [had a] practically psychic ability to predict the
future."--New York Magazine, "The Best Books for Budding Black
Feminists, According to Experts"
"In the ongoing contest over which dystopian classic is most
applicable to our time, Octavia Butler's 'Parable' books may be
unmatched."--New Yorker
"Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower is a stunner. It's a
terrifying vision of a dismal future brought on by the willful
ignorance, racism and greed of human beings, and an eerily
dangerous parallel to our present path. Ms. Butler gives us a
satisfying protagonist in the hypersensitive teenager Lauren, whose
courage and wits are an infinite source of inspiration."--Flea,
Wall Street Journal
"One of science fiction's most important figures, an author who
wrote cracking, crackling, accessible and fast-moving adventure
stories shot through with trenchant and smart allegories about
race, gender and power . . . Parable of the Sower has never
been more relevant."--Boing Boing
"One of the most important and groundbreaking science-fiction
authors."--Entertainment Weekly
"One of Butler's most visceral, accomplished works . . . this is
the stuff of the best dystopian science fiction: a real-life
warning made fictional. Even in 1993, Butler understood climate
change could well be the spark that ignites the dry kindling of
race, class, and religious strife into a conflagration that will
consume our nation. If anything, those issues are even more
pressing a quarter-century later . . . Butler's vision of hard-won
hope in challenging times is more essential now than ever before,
and well worth seeking out in this new edition."--B&NBlog
"There isn't a page in this vivid and frightening story that fails
to grip the reader."--San Jose Mercury News
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