Product Description
An anthology of science fiction tales by an accomplished African-American writer includes "Speech Sounds," which won the Hugo Award, "Near of Kin," her only non-science fiction tale, and the award-winning "Bloodchild." Original. 20,000 first printing. IP. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

Bloodchild show's Octavia's Greatness
I am repeatedly amazed by Octavia Butler's wit and wisdom. She is courageously tender. She is brilliantly timid. She is the best in her genre. And she just happens to be, sadly, dead. I never knew her but I miss her. I never even learned of her until she'd been dead for several years. I think to myself as I read her books, what an astronomical loss humanity has quietly experienced.

Our tale begins with several short stories included in this small, black, red, and yellow-covered book. The first story is the well-studied title read, "Bloodchild." I LOVED IT!!! From the moment that I read it as a college requirement, I loved this story. It is a Sci-Fi love story and I won't give anything away. I will say that Butler introduces the dynamics of the altogether otherworldly yet vaguely familiar creations of her head with the brilliance of Michelangelo's best hewn marble. There is never a moment's rest - never a moment that doesn't have you drooling and begging for more. This story is amazing and I LOVED IT! Oh ... I said that already. OK, moving on.

The next story is "The evening and the Morning and the Night." I wish I could just give you the first page so that you could get some sense of what this woman does when she puts pen to paper.

After I'd read the one story that I'd purchased the book for, I planned on putting the anthology to the side. I happened to just glance at the pages of the next story and I never put the book down again until I had read all four of the remaining stories.

If you enjoy science fiction, or utopian/dystopian reading, this is the book for you!

There was a story that I didn't like in the book, I think because it was totally outside of what I was used to reading from Butler. See if you can determine what that was and then post a comment to this review.

Enjoy this great read!!!

New admirer of Octavia Butler
I was unfamiliar with Octavia E. Butler until now. I am, now, a great admirer of her work. This is a story about humans trying to earn their keep living among aliens by trading themselves. The trade can be very gruesome and deadly. It tells of a un-nerving tale of a young boy into adulthood and adult choices. The other stories are as captivating. The book is powerful, entertaining, and contains short afterword that accompanies each piece where Butler describes her perspectives while writing it.Luckily there is more of her work I can start on.

A Sample of Octavia's Wit.
Some time ago I've read for the first time a book from Ms Butler. I was captivated by her amazing imagination and quality of her prose and became instantly a fan of the author.
This first impression was corroborated as I read more of her writings.
All her books showed a rich mixture of imagination, complex and interesting characters and conflictive situations to test their mettle.

Here the reader is presented with Octavia's short stories. She proves to be as good as with her novels, even if she states she is not a "short story writer".
There are five tales and two essays.
The essays provide good hints for "would be writers".

The multi-awarded "Bloodchild" is a typically Butler's product.
She explores in depth, in a quite short text, the intricacies of symbiosis between human and alien specie.
I think that from this story, Octavia has derived her amazing trilogy "Lilith's Brood". Both stories refer to symbiosis and how this affects human mind producing very different attitudes from rejection to uncensored adhesion.

The other remarkable tale is "Speech Sounds" that shows a post apocalyptic world where humanity is deprived of speech or the ability of read and write.
She focuses on the strain survivors suffer to adapt to these conditions. The inner suffering and the will to survive are shown without respite.

"The Evening and the Morning and the Night" reflects the anguish endured by a woman that knows she will be devastated by a new disease.

This book is a very good introduction to Ms. Butler's universe.
Reviewed by Max Yofre.

A great Short Story Collection
Octavia Butler is probably the most under rated science fiction writer. In this short story collection consisting of 5 short stories and two essays, Butler offers some solid reading.

Each story is followed by a thoughtful afterword that provides analysis on her ideas. The two essays are on the craft of writing. The one essay titled 'Positive Obsession' is a small window into Butler's childhood, and the difficulties she had getting published. It clearly conveys the fears she had of never getting published. With the help of her mother she managed to persist in a most impressive way.

My favorite story was 'Speech Sounds' involving a woman in a post-apocalyptic America. The world is ravaged with a new disease that takes away speech for some survivors, and reading & writing skills for others. After losing her three children and husband a woman years later rediscovers love. What happens afterwards is devastating, yet she manages to move on and find a reason for living.

'Bloodchild' is the most popular of these stories, since it won both the Hugo and Nebula awards. This story involves an alien species that learns to co-exist with humans by using men to carry their newborn.

Another strong effort is 'The Evening and the Morning and the Night'. This is a very emotionally involving story. A young woman has lost both of her parents to a disease that she herself harbors. This hereditary illness doesn't reveal itself until middle age. Having to live with knowing that she will self-mutilate as she ages is almost too much for her to handle. Fortunately for her she meets someone who is also a carrier, and together they decide to visit his mom in a hospital.

The only downside to this collection is that I could not help wishing there were more stories to read, but what is there is of high enough quality to compensate.

Oneof the Freshest Voices in [Science] Fiction
Octavia Butler is one of the most talented, creative contemporary writers. "Bloodchild" is a collection of eight short stories, which essentially span from futuristic dystopias, to parasitic alien races, to strange diseases. While in theory these concepts may be dated and arguably cliche, she writes so fluidly and in such a skilled manner that, litearlly, every word she pens is unique and original.

Butler is still a relatively new voice in the world of writing. Rightly or wrongly, she is catogorised at science fiction, a genre which tends to tie up the loose literary ends of writers who don't exactly fit into any definite species. While at their barest what she writes about is science fiction, she inundates her writing with an artistically humane quality: Moreso than just writing about the ooh's and aah's of science, she writes about the complexities and values of humanity. Her writing is evenly paced, without being drawn out - she does not feed into flashy or gimmicky story lines, but rather baits the reader with beautiful (though not overly wordy) descriptions and portrayals of characters.

"Bloodchild," the opening story, tells of a young adult who is to undergo a "rite of passage," so to speak. In this story, an alien race is symbiotically related to humans: They provide comfort, warmth, and assistance. In exchange, humans house the eggs of these creatures, undergoing a horrendously painful "hatching" prcoess that does not kill them, but leaves them with horrific memories of pain. Butler tells this short story with first person narrative, imparting a sense of emotion and realism that could never be experienced outside of her authorship.

Despite her stylistic flow, Butler still manages to keep what she writes interesting. She tackles each story, however seemingly tired the concept may be, with a refreshing tone. She is able to deftly craft a story with as few brush strokes as possible, but still leave a dazzling landscape.

Bloodchild is definitely one of the most marvelous, beautiful workds of fiction that I have read in recent times. It is science fiction without ever being scientific, fiction without ever being imagined. Butler is talanted and creative, and undoubtedly one of the best contemporary writers I have encountered. ... Read more

Product Description
In this sequel to Dawn, Lilith Iyapo has given birth to what looks like a normalhuman boy named Akin. But Akin actually has five parents: a male and femalehuman, a male and female Oankali, and a sexless Ooloi. The Oankali and Ooloi arepart of an alien race that rescued humanity from a devastating nuclear war, butthe price they exact is a high one the aliens are compelled to geneticallymerge their species with other races, drastically altering both in the process.On a rehabilitated Earth, this "new" race is emerging throughhuman/Oankali/Ooloi mating, but there are also "pure" humans who choose toresist the aliens and the salvation they offer.These resisters are sterilized bythe Ooloi so that they cannot reproduce the genetic defect that drives humanityto destroy itself, but otherwise they are left alone (unless they becomeviolent). When the resisters kidnap young Akin, the Oankali choose to leave thechild with his captors, for he the most quothuman" of the Oankalichildren will decide whether the resisters should be given back their fertilityand freedom, even though they will only destroy themselves again. This is thesecond volume in Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis series, a powerful tale of alienexistence. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

I simply cound NOT put this book down. So intense!
I enjoy books that make me think. This one did. I have only read 3 of Octavia's books, but they are all dynamite. I rarely read a book through at one sitting, but I raced through all three of the exogenisis series. Themany layers of meanings made me think about so many things in the"real" world. These books challenged me in many ways and I amstill expanding as a result. Thank you, Octavia!!!!!!!!

Solid book - follows "Dawn"
Aduulthood Rites is a solid continuation of the story line begun with Dawn.Lilith Iyapo continues life with the Oankali.This story has the feel of struggle concerning racial domination (of the extraterrestrial kind) and how kindness from your rulers can complicate but not necessarily alleviate a situation.Layers upon layers of meaning here.Warning:Octavia Butler is highly addictive.Read one and others are sure to follow. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Let us be dead!
Some years ago I've read for the first time a book from Ms Butler. I was captivated by her amazing imagination and quality of her prose and became instantly a fan of the author. This first impression was corroborated as I read more of her writings.
Unfortunately for us, her fans, Ms. Butler has recently passed leaving the "Parable" trilogy unfinished and I'm sure many delightful stories unwritten.

She was highly talented writer and won Sci-Fi Hugo and Nebula awards.
All her books showed a rich mixture of imagination, complex and interesting characters and conflictive situations to test their mettle.

This trilogy is not an exception to Ms. Butler production. You may buy all three separate volumes "Dawn", "Adulthood Rite's" and "Imago" or have them all in one book: Lilith's Brood. Whatever your choice is you won't be disappointed.

The story is as follows: Humans had self destroyed in a crazy war but miraculously an alien race, the Oankalis, came to the rescue and save millions of them.
The Oankalis traveled eons and genetically mix with other alien species, evolving each time with the exchange; they are a three gender race.
Humanity should be grateful...yet there is a major problem, Oankalis sight produces an overwhelming rejection reaction in human beings. This is a true xenophobic symptom which is very difficult to overcome by subjects who get in touch with the aliens.

Is it possible to overcome this? Ms. Butler shows all possible reactions through the characters of her novels. Oankalis also have mixed reactions to Humans they are uncertain on how to handle them.

"Dawn" focuses on Lilith one of the countless human beings that are awakened and exposed to Oankali's contact.
Lilith battles courageously to overcome her apprehensions and relates to different members of an Oankali family: Jdahya, Nikanj and Kahguyaht.
When she is prepared she burdened with the overwhelming task of awake a large group of humans and trains them to survive on Earth in a wild entourage.
Deep conflicts sprout and are treated with masterful hand by the author.

This book is high science fiction stuff!!! Do not miss it and continue reading the next two parts!

Reviewed by Max Yofre.

Let us die in peace!
A couple of years ago I've read for the first time a book from Ms Butler. I was captivated by her amazing imagination and quality of her prose and became instantly a fan of the author. This first impression was corroborated as I read more of her writings.
Unfortunately for us, her fans, Ms. Butler has recently passed leaving the "Parable" trilogy unfinished and I'm sure many delightful stories unwritten.

She was highly talented writer and win Sci-Fi Hugo and Nebula awards.
All her books showed a rich mixture of imagination, complex and interesting characters and conflictive situations to test their mettle.

This trilogy is not an exception to Ms. Butler production. You may buy all three separate volumes "Dawn", "Adulthood Rite's" and "Imago" or have them all in one book: "Lilith's Brood". Whatever your choice is you won't be disappointed.

The story is as follows: Humans had self destroyed in a crazy war but miraculously an alien race from outer space, the Oankalis, came to the rescue and save millions of them.
The Oankalis traveled eons and genetically mix with other alien species, evolving each time with the exchange; they are a three gender race.
Humanity should be grateful...yet there is a major problem, Oankalis sight produces an overwhelming rejection reaction in human beings. This is a true xenophobic symptom which is very difficult to overcome by subjects who get in touch with the aliens.

Is it possible to overcome this? Ms. Butler shows all possible reactions through the characters of her novels. Oankalis also have mixed reactions to Humans they are uncertain on how to handle them.

"Dawn" focuses on Lilith one of the countless human beings that are awakened and exposed to Oankali's contact.
Lilith battles courageously to overcome her apprehensions and relates to different members of an Oankali family: Jdahya, Nikanj and Kahguyaht.
When she is prepared she burdened with the overwhelming task of awake a large group of humans and trains them to survive on Earth in a wild entourage.
Deep conflicts sprout and are treated with masterful hand by the author.

This book is high science fiction stuff!!! Do not miss it and continue reading the next two parts!

Reviewed by Max Yofre.
... Read more

Product Description
This is nonfiction commentary. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Survivor, Kindred, Lilith's Brood, Parable of the Sower, Fledgling, Parable of the Talents, Wild Seed. Source: Wikipedia. Free updates online. Not illustrated. Excerpt: Survivor is a science fiction novel by Octavia Butler. First published in 1978 as part of Butler's "Patternist series," Survivor is the only one of Butler's early novels not to be reprinted after its initial editions. Butler expressed dislike for the work, referring to it as "my Star Trek novel." Survivor follows the early contact between the Missionaries, a group of human colonists fleeing a plague on Earth, and the Kohn, intelligent natives of the planet on which the Missionaries have arrived. In particular, the novel focuses on Alanna, the adopted daughter of the Missionaries' leader, as she attempts to prevent the Missionaries' destruction or assimilation at the hands of a dominant local culture. During the course of the novel, Alanna's experiences assimilating and negotiating with the Kohn draw upon her earlier, similar experience joining the Missionaries themselves, and Alanna's ability to interact with the various cultures becomes the key to their survival. Although set within the broader plot of the Patternist series, the entire plot of Survivor is largely separated from the events of the other books in the series. Butler begins the novel in medias res, during the "rescue" of the main character, Alanna, from the "Tehkohn," a group of extraterrestrials. Although the main narrative follows Alanna's perspective after the rescue, Butler also inserts a series of flashbacks, some of them from the perspective of other characters. Through this literary device, the readers learn about Alanna's past gradually, even as they follow the efforts of the other characters to discover that pa...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=8447308 ... Read more

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Since the 1980s, an increasing number of black writers have begun publishing speculative-fantastic fictions such as fantasy, gothic, utopian and science fiction. Writing into two literary traditions that are conventionally considered separate -- white speculative genres and black literary-cultural traditions -- the texts integrate an African American sensibility of the past within the present, with speculative fiction’s sensibility of the present within the future.

Thaler takes stock of this trend by proposing that the growing number of texts has brought forth a genre of its own. She analyzes recent fictions by Octavia E. Butler, Jewelle Gomez, and Nalo Hopkinson as in-between color-coded literary and cultural traditions by paying particular attention to concepts of literary history and time as well as postcolonial notions of hybridity and mimicry, race, and identity. The study treads on new ground since it not only offers a broader scope of the various speculative genres in which established and emerging black authors currently publish, but also shows that these fictions contest conventionally accepted notions of white genres and black traditions and, in consequence, of (post-)postmodern literature and popular fiction.

Product Description
This is nonfiction commentary. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Novels by Octavia Butler, Survivor, Kindred, Lilith's Brood, Parable of the Sower, Fledgling, Bloodchild and Other Stories, Parable of the Talents, Wild Seed. Source: Wikipedia. Free updates online. Not illustrated. Excerpt: Survivor is a science fiction novel by Octavia Butler. First published in 1978 as part of Butler's "Patternist series," Survivor is the only one of Butler's early novels not to be reprinted after its initial editions. Butler expressed dislike for the work, referring to it as "my Star Trek novel." Survivor follows the early contact between the Missionaries, a group of human colonists fleeing a plague on Earth, and the Kohn, intelligent natives of the planet on which the Missionaries have arrived. In particular, the novel focuses on Alanna, the adopted daughter of the Missionaries' leader, as she attempts to prevent the Missionaries' destruction or assimilation at the hands of a dominant local culture. During the course of the novel, Alanna's experiences assimilating and negotiating with the Kohn draw upon her earlier, similar experience joining the Missionaries themselves, and Alanna's ability to interact with the various cultures becomes the key to their survival. Although set within the broader plot of the Patternist series, the entire plot of Survivor is largely separated from the events of the other books in the series. Butler begins the novel in medias res, during the "rescue" of the main character, Alanna, from the "Tehkohn," a group of extraterrestrials. Although the main narrative follows Alanna's perspective after the rescue, Butler also inserts a series of flashbacks, some of them from the perspective of other characters. Through this literary device, the readers learn about Alanna's past gradually, even as they follow...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=8447308 ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History, 2nd ed., brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 603 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.The Early Civilizations in the Americas Reference Library provides a comprehensive overview of the history of the regions of the American continents in which two of the world's first civilizations developed: Mesoamerica (the name for the lands in which ancient civilizations arose in Central America and Mexico) and the Andes Mountains region of South America (in present-day Peru and parts of Bolivia, northern Argentina, and Ecuador). In both regions, the history of civilization goes back thousands of years. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from African American Review, published by Thomson Gale on March 22, 2007. The length of the article is 14326 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: "Do I look like someone you can come home to from where you may be going?": re-mapping interracial anxiety in Octavia Butler's Kindred.
Author: Guy Mark Foster
Publication: African American Review (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 22, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 41Issue: 1Page: 143(22)

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more