![]() Some of Butler’s biggest influences in her youth included Ray Bradbury, Theodore Sturgeon, and Robert Heinlein. As she said in a 1996 interview, “I read a lot of science fiction with absolutely no discrimination when I was growing up-I mean, good, bad, or awful.” In notes written in 2001 in preparation for a speech, Butler revealed that her early literary loves were horse stories and fairy tales. She was nurtured by days spent “being read to by my mother and the women at the library-being introduced to reading as fun, not as nasty, but necessary medicine that will make you better someday.”īutler, who said she was inspired to try her own hand at writing sci-fi stories after watching the film Devil Girl from Mars and determining she could craft something better, went on to devour the works of SFF authors. I also listen to audio-books, and I'll go out for my morning walk with tapes from two very different audio-books, and let those ideas bounce off each other, simmer, reproduce in some odd way, so that I come up with ideas that I might not have come up with if I had simply stuck to one book until I was done with it and then gone and picked up another.”įrom her appearances, interviews, and archives we know that the below stories and authors shaped different chapters of Butler’s evolution. ![]() They don't relate to each other in any particular way, and the ideas they present bounce off one another. Delany at MIT, “I generally have four or five books open around the house-I live alone I can do this-and they are not books on the same subject. But she read purely for pleasure as well.Īs she said in 1998 during a discussion with Samuel R. Often, her reading was geared around research for her novels, or for personal projects such as her volunteer work as a literacy tutor. The award-winning writer, who passed away abruptly 16 years ago on February 24, 2006, devoured fiction and nonfiction alike. Butler organized her life around books-and not just her own. The topics and subject matter can be tough but if you’ve never read Butler before you will be in for a treat.Author Octavia E. I would recommend both books for readers who enjoy both mediums. ![]() I envisioned the scenes differently than they did but I enjoyed the book all the same. I relived every harsh moment in full color thanks to Damian Duffy and John Jennings. I quickly read the graphic novel version (in its entirety) the day after I devoured the original novel. There is so much physical and mental violence but these scenes show the strength it took to live through this time and it gives the main character, Dana, more depth because she doesn’t run from it. Her motivations centered on staying alive and keeping her family together, but once you realize what that means, there are never any right answers.īutler doesn’t shy away from how people lived during this era and it’s one of the most accurate depictions of slavery I have ever read. I loved the character Dana but couldn’t reconcile some of the decisions she made. Kindred is haunting and honest, but I had moments of frustration while reading it. I loved the writing and the storytelling, even though I don't know if I can say I "loved" the story. Then she immediately returns home to her time period, but things only get weirder after that. Before she can figure out what is going on, she saves a small white child’s life but is almost killed herself. Kindred is the story of Dana, a Black woman living in the 70s era Los Angeles. She is unpacking boxes at home when all of a sudden she disappears, and fall into the 1800s of the Pre-Civil War South. ![]() She is one of my favorite writers because the worlds she creates are vivid and timely, even though all of her published works are in our past. She is the first writer in this genre to receive the McAuthor Foundation “Genius” grant. My last book hangover came from Octavia Butler's most notable work about time travel, family ancestry, and sacrifice, Kindred.īutler is known throughout the science fiction world as the Dame of Science Fiction. It changes the way you exist in the world even though the world is exactly the same. Have you ever had a book hangover? It's when you finish a book and it leaves such an intense mark on your life that you are a bit unfocused and unable to continue on with your day. ![]()
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