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This is our discussion of the story:


Crossover by Octavia Butler


This story is part of the group discussion of Octavia Butler's short story collection Bloodchild and Other Stories. (See the discussion hub topic for more info.)

Another one I didn't care much for. Hallucinating drunk. Meh.

Rose wrote: "Another one I didn't care much for. Hallucinating drunk. Meh."

Yeah, this one doesn't really work. Not fantasy unless you think having the DTs is a fantasy. Really not enough information about the woman. Her ex is in jail? Is that why people look at her weird at work? Or is it because she's tipsy? Didn't have any attachment, everyday setting, dull plot, lack of resolution.

Thankfully this one and the other one we didn't care for, Near of Kin, were both really short.

I gotta say, I pretty much missed the hallucination in this one ... is it just the last paragraph that tips you off? (If that's the case, I can see how the neighbor not seeing Scarface even though he's standing behind the narrator is an earlier clue/corroboration.) My first tendency was just to interpret that poetically/metaphorically as a kind of artificial unhappily-after ending.

It's interesting that she sold this one to a Clarion director, esp. as I don't see a lot -- ok, any -- sff here. I think the first half, at least, of this collection really highlights Butler's growth as a writer.

no phantastical elements, but dramatic writing; only "meh", very pessimistic story about a self destructive woman; didn't work for me.

Hillary wrote: "I gotta say, I pretty much missed the hallucination in this one ... is it just the last paragraph that tips you off? (If that's the case, I can see how the neighbor not seeing Scarface even though ..."

The first time I read it, it wasn't until the end when she hooked up with the drunk that I realized Scarface wasn't real. This time around it was when the neighbour was talking to her. Scarface was right behind her and the neighbour was saying she was all alone. She wouldn't have said that if he were real. The neighbour would have commented that it was good that she wasn't alone.