This story aired in the May 27, 2025 episode of Crosscurrents.
It is the year 2025. Natural disasters are on the rise, people are vanishing, and America just became “Great Again.”
These are more than present day headlines, they are also tales from Octavia Butler’s classic 1993 book “Parable of the Sower.”
Today, some people are looking to genres such as Black horror and Afro-Futurism as a guide for the times. Isis Asare is the owner of Sistah Sci-Fi bookstore, who’s helping people navigate our present day reality with speculative fiction.
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Story Transcript:
Sound of song “Thriller” by Michael Jackson.
REPORTER: It’s the day before Trump’s second inauguration. The San Francisco public library theatre is packed with devoted horror fans - more specifically, fans of Black horror.
There are no ghosts here, and there’s no blood, but there is an opportunity to heal.
NAOMI JELKS: The San Francisco Public Library is pleased to partner with Sista Sci-Fi and present Shadows and Light, Exploring Black Horror and Black Healing.
AUDIENCE: Woo-hoo!
Sounds of audience clapping
NAOMI JELKS: So without further ado, I'm gonna hand things off to Isis Sistah Sci- Fi.
Sound of audience cheering
ISIS ASARE: Oh my God, y'all are such a beautiful audience. Yes, clap it up for yourself.
REPORTER: Isis is the founder of Sistah Sci-Fi, the nation’s first Black owned bookstore that focuses on science fiction, fantasy, and Afro-Futurism.
Today Isis is moderating the event, featuring prominent Black sci-fi and horror authors like Tananarive Due, legendary writer and professor.
She traveled here from L.A. to speak in the midst of the devastating fires that have taken over Southern California.
TANANARIVE DUE: and the threat of everything around you going up in flames, I don't know, for some reason, just seems like such an apt metaphor for where we are right now at this point in American history. These are scary, scary times.
REPORTER: These are scary times for many people. But horrific events like this are not new to some of us in the Black community in America.
Sounds of 1960’s backlash during desegregation.
REPORTER: From the fiery massacre that destroyed Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1921 to the violent backlash of the Civil Rights movement in the 1960’s that still haunts us today.
The genre of Black horror reflects some of our most scary times. Books and films illustrate the lived experiences of Black people in America, often calling attention to the social and political terrors we navigate daily.
At today’s event, I think author and playwright, Jewelle Gomez, really gets to the heart of the matter.
JEWELLE GOMEZ: The trauma that was experienced from the middle passage forward is still inside us. It’s in our cells. So, for me horror is, a way that we can dig down deep and give ourselves a place to scream. 'Cause that's what we really need to do.
REPORTER: With everything going on in the world, with everything that you've been through in your life. When was the last time you took a moment to scream?
For some of us, the genre of Black horror creates an opportunity to look at our wounds and remove an intergenerational pain that has been trapped inside our bodies.
Graphic novelist and professor, John Jennings, says Black horror invites its audience to name and process their trauma to ultimately let it go, in order to heal.
JOHN JENNINGS: And I always use the Song Bag Lady to talk about it. Because it's trauma in those bags. There's, there's oppression in those bags, so you gotta let those go, so you can move forward. It's the unpacking of those horrors till you can get to an Afro-Future.
REPORTER: It’s time to put our bags down and journey to a place beyond our trauma.
Owner of Sistah Sci-Fi, Isis Asare, says this is where the genre of Afro-Futurism comes in.
ISIS ASARE: Afrofuturism is really a tool to sit with our current trauma, but more importantly, tap into like an optimism and positivity and a sense of imagination and creativity of our collective futures.
REPORTER: Now, keep in mind that Afro-futurism is infinite. We could spend a lifetime discussing the depth and expansiveness of this genre.
I mean we can get into books, films, performing arts, science.
But, if you’ve never heard the term before, I need an example of Afro Futurism that’s familiar…
ISIS ASARE: Wakanda. That’s Afro-Futurism for me.
REPORTER: Black Panther! Yes, Isis, that’s perfect.
ISIS ASARE: It takes element of science fiction, it takes element of fantasy and it's deeply rooted, in Black culture like here in America, in Black culture across the diaspora.
REPORTER: Exactly. The movie has Black technology, fashion, music- anything you can think of.
I remember when Black Panther first came out. Trump was in office during that time too.
Seeing that movie was a complete cultural shift that brought so much joy and inspiration to every Black person I knew.
That’s the power of Afro-Futurism.
For Isis, that cultural shift happened when she discovered Afro-Futurist books written by Black women. She wanted to make sure other Black people knew about the power of these works, too.
ISIS ASARE: And that was the birth of Sister Sci-Fi. I was like, nobody who should know, will not know under my watch.
REPORTER: Sistah Sci-Fi is not a traditional bookstore. It’s primarily located in cyberspace where you can tune in to virtual discussions and book clubs.
But also, Isis has found a way to bring people together by putting book vending machines in community spaces and hosting in-person events.
ISIS ASARE: It really is a space where people can come together, not only read the books, but think about the tenants and the principles, discussing them, and think about how to make a better future really for all of us.
Sounds of Sanctuary Event
ISIS ASARE: Hi everyone. Y'all look so beautiful.
REPORTER: It’s a Saturday evening in downtown Oakland. Isis is welcoming a group of local residents at an apothecary called, The Sanctuary.
ISIS ASARE: So y'all are here for a vision workshop. It will be a true blessing. I hope y'all are ready for all this goodness.
REPORTER: People are here to envision a better future in the face of adversity- a central practice of Afro-futurism.
It’s something Black people have been doing since the beginning of time.
Through art and other practices like dreaming and record keeping, our ancestors challenged the status quo and mapped out pathways to freedom.
For this vision workshop, Isis references Afro-Futurist icon, Octavia Butler, as someone who provided a blueprint for designing better futures.
ISIS ASARE: Octavia Butler did a lot of work with setting intentions for a future through journaling. So, which is the first step is outlining your vision board.
REPORTER: Butler is mostly known for her 1990’s Parable book series, which some would say are Black horror novels. Set in a post apocalyptic society, they have scenes of climate change, social inequity, and political chaos.
Here’s Butler in a 2005 news interview, a few months before her passing.
OCTAVIA BUTLER: I have a character in the books who is a, um, well, someone who is taking the country fascist. And who manages to get elected president.
REPORTER: These books so closely resemble our lives today, that some people see them as prophecies.
But Butler didn’t want people to see her as a psychic. Instead, her books were a reflection of the times she was living in and she wrote them as a warning to her readers.
OCTAVIA BUTLER: They were what I call, uh, cautionary tales.
REPORTER: They were tales about what could come true if people didn’t start making smarter decisions. Here she is reading an excerpt from Parable of the Talents.
OCTAVIA BUTLER: Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought. To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears. To be led by a tyrant is to sell yourself and those you love into slavery.
REPORTER: I think Butler’s work shows us that envisioning a better future isn’t about creating a fairy tale. She offers an unfiltered truth through her writing, challenging us to reclaim our agency and harness our Divine wisdom.
ISIS ASARE: For me, the term Afrofuturism, which is not perfect,is like a siren call for other people who want to really vision beyond the lines.
REPORTER: No matter the horrors we face, Afro-Futurism is an invitation to take ownership of our destiny.
It’s a declaration that we’ve been here, we’re still here, and we’ll always be here.