Soooo, author Octavia Butler pretty much predicted the times we're in

[MariaCSR]

https://www.newyorker.com/books/second-read/octavia-butlers-prescient-vision-of-a-zealot-elected-to-make-america-great-again

Octavia Estelle Butler (June 22, 1947 – February 24, 2006) was an African American science fiction writer. A multiple recipient of both the Hugo and Nebula awards, in 1995 she became the first science fiction writer to receive a MacArthur Fellowship.

The sequel, “Parable of the Talents,” published in 1998, begins in 2032. By then, various forms of indentured servitude and slavery are common, facilitated by high-tech slave collars. The oppression of women has become extreme; those who express their opinion, “nags,” might have their tongues cut out. People are addicted not only to designer drugs but also to “dream masks,” which generate virtual fantasies as guided dreams, allowing wearers to submerge themselves in simpler, happier lives. News comes in the form of disks or “news bullets,” which “purport to tell us all we need to know in flashy pictures and quick, witty, verbal one-two punches. Twenty-five or thirty words are supposed to be enough in a news bullet to explain either a war or an unusual set of Christmas lights.” The Donner Administration has written off science, but a more immediate threat lurks: a violent movement is being whipped up by a new Presidential candidate, Andrew Steele Jarret, a Texas senator and religious zealot who is running on a platform to “make American great again

Wow.

[murielm99]

1. I read that book about a year ago

and posted that very quote here.

Butler was a terrific talent. It is a shame we lost her so soon.

[ismnotwasm]

2. I spent a year reading female only authors

(I recommend this to everybody btw) I read everything I could find of hers. Her writing combined with her insight and wisdom helped me think critically and som4times gave me hope in the midst of despair. Her characters are awesome. She’s a wonder, and was gone far too soon.

[PETRUS]

4. That's awesome.

I'm a white male who grew up in the US. I read quite a bit and make a point of choosing books by women, people of color, and people from other parts of the world. (Although I still read plenty of white male American authors.) But I've never dedicated an entire year's worth of reading to nonwhites or females or anything.

Have your read Ursula Leguin, NK Jemisin, or Nnedi Okorafor? If you appreciate Octavia Butler I think you'd like those authors as well.

Any recommendations for me?

[WhiteTara]

3. That slogan was used by American nazis in the 30s

I saw a cartoon by Dr. Seuss and the mother had that slogan on her shirt. Very disturbing.