After 48 Years, A Science Fiction Master's Lost "Star Trek" Story Is Finally Getting The Release It Deserves

After 48 years, a science fiction icon’s long-lost Star Trek-inspired novel is coming back into print. Octavia E. Butler’s reputation has steadily grown within the mainstream since her untimely passing in 2006. Butler’s on-point observations about class, gender and the environment continue to resonate with readers and inspire new generations of Black speculative fiction writers.

Prior to Butler’s arrival on the science fiction scene in the 1970s, Black practitioners of the genre were few and far between. The decade prior, Samuel R. Delany helped break down barriers, bringing issues of race to the field. Butler, who was inspired to write after watching a subpar science fiction movie as a child, struggled for years to get her work published. Butler took writing classes and workshops, including one under the direction of legendary author Harlan Ellison. Ellison was, according to Butler, one of the first “big” writers in the genre to take her seriously.

By the mid-1970s, Butler had broken into the field. Her first published novel, Patternmaster, was followed by a successive string of classics, including Kindred, which was adapted to television. Butler was recognized within the science fiction community, winning the Hugo and Nebula awards for her short story, “Bloodchild.” Butler’s career as a whole was solid, but her streak from 1977 to 1984 cannot be touched. Ironically, Butler wrote one book during this creatively fertile period that has gone out of print. Now, it is returning for a new generation of readers and scholars to appreciate.

A Long Lost Octavia E. Butler Book, Survivor, Is Returning to Print

Butler Had Issues With Survivor.

As reported in various news outlets, Grand Central Publishing will release Survivor this fall, bringing the book back to fans for the first time in nearly 50 years. In addition to the complete novel, Survivor will also include a previously unpublished short story, titled “A Necessary Being,” set in the series, which fans refer to as the “Patternist” cycle. Finally, Survivor will include essays by noted Butler scholars.

Survivor’s publication gives Butler’s fans a cause for celebration. Survivor had been out of print for a long time, and this was by Butler’s design. Survivor was, according to Butler scholars, a “rush job,” written to pay the bills. Butler also felt Survivor was “underdeveloped,” and not up to the quality of her other books. With this in mind, Butler simply let it slip out of print. Up until the announcement that Survivor was being reissued, copies commanded top dollar on the secondary market.

At the same time, Survivor’s return raises some serious ethical issues, namely how to handle an author’s estate and legacy. Butler was vehemently against Survivor coming back into print, meaning the executors of her estate are going against the late author’s wishes. While this may seem rude and disrespectful, defenders of the Survivor reprint are citing authors like Franz Kafka, who never wanted his illuminating body of work to be published, but was after his death. There is likely to be no consensus achieved in this area, and its reissue will remain controversial.

Butler Believed Survivor Was Her "Star Trek" Novel

Another part of Butler’s dissatisfaction with Survivor lies in its premise. The book opens with a group of humans fleeing Earth. Called “the Missionaries,” these humans come into contact with an alien race. One of the Missionaries, a young woman named Alanna, becomes a bridge between the two worlds. She bears a half-human, half-alien child in the book, and is eventually disowned by her Missionary family. The novel is a classic “first contact” scenario. Butler was not pleased with the development of this theme, finding it simplistic. She compared it to Star Trek.

Butler was ultimately dismissive of Survivor for a variety of reasons, but 20 years after her passing, the book will return. A new generation of fans and scholars are eager to get their hands on Survivor. With it once again in circulation, it will be interesting to see how modern readers approach Survivor. The book could very well be heading for a renaissance, in spite of its author, or it could confirm Butler’s suspicions about her “Star Trek”-like novel.

Survivor arrives in bookstores on September 1.