(New York, NY, April 24th) Open Road Integrated Media, a digital publisher and multimedia content company, announced today it is bringing a wide range of Octavia E. Butler’s bestselling and acclaimed science fiction novels to E for the first time ever. As part of its Author Brand Program, Open Road will digitally publish and market ten Octavia E. Butler titles, including the Nebula Award-winning Parable of the Talents and the Xenogenesis trilogy. The announcement was made today by Betsy Mitchell, Open Road’s strategic advisor for science fiction and fantasy.
Butler was the first African-American woman to come to prominence as a science fiction writer. Published early in her career in small print runs and without much attention, she evolved into a major force in both science fiction and mainstream literature as audiences came to appreciate how her work dealt boldly with such topics as race, religion, gender and social structure. She received numerous awards, including a MacArthur “genius” grant, and was a Nebula, Hugo and PEN American Center lifetime achievement award winner. Posthumously, she was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame.
Butler, who died in 2006, would have turned 65 this year. Her books continue to resonate; Kindred was chosen as one of thirty books that were given out for free as part of World Book Night on April 23rd. Now, for the first time ever, fans of Kindred will have the ability to explore Butler’s other books in E.
Said Merrilee Heifetz, Butler’s longtime agent and executor of her literary estate: “With a rich backlist of titles by such an esteemed author, I needed a truly dynamic epublisher who would do more than just make Octavia’s work available; I also needed someone who really knew her body of work, her literary position and her place in science fiction history. Thus when Betsy Mitchell (Butler’s former editor) joined Open Road, I was delighted that I could have both the best emarketing and a trusted partner for this important digital venture.”
Mitchell said: “Octavia Butler deserves to be as widely read as possible, and in today’s marketplace that means she must be available in electronic form. I could not be more proud to be able to bring her work to today’s digital readers.”
Open Road will publish the following: Parable of the Sower, Parable of the Talents, Wild Seed, Mind of My Mind, Clay’s Ark, Patternmaster, Dawn, Adulthood Rites, Imago, and the short fiction collection Bloodchild and Other Stories.
The ebooks will include an illustrated biography featuring never before seen photos. Open Road will produce marketing videos about Butler and her work which will be syndicated to content partners.
