Octavia's Brood

Octavia's Brood Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements

Whenever we envision a world without war, without prisons, without capitalism, we are producing speculative fiction. Organizers and activists envision, and try to create, such worlds all the time. Walidah Imarisha and adrienne maree brown have brought twenty of them together in the first anthology of short stories to explore the connections between radical speculative fiction and movements for social change. The visionary tales ofOctavia’s Brood span genres—sci-fi, fantasy, horror, magical realism—but all are united by an attempt to inject a healthy dose of imagination and innovation into our political practice and to try on new ways of understanding ourselves, the world around us, and all the selves and worlds that could be. The collection is rounded off with essays by Tananarive Due and Mumia Abu-Jamal, and a preface by Sheree Renée Thomas.
Sign up to use

Reviews

Photo of winter ☆
winter ☆ @bjorkeatz
3 stars
Dec 12, 2022

gifted by a good friend and something i wanted to read for a while! a beauuutfiul book filled with some good stories to get lost in. i love entering worlds dreamed up by authors with such a broad range of experiences and stories. a lot of these verge on corny but that's okay <3 still enjoyed it, especially mia mingus's writing!

Photo of Maggie Gordon
Maggie Gordon@maggieg
4 stars
Aug 13, 2022

Originally read from Sept 26-29, 2015 Reread from March 26-27, 2016 My book club selected Octavia's Brood as our next book to discuss, so I needed to refresh myself on all the stories. Octavia's Brood remains an exceptionally powerful social justice project. While the stories aren't necessarily the most polished, they resonate with power and potential. It is a project most worthy of Octavia Butler's legacy, and a fantastic, transformative read!

Photo of Abbey
Abbey@naurbabes
3.5 stars
Mar 10, 2022

Book of short stories inspired by Octavia Bulter's work. Some were fantastic and some really fell short and annoyed me. Made me not want to read the rest tbh.

Photo of Luke Kanies
Luke Kanies@lak
3 stars
Dec 4, 2021

I didn't finish the book, so the review must be read in that context. I really struggle with short stories, and that was my primary problem with it. I really liked some of the stories, but the bulk of them just couldn't hold my interest because of their short length.

Photo of Mahasin S Ameen
Mahasin S Ameen@fivefootsmall
3 stars
Sep 14, 2021

I was excited to read this book, as a young reader I was heavily influenced by the works of Octavia E. Butler and I wanted to see how other people had been impacted and how science fiction could be used as a medium for discussing social justice movements. Some stories were better than others and some weren't as fully fleshed out as I would have liked. One highlight is actually a portion of LeVar Burton's novel, "Aftermath", which I had previously read. It's probably the most "Butleresque" of everything in the collection. Other highlights are "The Token Superhero", "Revolution Shuffle" and the hilarious "Sanford and Sun".

Photo of Sadie Stevens
Sadie Stevens@sadie_steele
5 stars
Jun 8, 2022
Photo of katrina montgomery
katrina montgomery@katlillie
4 stars
Apr 11, 2024
Photo of Martha F.
Martha F.@marthaq
5 stars
Mar 6, 2024
Photo of Sophie Gatchell
Sophie Gatchell@sophie_isms
3 stars
Sep 7, 2023
Photo of Henning
Henning@hng
5 stars
Sep 3, 2023
Photo of Cindy
Cindy@parkercy
4 stars
Apr 29, 2023
Photo of Laura
Laura@lauragh
5 stars
Nov 1, 2022
Photo of Alisha
Alisha @theawardshow
5 stars
Jul 18, 2022
Photo of nico alexander
nico alexander@ghostlyghost
3 stars
Feb 24, 2022
Photo of Ashlie Reifer
Ashlie Reifer@ashlieinhinterland
3 stars
Aug 30, 2021

This book appears on the shelf fiction

Lost in a Good Book
Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde
The Stranger
The Stranger by Albert Camus
Guards! Guards!
Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
Going Postal
Going Postal by Terry Pratchett
The Dinner
The Dinner by Herman Koch
Watership Down
Watership Down by Richard Adams

This book appears on the shelf series-tbr

A Wizard of Earthsea
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Books of Earthsea
The Books of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Ada...
Guards! Guards!
Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
Abhorsen
Abhorsen by Garth Nix

This book appears on the shelf fantasy-sci-fi

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling
The Last Wish
The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski
Truckers
Truckers by Terry Pratchett
Monstrous Regiment
Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett
Thud!
Thud! by Terry Pratchett