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I had a whopper of a cold over the weekend. The whole family was sick but for some reason I got the worst of it.
But mostly, I don't mind being sick if I have a good book, which I soooo did.
In anticipation of the weekend, I'd picked up an armful of random fantasy from the library and one book in the batch was Fledgling by Octavia Bulter. Now, I believe I'd read some Butler long ago, but I had honestly forgotten about her or even who she was. After I read this fabulous book, I went to look her up, especially since Fledgling seemed to be begging for a sequel or a series even, and I had to get more of Octavia no matter what it was.
Sadly, Fledgling is Octavia's last book written in 2005 before she died of a stroke and fall/blow to the head in 2006 at the age of 58. However, if you read one vampire novel this year, make it this one. Yes! Vampires, and you are sick of them, but you won't be after reading this. It is so wonderfully disturbing, sensual, other-worldly, and good. And it has "real" (as opposed to "token") black people in it.
Here's a little about her:
Octavia Butler was an American speculative fiction writer, one of the best-known among the few African-American women in the field. She was the dyslexic daughter of a shoeshiner and a domestic maid. She grew up in California and started writing when she was ten out of lonliness and boredom.
After college, in 1970 she was an attendee of The Clarion Science Fiction Writer's Workshop, encouraged by her writerly friend Harlan Ellison. There she also met Samuel R. Delany. She sold her first short story, "Crossover" to Clarion's 1971 anthology. It was five more years of rejection slips and horrible little jobs before she sold another.
She published her first novel, Patternmaster, in 1976, and followed it with four more books in her Patternist series.
Published in 1979, Kindred, a time travel tale dealing with slavery, is her most read novel, though you may find it shelved in African-American literature, rather than the sci-fi/fantasy section of your local bookstore or library.
Lilith's Brood (also called he Xenogenesis trilogy) refers to a collection of three science fiction novels about an alien race known as the Oankali. The Oankali have a third gender form, the ooloi, who have the ability to manipulate genetics, plus the ability of sexually seductive neural-stimulating and consciousness-sharing powers. All of these abilities allow them to unify the other two genders in their species, as well as unifying their species with others that they encounter. The Oankali are biological traders, driven to share genes with other intelligent species, changing both parties. Whith my love of all things genderish, this is the one I really want to get my hands on but they don't have a copy in our entire library system. I'm bummed. Anyone out there want to send me a copy?
In 1999, Octavia moved to Seattle, Washington (the stomping ground of many wonderful writers) and the second book in her Parable series, Parable of the Talents, took home the Nebula for best Novel. See that's what the vibes in Seattle can do fur ya:)
She described herself as "comfortably asocial—a hermit in the middle of Seattle—a pessimist if I'm not careful, a feminist, a Black, a former Baptist, an oil-and-water combination of ambition, laziness, insecurity, certainty, and drive."
Octavia's novellette Bloodchild earned her both a Nebula and Hugo in that category, and Speech Sounds won a Hugo for best short story.
However, after Parable of the Talents, Octavia hit a patch (just seven years) of writer's block and did not write another novel until Fledgling in 2005. I have to say it was well worth the wait.
I think the reason I like her work so much is that she plays with themes that are important to me- gender, race, class, sexuality, religion, social progress, but she does it all with this incredible and gripping story telling ability that picks you up, shakes you, and sets you back down changed.
I feel sad that we have lost any more stories she might have told, but I'm also thrilled that I still have so much more of her to read.
I look forward to what she might teach me as both a writer, and a human being.
