Octavia Butler blocked reprints of her 'lost' novel. More than 40 years later, it's back on shelves

This is read by an automated voice.Please report any issues or inconsistencies here.

Alyssa Collins knew when she assumed her post as the Huntington’s inaugural Octavia Butler fellow in 2021 that the science-fiction luminary had openly criticized her lost novel, “Survivor.” Butler’s disdain for the book was so evident in her notes and letters that Collins, now an assistant professor of gender and women’s studies at Cal State Northridge, feared reading it would be a betrayal of Butler’s wishes and taboo to her fans.When she finally did read the book, she understood Butler’s criticisms.

So when Hachette Book Group’s Grand Central Publishing division requested Collins write the introduction to its new edition of “Survivor,” hitting shelves in September after more than 40 years out of print, she was apprehensive.All that time she’d spent in Butler’s archive had made her feel emotionally connected to the author, who died in 2006 and has recently skyrocketed in popularity as her dystopian fiction has become regarded as prophetic.

Butler’s 1993 novel “Parable of the Sower” hit the New York Times bestseller list for the first time in 2020, nearly 15 years after her death.“On the one hand, I knew that Butler wasn’t a huge fan of [‘Survivor’] and just let it lapse,” Collins said.

“On the other hand, I knew she was incredibly critical of her own work.” Books Octavia E.Butler’s ‘Parable of the Sower’ topped our 101 Best Book Club Picks survey.

The owner of Octavia’s Bookshelf, Nikki High, discusses why this prophetic novel is more vital than ever.One of the things that tipped the scales was Collins’ discovery through the Anthropic Copyright Settlement Works List Lookup tool — which allows authors, publishers and literary agents to check if their books were used without permission to train Anthropic’s AI models — that nearly all of Butler’s novels had been downloaded.If AI could read “Survivor,” Collins re...