The covers of the Xenogenesis book trilogy by Octavia E. Butler

Abstract

In 2021, Nova published the novels of the Xenogenesis trilogy (Dawn, Adulthood Rites and Imago) by American writer Octavia E. Butler, in a single volume, both in print and digital versions titled Lilith’s Brood. Xenogenesis. In addition to the official cover, the publisher put on sale some copies with an alternative cover made by illustrator Natacha Bustos, in which we can find some visual elements present in the novels. This paper aims, through the formal analysis of the cover images and their relationship with the con-tent of the stories, to delve into the relevance of the illustrations in Butler’s literary works for the understanding, expansion and reinterpretation of the images of worlds, futures and characters created by the author. The above helps us to understand how book covers can be more than mere advertising images  to  become  a  vital  complement  in  the  reception  of  science  fiction  stories, as in Butler’s particular case.