I love Octavia Butler's writing. I am in general not a short-story fan, but in this case, I thought they were interesting and thought provoking. ( )

Following each story is an author’s note, a short essay really.

Almost all of these stories are amazing. Octavia Butler had a such a talent for creating distinct, flawed, believable characters through first-person narrative -- and here it was done with few words.

I found "Speech Sounds" and "The Evening and the Morning and the Night" particularly brilliant and haunting. ( )

Not all of the stories were absolutely brilliant (I didn't have that much use for the writing advice), but the ones that stuck with me REALLY stuck with me. Engaging, enjoyable, interesting, intelligent, and very thoughtful = excellent science fiction. I was also intrigued by the range of sci-fi here, from plausible diseases and decisions in a reality much like our own, to alien invasions and to alien worlds.

To sum it up, I'm planning to hunt down the rest of her novels and read them ASAP. ( )

"Speech Sounds" is an underrated gem. ( )

I love Butler's works. They show such a different perspective than the usual. Her essays also speak so well to aspiring writers. ( )

Yeah. Um so where do I even start? I know I will probably catch flack for my review but at least I’m being honest and this is MY opinion.

I like sci-fi but I don’t have a single damned clue what this was. Maybe it wanted to be sci-fi when it grew up? I only read this…whatever it was for the 52 Books in 52 Weeks challenge as it was a prompt. #48 A Book By Octavia E. Butler.

I’m all for trying new authors and such but she’s one I won’t be reading again. Her afterwards was a joke. She may have said she didn’t intend for the story to be one of slavery but it was. Humans were slaves no matter how you spin it. Which for sci-fi has been overdone in books and movies. Soooo glad this was a short one. Would not recommend. ( )

Thoughtful, humane, earnest. The first Butler I ever read. I loved SciFi so much as a teenager but I have really lost my taste for it. I’m not against it, it just isn’t my thing anymore. But if I ever do read more, I’ll consider picking up one of her novels. ( )

A short story that gave me hope that your dreams can come true.

That's the simple way for me to summarize this in one sentence. This short story shows how Octavia kept her dream alive while people looked down on her and lied to her. She became the first black female sci fi writer by not giving up and continuing to perfect her craft of writing. I am not going to lie, I don't think I would continue writing if I received rejection slip after rejection slip. I look forward to reading her other work. ( )

Fínar smásögur hjá meistaranum Octaviu Butler. Þær eru misgóðar líkt og títt er um smásagnasöfn. Bloodchild er hrein snilld og fjallar um samskipti manna sem myndað hafa sérstæðan búskap á fjarlægri plánetu undir verndarvæng geimvera. Margar sögurnar fjalla líka um glímu Butlers við að skapa sér nafn sem fyrsti svarti kvenrithöfundurinn í vísindaskáldsagnaheiminum og hve erfið glíman við fordóma getur verið. ( )

What a superb collection of short stories in the sci-fi genre by the wonderfully talented Octavia Butler. I loved all of them. Bloodchild was particularly creepy. I also loved all the medical/ethical questions raised in each story, which is really one of the core values of sci-fi and dystopian writing, but that sometimes gets lost in crazynew worlds and the like.

Please excuse typos. Entered on screen reader. ( )

The collection seems to be an introduction to the author in the sense of really getting to know and value her. They are all speculative fiction examining interesting aspects of people and the human condition. Not the first Octavia Butler i have read but it seems the most personal. ( )

"Bloodchild" was recommended to me since it is a story which is deeply immersed in its own theme, if that makes any sense, and because I am in the process of writing a story which itself is deeply immersed in a theme of its own. I tracked down this collection, and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was my first exposure to Butler's work, and I highly recommend it. ( )

Short stories aren't my thing. Bloodchild was OK, but I liked the second story best, followed by the third. Octavia Butler has creativity and writing talent. ( )

In her introduction to the second edition of this book (which includes two new stories not in the 1995 edition), Octavia E. Butler admits that she is not great at writing short stories: most of them turn out to be part of a novel, and the ideas she wants to explore in her books don't fit the length of a short story.

What follows in the seven short stories and two essays that comprise the collection, however, are excellent works - mainly of science fiction - that explore all manner of life, whether it be human interaction with alien species or the results of a terrible genetic disease that causes people to mutilate themselves. The two essays delve into Butler's thoughts on writing, one autobiographical one that describes how she became a writer and the other her advice on writing. The pieces included span her writing from 1971 to 2003 and her afterwords sometimes explain the origin of the story or her unvarnished opinion of it. I haven't read enough of Butler's work to be able to say with any authority if this is a good starting point, but it does give you a flavor for the breadth of topics and genres she'll use to explore topics that interest her and inform her writing. ( )

In this short story (Speech Sounds; it was registered separately, but merged with this anthology; see the topic in Goodreads Librarians) - which can be downloaded for free from here or here, for example, or even listened to on YouTube: see here -, two men have a dispute, mildly put. It doesn't take much for the situation to escalate and both men to fight each other, or at least one of them to strike the first blow. And it happens, if only because of the bumpy road and the two men landing into each other.

The dispute doesn't occur through normal speech. Due to a virus of some sort, many can't speak any more - hence the title - and thus garble something to make themselves clear; if that is ever possible. Of course, gesturing is a good alternative. Rye, the main character, sees it all happening on the bus, but is far away enough to get away and not get hurt. She has not lost her speech, but the virus affected her read and writing abilities. This means that all the books she's written are of no use any longer. But she has too much respect for her own work to use it as fuel, next to wood.

But the row escalates, and Rye is saved by a man (named Obsidian, because of his necklace) wearing an LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) uniform and badge. He's also armed, as is Rye, if only to protect herself from the devolved state of the city's inhabitants. He's one of the many (so-called?) cops out there without a proper police force controlling the situation.

Rye was on her way to family in Pasadena, to seek a new life. Obsidian offered to play taxi, which she accepted, since her original plan (by bus) was no longer an option. During the ride, it becomes clear that he can read (maps and other things), but can no longer speak or understand spoken language. As Rye can no longer read or write, they communicate through gestures and touches. And so, one thing leads to another, especially when taking into account that Rye has been alone for the past three years, having lost her husband and children.

But as fresh as this new, possible relationship is, one intervention makes an end to it. Being at the wrong place at the wrong time, as they say. Or was she (!), as sole survivor of the dreadful act? Two surviving kids, who still can (!) speak, give her hope. Hope that not all is lost, that mankind is not completely done for. Hope that there will be a better future, that people will learn to properly communicate with each other (again) and not revert to primal fighting to solve matters.

This quick read is not a happy one, far from it. Mrs. Butler explained at the end how the story (based on a true event) came to be. In fact, it's one of those stories that still take place, almost everywhere in the world. While it was written in the early 1980s, it could have been written anno 2017. Many disputes, for in many cases very trivial matters, are dealt with in an aggressive way (fighting, stabbing, kicking, punching, ...). Is it something genetic? Only to be controlled through social rules?

Anyway, heavily recommended food for thought. And only 13 pages long, eh, short. ( )

A great collection of essays and fiction (both sci-fi and not). My favorite is "The Book of Martha," where a person going about her normal business is called on by God to take his place. ( )

Octavia Butler's one and only short story collection proves two things: 1) she is terrible at appraising her own skill in short stories, and 2) the woman delivers.

Bloodchild is an anthology collection that is primarily dominated by sci-fi stories, but also includes some short fiction, essays, and a short biography of Butler complete with photos. Each item is followed by a brief discussion from Butler regarding the inspiration and meaning behind the piece.

I can honestly say there is not a short story in this collection that I did not thoroughly enjoy. Butler remains a---if not THE---master of making alien societies, psychology, and physiology truly feel alien. A race of giant centipedes who have entered a symbiotic relationship with humanity, with us serving as hosts for their eggs and they acting as providers and protectors, is easily the most horrifying and intriguing story available. Another set of aliens, these being fungal or vegetable in nature with a communal structure and the ability to engulf a human being in their amorphous body, are unsettling and fascinating. As someone who aspires to be a writer, I found the essasys to be the perfect blend of practical advice, real-world experience, and encouragement/inspiration.

There is little action to these stories. Often the whole story spans a handful of conversations. I found it fluid and fast-paced, smooth. If you are a fan of sweeping space operas or epic laser fights you'll not enjoy this.

There's very few negatives I can give for this work. Her themes are oft heavy-handed. Her dialogue can be very stilted. Her world-building can come in large chunks. But these flaws occur rarely at best.

TL;DR: I devoured this book. If you dislike this book, you are probably Hitler. ( )

Read, favourite. ( )

(...)

The Evening and the Morning and the Night (1987, 33 pp.)
The opening pages are outright fantastic. Again Butler succeeds in creating mood expertly. Again echoes of oppression: the story is about people with a particular disease that are forcefully sterilized and have to wear emblems. It's a good story, plain and simple. I do think it's a bit formulaic in the part that hinges on the fact that destructive energy is being transformed into creative energy.

In the afterword, she writes this story was born "wondering how much of what we do is encouraged, discouraged, or otherwise guided by what we are genetically." She goes on and adds: "This is one of my favorite questions, parent to several of my novels." In my analysis of Dune a few weeks ago, I wrote that "I have long held the suspicion that what underlies big parts of literature is the way we relate to us being determined." Butler seems to confirm this, but as an analysis of the matter her short story fails at depth. Genetics is only one factor in the determination equation.

At face value, this is a story about someone who's emphatic enough to see the hidden powers of people that are feared, criminalized, misjudged & underestimated. Again, Butler being black cannot be separated from its interpretation & reception.

(...)

All and all a varied collection of which the 4 longer stories are worth it, Speech Sounds being my favorite. Butler's stories are not successful on all accounts, but they are solid for sure, except for the abysmal The Book of Martha.

A final, crucial remark... This collection didn't convince me to start one of Butler's long form novels, and I can't really explain why. Maybe because I felt lectured at times - Butler being overall too transparent about her social & ethical intentions?

For a write-up of each story, please visit Weighing A Pig Doesn't Fatten It ( )

Octavia Butler was a genius. This collection of short stories is a great and quick example of her ability to imagine new worlds. I read this in about 3 days. The stories are rather disturbing, especially the title story, "Bloodchild." But there is an excellent personal essay on her life as a writer than was inspiring, yet still written on her honest manner. An excellent book for a winter day where you can curl up with a mug of something warm. Underneath it all, Butler is struggling with why humans treat each other so badly, why do we have wars, but instead of exploring those questions as a pundit, she explores them through fiction. This is why I love scifi/fantasy...it makes us imagine how our world could/should be. Even if there's not always a happy ending.

I frequently reference Butler as an influential and beloved author, but have still read such a small fragment of her work! It was high time to work on that. That I ended up giving a collection of short stories (by far not my favorite format) five stars was only a slight surprise.

In addition to the stories themselves, this collection includes a brief commentary from Butler on each -- inspirations for the story, comments on how others have interpreted it, etc. I loved these insights -- especially her recommended reading list after "The Evening and the Morning and the Night" -- one of my favorite stories in the collection.

These stories are just so recognizably and uniquely Butler. The way many of them get you so twisted up you want to scream and rage at the injustice -- even as the protagonist is taking some resolute turn toward compassion. I feel like I would be a bette person if I understood them better. I'd better make sure to keep more Butler books on my shelves. ( )

This was a good short story. It drew me in, and kept me, and will stay with me for some time. ( )

Light spec fic stories, heavy on women and Big Ideas. Butler says she doesn't like to write short stories...but I love these, and more than the full-length fiction of hers that I've read. They sparkle, they pack a punch, and they get out of their own way.

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"Bloodchild" -- Creepy, unhappy, vaguely racial symbiosis of the Wild Seed sort -- this time between alien races. One author quipped this was her favorite story about pregnancy, which reflects more about her relation to pregnancy than anything else. Disturbing imagery, but nestled directly in that region of toying with big ideas that I love. ★★★★★

"The Evening and the Morning and the Night" -- Genetic disease brought on ourselves, trading present for future, free will in a world of pheromones. It is missing just a bit of an ending / of a "so what", but the genetics angle is fresh in my spec fic reading. ★★★★

"Near of Kin" -- An incest story. The boundaries played with here are done well, but they're ones I've seen done well before. ★★★

"Speech Sounds" -- A world reborn without language, and what that means for the present and future. Very thoughtful, very enjoyable. ★★★★½

"Crossover" -- Mental illness as a relationship that just doesn't quit. I needed to read this one twice to see it all, and it's excellent. ★★★★

"Positive Obsession" -- Brief vignettes from Butler's life as a writer. I was most surprised at the final section, which names all four Black spec fic authors in 1989: Delany, Barnes, Charles R. Saunders, and herself. So few. ★★★

"Furor Scribendi" -- Brief essay on how to write. Not my scene, so no opinions from me on this score. ★★★

"Amnesty" -- Strange, fascinating aliens full of small creatures with humans becoming yet another part, more slavery and power parables, and totally unputdownable. Even picked it up to read in the car. ★★★★★

"The Book of Martha" -- God chooses a woman to make a beneficial change in humanity. Is he just bored and interested in the fireworks? Or actually hoping new creativity will make his creation better than he was able to? What does this mean to her and everyone else? Is she making good choices? Just fascinating. ★★★★★ ( )

Bloodchild and Other Stories was my introduction to Butler’s writing, and it reflects a masterful (and masterfully-thoughtful) writer. This collection features every short story — and two essays — that Octavia Butler wrote between 1971 and 2003. At just over 200 pages, that’s not many, and she herself admits to not being a writer or fan of short stories in her comments.

### ‘Bloodchild’ (1984)

I should find the title story, ‘Bloodchild,’ cheesy, with its insect-like aliens and technological magic: It’s steeped in old-fashioned sci-fi cheese without ever getting drowned in the magic and wonder writers like Bradbury relied on.

[N.B. This review features images and formatting specific to my book site, dendrobibliography: Check it out here.]

‘Bloodchild’ is about a future where humanity has come under the control and protection of a space-faring species most akin to preying mantises and spiders. They’re benevolent, but still very clearly in charge. Humanity is, coincidentally, an ideal host species for the Tilc’s larva; human families live on vast preserves, and are free to live as long as they supply one child per family as an N’Tilc — a host of Tilc larvae.

This is an uncomfortable story, and infinitely imaginative. Humanity is conflicted about this — it is a sort of slavery, after all. The hosts form close bonds with their Tilc partners, but the host process is violent, painful, gory, and can easily lead to the host’s death if they’re not careful.

‘Bloodchild’ never quite focuses on that, however. This story is all about the bond of human boy and his Tilc partner; in forming a loving relationship despite the requisite pain and suffering.

### ‘The Evening and the Morning and the Night’ (1987)

‘The Evening and the Morning and the Night’ continues the first story’s excellence, introducing a genetic disorder that causes unpredictably violent and suicidal behavior in those affected by it. Society, being how it is, punishes those born with this genetic disorder, pushing them to the outskirts of society much as our culture silently does with special needs individuals (which, of course, exacerbates their condition, turning the violence into a cycle). Like ‘Bloodchild,’ this story is required reading.

### ‘Near of Kin’ (1979), ‘Speech Sounds’ (1983), and ‘Crossover’ (1971)

The original edition of Bloodchild and Other Stories only had three more stories, all shorter and less consistent. ‘Near of Kin’ and ‘Crossover’ aren’t sci-fi, and are brief moments in the lives of fragmenting families: In ‘Near of Kin,’ a young woman goes through her mother’s belongings after she passes away. She reflects on her poor relationship with her mom, and of her better, if timid, relationship with her living uncle — who, it’s suggested, is her dad. ‘Crossover,’ Butler’s first-published story (1971), follows a young, miserable woman struggling with an abusive boyfriend, a miserable job, and thoughts of suicide. These two aren’t bad, but didn’t leave much of an impression.

‘Speech Sounds’ is a fairly standard mid-’80s post-apocalyptic story. The world’s social order has broken down after a virus causes every living person to either lose their ability to speak or read/write. Each group — speakers and readers — is led by jealousy and trouble communicating, leading to a plot straight out of the Road Warrior. This story, about a young woman who makes a fleeting acquaintance with someone not awful, is exciting, yes, but the apocalypse was never believable, and, like the page-count, the characters are in and out of the story too quickly to be memorable.

It’s rare that I can get into short stories as it is, and these three, while good, remind me more of every other short story writer I’ve had trouble getting into despite accolades (Ray Bradbury, Amy Hempel).

### ‘Positive Obsession’ (1989) and ‘Furor Scribendi’ (1993)

The two essays that closed the original ’95 publication of Bloodchild, ‘Positive Obsession’ and ‘Furor Scribendi,’ include stories from Butler’s life as well as advice to aspiring writers. Her writing background is fascinating, publishing sci-fi at a time when Samuel Delany was the only accepted black sci-fi writer. Octavia didn’t have much in the way of role models or family encouragement: Black women shouldn’t write, especially genre fiction.

Her writing advice that accompanies her flash-biography is simple: Keep writing, keep trying — become obsessed. Butler intentionally shuns the garbage of the self-help industry to get her message across: There’s no talent — nothing innate in respected writers — there’s only their obsessions that drive them to try and try again.

These two short essays may be far more valuable than any self-help book or guide for writers.

### ‘Amnesty’ (2003)

Butler’s return to short stories is stunning, with both ‘Amnesty’ and ‘the Book of Martha’ being some of the most intellectually- and emotionally-demanding work in the collection. ‘Amnesty’ is a marriage of classic sci-fi tropes, careful characterization, and damning social commentary.

An alien civilization has landed. Like in Ted Chiang’s ‘Story of Your Life,’ the Communities landed quietly in the world’s deserts, barely interacting with us as we’re studied from a distance. People have been abducted — never with any nefarious intent, though some have suffered simply due to communication issues — and slab cities have been erected around the Communities. The Communities are peaceful, each individual actually a population in itself of plant-like entities, minds working as one.

The story revolves around a former abductee interviewing candidates from outside the Communities to work for the Communities. As the interviewer, she gets a number of questions about why she is working for the species, and her reasoning is the meat of this story, relevant particularly to political events in 2017:

After her abduction, Noah was kidnapped by her own government and tortured for years. They didn’t understand the Communities — rather feared them — and wouldn’t believe that she wasn’t an agent working on the aliens’ behalf to harm mankind. Mankind, embroiled in heated competition with itself, is hardly prepared to handle an alien species which, they assume, must be after the same thing. It’s a cycle of fear and hatred, and Noah felt no choice in escaping persecution. What the Communities offer her is a home: She’s no longer welcome among mankind, tainted by this alien experience.

Octavia Butler’s gleamed more truths about humanity than most of us ever could.

### ‘The Book of Martha’ (2005)

The final story Butler ever wrote, ‘the Book of Martha’ is another bombshell on the reader’s feelings. The idea is simple (and even cliche): God meets with Martha in her dreams. Martha’s an everywoman figure, rising from nothing to moderate success. S/he asks for her help in shaping humanity’s future, in helping dilute anger and hatred and religious persecution in favor of a paradise.

The rest of this story is their conversation, their debates on how her varying ideas would help or harm the vision of an earthly paradise: Who would benefit, who would suffer. The only way to benefit everyone — hopefully — they realize, is through that individual’s dreams.

‘The Book of Martha’ offers an interesting thought experiment, and it’s surprising that a philosophical conversation with the self makes for as entertaining a story as this is.

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Short stories rarely appeal to me the way novels do, but Bloodchild and Other Stories is an excellent introduction to Butler’s writing. Her ideas are brilliantly creative, her social commentary sharp, the empathy of her characters deep — I can’t wait to move on to her other work. ( )