Six extraordinary stories from the author of Kindred, a master of modern science fiction—including a Hugo and Nebula award–winning novella. Octavia E. Butler’s classic “Bloodchild,” winner of both the Nebula and Hugo awards, anchors this collection of incomparable stories and essays. “Bloodchild” is set on a distant planet where human children spend their lives preparing to become hosts for the … to become hosts for the offspring of the alien Tlic. Sometimes the procedure is harmless, but often it is not. Also included is the Hugo Award–winning “Speech Sounds,” about a near future in which humans must adapt after an apocalyptic event robs them of their ability to speak. “The Evening and the Morning and the Night,” another esteemed title in this collection, is a Nebula Award finalist. In these pages, Butler shows us life on Earth and amongst the stars, telling her tales with characteristic imagination and clarity. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Octavia E. Butler including rare images from the author’s estate.
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Bloodchild is a short story and it’s a wonderful introduction into the unusual world of Octavia Butler. I absolutely adore her unusual and creative worlds she creates. The book Fledgling, is a wonderful piece of work. I look up to Octavia and her creative ways of writing. Fledgling
Octavia Butler is an excellent author. All of her books are great to read.
She provides a different and unique perspective.
Love her work.
A great, great story collection.
Octavia Butler is the BOMB. Read everything she wrote. If you’re honest with yourself, you’ll see yourself and the world in new and not-necessarily comforting ways.
I hate that I came so late to Butler’s work, and that there is so little of it comparatively. The stories in this collection are deftly written, bold in their themes and stay with you long after you’ve closed the book. I recommend everything she’s ever written, this is no exception.
I have finished reading all of Octavia Butler’s books now – I am so sad she is gone and will never write again. I really enjoyed reading these short stories as I could see the progression of her writing as she gained more confidence and became a master of her craft. I thoroughly enjoyed the imaginative creativity of “Bloodchild” but was completely enamored with her story “The Book of Martha”. This story is about Martha, a writer who has a sudden epiphany in a conversation with God who “tasks” her with the saving of humanity and in the process lose her own self and life as she knows. Since I do not want to reveal anything to spoil the story for future readers, I will just say that if you love Butler’s work as I do, read this story as it is one of the finest examples of her intricate and layered writing.
Now a word or two about the compilation. Butler provides an afterword after each story describing the motivation for her tales. I love this aspect of this book. Too many times I read reviews of books I have just finished and am abhorred by the audacity of others to determine what the writer was trying to convey. I am a former high school science teacher and have seen so many children stop reading as their English teachers dismantle books, chapter by chapter to word by word to find the hidden meanings and symbolism that authors devilishly hid among their prose. Did anyone stop to think that the talent of writers comes from within, and maybe we should be looking at the overarching themes, the book itself, and how it made us feel. Through her afterwords, Butler has provides the reader with the fodder that ignited her pen and gave me a greater understanding of who she – a writer stirred by longing to pour out her imagination through science fiction.
I also enjoyed the inclusion of two essays “Positive Obsession” and “Furor Scribendi”. Of particular note, “Furor Scribendi” translated to ‘enthusiasm for writing’ could be a canon for anyone who is striving to reach near perfection in her/his vocation. It is a wonderful read and could be amended to be a motivational talk for older teens or young adults.
I left this book to last on purpose as I have tried to stretch out my reading of Butler’s breath of work. Now it is time to start over – it has been years since I read the Parable series. Motivated by “The Book of Martha”, I think I will start with these.