Parable of the Sower

“The book that opened my eyes to Octavia Butler. Eerily prescient for having been written >30 years ago!”

“Was inspired to re-read this after seeing her journals on display at the Huntington Library. Even better the second time around.”

“From the mother of Afro-Futurism, a dystopian tale set in a near-future, climate-ravaged Los Angeles. Lauren Olamina, our heroine, creates a new religion called Earthseed as she flees the collapse of her gated community. This 1993 book has a fascist president with the slogan "Make America Great Again", which, for the record was a slogan from Ronald Regan, so yeah, Trump even stole THAT. BONUS: Buy your copy, and the sequel, Parable of the Talents, up from Octavia's Bookshelf in Pasadena. It's only right that you buy it form a bookstore in Butlers hometown. Sadly, Butler died before completing the trilogy.”

“She’s being obvious again! But god, is it remarkable. Together with Talents, of course. I will say that people often talk about how painful this book is, but to me it felt deeply comforting after some very hard years. There’s so much value in having your eyes wide open. It’s what I think true political optimism is — unflinching about the current world and imaginative about the possibilities for a better one.”

“Dystopian sci-fi set in and around Altadena. A heavy but necessary read in the wake of the Eaton Fire”

“Reading this book I kept having to remember that it was written in 1993. Her vision of our not-too-distant future is eerily spot on.”

“currently reading. incredibleeeeee”

“One of my favorites from 2025.”

“Prescient and heart-breaking, yet hopeful.”