Bloodchild and Other Stories

Octavia Butler was a literary genius! The way she talked about heavy issues using characters that did not attack any group of people was refreshing and brought the message home without guilt or accusation.

Don't get me wrong, I love Star Trek and Star Wars but too much science fiction is a pale imitation of one or the other. Octavia Butler deserves to be a household name along with other Sci Fi greats. Bloodchild is an excellent starting point if you've never read her work.

The only African American woman I know in the SciFi field, Ms Butler is far more imaginative than most male authors, and once you start one of her series, you won't stop until your done. They are fascinating. It's too bad she is getting far more recognition after she passed.

Octavia Butler is the best sci fi writer I've ever read. Better than Heinlein, Asimov, Clarke, et al. "Bloodchild" was the first piece I read by her. Got me hooked. Take a read and you'll be hooked, too.

This is a collection of short stories. I really enjoy Butler's writing style but after reading the first short I becamse extremely upset by the abrupt ending. I am not one of those readers who needs resolution but I don't want to feel like I have just read a portion of a complete movement. The author has a dynamic writing style that engages my relationship to all of the senses; touch, sound, smell, taste, visual. I can not say I recommend this collection but I can not say you should not read it. I just don't like reading sections of something unless the beginning and end of that section of writing suggests a sense of being a complete moment or movement.

Decent writing with extremely strong feminist overtones. I read and analyzed several of the stories within as part of a college English course. I'm not a fan of it, but the writing is OK from an objective standpoint.

(Trigger warning for rape and sexual/reproductive exploitation.)

The truth is, I hate short story writing. Trying to do it has taught me much more about frustration and despair than I ever wanted to know.

Yet there is something seductive about writing short stories. It looks so easy. You come up with an idea, then ten, twenty, perhaps thirty pages later, you’ve got a finished story.

Well, maybe.

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Don’t let Butler’s apparent distaste for short stories fool you; many of the stories collected here are shiny little masterpieces in their own right.

(…although I’d be lying if I said that I wouldn’t also love to see several of the stories fleshed out into full-length novels; “Bloodchild,” “Speech Sounds,” and “Amnesty,” I’m looking at you!)

The second edition of BLOODVHILD AND OTHER STORIES includes seven short stories (five previously published, two brand spanking new) and two essays (both reprints). While the essays offer advice to aspiring writers as well as insights into Butler’s childhood (“Shyness is s***.” might be the realest, rawest sentence in the whole damn book), the stories are that wonderfully creepy, complex, unsettling, and ultimately deeply profound brand of SF/F that I’ve come to associate with Butler: earth-based worlds characterized by rapidly crumbling dystopias, or alien societies in which the human survivors are forced into untenable compromises with their extraterrestrial saviors/overlords. Each piece is followed by a brief (but enlightening) Afterward penned by the author herself.

* Previously Published Stories *

“Bloodchild” – Faced with a dying planet and crumbling society, a group of humans fled earth, only to arrive on a planet already occupied: by the Tlics, an intelligent species of giant, segmented, worm-like creatures. After much warring that proved costly to both sides, the two groups reached a tenuous peace agreement: the humans would be given a home on the Preserve, but in exchange some settlers – men, primarily – would be “adopted” by Tlic families, ultimately required to carry and birth their young in a gruesome and sometimes fatal process. Against this backdrop, a boy named Gan must come to terms with his future servitude to family friend T’Gatoi, the Tlic government official in charge of the Preserve. Inspired by botflies, Butler describes “Bloodchild” as her “pregnant man story.” (©1984; first published in Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine.)

“The Evening and the Morning and the Night” – No miracle drug comes without a cost – at least not in the realm of science fiction. In “The Evening and the Morning and the Night,” the downside to curing cancer manifests in the form of Duryea-Gode Disease (DGD), a debilitating and often fatal disorder that, at best, causes its victim to “drift” – dissociate from his or her surroundings, in a sort of fugue state. At worst, it causes aggression, usually in the form of self-harming behaviors. Sufferers may gouge out their own eyes, flay themselves alive, even cannibalize their own body parts.

Lynn witnessed these horrors for herself, when her parents – both afflicted with the illness – took her to a DGD institution as a sort of punishment for going off her strict diet – the only thing known to keep symptoms at bay. Like many DGD kids, Lynn’s an overachiever – trying to cram as much into her unexpectedly short life as possible – but when she visits her fiance Alan’s mother in an innovate DGD “retreat,” she finds that her special strain of hereditary DGD is a gift as well as a curse. (©1987; first published in Omni Magazine.)

“Near of Kin” – In the wake of her estranged mother’s death, the MC must come to terms with her unhappy childhood – and unusual parentage. Butler describes it as as “a sympathetic story of incest” inspired by the Bible. (“This was, of course, not exactly what my mother had in mind when she encouraged me to read the Bible.”) A more contemporary, earthly tale, “Near of Kin” doesn’t quite fit with the other stories, all of which have a SF/F bent. Even so, I found it an engaging read. (©1979; first published in Chrysalis 4.)

“Speech Sounds” – In a future dystopia, a mysterious and devastating illness has robbed many humans of their ability to use and even understand language – written as well as spoken. Nothing more than hairless chimps, humans have been reduced to communicating with grunts, gestures – and violence. On the way to Pasadena to search for her long-lost brother, Valerie Rye has lost everything: not just her husband and children, but her purpose in life as well teaching and writing). She connects with a mysterious stranger in an LAPD uniform – just another vestige of a forgotten past – long enough to lose him; and, in her grief and despair, discovers that her work isn’t done quite yet. (©1983; first published in Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine.)

“Crossover” – A factory worker is haunted by her disfigured jailbird lover. (©1971; first published in Clarion.)

* Previously Published Essays *

“Birth of a Writer” – In fragments and flashbacks, Butler shares her obsession with writing and her development as a (black, female, science fiction) writer. (©1989; first published in Essence.)

“Furor Scribendi” – “A Rage for Writing” offers advice to new and aspiring writers. (©1993; first published in L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume IX.)

* New Stories *

“Amnesty” – Twenty years ago, a group of plant-like aliens known as the Communities landed on earth via a one-way shuttle, with no way to leave or return home. They quickly established “bubbles” in dry desert lands – 37 of them worldwide – and, like scientists with lab animals, they set about studying their strange new neighbors: humans. After several waves of abductions, much suffering and death, and a brief but decisive war (we lost), humans and Communities reached an impasse. Though they heralded a global depression, the Communities are exceedingly wealthy, thanks to the resources they’re able to extract from deep within the earth’s surface. In exchange for a handsome salary, select humans are given fixed-term jobs in the bubbles, teaching the Communities about human culture and allowing themselves to be “enfolded” within their employers – a powerful drug for humans and Communities alike.

Abducted as child and kept for twelve long years, Noah is one of just thirty people who are able to communicate with the Communities; in fact, she helped them develop their shared language. Now working as a Translator, it’s her job to find new recruits to work in the bubbles. But with the prevailing mistrust of and outright hostility toward these alien invaders – and, by extension, herself – Noah’s work isn’t always easy…or even pleasant. Yet communication is vital to ongoing peace, so translate she must.

“The Book of Martha” – God tasks Martha Bes – a black, middle-aged writer of fantasy – with saving the human species from itself. Her answer is the only kind of utopia that Butler could imagine working: your own personal utopia that comes to you in dreams.

While all the stories are both enjoyable and thought-provoking, I preferred those planted firmly in the realm of science fiction; in particular, “Bloodchild,” “The Evening and the Morning and the Night,” “Speech Sounds,” and “Amnesty.” The exploitative extraterrestrials in “Bloodchild” and “Amnesty” are reminiscent of the Oankali who populate LILITH'S BROOD (and Noah begs a comparison to the titular Lilith); and Rye, the protagonist of “Speech Sounds,” feels a distant cousin to Lauren Olamina of the PARABLES duology. This is classic Butler, alright, pared down to short story form. And it is *glorious*.

A must for Butler fans; those looking to diversify their shelves; and anyone who just plain loves great scifi.

"Bloodchild and Other Stories" is a wonderful collection of short stories and essays by a very unique force in science fiction. Despite being a recipient of a MacArthur genius grant, a PEN award, and numerous other literary awards, Ms. Butler never succumbed to the temptation of abandoning her career as a SF writer. Two of the stories in this collection won Hugo awards and the title story won both the Hugo and the Nebula awards. While much of her recognition comes from being a female African American novelist, it is clear from these stories that she was an accomplish writer both by literary and ghetto genre standards.

In her essay, "Positive Obsession", Octavia speaks to the uniqueness of being an African American and a women in a white male dominated genre:

"There was exactly one other Black science-fiction writer working successfully when I sold my first novel: Samuel R. Delany, Jr. Now there are four of us. Delany, Steven Barnes, Charles R. Saunders, and me. So few. Why? Lack of interest? Lack of confidence? A young Black woman once said to me, 'I always wanted to write science fiction, but I didn't think there were any Black women doing it.' Doubts show themselves in all sorts of ways. But still I'm asked, what good is science fiction to Black people?

What good is any form of literature to Black people?"

Ms. Butler has added an afterword to each story and essay in the collection. It is an attempt to crystallize why she wrote them and what they are supposed to be about. Rarely have I seen a more positive argument for Postmodernism's criticism of intent of the author versus the interpretation of the reader or viewer in art and literature. There is no way this descendant of slave owners and mixed blood Native Americans is ever going to see stories like "Bloodchild" as a tale of a pregnant man or insects in Peru. Our preconceptions from our zeitgeist or milieu or simply growing up American adds an internal dynamic which drives this story and her work in general from solid SF stories to critical pieces of 20th literature whether the author acknowledges it or not.

Read her stories and behold her gift. You won't regret it.

This book is a perfect choice if you love speculative fiction, fantasy and science fiction. There is a little bit of all of it in these short stories. Octavia Butler is a brilliant writer and a master at crafting tales that both disturb and Delight the reader. My favorite thing about this book if you can read a short story in one sitting. She follows up the stories with an afterword explaining her inspiration for each story. It is a lovely glimpse into the mind of a master Craftsmen in The Art of Storytelling. I promise you'll pick this up thinking you'll read one short story at a time, and before you know it, you will find yourself devouring the entire book.

This is a book of horror / dark fantasy stories by the amazing author Ocativa E. Butler. Believe it or not, this is the first book by Butler that I have ever read, and I was amazed at her brilliance.

Her stories were incredibly creative. They covered important issues like race, slavery, sexuality, and identity, all in the guise of alien occupation or dystopic disease and other dark fantasy themes. Her prose was smooth and eloquent.

The most interesting of the stories was her novella Bloodchild, which is about a child that is about to be "sexually" adopted by some alien worm-thing. The story encompassed the feelings of the boy, his mother, and the alien - providing some very startling insight.

After each story, Butler included a short essay of what she intended the story to mean or background in her life when the story was written. These brought further understanding to the story, though I was a little skeptical when she insisted that she hadn't intended Bloodchild to be about slavery. But, I guess, sometimes meanings creep in there unintended. And there's also something to say for the readers' interpretation regardless of intended meaning. To me, slavery was one of the many underlying themes of the story.

At the end of the book, Butler included a couple of essays about what it was like being an African American science fiction author, and encouraged young people to follow their dreams and become authors. Finally, there were a couple of never-before-published stories.

This little book is well worth your time if you are interested in deeper cultural issues of race, slavery, and sexuality - possibly even if you are not specifically interested in science fiction and fantasy.

This slim volume contains the seven stories and two essays that make up Butler's short work, with introduction and afterwords by the author. What Butler writes in her introduction is true: the works here are meant to be short. They lack the characterization and complicated interpersonal dynamics that are one of her hallmarks, giving their pagecount instead to the high-concept speculative ideas and thought experiments which are her other hallmark. It's a condensed form of Butler, particularly engaging for its brevity and as discomforting as always: the speculative as a tool for social investigation and commentary. The exceptions are "Near of Kin" and "Crossover," smaller vignettes, and the succinct personal essays, but these have their own value and the pacing slows only briefly. This is my last Butler book, and, sad as that makes me, it was a fantastic endnote.

As a huge sci-fi fan, I can't believe I'd missed this book or author for all these years. Just when you almost think every idea has been done, you find something like this. Granted, it is a bit older, but if anything that makes it even more impressive. She makes such nearly indescribable alien beings, ideas and worlds into something that's not only able to be comprehended, but seems almost "normal," for a little while, as if you're there and that is YOUR reality. Not to mention the way she covers real human issues such as race, communication, immigration, slavery, and a sustainable world. (And those are just the ones I can think of, without browsing back through the book.)

This contains most of Octavia Butler's published short work, and it's a small book. But that does not mean that you should pass it up. At least two of the stories, I believe, are must-reads for anyone interested in science fiction.
* "Bloodchild" -- This is likely my favorite SF story. The situation is horrifying, yet believable, and, within context, entirely rational. Humans on a far away planet are forced to enter into a relationship with the native alien race that is strangely reminiscent of both slavery and concubinage, yet Butler actually was working from insect natural history. This is a powerful story, one that wakes up your mind.
* "The Evening and the Morning and the Night" -- This is the other fabulous story in this collection, another case of believable SF that comes near to horror. A disease that incites people to unthinkable crimes and the solution to the disease--as well as a close study on the type of people who administer the solution. You really can't do much better than this in SF.
* "Near of Kin" -- Not SF, and not a fantasy, yet not horror either. The subject matter is taboo in most fiction, so maybe that's how it ended up in an SF anthology. Well done. Enjoyable.
* "Speech Sounds" -- Really good story about a plague that affects the speech centers of the brain. Fast, but compelling, with an economy of plot--just enough to present the worse and the best of the situation.
* "Crossover" -- Boring, although not bad for a first published story. You can see how her background infused her stories early on.
* "Positive Obsession" and "Furor Scribendi" -- Reprinted essays on writing that should provide quite inspiring for burgeoning writers. Economical and smart.

Octavia Butler is one of the most talented, creative contemporary writers. "Bloodchild" is a collection of eight short stories, which essentially span from futuristic dystopias, to parasitic alien races, to strange diseases. While in theory these concepts may be dated and arguably cliche, she writes so fluidly and in such a skilled manner that, litearlly, every word she pens is unique and original.
Butler is still a relatively new voice in the world of writing. Rightly or wrongly, she is catogorised at science fiction, a genre which tends to tie up the loose literary ends of writers who don't exactly fit into any definite species. While at their barest what she writes about is science fiction, she inundates her writing with an artistically humane quality: Moreso than just writing about the ooh's and aah's of science, she writes about the complexities and values of humanity. Her writing is evenly paced, without being drawn out - she does not feed into flashy or gimmicky story lines, but rather baits the reader with beautiful (though not overly wordy) descriptions and portrayals of characters.
"Bloodchild," the opening story, tells of a young adult who is to undergo a "rite of passage," so to speak. In this story, an alien race is symbiotically related to humans: They provide comfort, warmth, and assistance. In exchange, humans house the eggs of these creatures, undergoing a horrendously painful "hatching" prcoess that does not kill them, but leaves them with horrific memories of pain. Butler tells this short story with first person narrative, imparting a sense of emotion and realism that could never be experienced outside of her authorship.
Despite her stylistic flow, Butler still manages to keep what she writes interesting. She tackles each story, however seemingly tired the concept may be, with a refreshing tone. She is able to deftly craft a story with as few brush strokes as possible, but still leave a dazzling landscape.
Bloodchild is definitely one of the most marvelous, beautiful workds of fiction that I have read in recent times. It is science fiction without ever being scientific, fiction without ever being imagined. Butler is talanted and creative, and undoubtedly one of the best contemporary writers I have encountered.

This is a collection of short stories, most of which are speculative in nature. I love how she has little forewords and afterwords about the stories, and how she talks candidly about what people "expected" her to do as a black woman writer (She's like, "Apparently I'm not supposed to write science fiction 'cause a black woman doing that is unheard-of.") Anyway, some of her stories have stayed with me for years. They're occasionally horrific, but it's just amazing to me how well she writes about people's need to communicate, people's relationships with creatures very unlike themselves, and special situations of families' problems. Highly recommended!

There are good science fiction writers. There are great science fiction writers. And then there are those extraordinary science fiction writers whose work both transcends and ennobles the genre. Such a writer is Octavia E. Butler, and "Bloodchild and Other Stories" is a stunning testament of her talent and vision. The pieces in this book have garnered two Hugo Awards and one Nebula (very distinguished honors in the SF world).
"Bloodchild" contains 5 stories (2 of them on the longer side) as well as two illuminating essays. In addition, Butler provides an afterword for each piece. The best of these stories are true masterpieces. "Bloodchild" is about the strange symbiotic relationship between a colony of humans and a very different alien species. In "The Evening and the Morning and the Night" the author creates a haunting portrait of a human subculture that has evolved as the result of a terrifying new disease. Also outstanding is "Speech Sounds," about what happens after a mysterious force impairs humanity's ability to communicate with written and spoken language.
Butler's essay "Positive Obsession" is an illuminating exploration of her distinctive life as a African-American woman who is also a successful SF writer.
Butler's writing style has a stark, painful clarity to it. She writes scenes of horror and despair, but also includes moments of tenderness and hope. Through it all, her stories are rich with insights into the universal human condition. If you are interested in science fiction, in African-American literature, in women's writing, or in the art of the short story, read this book.

Octavia Butler is probably the most under rated science fiction writer. In this short story collection consisting of 5 short stories and two essays, Butler offers some solid reading.
Each story is followed by a thoughtful afterword that provides analysis on her ideas. The two essays are on the craft of writing. The one essay titled 'Positive Obsession' is a small window into Butler's childhood, and the difficulties she had getting published. It clearly conveys the fears she had of never getting published. With the help of her mother she managed to persist in a most impressive way.
My favorite story was 'Speech Sounds' involving a woman in a post-apocalyptic America. The world is ravaged with a new disease that takes away speech for some survivors, and reading & writing skills for others. After losing her three children and husband a woman years later rediscovers love. What happens afterwards is devastating, yet she manages to move on and find a reason for living.
'Bloodchild' is the most popular of these stories, since it won both the Hugo and Nebula awards. This story involves an alien species that learns to co-exist with humans by using men to carry their newborn.
Another strong effort is 'The Evening and the Morning and the Night'. This is a very emotionally involving story. A young woman has lost both of her parents to a disease that she herself harbors. This hereditary illness doesn't reveal itself until middle age. Having to live with knowing that she will self-mutilate as she ages is almost too much for her to handle. Fortunately for her she meets someone who is also a carrier, and together they decide to visit his mom in a hospital.
The only downside to this collection is that I could not help wishing there were more stories to read, but what is there is of high enough quality to compensate.

Besides her exceptional novels, Octavia Butler has published a collection of her short fiction entitled Bloodchild and Other Stories. The opening story in the collection is her Hugo and Nebula award winning story, the title story, "Bloodchild". This is what she has called her "male pregnancy story" and it features an Earth which has been taken over by some sort of alien creatures who form symbiotic relationships with humans, but who also use humans to breed their young and usually males because impregnating females means fewer humans will be born which means fewer young of their own kind. It was an interesting story.

My favorite of the collection, however, is her Hugo winning story "Speech Sounds". Some sort of cataclysm has hit our planet, one which has robbed humanity of the ability to speak and in some cases regressed the mental development of humanity to a more base level. Set in Los Angeles, "Speech Sounds" shows the loss of communication and what that does to society and we see it through the eyes of one woman who was on a bus when an incident occurred.

"The Evening and the Morning of the Night" is a story which sticks with the reader, though with me it was for the wrong reason I believe. This story features a hereditary disease which causes some people to lose their mind and try to dig their way out of their own skin and it is that image of people trying to do that to themselves that sickened me a bit, even though all that action occurred off camera, if you will. Interesting as a concept and well written, it is also one I would rather forget.

"Near of Kin" is Butler's one non-science fiction story and it is a story about family and perceived family. Quite good, but it would belong more in another collection than in a genre collection like this.

I did not remember "Crossover" two minutes after I finished.

Bloodchild and Other Stories also includes two essays on writing and being a writer and for all their brevity, they are interesting as a mini biography of Butler and also for the glimpse of her publishing career. The glimpse I was most struck by was that after selling two stories at Clarion, she then went five years before selling another piece of work. Five years! For an author of Butler's talent! This explains, of course, Butler's mantra of: Persist.

Each story or essay is followed by an Afterword written by Butler giving a little bit of context or explanation as needed to the piece of fiction (or non fiction).

The edition of Bloodchild and Other Stories I was able to read was not the expanded edition which featured two more short stories. This edition, succinct as it is, is worth reading for fans of the genre and especially for fans of Octavia Butler.

-Joe Sherry

I'm buying a copy of the book for my library, but remember when Blood Child was first published in (I think) Analog. I read it in absolute fascination, the stark horror and desolution, and the world it wove around you. I was still on my mind when we arrived that evening at LASFS (Los Angeles Science Fantacy Society, oldest SF club in the country). Then this grandmotherly woman comes up as the guest. It was Octavia Butler. She talked about how she came up with the idea for the horrific images she can write, and it seemed such a paradox. I don't remember all the words, but it was wonderful to hear a writer so clearly describe the process and impact.

It stands with me as one of the best stories I've ever read and one of the most moving because it is in the end something which touched the fundamental humanity in all of us.

"What good is science fiction to Black people?" If you have ever wondered this, or if you've ever thought that the future was limited to shiny, cybernetic miracles, you need to read Bloodchild and Other Stories. A collection of five short stories and two wonderfully spare essays on the art of writing, this book serves as a fine introduction to the works of Octavia Butler.

Butler's novels have won the most prestigious awards in the science fiction world, even though they often deal with questions of race and culture that have not always captured the attention of science fiction writers, or the interest of science fiction readers. Her protagonists are frequently strong Black women - think Celie by way of Ellen Ripley. The stories in this volume include everything from synthetic diseases that rob people of their basic humanity to the subtleties of interpersonal relations in difficult circumstances. The title story is an SF exploration of the relationship between two unequal species that stands as a mind-bending discourse on slavery and human bondage. There are no laser swords or starships here - only a series of meditations on the possibilities of being human.

I cannot imagine ever reading anything written by Octavia Butler and not being blown away. I really love her stories and I felt no different about this collection of short stories. I don't think I will ever get the title story out of my head. Octavia has a very bleak vision and her stories serve as cautionary tales. They always get me thinking about society and life in fresh ways. What I particularly liked about this collection was Octavia's afterwoord to each story and her two essays. It's always interesting to have some insight into the inspiration and what the background is to a particular story.
Five stars as always!

Octavia Butler owned most of my literary bandwidth in early 1999, an addiction that started with _Bloodchild_.
Science Fiction "just don't get much respect," but only from critics who are unfamiliar with Butler's ability to use this genre to believably manipulate the themes of xenophobia, attraction, corruption, trust, human independence, group madness, hope, and persistence.
The title story won and deserved the Hugo, and captures in a microcosm the themes above and more. From here, you will certainly want to read _Kindred_ and the "Parable of the Talents" trilogy for the most human-centered experience of the great unknowns you are likely to encounter at the hands of a living writer.

sci fi novelists of all time, Butler was also a master of the short story. Learning of her sudden death at age 58, I and students in my "Sci Fi, Sex, and Philosophy" course were sad to think that there would be no new Butler works to read in the future. This award-winning collection of short stories is a must for any reader who appreciates imaginative and gripping quandaries of ethics and gender. Prepare to be amazed and disturbed.

Butler, who died far too early, was one of the most serious, powerful, and engaging of science fiction writers. This collection contains several I hadn't previously read, plus her comments on each piece -- some surprising and each very informative. Terrific stuff.

I found her too late. I would have loved to have met this fascinating author. I am a lifelong fan of this genre and I find her work particularly intriguing and engaging. Her work breathes a unique and palpably human fiction. She is fantastic.

What I loved about Bloodchild and Other Stories was the journey engaged. I was frightened, informed, educated and enthralled by the brilliance. This is definitely a must read. There is no way to be bored only enriched. Thank you Octavia. May you rest in the knowledge of a job well-done.

I am not an avid sci-fi reader but Butler's work has sucked me in. I read Kindred and Fledgling first then finally got around to this one. The stories were highly entertaining and thought provoking. The autobiographical essays were a pleasant surprise. Butler is such an inspiration!!

Octavia Butler died this year and it's a tremendous loss for all of us. Her writing is exquisite, cutting to the heart of both the beauty and the horror that makes us human.

The title story, Bloodchild, reveals the horror of what humans will endure for their own survival. Set as fugitive humans live on another world, where they act as birth carriers for an alien race. Scary and truthful.

The rest of the stories are equally compelling. This is a wonderful collection that all Sci-fi fans should read.

CV Rick

I so enjoyed finding this author and reading/listening to her imaginative stories that make you really think, about what we have done, are doing and where we could be going? As humans. I will be reading and listening to more from this author.

I love science fiction, Im a big fan, but I have a hard time finding sci fi books that I enjoy. I find that they can often be too wordy with too many strange names and locations too soon. Does anyone else have this problem? I LOVED these stories. Very easy to get into. Great book...try it and you will enjoy it. The only con is that the stories are not long enough. I am left wondering what happened after each one...that is until I get absorbed into the very next story.
Great book. I am now looking to read everything I can get my hands on by this woman!

Visionary speculative fiction - especially the first two stories. Butler is willing to explore areas (particularly sex, gender, race,illness) that other writers don't dare to touch. She gives me tons of new ideas to think on.

I have not bought a book in at least 5 years, at least 10 years since I bought a brand new book. Then, I checked out "Bloodchild and Other Stories" from the library, thinking to myself "Octavia Butler...that name sounds familiar as someone I was told I'd enjoy reading..."

I read it twice. And in the middle of my third read through, facing the reality that I must return it to the library soon, I bought my first brand new book in a decade.

This is not sci-fi for the escapist; it is sci-fi for the engaged.

I have read all of Octavia's novels, and especially appreciate her compilation of shorter stories in Bloodchild. I think everyone should read her work, but as a woman I have MAD respect for Octavia fitting in so well with the mostly boys club hard sci-fi. I miss Octavia's presence in our world but reread this book often as consolation.

This collection of short stories is (mostly) intriguing - pretty good speculative fiction. Honestly I have yet to find a Butler work I didn't enjoy and while a few stories in here are <less> good than the rest, all are worth reading. Dip in.

Butler is one of the very few who can really imagine another life form and how it would relate and interrelate with humans. Her "bloodchild" really is so intriguing you have to read it over and over. As a physician I find the story about the double Xs so intriguing that I have been looking for it for years, since I read it in Omni magazine. A collection you will dip into again and again, the only problem is that you want many more. The story about the bus is incredible.

"Bloodchild" is a short book of short stories. Each story is completely its own. Octavia Butler describes in the prologue how she hated writing short stories. Yet, I find these to be very well written, and thought provoking. After each story is a page or so from the author detailing why she wrote the story and describing the themes contained within.

Once again, a great book. The one thing that always impesses me about Octavia...she really makes you think about things, and most of what she makes you think about has nothing to do with what she writes. It is HOW she writes.

Can't believe it took me so long to discover Octavia E. Butler. Oh, the time I have wasted!

This collection of short stories gave me a wonderful introduction to her thought-provoking ideas.

Looking forward to exploring her books.