Freeman Dyson in a New York Times interview online today:
"Who is your favorite novelist of all time?
Octavia Butler, a tall black lady who died in 2006.
She wrote 'Parable of the Sower' and 'Parable of
the Talents,' two books that are normally classified
as science fiction but are more concerned with
theology than with science. The main character in
both stories is a black woman who survives
apocalyptic disasters and becomes the founder of
a new religion in California."
See also Octavia Butler in this journal.