The Sword and Laser discussion

Our pick for next month will be: Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler.

Let us know what you think of the pick.

I am looking forward to reading this book. I have only heard good things about it.

Some fun statistical facts:

Octavia E. Butler is the 5th author to have 2 or more books chosen as an official Sword and Laser Book pick. We also read “Dawn” in July, 2014

She is the 9th if you include alternate picks.

Octavia is the 5th female author we have read in a row and the 10th female author we have read in 2020. Octavia is also the 4th POC author we have read this year. These are all calendar year records.

FYI It's actually on sale for $2.99 on Kindle starting today! I don't know when the sale ends.

https://smile.amazon.com/Parable-Sowe...

The second book of the duology, Parable of the Talents, is also on sale

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...

For those who read comics, Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel Adaptation was published at the beginning of this year

Pointing out the obvious, but Rhythm of War is out, to be closely followed by Ready Player Two... so this doesn't stand a ghost of chance of making it onto my TBR pile.

AndrewP wrote: "Pointing out the obvious, but Rhythm of War is out, to be closely followed by Ready Player Two... so this doesn't stand a ghost of chance of making it onto my TBR pile."

It’s shorter than most of Sanderson’s prologues, so you can prolly squeeze it in.

What luck! I had already started reading/listening to this book after finishing Howl's early. Lynn Thigpen is the narrator and it is fantastic! I only regret I have not read Butler before now.

Ohh a feel good book!

(this is sarcasm. But it's a stunningly good book)

^^ Yep, Goodread has it at 345 pages. LA Public Library has a wait of 18 weeks but LA County Library is 5 weeks. It'll probably arrive halfway through December.

I've never read Octavia Butler. Will be good to finally read one of hers.

$3 on Apple Books, but still $20 at MyMustReads. Will have to throw a buck at the local indie for cheating on them.

I love this choice!

John (Taloni) wrote: "^^ Yep, Goodread has it at 345 pages. LA Public Library has a wait of 18 weeks but LA County Library is 5 weeks. It'll probably arrive halfway through December.

I've never read Octavia Butler. Wil..."
Just buy it. It's $3...

One of my favorite novels. I was just thinking I should read it again soon, perfect timing!

Its an excellent novel. I look forward to seeing what people think and get from it.

I read Parable of the Sower back in September. Excellent and looking forward to the discussion. I picked up hardcovers of both Parable of the Sower & Talents at my neighborhood book shop and plan to pick up the graphic novel next time.

There is a podcast titled Octavia's Parables doing episode for each chapter of the Parable of the Sower (i believe they will move into the second volume as well), right now they are at the chapter 22.
I did read both of the novels years ago in translation, I think now I’ll give the audiobooks a try.

Thomas wrote: "FYI It's actually on sale for $2.99 on Kindle starting today! I don't know when the sale ends.

https://smile.amazon.com/Parable-Sowe......"

Or you can also buy both books for $5.24, probably even cheaper for Americans as my price for the single volumes is $3.14
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072NZBPFG

Already bought some time back and quietly waiting in my massive TBR stack. Time to getroundtoit!

I posted this in discord, but I'm a bit reluctant to pick up a dystopian novel right now. I'm struggling to read in general and I keep hearing people say how "close to reality" this is.

That kind of scares me off this book right now. Also I struggled with Dawn back when we read it.

This will be a reread for me and I'm a little nervous only because I've had it listed in my favorites without rereading it for... FIFTEEN years. Ha. It was one of the books that started it all, going back to reading science fiction. The one fun class I took in grad school was "genre fiction for adults" and I did my final project on feminist science fiction, so of course included Octavia. From there I became a librarian and worked with a professor teaching a class about apocalypse and unrest in fiction, which also included Octavia. I did a long spree of apocalypse and dystopian reading after that, 2006-2010 I probably would have called it my favorite sub-genre.

I've pulled back from post-apocalypse a bit, partly because it got pretty tropey and YA-focused, partly because I'd read so much of the good stuff, and partly because my own life was difficult and I didn't need it in my fiction. But one light I always held for the parable books is that they are more focused on rebuilding. And maybe that's my wish for 2021, making this the perfect inspirational read? We'll see. There have been a lot of books between 2005 and today.

I picked this up in an omnibus with the second book on a Kindle deal because I'd seen so much about Octavia Butler. It was a good purchase as I enjoyed it. I did prefer Parable of the Sower.

I haven’t read this before but I really enjoyed Kindred so I’m hyped to read more Butler! Used an audible credit - Rhythm of War can wait.

This book feels like it will have The Handmaid's Tale vibes. I’m going to try but I am worried.

The Kindle edition is on sale for $2.99 right now, so I'll give it a crack. Octavia Butler is one of the hallmark SF names I don't have under my belt yet, so this'll be something new.

Rob wrote: "I posted this in discord, but I'm a bit reluctant to pick up a dystopian novel right now. I'm struggling to read in general and I keep hearing people say how "close to reality" this is.

That kind ..."

Reading has been hard this year. I found myself reading fantasy novels...

Jennifer wrote: "Reading has been hard this year."

I had to do some rereading. I couldn't deal with too much suspense or too many surprise twists. It helped, I'm back to reading new stuff now.

Trike wrote: "It’s shorter than most of Sanderson’s prologues, so you can prolly squeeze it in."

Good that you mention that. I forgot to put Sanderson's 'Dawnshard' on my list :) Also I'm with Rob. I didn't like 'Dawn' so have no incentive to read this.

Anyone who is struggling with the events of this year in particular might want to give this one a miss. Despite its blue sky sci-fi-ness, Butler was eerily prescient about the emotional and political turbulence of the current era.

(Really don’t read this after reading The Fourth Turning: What the Cycles of History Tell Us about America's Next Rendezvous with Destiny. You won’t sleep well after.)

John (Taloni) wrote: "^^ Yep, Goodread has it at 345 pages. LA Public Library has a wait of 18 weeks but LA County Library is 5 weeks. It'll probably arrive halfway through December.

I've never read Octavia Butler. Wil..."

I did the $3 purchase from Amazon. So I removed my hold for the LA County Library book. Hopefully that moves you all up the list a tiny bit.

I read Wild Seed a while back & thought it was excellent. I'm ready to dive into this one.

terpkristin wrote: "This book feels like it will have The Handmaid's Tale vibes. I’m going to try but I am worried."

The blurb on the front of my copy say:
'Brilliant, endlessly rich . . . pairs well with 1984 or The Handmaid's Tale'
John Green.

So a feel good book full of kittens and unicorns 😉

So... I love most Butler. Wild Seed and its sequels were amazing. Dawn was disturbing in precisely the way it should be (hi, consent and identity issues... ). Parable is... I think it's an excellent book but it runs afoul of my dislike of post-apoc books.

I wouldn't blame anyone for skipping this, but do try at least Dawn or Wild Seed - she's one of the best of the 20th century SF writers and her fiction is unlike almost anything else I've read.

Wild Seed is one of my all-time favorite books. It’s so great.

I love Octavia Butler's works - I actually only 'discovered' her relatively recently, and haven't read PotS. I've just started, and I confess the first chapter is making me wonder if I'm a bit fragile for this at the moment...

Trike wrote: "Anyone who is struggling with the events of this year in particular might want to give this one a miss. Despite its blue sky sci-fi-ness, Butler was eerily prescient about the emotional and politic..."

Not far from reality...she had vision.

Trike wrote: "Wild Seed is one of my all-time favorite books. It’s so great."

You've seen that the entire series exists in one volume, yeah? Seed to Harvest

I’m already reading this book and following along to the podcast Octavia’s Parables, hosted by adrienne maree brown and Toshi Reagon. They go chapter by chapter each week/episode and provide discussion questions and great insight—it’s beautifully done.

I find myself easily drawn in by Butler’s writing style.

Heads up to content warnings of sexual assault and violence. If you are hesitant to read dystopian/ post apocalyptic stories right now, I’d maybe wait to read this book.

Tassie Dave wrote: "So a feel good book full of kittens and unicorns 😉"

There *is* a book that is like this - The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune. Perhaps Future Guest Host will pick it as an antidote to the apocalypse.

Okay so it actually has the son of Satan in it, but he's kind of... cute? Boyish charm and shenanigans?

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "Tassie Dave wrote: "So a feel good book full of kittens and unicorns 😉"

There *is* a book that is like this - The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune. Perhaps Future Guest Host..."

Hm, I think I know what to reread after I finish… The last time I tried to read PotS, I was not in the right headspace and made it to the end of 2024.

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "Tassie Dave wrote: "So a feel good book full of kittens and unicorns 😉"

There *is* a book that is like this - The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune. Perhaps Future Guest Host..."

I recently read that and loved it. It is the perfect antidote to 2020.

Not particularly pertinent to whether or not you want to read it in December, but Kickstarter just tried to get me interested in this super-fancy edition of Parable of the Sower.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...

I read this 8 years ago and am in the minority in that I didn't particularly enjoy it. According to the review I wrote at the time, I liked the premise a lot, and was enjoying it in the very beginning, but execution of the storytelling dragged it down for me as it progressed: (view spoiler)[things became too repetetive and boring for me. They met with the same challenges over and over again on their journey. The characters seemed kind of one dimensional, the way they spoke didn't seem very realistic to me, and no one was particularly likable. Nothing was improved by the ending, which was pretty unsatisfying and not very hopeful. (hide spoiler)]

^ You're not alone. I kept waiting for this book to get to the good parts. I'm not even sure it's SF. Just a bunch of dreary events.

(In before the lock!)

It's not exactly light fare in the middle of a pandemic, but I'm 3/4 of the way through it and loving it which kind of surprises me for several reasons.

The month has begun. Go forth, read and create discussion thread!