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See as well Octavia Butler in this  journal.

A book first published by Doubleday in 1979:

From Fritz Leiber's 1959 sci-fi classic "Damnation Morning" —

She drew from her handbag a pale grey
gleaming implement that looked by quick turns
to me like a knife, a gun, a slim sceptre, and a
delicate branding iron— especially when its tip
sprouted an eight-limbed star of silver wire.

“The test?” I faltered, staring at the thing.

“Yes, to determine whether you can live in the
fourth dimension or only die in it.”

See also Philanthropic Numerology (St. Luke's Day, 2012).

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.

From Amazon.com:

Book Description
"Publication Date: April 23, 2013
James Blish called him the “finest conscious artist
science fiction ever produced.” Kurt Vonnegut based
the famous character Kilgore Trout on him. And
such luminaries as Harlan Ellison, Stephen King, and
Octavia Butler have hailed him as a mentor.
Theodore Sturgeon was both a popular favorite and
a writer’s writer…."

A writers' writer's writer:

"A writer's writer, Mrs. Le Guin 
brings reality itself to the proving ground."

— Theodore Sturgeon

* Shakespeare's birthday, April 23

Harvard Gazette , March 4th, 2013:

"Winfrey will speak on May 30 during Commencement day’s
Afternoon Exercises, which serve as the annual meeting of
the Harvard Alumni Association. The exercises will take place
in the Tercentenary Theatre of Harvard Yard,
between Memorial Church and Widener Library."

On the 1977 Octavia Butler novel Mind of My Mind :

"The first chapter in a history that Butler has already taken up
at a much later stage in Patternmaster  (1976).
Mind of My Mind  begins with Doro, a ruthless mutant
as old as the pyramids who has spent the last 4,000 years
trying to breed a race in his own image. The culminating
experiment is his daughter Mary. But, to Doro's astonishment,
Mary's first instinct on attaining her full powers is to begin
building a mental community— a Pattern— out of the
wretched thousands of Doro's half-telepathic failures
and partial successes. Despite some ragged moments,
Butler is clearly on to a promising vein— something like
Zenna Henderson's 'People' stories without their
saccharine silliness. There's a lot of intrinsic energy in the
Pattern idea, and one wants to see where this erratic, gifted
storyteller will pick it up next."

— Kirkus Reviews , Vol. XLV, No. 8 (1977), p. 453.

See this journal on Butler's dies natalis , the feast of St. Matthias, 2006.

Those who prefer Eastern approaches to religion may consult
Robert Thurman and his daughter Uma.

"Oprah, Uma. Uma, Oprah." — David Letterman

Four southern authors—

Of particular interest in light of previous posts on singer Alicia Keys and on
author Octavia Butler — author Charles G. Bell, second from left above.

See videos of  Bell's Symbolic History  series.