Octavia Butler being a time traveler or seer, will forever be a hill I'm willing to die on, because there's just no way. Parable of The Sower was published in 1993. Look at this date. #BlackBookSky #BookSky
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We’re currently reading through this in school and working on mid book essays for it right now. Normally I hate writing super long essays but damn the relevance of this book is really giving me the motivation I need to write it
Just ordered this book; it’s arriving today and I can’t wait. Need to finish the one I’m reading now so I can get started. Thanks so much for the recommendation. It truly is uncanny.
You can find it anywhere online that sells books. Parable of the Sower is one of her most well known books, so it'll always be in print and easy to find.
I’ve found two good places to order books if you don’t have an independent local bookstore nearby: Betterworldbooks & Thriftbooks. Both good places to avoid using Amazon.
I always thought this passage was akin to undocumented migrant labour conditions, but expanded to derived and naturalized citizens - low pay and long hours for the financially desperate in exchange for bare minimum housing & wages without worker's rights protections - modern day slave labour.
Yes and wait till you read the sequel Parable of the Talents ! Currently reading it, my mind is blown. President Jarrett's Christian nationalism /make America great again movement.... She (Butler) envisioned the nightmare we're experiencing.
A guy named Sinclair wrote a book in 1935 called "It Can't Happen Here" and if you swapped some of the names and updated the setting it'd read like today's news.
Butler wrote that book because she's one of many, many wise people who understood politics and tried to stop this from happening.
Along the same lines of "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic", people with a keen enough eye and knowledge of history/society can essentially be prophets on command.
The strange thing is, back in 2016, because I could not locate my copy of that book, I tried to borrow a copy from the Multnomah County library system.
Not only were all copies checked out from the various branches which had them, but there was a long waiting list of requests from others.
Reagan,.Nixon and Bush were already putting out these ideas. In fact, Nixon wanted to get rid of HUD, Welfare and other govt departments & replacing all w/universal basic salary to every US citizen.
It’s insane how prescient Parable of the Sower is. Loved reading it.
“Civilization, like intelligence, may serve well, serve adequately, or fail to serve its adaptive function. When civilization fails to serve, it must disintegrate unless it is acted upon by unifying internal or external forces”
I am a Libby evangelist. Ditch Audible/Bezos and discover all the wonders your local library can provide. You can find so many audiobooks on Libby and I guarantee Octavia Butler will be among them.
I'm sure, but most of the books I listen to are LGBTQ and indie, so libraries snub us. Until there's a viable alternative for those books, audible it is.
Librarian. We have a bunch of LGBTQ+ titles are avail on Libby. Not sure where you live. Our patrons can draw on multiple copies of books in the system (physical copies, ebooks, audiobooks since we are a part of a larger consortium. If our patron (tax payer) requests a copy of something we order it.
Lol I don't usually listen while they're in the car, I listen when I'm on my way to them or after I've dropped them off. Anything I listen to while there in there, I pre-screen...because I know that I'm doing.
Kindred was AMAZING! I bought this book after reading Kindred, and then life happened- as it often does. I think it might have just moved up in to be read pile.
Well I am on Parable of the Talents now. Yes. Great books. And I never knew she invented make America great again. Don't see her as a Trump fan though. Thanks again for the introduction.
This book kept me up at night for many nights. There are so many references that feel current. Workers and credit with no end hit me hard, now this one…. Not fun.
I read this during the pandemic in a time of stress and anxiety. And now here we are again and I am in a time of stress and anxiety as we become an authoritarian regime. Writing the obituary for democracy and freedom.
Parable of The Sower and Parable of The Talents by Octavia Butler got me in a chokehold. I read both books during the pandemic. I was astonished how she could see where the future. She was very astute and she was pay attention to how governments work.
2024 is an election year and this dumpster fire was predictable as far back as Reagan but, yeah. Why not 2020 or 2016? Or 2028? It’ll be interesting to see how much future events seem to line up.
I hope we can say, “See? We took her warning seriously and avoided disaster.”
I keep saying this and I will say it again Butler was a seer when she got in the zone and wrote those books her mind left this time and saw things in the future. My favorite author and gone too soon but left us gems to read and reread.
This stands firmly beside Margaret Atwood and her unsettling gift. There is also prophetess Baba Vanga- blind at age 12; Teresias - blind seer of Thebes who became a woman for 7 years. A history of female prophets + the enigmatic Nostradamus.
This isn’t earth shaking. I could see it coming back in the 90’s as I knew the players back then.
You didn’t have to be clairvoyant to see what the they wanted. But no one listened. They BARELY listen now. Everything I have said about the players I knew then has come to pass.
She tapped into some deep zeitgeist…like the really good writers do. They’re like our canaries in the coal mine. But everyone just things they’re crazy Cassandra’s. Meanwhile…
And Parable of the Talents, which has a right-wing bible-thumper named Jarret elected president early in the book, who literally says, "Help us to make America great again."
In one place there is a discussion of some of Jarret's more violent followers who are attacking anyone they call a "witch" (basically anyone who isn't a member of their particular brand of Christianity). Some have actually burned "witches" at the stake. Granted—burnings are
not happening today, but the crazy accurate line is "Jarret condemns the burnings, but does so in such mild language that his people are free to hear what they want to hear."
THAT is exactly like Trump. "Good people on both sides." "stand back and stand by." Etc.
It's definitely a rough read. I had to wash it down with a cheesy romance novel to dull the despair. You might want to try something light and cute to boost your mood 🩷
I went from that to a court of Thorne and roses 👀✋🏽😂 light read my ass. I need to watch magical worlds fall apart but even then I realized…. It’s still the same problems in the fairy worlds 😭
But as a lesbian I was like ya know if this character was written as a girl “smash”
Have you listened to the podcast "Octavia 's Parables" hosted by Toshi Reagon and adrienne maree brown? Dream work, examining how to change world, chapter by chapter! https://www.readingoctavia.com/
Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents are two of my fave books and I plan on rereading them soon. Thanks for recommending this podcast so I can listen during my reread!!
Thanks for the recommendation! I have read every Octavia Butler book at my local library and I can’t get enough. I really want to read the second parable book
It makes me so happy to share this with folks so eager to engage with it! I read Parable of the Sower again for the first time since it was published in late spring 2020, following along with the podcast. It was such a shocking, emotional time. It helped me to have such wise guides!
Wait... amb has a podcast on Butler? Rad! I love Emergent Strategy and her podcast she does with her sister Autumn How To Survive the End of the World.
adrienne maree brown's praise of Octavia Butler was the kick in the pants I needed to finally pick up some of her stuff. so glad I did. truly amazing stuff
The Far Right is relentless in plotting the decades-long pursuit of its goals.
The Far Right is more unashamedly outspoken about establishing minority rule now than they were by 1993, but Project 2025 was preceded by a similar plot in the Reagan era.
How surprising is 5/11/2024 really, though? The USA has historically maintained a rigid schedule for elections. And as a woman of colour, OB would have been more likely to see the way things could be moving, because minorities are often used as proving grounds .....
I totally agree. I read this in 2017 so the date wasn't significant. I was astounded by Donner's campaign to take America back to glory days and that evangelicals loved him. I couldn't believe she wrote it in 1993. I wish she were still here to discuss all of this.
It happened. The aloofness, often (imho) rooted in ignorance and fear morphed into a gray apathy where sound was a rumbling background murmur which did not disturb or annoy any more.
She was an amazing writer who would definitely have taken a moment to research Election Day 2024. The fact that she knew 2024 would be where we descended into dystopia is proof of genius.
There was one! I was listening to this book and it jarred me so badly I almost drove off the road! I did go back and look for the origins of that phrase. Chills.
I will die on the hill that there is at least one person with powerful sway in the MAGA camp who read The Parable of the Sower, The Handmaiden's Tale, Fahrenheit 451, etc, while Trump watched Idiocracy and they both agreed these would make excellent planning materials.
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We lost a giant when Butler died.
https://octaviasbookshelf.com
Butler wrote that book because she's one of many, many wise people who understood politics and tried to stop this from happening.
Not only were all copies checked out from the various branches which had them, but there was a long waiting list of requests from others.
Scrapping the Mars program? Never
“Civilization, like intelligence, may serve well, serve adequately, or fail to serve its adaptive function. When civilization fails to serve, it must disintegrate unless it is acted upon by unifying internal or external forces”
Thank you.
I am very laid back in what I let my kids watch and listen to, but the Parable books are some of the most intense books I’ve ever read.
I just saw a Ta-Nehisi Coates quote followed by this. So refreshing. Definitely in the right place.
I hope we can say, “See? We took her warning seriously and avoided disaster.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_Sower_(novel)
(jk, I am a fan of all of them)
You didn’t have to be clairvoyant to see what the they wanted. But no one listened. They BARELY listen now. Everything I have said about the players I knew then has come to pass.
BTW Xenogenisis Trilogy is really cool too. Especially regarding ideas of gender...
I wonder if they are friends with Matt Graoning, the Simpsons creator.
In one place there is a discussion of some of Jarret's more violent followers who are attacking anyone they call a "witch" (basically anyone who isn't a member of their particular brand of Christianity). Some have actually burned "witches" at the stake. Granted—burnings are
THAT is exactly like Trump. "Good people on both sides." "stand back and stand by." Etc.
But as a lesbian I was like ya know if this character was written as a girl “smash”
So that was fun 👁️🫦👁️
She looked at the Reagan/Bush era and had 'em figured immediately.
The Far Right is more unashamedly outspoken about establishing minority rule now than they were by 1993, but Project 2025 was preceded by a similar plot in the Reagan era.
https://youtu.be/e0UgiE8vYuI?si=j4hRPcXNdreIwG4_
Coincidentally. . . My great-grandpa's name was Doro. (Wildseed)