Parable of the Talents, by Octavia Butler

It is amazing to me how well this book holds up 30 years after it was written. Definitely in its predictions--climate change was a mere gleam in an Exxon scientist's eye when this came out. The MAGA prediction does not shock me as much as some--there's a pretty straight line from the Moral Majority to today's Christian Dominionism.

The way this book holds up is in the lesson Butler conveys. In her time she said "I write not to predict, but to warn". And we did not heed the warning. Now here we are. Her protagonist's blunt descriptions of the failure of our culture and its consequences will be read 100 years from now as a companion to history.

Another reviewer said, "This is one of the best books I have ever read. I do not want to read it again". I absolutely second that. This was one tough read. I put it down at one point for more than a month. But I am glad I finished it.

My Goodreads Review

Parable of the Sower, by Octavia E. Butler

This is not a perfect book, but wow has it aged well. Octavia Butler said "I write not to predict, but to warn!" but the predictions seem right on track. The 1200-year drought in the Southwest had not started when she wrote this, but here we have a climate novel that captures that situation.

Lauren Olamina as a narrator is plain-spoken. She is coping with civilization's dissolution in what seems to be the most rational way--with a plan for the future. She carefully builds her team for surviving the collapse, and collects her ideas of a spiritual foundation for getting through and rebuilding. I had not read this until now, and am reading it with a background of having read adrienne marie brown's book Emergent Strategies, highly influenced by Butler. You can't pick this up today and read it as a work of fiction--it is a deeper part of the literary canon of our time, a description of the process of capitalism's collapse along with American civilization. Things might be going better elsewhere, like Canada, where so many of the refugees in the book are trying to go.

Butler's warnings in the book have gone unheeded by those who could most make a difference. Some will take inspiration and try to apply them to the world that is to come.

My Goodreads Review

Bloodchild, by Octavia Butler

I took a brief break from the Vorkosigans to read an award winner newly available online, thanks to our good friend at Free SF Online.  The novelette Bloodchild won both the Hugo and Nebula awards in 1984-85.  So is it worth going back over 25 years to read?  Well, I am a fan of period pieces so I am not an unbiased source.  But overall I would say so.

Not only is the story well written, it doesn't contain a lot of cultural references to date it.  This means it holds up quite well.  And Octavia Butler's take on aliens is one that only she can pull off, so it's not going to seem stale or repetitive.  Her aliens have very human emotions--in fact they have quite a positive affinity for humans.  My sample may be small, but the Xenogenesis series goes this way as well.  The somewhat repetitive element is that it's a "host" story--humans implanted with alien young.  And the humans find it disgusting, though they like the aliens otherwise it seems.  If you read this story, go on to read the Xenogenesis series where the themes are much more thoroughly explored, and in an original way.  Butler's stories are always powerful and memorable, you can't go wrong with them.  3 stars for this one.