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“I believed I was ugly and stupid, clumsy, and socially hopeless. I also thought that everyone would notice these faults if I drew attention to myself. I wanted to disappear. I hid out in a big pink notebook—one that would hold a whole ream of paper. I made myself a universe in it. There I could be a magic horse, a Martian, a telepath.�� There I could be anywhere but here, any time but now, with any people but these.��

This anthology includes two essays, one of which is autobiographical. I don’t normally read biographies but I wanted to read every page in this book and I am very glad Ms. Butler decided to include this little essay. I get such a sense of her kindness, warmth, and generosity that I am surprised to learn she was a lonely child, if I had a friend like her I would have strived to make her my bestie. But she does mention that she was very shy, but she did mature into a pillar of strength and an inspiration for many writers and readers. This year’s Hugo winner N.K. Jemisin, a black female science fiction author, calls Butler her “personal grandmaster�� and that “left behind a lot of children, spiritually speaking��.

Young Octavia

Bloodchild and Other Stories contains five (mostly great) short stories and a couple of excellent essays. There is also an “Afterward�� after each story where she briefly talks about the inspiration that led to the story. When I read professional reviews of anthologies they do not generally go through each story one by one, I thought I would try to be more professional for the sake of skill development, but then I thought, Nah! I like doing it like this. So here we go!

Blood Child
Her most famous story (available to , you can also download a PDF version if you Google for it). It is something of a sci-fi story where humans in a colony on an alien planet have a long running bizarre symbiotic relationship with an alien race called the Tlic.


It is a brilliant story, but also quite horrifying and gross, yet the underlying theme is love and sacrifice. According to the Afterward, Butler was inspired by something that frightened her and she coped by making the idea benign (in a gross sort of way), it is also a thought experiment on male pregnancy; don’t worry, I am not giving anything away because there is no male pregnancy as such in the story.

“T’Gatoi liked the idea of choosing an infant and watching and taking part in all the phases of development. I’m told I was first caged within T’Gatoi’s many limbs only three minutes after my birth. A few days later, I was given my first taste of egg.��

The Evening and the Morning and the Night
“Then he began tearing at himself, through skin and bone, digging. He had managed to reach his own heart before he died.��

Oh my gawd! Does that make you doubt the warm and fuzzy description of Ms. Butler earlier in this review? This story is about a disease called “The Duryea-Gode Disease�� caused by drugs taken by pregnant women which lead to a genetic flaw in their children that will cause them to lose their minds later in life. How much later varies between individuals. Initially, it reminds me of the berserker madness like 28 Days Later, but this is decidedly not a zombie apocalypse story. There are no zombies and civilization is still fully operational. The situation is more analogous to the “Thalidomide�� birth defects in the 60s. On a deeper level, it is about how genetic diseases affect the sufferers�� lives and the value they put on their lives.

Near of Kin
This is a mainstream (non-SF/F) human drama story about the relationship (or lack thereof) between a girl and her now deceased mother, her closer relationship with her uncle and grandmother, the secret she always suspected about her mother, the mother’s shame, and the regret of mutual rejection of each other until it is too late. This kind of introspective melancholy story is not usually my cup of tea but if Ms. Butler makes the tea I will happily have a few cups. It is also very short and it is certainly not bad, Octavia Butler does not do "bad"; I imagine her laundry list is also quite a good read. I like her Afterward for this story more than the story itself, she does not explain the nuances of the story (leaving that to the reader) but talks about what inspired it.

“She’s dead,�� said my uncle flatly. “How much more time and energy are you going to waste resenting her?��

Speech Sounds
This is a post-apocalypse and a dystopia story. Civilization seems to be on its last legs here, the details are a little vague, some buses still run intermittently, but there is no law and order left. The apocalypse is caused by a disease contracted by everybody that causes “intellectual impairment��, in the form of irreversible loss of literacy, speech or both. It is amazing how Butler can write such a poignant post-apocalypse short story. I have always expected post-apocalypse fiction to be epic in scope. Again a wonderful Afterward follows the story, there is a slightly chatty tone in this one that makes me feel as if she was telling me of the anecdote that inspired the story. How she felt mankind was hopeless when she started writing it and feels hopeful again when she finished. Writing was potent therapy for her.

Crossover
This is another very short mainstream story, full of sadness, alienation, self-loathing and passion. It is, of course, well written but is a completely miserable story. If it was not written by Butler I would have hated it. Again it is about an outcast woman who does not fit in, but the anti-heroine here is not the typical strong resourceful Butler protagonist, quite the opposite. The Afterward to this story is great. Apparently, Butler was scared of weirdos.

Positive Obsession
This is an essay/autobiography about Butler’s obsession with writing as a child, the first story she sold, the numerous rejections that followed and the eventual success. This is a beautiful autobiography, I don't normally read bios, and she did not enjoy writing it; she prefers writing fiction. In spite of all that she wrote something very special here that I will always remember. I love how much she loves the sci-fi genre and staunchly defends it, she is like an anti-Atwood.

"At college, I took classes taught by an elderly woman who wrote children’s stories. She was polite about the science fiction and fantasy that I kept handing in, but she finally asked in exasperation, “Can’t you write anything normal?��

Furor Scribendi
This essay is basically advice for aspiring writers, it reminds me a little bit of Stephen King’s On Writing, but much shorter obviously, and it has that charming Octavia touch. Her drive and burning passion for writing are like a force of nature. The essay ends with a one-word paragraph: “P�������������.

Amnesty
Back to science fiction. The basic concept is similar to Blood Child, there is even some kind of symbiosis going on, yet the theme is very different. Earth has been colonized, but not subjugated, by aliens. They set up colonies in desserts, vast areas not used by humans. Their technology is far superior and Earth’s military forces can pose no threat to them. When the aliens first arrived they captured, experimented on and - unintentionally - tortured human beings, but only because they had no knowledge of human physiology. Once communication between the two species is established the aliens treat humans with respect due to sentient life forms. Some humans go to work for them, helping with research, experiments, and whatnot. One of the human leave the alien colony after living with them for years and is immediately arrested by the military and treated as a traitor, imprisoned and tortured.

Ultimately this is a story of man’s inhumanity to man; even with full understanding of what causes pain and suffering some of us are still quite happy to inflict pain that we would not want to be inflicted on us. In spite of her exasperation with the human race, Butler did love humanity and tried her best to help nudge it in the right direction.

The Book of Martha
“Don’t you know what I see?�� she demanded and then quickly softened her voice. “Don’t you know everything?��
God smiled. “No, I outgrew that trick long ago. You can’t imagine how boring it was.��

This is a story about a woman who is tasked by God to make the world a better place in any way she can think of. It is not a religious story and God is not portrayed entirely positively. It is a story about the responsible application of power and possibly dire consequences from misuse. A story to ponder.


These are diverse stories (the two essays notwithstanding) they all have a moral center, depth and complexity. However, if you read her essays you will know how she loves stories and storytelling, so her fiction is not a platform for preaching. The themes of each story lend substance or meaning beyond the narrative, but I am sure she would be just as happy if you just read them as stories. This wonderful anthology is up there with Ted Chiang’s classic Stories of Your Life and Others. The Afterward after each story is very much appreciated. She never over explains any of the preceding stories but gives some insight into her inspiration and thought processes. Read this for a thrilling, moving, thought-provoking experience.

Notes:
Here is an excerpt from Ms. Butler’s notebook:

When you read top part it may seem like she was simply chasing fame and fortune, but by the end of the page you will get her humanity and compassion, and why she is such an inspiration and a great role model.


Another noteworthy - uh - note.