A specific trigger warning for this chapter, for child sexual abuse and incest.
Fifty years have passed. Anyanwu is married to Isaac, and is mother to many. Her daughter Nweke is nearing her transition; Doro returns, called by the girl. When he arrives, he sees in Nweke an opportunity to replace and humiliate Anyanwu, and takes it.
Toshi and adrienne explore chapter 7 of Octavia E. Butler’s Wild Seed. And as always, offer questions for you and your people to consider.
Read MoreAnyanwu, Doro, Isaac and the rest of the Silver Star’s passengers arrive at Doro’s land. Anyanwu is adapting to new language, new food, new customs and expectations. The extent and goals of Doro’s breeding program becomes clearer to us, and to her. Intimacies and abominations.
Toshi and adrienne explore chapter 6 of Octavia E. Butler’s Wild Seed. And as always, offer questions for you and your people to consider.
Read MoreAnyanwu reveals more of her capacities to Doro and her shipmates. Her danger, her hunger, her transformations. Isaac’s powers become more clear. And Octavia graces us with some of her most sensual writing, on the pleasures of being a dolphin.
Toshi and adrienne explore chapter 5 of Octavia E. Butler’s Wild Seed. And as always, offer questions for you and your people to consider.
Read MoreAnyanwu shows her true, transformative self to Okoye, her grandson. Both become sea sick. Anyanwu heals herself, but feels the pull of the waves. We meet Isaac, learn his relationship to Doro, and get further hints of their deep danger.
Toshi and adrienne explore chapter 4 of Octavia E. Butler’s Wild Seed, a chapter full of warnings. And as always, offer questions for you and your people to consider.
Read MoreAnyanwu and Doro reach the coast. She sees slavers for the first time, meets one of her kin. They board Doro’s boat, and set out onto the big water.
Toshi and adrienne explore chapter three of Octavia E. Butler’s Wild Seed. And as always, offer questions for you and your people to consider.
Read MoreAnyanwu leaves her village with Doro. Curiosity, fear, protection and attraction all in the mix. We learn more of Anyanwu’s healing powers, foraging skills, what she holds back. And learn more of Doro’s casual violence and power.
Toshi and adrienne break down the rich text of chapter one of Octavia E. Butler’s Wild Seed, as we launch into a new book and a new season. And as always, we offer questions for you and your people to consider.
Read MoreWe meet Anyanwu. And she meets Doro. We learn of their abilities, their longevity, their strengths and their danger. They feel each other out, appraising, assessing. Wary, compromising. It begins.
Toshi and adrienne break down the rich text of chapter one of Octavia E. Butler’s Wild Seed, as we launch into a new book and a new season. And as always, we offer questions for you and your people to consider.
Read MoreRheanna Murray, a member of the Octavia Butler and Emergent Strategy Facebook group, generously allowed us to post a zine they compiled of Earthseed verses. Thank you, Rheanna!
Read MoreWe’re pleased to share a study toolkit for Parable of the Sower which Tia Wilson assembled for Spirit House back in 2017. A big thank you to Tia and Spirit House for this; there is no shortage of rich wonder in the Octavia E. Butler-verse!
You can check out everything else they have on offer at https://www.spirithouse-nc.org/
Read MoreLarkin/Asha meets her “charismatic, dangerous, heathen” mother, Lauren. Our understanding of the timeline deepens. Marc’s duplicity continues to cause discord and heartbreak. And Earthseed does, finally, take root among the stars.
Toshi and adrienne break down the epilogue of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents. And offer some final questions (of this series!) for you and your people to consider.
Read MoreAll about Larkin. The final chapter. She’s living in New York. Reconnected with uncle Marc, and the church. She knows her mother’s identity, with mixed awareness. Some of her childhood dreams have come true. And yet. Meanwhile, Lauren is gathering her people, with seduction and a chance at a purpose. And still, always, hunting for her daughter.
To survive, know the past. Let it touch you. Then let the past go.
Toshi and adrienne break down Chapter 21 of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents. And as always, offer questions for you and your people to consider. Back next week, with the epilogue.
Read MoreLarkin meets her uncle Mark. Her smooth, beautiful, lying uncle Mark. Mark lies about Lauren, her path, her life, a lie of her death. Meanwhile, Lauren is on the move, reenergized. Finally, with a travel companion and collaborator in Earthseed. Earthseed rising.
Toshi and adrienne break down Chapter 20 of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents. And as always, offer questions for you and your people to consider.
Read MoreLarkin’s childhood, young adulthood. Her dream-mapping, her world-building bloom and are punished. Meanwhile, Lauren searches, to exhaustion. Allie tries to plant the seed that her daughter may never return. But Lauren’s search continues, with a new young ally.
Toshi and adrienne break down Chapter 19 of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents. And as always, offer questions for you and your people to consider.
Read MoreA chapter heavy with Marcus. Octavia revisits the politics of attractiveness. Lauren asks Marcus for help finding Larkin. He can’t hear her, he won’t hear her. Lauren gets a vital clue, but at a deep cost.
Toshi and adrienne break down Chapter 18 of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents. And as always, offer questions for you and your people to consider.revisits the politics of attractiveness. Lauren asks Marcus for help finding Larkin. He can’t hear her, he won’t hear her. Lauren gets a vital clue, but at a deep cost.
Toshi and adrienne break down Chapter 18 of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents. And as always, offer questions for you and your people to consider.
Read MoreOnce again, we travel with Lauren and with Larkin. Larkin searches to understand her mother. Lauren searches for Larkin, alone despite herself. The children of Acorn are still missing, almost all of them. Lauren braves a Christian America shelter, navigating her terror and trauma. And she sees a familiar, unwelcome, hypocritical face.
Toshi and adrienne break down Chapter 17 of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents. And as always, offer questions for you and your people to consider. Big, deep questions this week.
Read MoreAfter the storm. We gain insight into Larkin’s childhood in the Christian America children’s homes, in their vicious brutality. Lauren and her band find a lost friend, as they rebuild and survive. The first post-Acorn formation shifts, dissipates, reconfigures. A rich, dense, textured chapter.
Toshi and adrienne break down Chapter 16 of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents. And as always, offer questions for you and your people to consider. Including, what is your alter ego name?
Read MoreThis is the document of collected questions a listener, Mo, kindly generated and allowed us to share with the community. Thank you, Mo!
Read MoreTW: Mention of rape, childhood sexual abuse
Camp Christian is ashes. The story shifts back to Larkin, and her strategies for survival. Quiet was good, and questioning was bad. We rejoin Lauren, as she reclaims her agency. Earthseed disperses, with intention and grief.
Toshi and adrienne break down Chapter 15 of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents. And as always, offer questions for you and your people to consider.
Read MoreA dense, bruising, painful chapter.
A year has passed. A year of enslavement at Camp Christian. With an escape attempt, and its consequences. And a brutal, wasteful, pointless war.
We learn more of Larkin’s childhood life in her adoptive family, with its cruelties and violations.
Sickness strikes Camp Christian. A betrayal. A storm. And liberation.
Toshi and adrienne explore chapter 14 of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents, and as always, offer questions for you and your people to consider.
Read MoreTrigger warnings: sexual violence, rape.
We learn what happened to Larkin, and where the children went. We learn how the women of Acorn survive, day by day, and how they maneuver. New alliances are cautiously forming, at great risk. And the sexual violence is a constant presence. We grapple with the pleasure of power, and its consequences.
Toshi and adrienne explore chapter 13 of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents, and as always, offer questions for you and your people to consider.Toshi and adrienne explore chapter 12 of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents, and as always, offer questions for you and your people to consider.
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