Octavia E. Butler Books In Order

Earthseed Books In Publication Order

  1. Parable of the Sower (1993)
  2. Parable of the Talents (1998)

Patternmaster Books In Publication Order

  1. Patternmaster (1976)
  2. Mind of My Mind (1977)
  3. Survivor (1978)
  4. Wild Seed (1980)
  5. Clay’s Ark (1984)

Patternmaster Books In Chronological Order

  1. Wild Seed (1980)
  2. Mind of My Mind (1977)
  3. Clay’s Ark (1984)
  4. Survivor (1978)
  5. Patternmaster (1976)

Xenogenesis Books In Publication Order

  1. Dawn (1987)
  2. Adulthood Rites (1988)
  3. Imago (1989)

Standalone Novels In Publication Order

  1. Kindred (1979)
  2. Fledgling (2005)

Short Story Collections In Publication Order

  1. Bloodchild and Other Stories (1995)
  2. Unexpected Stories (2014)

Anthologies In Publication Order

  1. The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Second Annual Collection (1985)
  2. Nebula Awards 35 (2001) (2001)
  3. The Wesleyan Anthology of Science Fiction (2010)
  4. Crucified Dreams (2011)
  5. Sisters of the Revolution: A Feminist Speculative Fiction Anthology (2015)

Earthseed Book Covers

Patternmaster Book Covers

Patternmaster Book Covers

Xenogenesis Book Covers

Standalone Novels Book Covers

Short Story Collections Book Covers

Anthologies Book Covers

Octavia E. Butler Books Overview

Parable of the Sower

When unattended environmental and economic crises lead to social chaos, not even gated communities are safe. In a night of fire and death Lauren Olamina, a minister’s young daughter, loses her family and home and ventures out into the unprotected American landscape. But what begins as a flight for survival soon leads to something much more: a startling vision of human destiny…
and the birth of a new faith.

Parable of the Talents

Amazon. com Octavia Butler tackles the creation of a new religion, the making of a god, and the ultimate fate of humanity in her Earthseed series, which began with Parable of the Sower, and now continues with Parable of the Talents. The saga began with the near future dystopian tale of Sower, in which young Lauren Olamina began to realize her destiny as a leader of people dispossessed and destroyed by the crumbling of society. The basic principles of Lauren’s faith, Earthseed, were contained in a collection of deceptively simple proverbs that Lauren used to recruit followers. She teaches that ‘God is change’ and that humanity’s ultimate destiny is among the stars. In Parable of the Talents, the seeds of change that Lauren planted begin to bear fruit, but in unpredictable and brutal ways. Her small community is destroyed, her child is kidnapped, and she is imprisoned by sad*istic zealots. She must find a way to escape and begin again, without family or friends. Her single mindedness in teaching Earthseed may be her only chance to survive, but paradoxically, may cause the ultimate estrangement of her beloved daughter. Parable of the Talents is told from both mother’s and daughter’s perspectives, but it is the narrative of Lauren’s grown daughter, who has seen her mother made into a deity of sorts, that is the most compelling. Butler’s writing is simple and elegant, and her storytelling skills are superb, as usual. Fans will be eagerly awaiting the next installment in what promises to be a moving and adventurous saga. Therese Littleton This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Patternmaster

A telepathic race is ruled by the strong mind of the Patternmaster, but his ruthless son craves the ultimate power of the position and has murdered everyone who stands in his way except a final victim his younger brother. PW.

Mind of My Mind

A young ghetto telepath launches a psychic struggle against the four thousand year old immortal who has been her father, lover, master, and creator to free her fellow telepaths. PW. K.

Wild Seed

Doro has been alive for almost 4,000 years. He has great power and influence and yet he is alone. He has watched generation after generation of his children die. But he still dreams of breeding a new race of immortal telepaths in his own image. When he encounters Anyanwu, the shape changer and healer, he knows that he has met his true mate. Although only 300 years old, he is Doro’s equal, perhaps the only other one of their kind on Earth. But she has sprung from Wild Seed, beyond his control, and she is Doro’s implacable enemy.

Clay’s Ark

Asa Elias Doyle and her companions encounter an alien life form so destructive that they exile themselves to the desert to avoid contaminating others, but their compulsion to infect others is overwhelming and, in a desperate plea for help, kidnap a doctor and his two daughters. PW.

Dawn

In a world devastated by nuclear war with humanity on the edge of extinction, aliens finally make contact. They rescue those humans they can, keeping most survivors in suspended animation while the aliens begin the slow process of rehabilitating the planet. When Lilith Iyapo is ‘awakened,’ she finds that she has been chosen to revive her fellow humans in small groups by first preparing them to meet the utterly terrifying aliens, then training them to survive on the wilderness that the planet has become. But the aliens cannot help humanity without altering it forever. Bonded to the aliens in ways no human has ever known, Lilith tries to fight them even as her own species comes to fear and loathe her. A stunning story of invasion and alien contact by one of science fiction’s finest writers.

Adulthood Rites

Akin, the son of Dawn’s hero*ine Lilith, is part human, part Oankali alien. Kidnapped by the last generation of humans that is sinking into savagery and suicide, it is up to Akin to save the future of humanity by becoming something he is not completely human.

Imago

This conclusion to the Xenogenesis series Dawn and Adulthood Rights focuses on Jodahs, the child of a union between humans, alien Oankali, and the sexless ooloi. The Oankali and ooloi are part of an extraterrestrial species that saved humanity from nuclear oblivion, but many humans feel the price for their help is too high: the Oankali and ooloi intend to genetically merge with humanity, creating a new species at the expense of the old. Even though the Oankali have against their better judgment created a human colony on Mars so that humanity as a species can continue unaltered, many human ‘resisters’ either have not heard of the Mars colony or don’t believe the Oankali will allow them to live there. Jodahs, who was thought to be a male but who is actually maturing into the first ooloi from a human/Oankali union, finds a pair of resisters who prove that some pure humans are still fertile. These humans may be his only hope to find successful mates, but they have been raised to revile and despise his species above all else.

Kindred

The twenty fifth anniversary edition of the classic novel that has sold over 250,000 copiesDana, a modern black woman, is celebrating her twenty sixth birthday with her new husband when she is snatched abruptly from her home in California and transported to the antebellum South. Rufus, the white son of a plantation owner, is drowning, and Dana has been summoned to save him. Dana is drawn back again and again for Rufus, yet each time the stay grows longer and more dangerous until it is uncertain whether or not Dana’s life will end, long before it has even begun.’In Kindred Octavia Butler creates a road for the impossible, and a balm for the unbearable. It is everything the literature of science fiction can be.’ Walter Mosley’ Kindred is a shattering work of art with much to say about love, hate, slavery and racial dilemmas, then and now.’ Los Angeles Herald Examiner’Truly terrifying…
. A book you’ll find hard to put down.’ Essence’Butler’s books are exceptional…
. She is a realist, writing the most detailed social criticism and creating some of the most fascinating female characters in the genre…
real women caught in impossible situations.’ The Village Voice’Butler’s literary craftsmanship is superb.’ The Washington Post Book World

Fledgling

Octavia E. Butler is one of the finest voices in fiction period…
. A master storyteller, Butler casts an unflinching eye on racism, sexism, poverty, and ignorance and lets the reader see the terror and beauty of human nature. ‘The Washington Post Book World ‘Readers familiar with…
‘Parable of the Sower and ‘Bloodchild will recall that Butler never asks easy questions or settles for easy answers.’ Gerald Jonas in ‘The New York Times ‘Fledgling, Octavia Butler’s first new novel in seven years, is the story of an apparently young, amnesiac girl whose alarmingly unhuman needs and abilities lead her to a startling conclusion: She is in fact a genetically modified, 53 year old vampire. Forced to discover what she can about her stolen former life, she must at the same time learn who wanted and still wants to destroy her and those she cares for and how she can save herself. ‘Fledgling is a captivating novel that tests the limits of ‘otherness’ and questions what it means to be truly human. Octavia E. Butler is the author of 11 novels, including ‘Kindred, ‘Dawn, and ‘Parable of the Sower. Recipient of a MacArthur Foundation ‘genius’ grant, the Nebula Award, the Hugo Award, and numerous other literary awards, she has been acclaimed for her lean prose, strong protagonists, and social observations that range from the distant past to the far future.

Bloodchild and Other Stories

An outstanding short story collection…
Butler is an impressive writer whose work displays how science fiction readily transcends the perceived stylistic limitations of the genre. St. Petersburg Times Bloodchild is a compelling and horrifying novella…
by an exceptionally talented writer. Publishers Weekly The title story is justly famous…
splendid pieces, set forth in calm, lucid prose with never a word wasted. Kirkus Reviews Butler graces new mansions of thought with her eloquent, distinguished, and poignant prose. Although this book is little in size, its ideas and aims are splendidly large. Booklist This New York Times Notable Book of the Year includes the Hugo and Nebula awards winner Bloodchild and the Hugo Award winner Speech Sounds. Octavia E. Butler is the author of 11 novels, including Kindred, Dawn, and Parable of the Sower. Recipient of a MacArthur Foundation genius grant, the Nebula Award, the Hugo Award, and numerous other literary awards, she has been acclaimed for her lean prose, strong protagonists, and social observations that range from the distant past to the far future.

The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Second Annual Collection

A consistently award winning collection once again provides the best science fiction stories of the year, featuring work by veterans and newcomers including Michael Bishop, Nancy Kress, Ursula Le Guin, Mike Resnick, Geoff Ryman, Brian Stableford, and many others.

Nebula Awards 35 (2001)

Edited by the widely acclaimed SF author Robert Silverberg, the Nebula Awards series is ‘the pulse of modern science fiction’ The New York Times Book ReviewThe Nebula Awards are the Academy Awards of science fiction, the finest works each year in the genre as voted by the members of SFWA, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. The Nebula Awards anthology series has now reached its thirty fifth year. This edition contains the complete award winning texts by Ted Chiang, Mary A. Turzillo, Leslie What, and Octavia E. Butler an excerpt from her novel The Parable of the Talents; a report on the field ‘still inarguably dynamic’ by Gary K. Wolfe; runner up stories by David Marusek and Michael Swanwick; an early story by 2000 Grand Master Brian W. Aldiss; and 2000 Author Emeritus Daniel Keyes’s account of how he wrote Flowers for Algernon. In his introduction, editor Robert Silverberg looks back wryly at Damon Knight, the beginnings of SFWA, and the first Nebula banquets.

The Wesleyan Anthology of Science Fiction

The Wesleyan Anthology of Science Fiction features over a 150 years’ worth of the best science fiction ever collected in a single volume. The fifty two stories and critical introductions are organized chronologically as well as thematically for classroom use. Filled with luminous ideas, otherworldly adventures, and startling futuristic speculations, these stories will appeal to all readers as they chart the emergence and evolution of science fiction as a modern literary genre. They also provide a fascinating look at how our Western technoculture has imaginatively expressed its hopes and fears from the Industrial Revolution of the nineteenth century to the digital age of today. A free online teacher’s guide at www. wesleyan. edu/wespress/sfanthologyguide accompanies the anthology and offers access to a host of pedagogical aids for using this book in an academic setting. The stories in this anthology have been selected and introduced by the editors of Science Fiction Studies, the world’s most respected journal for the critical study of science fiction.

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