Want to read: Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler 📚

Intrigued by how so many authors kinda predicted our current predicament uncannily. From The Washington Post via Apple News this morning:

A 1993 dystopian novel imagined the world in 2024. It’s eerily accurate. Octavia Butler’s ‘Parable of the Sower’ predicted devastating climate change, inequality, space travel and ‘Make America great again’

@starrwulfe I keep hearing amazing things about this book. Octavia E Butler is sort of a legend in SFF circles (at least the ones that aren't dominated completely by cishet white men) and I sadly have somehow missed out on this.

@mercymorbid I'm pretty lucky to have some well-read family members who have shelves (physical and virtual) filled with Black authors so I kept hearing about this one on and off from my auntie, but never in this light. Definitely moved up a bunch of slots in my "gotta read" list.

📡🔀

@starrwulfe @mercymorbid Yes! I just read both Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents, highly recommend! I wrote a bit about it here: beardystarstuff.net/2024/01/1...

Currently writing another couple of posts to followup with links to podcasts and posts by scholars and others who have written about her process as well as the larger genre of Afrofuturism.

@starrwulfe I think about Parable of the Sower more than just about anything else I’ve read.

@writingslowly really? What exactly gives you thought (if you can tell me without giving the plot away of course)

@starrwulfe Parable of the Sower is so full of really original ideas, and so full of pain and the determination to make something positive out of it all. Also (trying not to give too much away here!) the sequel makes the whole thing even richer. Not a perfect novel, but perfectly thought-provoking.

@Denny oh wow, this is like catnip for me. Thanks! Have you seen Jillian Hess’s articles about Octavia Butler’s notes in the Huntingdon Library archives? jillianhess.substack.com (paywall but 1 week free)?

@writingslowly Glad you liked it! I've not seen Hess's articles but will have a look. I've just published another small post of links. Working an another longer post to bring in a few other related threads to tie in recent and ongoing events in the world. @starrwulfe