Octavia E. Butler

Returning to print after nearly 50 years, Survivor completes Octavia E. Butler's thrilling Patternist series, including a short story from the Patternist saga and new historical essays from a major Butler scholar. The Patternist books (Wild Seed, Mind of My Mind, Clay's Ark, and Patternmaster) comprise Butler's longest, most complex series, stretching from late 17th century Africa to outer space in the far future, as rival factions of humanity develop incredible powers--only to use them to subjugate others. For nearly half a century, the fourth volume, Survivor, has been out of print at Octavia E. Butler's request. It tells the story of Alanna, a colonist fleeing a plague-scarred Earth. But the planet she lands on is inhabited by the alien Kohn, whose battling tribes soon trap Alanna in their war. She must make alliances--while plotting betrayals. She must protect her heart--while putting it at risk. And she must decide if the best way to retain her humanity . . . is to leave it behind. Now returning to print, Survivor is put into its proper historical context thanks to contributions from scholar and Octavia E. Butler Fellow Alyssa Collins. This long-awaited volume also contains "A Necessary Being," the only short fiction set in the Patternist universe, to finally, fully bring together and complete the Patternist series for readers everywhere.

Ydinsota on tuhonnut ihmiskunnan. Yhden naisen tehtäväksi jää rakentaa se uudelleen. Kun Lilith lyapo herää, hän huomaa olevansa valtavan avaruusaluksen sisällä. Sitä kuljettaa hyväntahtoiselta vaikuttava ulkoavaruuden kansa, onkalit, jotka ovat puuttuneet ihmiskunnan kohtaloon jo vuosisatoja aikaisemmin pelastamalla ydinsodasta selviytyneet kuolemalta. Ihmisten nukkuessa syvää, pitkää untaan onkalit ovat opetelleet maapallosta kaiken mahdollisen, keksineet parannuksen syöpään ja vahvistaneet ihmisrodun kestävyyttä. Lilithin tehtäväksi tulee johdattaa oma kansansa takaisin maapallolle - mutta ihmiskunnan pelastamisen hinta osoittautuu raskaaksi. Modernin tieteiskirjallisuuden klassikon Octavia E. Butlerin toivoa ja ajatuksia herättävä, yhä ajankohtaisempi Aamunkoitto (1987) ilmestyi Ronald Reaganin presidenttikaudella, jolloin Yhdysvaltain politiikassa ydinsotaa ja sen voittamista pidettiin mahdollisena. Kirja kertoo tarinan paitsi tulevaisuuden maailmasta myös meidän modernin yhteiskuntamme polttavista kysymyksistä. ”Butler katsoo silmää räpäyttämättä myös ihmiskunnan synkimpään historiaan - ja päätyy siitä huolimatta luomaan tulevaisuudenuskoa. ” —The Fantasy Hive

A stunning new contemporary edition of Octavia E. Butler's award-winning sequel to Parable of the Sower. With an introduction by Akwaeke Emezi. 'Octavia Butler was playing out our very real possibilities as humans' GLORIA STEINEM In order for me to understand who I am, I must begin to understand who she was. Asha was born into a broken world. There are many things she needs to know: how her country could embrace a violent, far-right President promising to make America great again, why they turned a blind eye to the suffering - and the truth about her mother. In her journals, Lauren Olamina tells of a great love divided between her young daughter, her community and the revelation that led her to found a new faith that teaches 'God Is Change'. But under a tyrannical religious regime who consider the mere existence of a black female leader a threat, Lauren knows she must soon either sacrifice her daughter and her followers - or forsake the beliefs that could transform human destiny. WINNER OF THE NEBULA AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL Praise for Octavia E. Butler 'Unnervingly prescient and wise' YAA GYASI 'Butler's prose, always pared back to the bone, delineates the painful paradoxes of metamorphosis with compelling precision' GUARDIAN 'One of the most significant literary artists of the twentieth century. One cannot exaggerate the impact she has had' JUNOT DIAZ 'Butler's evocative, often troubling, novels explore far-reaching issues of race, sex, power and, ultimately, what it means to be human' NEW YORK TIMES 'An icon of the Afrofuturism world, envisioning literary realms that placed black characters front and center' VANITY FAIR 'Octavia Butler was a visionary' VIOLA DAVIS

A beautiful new edition of a modern classic by celebrated, award-winning author, Octavia E. Butler. With an introduction by Levar Burton and an afterword by N. K. Jemisin. 'If there is one thing scarier than a dystopian novel about the future, it's one written in the past that has already begun to come true' GLORIA STEINEM We are coming apart. We're a rope, breaking, a single strand at a time. America is a place of chaos, where violence rules and only the rich and powerful are safe. Lauren Olamina, a young woman with the extraordinary power to feel the pain of others as her own, records everything she sees of this broken world in her journal. Then, one terrible night, everything alters beyond recognition, and Lauren must make her voice heard for the sake of those she loves. Soon, her vision becomes reality and her dreams of a better way to live gain the power to change humanity forever. Praise for Octavia E. Butler 'Unnervingly prescient and wise' YAA GYASI 'Butler's prose, always pared back to the bone, delineates the painful paradoxes of metamorphosis with compelling precision' GUARDIAN 'One of the most significant literary artists of the twentieth century. One cannot exaggerate the impact she has had' JUNOT DIAZ 'Butler's evocative, often troubling, novels explore far-reaching issues of race, sex, power and, ultimately, what it means to be human' NEW YORK TIMES 'An icon of the Afrofuturism world, envisioning literary realms that placed black characters front and center' VANITY FAIR 'Octavia Butler was a visionary' VIOLA DAVIS

A gorgeous new edition of Book 4 of the Patternist series, in which two immortals chase each other across continents and centuries, binding their fates together -- and changing the destiny of the human race. This deluxe edition includes: An incredible new cover and package Premium French flaps and newly designed, full color interior covers High-quality paper with elegant deckled-edges In the far future, the human race is divided into two groups striving for power. The Patternmaster rules over all, the leader of the telepathic Patternist race whose thoughts can destroy or heal at his whim. The only threat to his power are the Clayarks, mutant humans who live either enslaved by the Patternists or in the wild. Coransee, son of the ruling Patternmaster, wants the throne and will stop at nothing to get it, even if it means venturing into the wild mutant-infested hills to destroy a young apprentice -- his equal and his brother.

A gorgeous new edition of Book 3 of the Patternist series, in which two immortals chase each other across continents and centuries, binding their fates together -- and changing the destiny of the human race. This deluxe edition includes: An incredible new cover and package Premium French flaps and newly designed, full color interior covers High-quality paper with elegant deckled-edges In an alternate America marked by volatile class warfare, Blake Maslin is traveling with his teenage twin daughters when their car is ambushed. Their attackers appear sickly yet possess inhuman strength, and they transport Blake's family to an isolated compound. There, the three captives discover that the compound's residents have a highly contagious alien disease that has mutated their DNA to make them powerful, dangerous, and compelled to infect others. If Blake and his daughters do not escape, they will be infected with a virus that will either kill them outright or transform them into outcasts whose very existence is a threat to the world around them. In the following hours, Blake and his daughters each must make a vital choice: risk everything to escape and warn the rest of the world, or accept their new reality -- as well as the uncertain fate of the human race.

A gorgeous new edition of Book 2 of the Patternist series, in which two immortals chase each other across continents and centuries, binding their fates together -- and changing the destiny of the human race. This deluxe edition includes: An incredible new cover and package Premium French flaps and newly designed, full color interior covers High-quality paper with elegant deckled-edges A young woman harnesses the power of a viral mutation and challenges the ruthless man who controls her, in this brilliantly provocative novel from the award-winning author of Parable of the Sower, in a gorgeous new package. Mary is a treacherous experiment. Her creator, an immortal named Doro, has molded the human race for generations, seeking out those with unusual talents like telepathy and breeding them into a new subrace of humans who obey his every command. Mary is the result: a young black woman living on the rough outskirts of Los Angeles in the 1970s, who has no idea how much power she will soon wield. Doro knows he must handle Mary carefully or risk her ending like his previous experiments: dead, either by her own hand or Doro's. What he doesn't suspect is that Mary's maturing telepathic abilities may soon rival his own power. By linking telepaths with a viral pattern, she will create the potential to break free of his control once and for all-and shift the course of humanity.

A gorgeous new edition of Book 1 of the Patternist series, in which two immortals chase each other across continents and centuries, binding their fates together -- and changing the destiny of the human race. This deluxe edition includes: An incredible new cover and package Premium French flaps and newly designed, full color interior covers High-quality paper with elegant deckled-edges Doro knows no higher authority than himself. An ancient spirit with boundless powers, he possesses humans, killing without remorse as he jumps from body to body to sustain his own life. With a lonely eternity ahead of him, Doro breeds supernaturally gifted humans into empires that obey his every desire. He fears no one -- until he meets Anyanwu. Anyanwu is an entity like Doro and yet different. She can heal with a bite and transform her own body, mending injuries and reversing aging. She uses her powers to cure her neighbors and birth entire tribes, surrounding herself with kindred who both fear and respect her. No one poses a true threat to Anyanwu -- until she meets Doro. The moment Doro meets Anyanwu, he covets her; and from the villages of 17th-century Nigeria to 19th-century United States, their courtship becomes a power struggle that echoes through generations, irrevocably changing what it means to be human.

The bestselling Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents trade paperback books, complete with French flaps and deckled edges, together in a premium boxed set--a perfect gift for readers. Parable of the Sower: Fifteen-year-old Lauren Olamina lives inside a gated community with her preacher father, family, and neighbors, sheltered from the surrounding social chaos and anarchy caused by climate change and economic crisis. In a society where any vulnerability is a risk, she suffers from hyperempathy--a debilitating sensitivity to others' emotions. Precocious and clear-eyed, she must make her voice heard in order to protect her loved ones from the imminent disasters her small community stubbornly ignores. But what begins as a fight for survival soon leads to something much more: the birth of a new faith ... and a startling vision of human destiny. Includes a foreword by LeVar Burton and an afterword by N. K. Jemisin. Parable of the Talents: In 2032, Lauren Olamina has survived the destruction and ruin of everything she knew. Her peaceful community provides refuge for outcasts facing persecution after the election of an ultra-conservative president. Under his rule, Lauren's colony--a minority religious faction led by a young Black woman--becomes a target for the president's reign of terror and oppression. Years later, Asha Vere reads the journals of a mother she never knew. As she searches for answers, she struggles to reconcile with the legacy of a mother caught between her duty to her chosen family and her calling to lead humankind into a better future. Includes a foreword by Akwaeke Emezi.

For the first time in a deluxe, hardcover collector's edition, the landmark post-apocalyptic trilogy from the Hugo, Locus, and Nebula Award-winning author of Kindred, the Parable novels, and "Bloodchild" From the Hugo, Locus, and Nebula Award-winning author of Kindred, the Parable novels, and "Bloodchild," here in its spellbinding entirety is Octavia E. Butler's epic of human survival and transformation. Conceived against a backdrop of Reagan-era nuclear brinksmanship, Lilith's Brood: The Xenogenesis Trilogy--a classic of Afrofuturist speculative fiction--offers profound reflections on race, biology, colonialism, resistance, consent, sexuality, community, hybridity, technology, power, and the future of humankind. At the beginning of Dawn, Butler's heroine Lilith Iyapo is awakened in a white cell, after centuries of suspended animation. She is a survivor, as is gradually revealed, of a nuclear apocalypse--and is now being healed, aboard an alien spaceship, by the terrifying and yet awe-inspiring Oankali. Searching the galaxy for new combinations of genes and DNA to acquire and trade, these advanced, uncanny beings are drawn to Lilith's cancer, which will give them new powers: but should she, and the few of her kind that remain, agree to become one with their extraterrestrial saviors? Adulthood Rites tells the story of Lilith's son, Akin, as he comes of age on a newly repopulated Earth. A "construct"--part-human, and part-Oankali--he is raised among human "resisters," who live apart from Oankali technology. Negotiating the complexities of interspecies politics and his own hybrid identity, he emerges as a leader, forging a new path on Mars for the human/Oankali future. Imago follows another of Lilith's hybrid progeny, Jodahs, through the jungles of a regenerating Earth. Raised as a male child, he discovers in his adolescence that he is becoming the first part-human ooloi, a member of the Oankali's shapeshifting, astonishingly powerful and perceptive third sex--a discovery with intense personal and planetary consequences. Continuing the Library of America's definitive edition of Butler's works, this volume offers authoritative texts of the novels, helpful notes, and a chronology of Butler's life and career.

This gripping graphic novel adaptation of Octavia E. Butler’s groundbreaking dystopian novel stands beside the acclaimed previous graphic novel adaptations, Kindred, a #1 New York Times bestseller, and Parable of the Sower, winner of the Hugo Award Set against a background of a war-torn continent under the control of a Christian fundamentalist fascist state, Parable of the Talents is a modern masterpiece that resonates powerfully. This graphic novel adaptation is brought to life thrillingly by Damian Duffy and John Jennings, the creative team behind the #1 New York Times bestselling adaptation of Kindred. Parable of the Talents is told in the voice of Lauren Olamina’s daughter, Asha Vere—from whom she has been separated for most of the girl’s life—interspersed with sections in the form of Lauren’s own journals. Asha searches for answers about her past while struggling to reconcile with her mother’s legacy—caught between her duty to her chosen family and her calling to lead humankind into a better future among the stars. Octavia E. Butler's bestselling literary science-fiction masterpieces are essential works in feminist, Afrofuturist, and fantasy genres, and this compelling graphic novel adaptation of Parable of the Talents is a major event.

I 2032, fem år efter at have mistet sin familie, har Lauren Olamina samlet en lille flok mennesker i det selvforsynende lokalsamfund kaldet Acorn. Laurens hyperempati har inspireret hende til at grundlægge den nyskabende spirituelle religion Earthseed. Den nye religion står i kontrast til den fundamentalistiske kristne kirke, som den nyvalgte præsident er en del af. På hans opfordring nedbrændes ikke-kristne kirker, og alternativt troende jages og slås ihjel – alt sammen under kampråbet ”Make America Great Again” …Lignelsen om talenterne indeholder ud over Laurens eget synspunkt, beretninger fra tre andre karakterer, Markus, Bankole og Asha Vere, som sætter Laurens liv og kald i perspektiv. Butler planlagde i hvert fald ét bind mere i serien, men nåede aldrig at skrive mere. Hvert bind er dog afsluttet og kan læses uafhængigt.

Verden som vi kender den er korrumperet af galskab og anarki, men en kvinde sætter sig for at skabe en bedre fremtid for sig selv og andre. Lauren Olamina og hendes familie lever i et beskyttet område i udkanten af Los Angeles. Inden for murene forsøger Laurens far, som er præst, sammen med andre fra området at redde, hvad der er tilbage af et lokalsamfund, som ellers er blevet ødelagt af narkotika, sygdom, krig og tilbagevendende vandmangel. Mens hendes far hjælper fællesskabet i den rigtige retning, kæmper Lauren med hyperempati, en lidelse, som gør hende exceptionelt sensitiv over for andres smerter. Da en brand raserer deres kvarter, bliver Laurens familie slået ihjel og hun tvinges ud i den farlige verden udenfor. Sammen med en håndfuld andre flygtninge, forsøger Lauren at rejse i sikkerhed nordpå, og undervejs opstår en revolutionerende idé i hendes sind, som måske kan redde hele menneskeheden." Octavia Butlers stort anlagte sci-fi-romaner om et USA i forfald føles skræmmende aktuel. Den sociale indignation slår gnister på hver af de næsten 1000 sider." - ATLAS