Octavia E Butler

I wonder if those reviews are from readers who picked up her other work first. Kindred is sort of an outlier in her science fiction career. In comparison, the other books are conceptually wilder because she's using the fantastic elements to dramatize ideas, instead of to move characters. Kindred's closer to the edge of the genre and to the literature shelf in my opinion (but it has been several years). 

As a note, I met Octavia when in Seattle for a Writers of the Future Awards event in 2005. I wanted to meet up with her as she had earlier written an article for Writers of the Future called "Furor Scribendi." She agreed to become a judge for Writers of the Future. Unfortunately, she became ill and passed in Feb 2006. She was a wonderful person, an incredible story. Her home was one huge library of books!

I haven't read Kindred by her but her short stories are fantastic and I highly recommend reading Dawn. It starts with a person waking up essentially but for a great reason. Her ability to write aliens is so convincing and immersive. Nothing quite like it and that's not to mention her delicious prose and heavy themes. 

Whoa, I happened to read Furor Scribendi last night. (Volume IX)

She talked about the habit of writing being more powerful than inspiration. Put in the reps...

I'm desperately seeking the bestest idea ever for Q4, but I've got a few "smaller" ideas that I'm ignoring, waiting for the home run. She reminded me that butt in chair and words to page is the way to go. /p>

The butt in the chair works for most, but K.J. Anderson and Martin Shoemaker like the digital recording method. Tell a story as you hike through the wilderness(K.J.) or, in Martin's case, commute to a destination. I practice that technique but, it ain't easy. It sure is good exercise though.

I bumped Kindred up my reading list. Such a great book and so immersive I couldn't put it down and wound up finishing it in one sitting. I can see why there would be mixed reviews regarding its speculative elements. The essay at the back of my version by Robert Crossley mentioned that "Butler herself has repeatedly insisted that Kindred should be read as a “grim fantasy,” not as science fiction, since there is “absolutely no science in it.” I can see why in her time she considered it more as fantasy than scifi given how the time travel in the book was explored (and exploration was little done). I think the most appropriate term now for Kindred would probably be slipstream coined by Richard Dorsett.  "Slipstream is a kind of fantastic or non-realistic fiction that crosses conventional genre boundaries between science fiction, fantasy, and literary fiction. "

Thanks for the recommendation, gang! Just borrowed Kindred for my next audiobook.

While on the topic, her Parable series (Parable of the Sower & Parable of the Talents) is scary good. Further, if you want to read a drop-the-mic, this-is-how-you-succinctly-yet-masterfully-world-build, read Bloodchild. It's a novelette and in a collection, titled Bloodchild and Other Stories. I have yet to read Kindred, but will. Octavia Butler is one of the masters. 

No matter how many books you read about slavery, this is a special book. It is special for several reasons:
1. She is different. Dana from 1976 travels to 1819. She learns to survive during this time. And we can see slavery through the eyes of a modern, free-spirited black girl.
2. The author forces us to be skeptical of official history and double-check the information we receive.
3. Octavia E. Butler is the first black science fiction writer to have her books published and win the Hugo Award.

But I don't think the action in the book should be taken too literally.

@davibrons Thanks for your insights, David. We hope you’ll tell us a bit about yourself under “New Users Introduce Yourselves.” It’s always nice to get better acquainted with new members that have joined.

Cheers!

Wulf Moon

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