Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower was originally published in 1993, as the first part of a planned dystopian trilogy that she would not live to complete. Set in the mid-to-late 2020s, the book tells the story of Lauren Olamina, a Black teenager who is gifted (or cursed) with "hyper-empathy syndrome," which makes her feel other peoples' pleasure and pain. — Read the rest