La trilogía olvidada de la gran dama de la ciencia ficción.
Treinta años después de su primera publicación en castellano, La estirpe de Lilith, título que reúne la Trilogía Xenogénesis en un solo volumen, vuelve a las librerías dispuesta a reivindicar a Octavia E. Butler como la gran pionera que deslumbró en ciencia ficción siendo una mujer negra. Hoy se la considera la primera escritora afroamericana de género en incorporarse al canon de la literatura norteamericana.
Lilith Iyapo despierta en una nave espacial oankali, la raza alienígena que salvó a la humanidad de la extinción después de que la Tierra quedase devastada a causa de una guerra nuclear. Estos seres han mantenido a Lilith y a otros supervivientes dormidos en animación suspendida durante siglos. Ella será la elegida que guiará a los suyos de vuelta a su propio planeta, ahora dominado por la naturaleza salvaje, para que aprendan a vivir en él y se conviertan en la semilla de una nueva estirpe. Pero todo intercambio tiene una contrapartida: su descendencia no será humana. O no exactamente. Bienvenidos a la poderosa epopeya interplanetaria que ha convertido a Octavia E. Butler en un mito.
«Hablé con unos treinta o cuarenta escritores negros de género que publicaban relatos cortos, novelas y demás, y todos lo hacían porque Octavia E. Butler les había abierto el camino.»
N. K. Jemisin
Reseñas:
«La escritora que rompió el techo de cristal de la ciencia ficción.»
elDiario.es
«No reconocida en su tiempo, la primera escritora negra de género entrará en 2021 en el canon norteamericano.»
El País
«Una de las pioneras del afrofuturismo, en una época en la que el género fantástico estaba dominado por hombres blancos.»
Culturamas
«Una de las mejores escritoras de ciencia ficción de todos los tiempos.»
The Objective
Mas de treinta y cinco anos despues de su lanzamiento, Parentesco sigue atrayendo a nuevos lectores con su profunda exploracion de la violencia y la perdida de la humanidad causada por la esclavitud en Estados Unidos, y el impacto complejo y duradero que aun tiene este hecho historico en la actualidad. La obra mas famosa de Butler, aclamada por la critica, cuenta la historia de Dana, una joven negra que de repente e inexplicablemente es transportada desde su hogar en la California de la decada de 1970 hasta la guerra civil. Mientras viaja en el tiempo entre ambos mundos, uno en el que es una mujer libre y otro en el que forma parte de su propia y complicada historia familiar en una plantacion del sur, se enreda aterradoramente en la vida de Rufus, un conflictivo esclavista que es a la vez un antepasado de Dana, y en las vidas de las muchas personas que estan esclavizadas por el. Considerada como una obra esencial dentro de los generos feminista, de ciencia ficcion y fantasia, y una piedra angular del movimiento afrofuturista, se han vendido mas de medio millon de copias de Parentesco. La interseccionalidad de la raza, la historia y el tratamiento de las mujeres abordada en este libro sigue siendo un tema critico en el dialogo contemporaneo, tanto en el aula como en la esfera publica. Inquietante, convincente y de una rica imaginacion, Parentesco ofrece una mirada inquebrantable a nuestra complicada historia social.
As the acclaimed Patternist science fiction series begins, two immortals meet in the long-ago past-and mankind's destiny is changed forever. For a thousand years, Doro has cultivated a small African village, carefully breeding its people in search of seemingly unattainable perfection. He survives through the centuries by stealing the bodies of others, a technique he has so thoroughly mastered that nothing on Earth can kill him. But when a gang of New World slavers destroys his village, ruining his grand experiment, Doro is forced to go west and begin anew. He meets Anyanwu, a centuries-old woman whose means of immortality are as kind as his are cruel. She is a shapeshifter, capable of healing with a kiss, and she recognizes Doro as a tyrant. Though many humans have tried to kill them, these two demi-gods have never before met a rival. Now they begin a struggle that will last centuries and permanently alter the nature of humanity.
Shori is a mystery. Found alone in the woods, she appears to be a little black girl with traumatic amnesia and near-fatal wounds. But Shori is a fifty-three-year-old vampire with a ravenous hunger for blood, the lost child of an
ancient species of near-immortals who live in dark symbiosis with humanity. Genetically modified to be able to walk in daylight, Shori now becomes the target of a vast plot to destroy her and her kind. And in the final apocalyptic battle,
her survival will depend on whether all humans are bigotsor all bigots are human
This exciting collection presents two previously unpublished stories by SF legend Butler. 'A Necessary Being' precedes the events of Survivor, Butler's third (famously disowned) installment in her Patternist series, and includes characters from it, focusing exclusively on the Kohn, aliens who build their social hierarchies on the blueness of their fur. In 'Childfinder,' a black woman with the gift of identifying children with latent psychic ability refuses to share her skill with an organization of white telepaths.
Best-selling author Octavia E. Butler's acclaimed novels have won numerous awards, and she is a recipient of a "genius" grant from the MacArthur Foundation. Parable of the Talents was selected as one of the best books of the year by Publishers Weekly. Environmental devastation and economic chaos have turned America into a land of horrifying depravity. Assault, theft, sexual abuse, slavery, and murder are commonplace. Taking advantage of the situation, a zealous, bigoted tyrant wins his way into the White House. Directly opposed is Lauren Olamina, founder of Earthseed--a new faith that teaches "God Is Change." Persecuted for "heathen" beliefs as much as for having a black female leader, Earthseed's followers face a life-and-death struggle to preserve their vision. Butler's fluid writing and keen observations about race, gender, politics, and religion make for a moving parable that will be pondered for generations. A powerful reading from three standout narrators captures the multi-generational sweep of this poignant tale.
The first science fiction written by a Black woman, Kindred has become a cornerstone of Black American literature. This combination of slave memoir, fantasy, and historical fiction is a novel of rich literary complexity. Having just celebrated her 26th birthday in 1976 California, Dana, an African-American woman, is suddenly and inexplicably wrenched through time into antebellum Maryland. After saving a drowning white boy there, she finds herself staring into the barrel of a shotgun and is transported back to the present just in time to save her life. During numerous such time-defying episodes with the same young man, she realizes the challenge she's been given: to protect this young slaveholder until he can father her own great-grandmother. Author Octavia E. Butler skillfully juxtaposes the serious issues of slavery, human rights, and racial prejudice with an exciting science fiction, romance, and historical adventure. Kim Staunton's narrative talent magically transforms the listener's earphones into an audio time machine.
Fledgling, the late Octavia E. Butler’s final novel, 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, fifty-three-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.
“Set in time periods ranging from the historical past to the distant future, Ms. Butler’s books were known for their controlled economy of language and for their strong, believable protagonists, many of them black women.”--New York Times, praise for the author
Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Octavia E. Butler paints a stunning portrait of an all-too-believable near future. As with Kindred and her other critically-acclaimed novels, Parable of the Sower skillfully combines startling visionary and socially realistic concepts. God is change. That is the central truth of the Earthseed movement, whose unlikely prophet is 18-year-old Lauren Olamina. The young woman's diary entries tell the story of her life amid a violent 21st-century hell of walled neighborhoods and drug-crazed pyromaniacs-and reveal her evolving Earthseed philosophy. Against a backdrop of horror emerges a message of hope: if we are willing to embrace divine change, we will survive to fulfill our destiny among the stars. For her elegant, literate works of science fiction, Octavia E. Butler has been compared to Toni Morrison and Ursula K. LeGuin. Narrator Lynne Thigpen's melodious voice will hold you spellbound throughout this compelling parable of modern society.
