his episode features a live recording made at Foyles in London, where John was joined on stage by Una McCormack, making her record breaking tenth appearance on Backlsited, and Salena Godden, who returns eight years after blowing us away in the episode on Hubert Selby Jr. The book under discussion is Parable of the Sower a 1993 novel by the American science fiction writer, Octavia E. Butler. For those of you don’t know her work, you are in for a roller coaster ride. As fellow American novelist Junot Diaz has written, Butler is ‘one of the most significant literary artists of the twentieth century.’ This episode examines what makes her so important and why her reputation has taken time to establish itself, particularly in the UK. The novel is set in a superficially familiar California, a place that is rapidly descending into violence and mob rule, and is told through the eyes of Lauren Olamina, a teenage girl who has the ability to feel the pain of others as her own. The discussion covers the themes of religion and its uses in the novel, and the disfiguring legacy of slavery that Butler’s work constantly returns to. It provides an excellent introduction to the work of a writer whose books become more relevant with each passing year.

An extended bonus episode on this book will be available next weekend for Patrons on the Locklisted level.

Books mentioned:
Octavia E. Butler - Parable of the Sower; Parable of the Talents; Kindred; Blood Child
Salena Godden - Mrs Death Misses Death; With Love, Grief and Fury
Una McCormack - Star Trek: Discovery: The Way to the Stars; Enigma Tales
Courttia Newland - A River Called Time
Irenosen Okojie - Curandera
Zora Neale Hurston - Their Eyes Were Watching God
Lynell George - A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky
NK Jemisin - How Long Until Black Future Month
Colson Whitehead - The Underground Railroad
Percival Everett - James
Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson - The Principle of Moments
Nisi Shawl - Everfair
Gerry Canavan - Octavia E. Butler
Stephen King - The Stand