For anyone who is a science fiction fan (like yours truly ) and who hasn't heard of her, Octavia Butler was an outstanding and unique sci-fi writer who frequently dealt with issues of race, gender, religion, and survival, to name a few themes. One of the things I noticed about her writing is that frequently (though not every time) her black female protagonists had white (or non-black) husbands/lovers/permanent significant others. She died in 2005 I think, which left me heartbroken. She was truly a towering and unique talent who often took old themes and came at them from a new direction, exploring issues and themes that are still deeply relavent to what we as humans are living through today. I believe (and anyone who knows better can correct me on this one) that she is the only sci-fi writer to ever receive the McArthur Genius Award. A few of her works:


"Patternmaster"

"Clay's Ark"

"Mind of My Mind"

"Fledgling"

"The Parable of the Sower"

"The Parable of the Talents"

"Kindred"

"Bloodchild and Other Stories"

"Xenogenesis"

She was one of the most creative writers I've ever had the pleasure of reading, and her stories left a permanent mark on me-for the better, I think. Enjoy.

A few weeks ago I listened to an interview with her on the "Addicted to Race" podcast. Apparently she was mixed race herself and from that perspective it's not surprising that her main characters were in interracial relationships.

Anyway, I first heard about her on that podcast and I haven't read any of her books yet. Next time I go shopping on amazon, I'll make sure I add one of her books. Is there any one of the list I should read first

By the way, I can highly recommend the "Addicted to Race" podcast

Wow, I'll have to see if I can find that podcast. I'd love to listen to her. Thank you!

All of her works are wonderful (in my oh-so-humble opinion) but if I were to recommend where to start, I'd probably start with "Wildseed". (Which, of course, I forgot to include in the list I put up.) That story begins her Patternmaster series and introduces the main protagonists. Good times!

Snakecharmer

It's pretty easy to find, just go to http://www.addictedtorace.com/

Thank you!! I'm going to make sure to listen to that as soon as the little ones are down.


Snakecharmer

PS

I was looking at your question about the differences between US and European cultures and attitudes (and planned to put in my more than 2 cents later to go along with the excellent points made by the other ladies) and I just remembered that I wanted to tell you that O. Butler's works illuminate a lot of US culture, especially race relations and their history here. In fact, her book "Kindred" is an excellent work that takes an intimate look at that. (It's also a "stand-alone" book, i.e. it's not part of any of her series of works for which you'd need to read the others to understand that one.) The book immediately became required reading at many colleges for it's examination and illumination of race in this country. It's another work of hers that I would very highly recommend, especially if you want to increase your understanding of POC in the US.


PPS

As an aside, another excellent book that deals with the issues that we've been discussing is Barbara Kingsolver's book "The Poisonwood Bible". I highly recommend it. The story doesn't directly occur in the US (well, some of it does) but the issues and themes covered have a direct and important line to all that we have been discussing. I personally think it's a very important book and I believe in many high schools (at least out here in California) it instantly became required reading.

Snakecharmer

Excellent suggestions. I'll put both books on my "to read" list.

Sounds very interesting.....

I read about Kindred the other day on another forum and I was immediately intrigued. I told my sister about it and we both picked up the book from the Library, she said it was the best book she ever read. I'm almost finished, it's a great read. I'll be back once I'm finished.

I have always liked the name Octavia. I'm thinking if I ever had a daughter, that would be on my top three list of names to choose from.

Her books are phenominal. I just recently finished reading the last book she wrote before she died- "Fledgling". I think you'd like that one too. She was truly a remarkable talent; very, very creative lady. I'm sorry we'll never get anything further from her.

The nice thing is she left so much behind.


Snakecharmer