Science Fiction writer Octavia Butler poses for a photograph near some of her novels at University Book Store in Seattle, Wash., on Feb. 4, 2004. (Joshua Trujillo/seattlepi.com via AP, File)
By Chris Pizzello, Hillel Italie
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Decades ago, the writer Octavia Butler had imagined a Los Angeles ravaged by fires.
The Altadena cemetery where the science fiction and Afrofuturism author is buried did catch fire last week but suffered “minimal damage,” according to a statement on the cemetery’s website.
The grave of Butler, who died in 2006 at 58, is marked by a footstone etched with a quote from “Parable of the Sower,” among her most famous novels.
Since the fires began last week, the novel and other Butler works have been cited for anticipating a world — and, particularly, a Los Angeles — wracked by climate change, racism and economic disparity. “Parable of the Sower” was written in 1993 and set in a post-apocalyptic LA.
“We had a fire today,” reads a Feb. 1, 2025, diary entry in the book, referring to a small blaze that presages the destructive fires to come in the novel.
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