Octavia E. Butler

A perfect introduction for new readers and a must-have for avid fans, this New York Times Notable Book includes "Bloodchild," winner of both the Hugo and the Nebula awards and "Speech Sounds," winner of the Hugo Award. Appearing in print for the first time, "Amnesty" is a story of a woman named Noah who works to negotiate the tense and co-dependent relationship between humans and a species of invaders. Also new to this collection is "The Book of Martha" which asks: What would you do if God granted you the ability—and responsibility—to save humanity from itself? Like all of Octavia Butler’s best writing, these works of the imagination are parables of the contemporary world. She proves constant in her vigil, an unblinking pessimist hoping to be proven wrong, and one of contemporary literature’s strongest voices.

Bloodchild and Other Stories

Six extraordinary stories from the author of Kindred, a master of modern science fiction—including a Hugo and Nebula award–winning novella. Octavia E. Butler’s classic “Bloodchild,” winner of both the Nebula and Hugo awards, anchors this collection of incomparable stories and essays. “Bloodchild” is set on a distant planet where human children spend their lives preparing to become hosts for the offspring of the alien Tlic. Sometimes the procedure is harmless, but often it is not. Also included is the Hugo Award–winning “Speech Sounds,” about a near future in which humans must adapt after an apocalyptic event robs them of their ability to speak. “The Evening and the Morning and the Night,” another esteemed title in this collection, is a Nebula Award finalist. In these pages, Butler shows us life on Earth and amongst the stars, telling her tales with characteristic imagination and clarity. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Octavia E. Butler including rare images from the author’s estate.

And Other Stories

Bloodchild

Ana Luiza

acho que história de alien não são pra mim.. nunca funciona, nem filme, livro, série. nadA

Ryan LaFerney

Winner of the 1984 Nebula Award for Best Novelette and the 1985 Hugo Award for Best Novelette. Winner of the 1985 Locus Award for Best Novelette and the 1985 Science Fiction Chronicle Award for Best Novelette.

I am currently working my way through Octavia E. Butler's short story collection, Bloodchild and Other Stories, and I just had to comment on and rate this amazingly creepy, thought provoking, and surprisingly touching short story by one of SF's masters. Bloodchild is riveting, horrific, and thoughtful. 

Butler explains in her afterward to "Bloodchild," that many different situations led her to write the story. To begin with, she wanted to "write out" her fear of her body being invaded by a parasitic insect, specifically the bot-fly (whose larvae are internal parasites of mammals, in which some species grow in the host's flesh and others within the gut). Ewwwww. Remember that scene in Alien during a final crew meal before returning to stasis, when Kane chokes and convulses, then dies as a small alien creature bursts from his chest and escapes into the ship? Yeah, this short story is kind of like that...

Butler also wanted to write about a human male becoming pregnant; about the risks to his body as well as what it would take for him to have maternal feelings towards his alien brood, and so she ended crafting a story about a symbiotic, loving relationship between two very different species. Lastly, she wanted to write a story in which the requirements for colonization on another planet would require some quid pro quo or "accommodation" from the part of humanity to their alien hosts. 

I thought Butler handles the idea of alien implantation expertly. She describes the unusual bond between a race of insect-like alien lifeforms called the Tlic and a colony of humans who have escaped Earth and settled on the Tlic planet. When the Tlic realize that humans make excellent hosts for Tlic eggs, they establish the Preserve for their protection and in return, require that every human family choose a child for implantation. A human thus implanted is called a N'Tlic. The story revolves around Gan, a young boy whose turn has come to carry the eggs of T’Gatoi, a lead female Tlic who chose him for her partner when he was born. All his life Gan and his siblings, except his brother Qui, who has seen a birth go wrong, have perceived being a host as a privilege and felt that having T’Gatoi around was wonderful, until he witnesses the "Cesarean" that a man named Lomas suffers. This experience calls him to question his relationship with the Tlic and T'Gatoi, who out of biological necessity threatens to impregnate Gan's sister. 

In the end, although he is quite shaken by the Cesarean, Gan decides to save his sister while discovering he has maternal feelings towards his alien brood. We are left with the impression that T’Gatoi genuinely cares for him (or so T’Gatoi says). 

WOW.

Many folks think that this text relates to slavery. Specifically, Gan takes on the role of black females slaves in the United States, who were "forced to carry the offspring of an alien race." I can see this interpretation but according to the afterward, Butler claims it isn't a story about slavery (that's Kindred FYI). She believed it was a love story. I'm not sure I'm 100% sold on the love story idea (I don't know if I fully trust the motives of the Tlic, but I'll take Butler's word for it). Many critics also think that Bloodchild serves as an imposition of the female experience on a male narrator. I believe it certainly is. It is a harrowing tale specifically for this reason and it for this reason that I believe men should read this work, to understand the suffering women often have to endure. And the reason why mating should be an act of love, not lust or vengeance.

Aditi

Very well written of course, and very nope. Nope nope nope.

So very excellent! My first Octavia Butler, and I’m now a fan for life ♥️

Sabrina D. 

Aditi Verma

jess

This was a bit deeper into sci-fi than i’ve ever read before and I definitely will be checking out more in the future!

vins

butler's most visceral I've read yet; the low word count as a novella really curtailed her bad habits that bothered me while reading Xenogenesis trilogy i.e the talking heads. Bit of exposition dump in the beginning but didn't bother me much in the grander scheme of things.

priya

Bloodchild and Other Stories is pretty hard to rate because I liked all the short stories and essays to different extents. Maybe 3.5 stars?

TW: suicide, gore, self harm and violence (off page)

Bloodchild: 5 stars
Bloodchild was so wild, in a good way. Butler has a really clever way of writing where you can immediately understand a lot about every character without ever being told. I’ve barely read any sci-fi and this short story was such an engaging read that I will definitely look for more in the genre! 

The Evening and the Morning and the Night: 3 stars
I have no idea why The Evening and the Morning and the Night is the title of this short story,,,
“If you work hard enough at something that doesn’t matter, you can forget for a while about the things that do.”
The main character was almost too normal to care about and the plot didn’t really exist?? But Butler keeps you interested through the world she creates in such few pages. 
“Two men and three women. All we had in common was our disease, plus a weird combination of stubborn intensity about whatever we happened to be doing and hopeless cynicism about everything else. Healthy people say no one can concentrate like a DGD. Healthy people have all the time in the world for stupid generalizations and short attention spans.”
It makes you think about how we, as a society and individually, treat people with mental and physical illnesses and freaks you out honestly. 

Near of kin: 2 stars
Utter normalcy bores me. I’m a fantasy reader and expected a lot more from Butler, but Near of kin had literally nothing. I’m probably being too harsh because both the main characters are well developed and make sense (view spoiler)[but I really do hate reading about affairs  (hide spoiler)]. 

Speech sounds: 1 star
This was so horribly written that the main character became annoying despite how relatable she is. The plot is fine I guess. 

Crossover: 3 stars 
It was okay,,, nothing out of the ordinary but the main character was strong enough to make Crossover engaging to read! 

Positive obsession: 4 stars
I found it interesting to read about Butler’s childhood and how she motivated herself to become such an unconventional writer. Positive obsession is a concept I’ve heard of before and it’s explained quite well in this essay. 

Furor Scribendi: 3 stars
This essay wasn’t really relevant to me, so I don’t know how to rate it,,, Butler sets out some guidelines or methods for how to becomes successful, published writer. A lot of it is based on her personal experience so I think that would be motivating for aspiring writers. 

Amnesty: 5 stars
“Are you angry with me, Mr. Adio, or are you angry in my behalf?”
“I’m angry because I have to be here!” he said. He stood up and paced around the table—all the way around twice before he would sit down again. “I’m angry that these things, these weeds can invade us, wreck our economies, send the whole world into a depression just by showing up. They do whatever they want to us, and instead of killing them, all I can do is ask them for a job!” And he needed the job badly.”
Wow Amnesty is so funky and I love it! I always like reading how different people imagine aliens is such incredibly bizarre ways. This short story is really well written, so you get a really good understanding of the aliens even though no one really knows much about them. I think the main character is pretty unique too and her perspective is very unexpected (in my opinion anyway) so Butler definitely succeeds is making you stop and think. 

The Book of Martha: 4 stars
Usually, I run away from reading anything religious and honestly when God appeared in the first sentence my immediate thought was “oh no”. 
“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.”
The Book of Martha is quiet well written, as in you can relate to and understand the main character without knowing very much about her. I felt this short story was preachy, so I didn’t like it too much in that regard, but I definitely understand the point of it. Butler kind of gives you hope for humanity while shooting down that hope at the same time. I think it’s worth the read, especially since the Christian references are explained briefly in a way that doesn’t necessarily require you to think about Christianity. Also, God was somehow less annoying than Dumbledore,,,

Kathleen Boyle

This was disturbingly interesting. I love Butler's writing style and it makes me very interested in reading more of her works! (At the time of writing this, the story is free on kindle!)

Roger

Loved six out of the nine stories, which were so good I wished for the entire novel. Highly recommended for the innovative ideas, along with feminist, people of color and intersectional perspectives.

Lydia Enge

Bruno De Miranda

An anthology of science fiction tales by the African-American writer includes "Speech Sounds," "Near of Kin,", "Bloodchild."

Bloodchild and Other Stories

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