大象传媒

Comedian Desiree Burch unravels Octavia Butler's visionary 1993 novel Parable of the Sower and its sequel Parable Of The Talents, an eerily-prescient dystopian portrait of society in collapse after being torn apart by climate change and corporate greed - with a populist demagogue US president who rides to power with the slogan "Make American Great Again".

Oh, and the story - pure fantasy of course, imagined by Butler three decades ago in the early 1990s - is set initially in 2024.

Now this all seems to Desiree just a little bit too close to reality for comfort. But is there hope - even optimism - beneath the surface of this chillingly bleak vision?

Warped literature series The Exploding Library returns for a new run, as another trio of comedians explode and unravel their most cherished cult books, paying homage to the tone and style of the original text - and blurring and warping the lines between fact and fiction.

As our hosts shine the spotlight on strange, funny and sometimes disturbing novels by Angela Carter, BS Johnson and Octavia Butler, listeners are invited to inhabit their eccentric worlds - gaining a deeper understanding of their workings and the unique literary minds that created them.

With the comedic voices of Kiri Pritchard-Mclean, Rob Auton and Desiree Burch, and featuring the work of award-winning producers Leonie Thomas, Benjamin Partridge (Beef and Dairy Network), and Steven Rajam (Tim Key and Gogol鈥檚 Overcoat), this is an arts documentary series like no other.

Producer: Steven Rajam
An Overcoat Media production for 大象传媒 Radio 4