Order of Octavia E. Butler Books
Octavia E. Butler was a legendary writer in the world of science-fiction and the first science-fiction writer to receive a MacArthur Fellowship. She is perhaps best known for her novel, Kindred which follows an African-American woman who is transported from 1976 Los Angeles to early 19th-century Maryland where she meets her ancestors. She won the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1998 for her book, Parable of the Talents. She was also the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award in Writing from the PEN American Center and is an inductee into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame.
Butler was born in Pasadena, California in 1947 at a time when young black girls were not expected to become writers. The genre was dominated by white males and her mother saw her hoped that she might one day become a secretary. She had a tough childhood as she suffered from shyness and slight dyslexia. This lead to her being bullied at school and she passed her time reading science fiction at the local library. At the age of 10, her mother bought her a Remington typewriter that allowed her to begin writing more. She was 12 years old when she watched the television version of the film Devil Girl from Mars and decided that she could write a better story herself. She got to work on the story and it became the basis for what would later become her Patternist series of books.
She would attend Pasadena City College at night after high school and this is when she earned her first success in writing, winning a short story contest. This is also when the idea for Kindred came to her at a Black Power Movement event when a classmate criticized previous generations of African Americans for being subservient to whites. Butler’s breakthrough would occur when she attended the Open Door Workshop of the Writers Guild of America West, a program designed to mentor minority writers. It was here that she was taught by Harlan Ellison who became a mentor to her and publisher her work in his anthology The Last Dangerous Visions that never ended up being published. She published her first novel, Patternmaster in 1976.
Publication Order of Earthseed Books
Parable of the Sower | (1993) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Parable of the Talents | (1998) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Publication Order of Patternmaster Books
Patternmaster | (1976) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Mind of My Mind | (1977) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Survivor | (1978) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Wild Seed | (1980) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Clay's Ark | (1984) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Butler did not like the novel Survivor and she didn't authorize it for reprinting after its initial run. |
Chronological Order of Patternmaster Books
Wild Seed | (1980) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Mind of My Mind | (1977) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Clay's Ark | (1984) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Survivor | (1978) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Patternmaster | (1976) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Publication Order of Xenogenesis Books
Dawn | (1987) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Adulthood Rites | (1988) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Imago | (1989) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Publication Order of Standalone Novels
Kindred | (1979) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Fledgling | (2005) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas
Speech Sounds | (1983) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Bloodchild | (1984) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
The Evening and the Morning and the Night | (1987) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
A Few Rules for Predicting the Future: An Essay | (2024) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Publication Order of Short Story Collections
Bloodchild and Other Stories | (1995) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Unexpected Stories | (2014) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Publication Order of Damian Duffy Graphic Novels
The Hole | (2008) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
Kindred | (2017) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
Parable of the Sower | (2020) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
Comic Arts Against Erasure | (2022) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
Parable of the Talents | (2025) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
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Publication Order of Nnedi Okorafor Graphic Novels
(with Nnedi Okorafor)
Kindred | (2017) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
Black Panther: Long Live the King | (2018) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
Wakanda Forever | (2018) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
Shuri, Vol. 2 | (2019) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
Shuri: Wakanda Forever | (2020) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
After the Rain | (2021) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
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Publication Order of Graphic Novels
(with Nnedi Okorafor)
Kindred | (2017) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Parable of the Sower | (2020) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Parable of the Talents | (2025) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books
Conversations with Octavia Butler | (2009) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Publication Order of Foundations of Fear Anthology Books
An Exploration of Horror: Foundations of Fear | (1992) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
Foundations of Fear: Volume I: Shadows of Fear | (1994) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
Foundations of Fear: Volume II: Worlds of Fear | (1994) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
Foundations of Fear: Volume III: Visions of Fear | (1994) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
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Publication Order of L. Ron Hubbard Presents: Writers of the Future Books
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 1 | (1985) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 2 | (1986) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 3 | (1987) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 4 | (1988) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 5 | (1989) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 6 | (1990) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 7 | (1991) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 8 | (1992) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future9 | (1993) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 10 | (1994) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 11 | (1995) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 12 | (1996) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 13 | (1997) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 14 | (1998) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 15 | (1999) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 16 | (2000) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 17 | (2001) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 18 | (2002) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 19 | (2002) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 20 | (2004) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 21 | (2005) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 22 | (2006) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 23 | (2007) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 24 | (2008) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 25 | (2009) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 26 | (2010) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 27 | (2011) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 28 | (2012) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 29 | (2013) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 30 | (2014) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 31 | (2015) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 32 | (2016) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 33 | (2017) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 34 | (2018) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 35 | (2019) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 36 | (2020) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 37 | (2021) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 38 | (2022) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 39 | (2023) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
L. Ron Hubbard Presents: Writers of the Future 40 | (2024) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future 41 | (2025) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
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Publication Order of Anthologies
If You Like Octavia E. Butler Books, You’ll Love…
Kindred is considered by many to be Butler’s masterpiece. The story takes Dana, a modern black woman in the 1970s with a white husband and sends her back in time to the antebellum South. The first time she is transported she meets Rufus, the son of a white plantation owner, who is drowning. Dana travels through time to save him before being drawn back to her time. This is only her first trip and each subsequent trip will grow longer and more dangerous.
Butler’s Earthseed/Parable series starts off with Parable of the Sower. The series takes place in a near future in a world that has been destroyed by drugs, disease, war, and chronic water shortages. Lauren Olamina lives with her family in a safe neighborhood on the outskirts of Los Angeles. She suffers from something called hyperempathy, a condition that makes her extraordinarily sensitive to the pain of others. Lauren holds dreams of a better world, a world she will be forced to fight for when a fire destroys her compound and she is sent out into the dangerous world.
