Parable of the Talents is the second in a series of science fiction novels written by Octavia E. Butler

Octavia E. Butler

Octavia Estelle Butler was an American science fiction writer, one of the best-known among the few African-American women in the field. She won both Hugo and Nebula awards. In 1995, she became the first science fiction writer to receive the MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant.- Background :Butler...

 and published in 1998.

Plot introduction

Parable of the Talents (1998) (the sequel to Parable of the Sower

Parable of the Sower (novel)

Parable of the Sower is the first in a two-book series of science fiction novels written by Octavia E. Butler and published in 1993.-Plot summary:...

) tells the story of how, as the U.S. continues to fall apart, the protagonist's community is attacked and taken over by a bloc of religious fanatics who inflict brutal atrocities. The novel is a harsh indictment of religious fundamentalism, and has been compared in that respect to Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood

Margaret Eleanor Atwood, is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, and environmental activist. She is among the most-honoured authors of fiction in recent history; she is a winner of the Arthur C...

's The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaid's Tale is a dystopian novel, a work of science fiction or speculative fiction, written by Canadian author Margaret Atwood and first published by McClelland and Stewart in 1985...

.

Proposed third Parable novel

Butler had planned to write a third Parable novel, tentatively titled Parable of the Trickster, which would have focused on the community's struggle to survive on a new planet. She began this novel after finishing Parable of the Talents, and mentioned her work on it in a number of interviews, but at some point encountered a writer's block

Writer's block

Writer's block is a condition, primarily associated with writing as a profession, in which an author loses the ability to produce new work. The condition varies widely in intensity. It can be trivial, a temporary difficulty in dealing with the task at hand. At the other extreme, some "blocked"...

. She eventually shifted her creative attention, resulting in Fledgling

Fledgling (novel)

Fledgling is a science fiction novel by Octavia Butler and published in 2005.-Plot summary:The novel tells the story of Shori, who appears to be a 10 or 11 year old African-American girl, but is actually a 53 year old member of a race called "Ina". It is eventually revealed that the Ina are the...

, her final novel.