Unexpected Stories

Until her death in 2006, Octavia Butler was one of the jewels of science fiction. She was primarily a novelist rather than a writer of short stories. This volume collects two early works of her short fiction, although the first one is long enough to categorize as a novella. The important themes she explores in these excellent stories are representative of those she tackled in her longer work.

"A Necessary Being" imagines a caste-based alien society divided among hunters, judges, fighters, artisans, and other groups. The color-changing aliens are particularly adept at camouflage. Their empire has splintered into tribes. The leader of each tribe is a Hao, an individual of superior strength and abilities. Since the Hao are rare, tribes sometimes kidnap a Hao from another tribe with the hope that the Hao will eventually be assimilated into their tribal society. Against that intricate backdrop, a young Hao and the judge and hunter who accompany him face a dangerous encounter with another tribe. The story is in some ways a clever allegory of racial differences, where skin tone determines value in society, and of slavery and the forced assimilation that follows from it. It is also an insightful story about war and diplomacy as conflicting solutions to political conflict.

"Childfinder" is told from the point of view of Barbara, a black woman who has the ability to detect nascent psionic ability in children. She has left the Organization to help black kids develop their psi talents in ways and for reasons the Organization doesn't appreciate. This is a story about how race divides society and how thoughts that should have the potential to unify us are suppressed by oppressors who want to hold onto power.

Neither story has been previously published. "Childfinder" was purchased for The Last Dangerous Visions, the Harlan Ellison anthology that never made it to publication. It's good to see these stories finding the audience they deserve.

This collection of stories is my first foray into the work of Octavia Butler and I can safely say that it will not be my last from what I have read. Her writing style is captivating, in part due to its sheer frankness and sincerity. Her characters are dynamic: from their thoughts that conflict with one another to their actions that are often morally ambiguous, they feel like actual people. Not just characters being controlled by a story, but people that actually play a role in the outcome, having control over their own destiny. Furthermore, I like how she intertwines background information with the situation at hand, allowing one to digest the important aspect without drowning them in an info dump. If the rest of her body of work is at all similar to these two stories, then I can see why she was such a powerful author.

There are two stories in the collection: Necessary Beings and Childfinder. Now while these two stories differ in widely in terms of theme and subject matter, they are similar in the terms of the theme of the perils of leadership. The main character of Necessary Beings find herself wanting to ensure the future of her tribe. But for her to do so, she must kidnap another being like her, a Hao, just like what happened to her father. In Childfinder, a psychic searching for others like her is discovered by a secret organization. An organization she escaped from. And they want her back into the fold. Both of these tales, are masterful and I would have liked to see their worlds explored more in a novel.

Published eight years after her death, Unexpected Stories contains two all-new stories written by the great Octavia E. Butler: one fantasy, the other with more of a science fiction bent. As Walter Mosely observes in the forward, "In these stories we find two women faced with war or with peace. Carrying on their backs society's future or its end." One works within the confines of her position and the system which holds her there, while the other has escaped - albeit temporarily.

The beings in "A Necessary Being" are humanoid - but decidedly non-human. Their skin shifts and shimmers in shades of blue, signaling their emotions and intent; highest among them is the Hao, a pure blue being thought to be divine - a harbinger of good luck. Unfortunately, Hao are rare; occasionally a member of the judge caste may birth one "out of the air," but more often they're descended from a long line of Hao. Kohn tribes without a Hao are "tribes[s] in the process of dying." This has caused a great many tribes to find a Hao wherever and however they can - even if this means kidnapping another tribe's Hao, imprisoning him or her - sometimes crippling the captive Hao to prevent future escape.

Tahneh's people - the Rohkohn - belong to one such tribe. After the death of her father, she became the last of her kind. Unable to produce an heir, she and the Rohkohn are desperate. So when a young Hao ventures into their desert territory while sightseeing, Tahneh's people vow to capture Diut and make him stay - no matter what. Tahneh's own father was a captive Hao, robbed not just of his freedom but also his ability to walk. Tahneh knows all too well what will become of her cousin Hao - with whom she feels a profound kinship - and yet she's powerless to stop it, as matters of succession are the one thing beyond a Hao's control.

Or are they?

"Childfinder" is much shorter, but no less enjoyable and engaging. Barbara, a disenfranchised psi, leaves "the organization" in order to work on her own. Gifted with the ability to feel out pre-psi children, she has been gathering and teaching them how to harness their psychic abilities - outside the purview of the organization. Add to this the fact that Barbara and her protégés (including Valerie, Jordan, and Jessie May) are all black kids from the court, rejecting the established, white-controlled order, and "Childfinder" becomes an interrogation of race, power, and privilege.

Whereas "A Necessary Being" is fairly well fleshed out, "Childfinder" left me wanting more. The story intro/outro hints at a failed utopia ("Historians believe that an atmosphere of tolerance and peace would be a natural outgrowth of a psionic society."), felled by forces from within or without - but so much is left to the imagination!

5/5 stars. Two stories isn't nearly enough - but whatever the number, it'll always have me wishing for just one more.

These are two of Butler's early works, written in the 1970s (before her published work) but only published posthumously. As a result, Butler's writing--which is frequently workmanlike--is especially stiff here, most obviously in the action sequences. But these stories are a fascinating insight into the themes Butler would return to throughout her work, and her first efforts to balance speculative worldbuilding, power dynamics, interpersonal relationships, and plot. The effort is occasionally uneven (the end of "A Necessary Being" lags, but its protagonist's complicated situation is reminiscent of Dawn ; "Childfinder" is almost so brief as to be abrupt, but its worldbuilding reveals are organic), but is always engaging and thematically successful, and despite their posthumous release these are finished stories. As brief as this collection is, it's a welcome addition to her body of work.

Octavia E. Butler was a Hugo and Nebula award-winning author of a number of series including Patternist, Xenogenesis, and Parable, as well as a many other stand alone novels and short stories. Unexpected Stories is a posthumous collection of two previously unpublished novellas—"A Necessary Being" and "Childfinder."

"A Necessary Being" is the longer of the two works and creates a strange, yet recognizable, alien world after the fall of a great civilization. Tahneh is a Hao, whose greater height, strength and intelligence mark her and her kind apart, make them the natural and required leaders. Every clan and tribe must be ruled by a Hao, as a matter of survival and the Hao wields ultimate power in every matter save that of succession. Tahneh's own father was taken by force and crippled, held prisoner and forced to rule. Now Tahneh, unable to produce an heir, is faced with a terrible choice. Another Hao has been seen, and she must decide whether or not to subject her kin to the same treatment her father received.

Butler uses this scenario to examine hierarchy and power dynamics, the nature of duty and loneliness. Tahneh is a lonely character, filled with secret bitterness, but an overriding belief in duty and in serving her people. Her predicament is interesting but never quite touching. It was interesting more than engaging, though that may simply be a result of the shorter novella length.

"Childfinder" although the shorter of the two, had a sharper more immediate bite. Set in the real world, it concerns a dissident group of telepaths and shows that, while telepathy and people with special powers are often used as metaphors for racism and class struggle, in reality telepaths are just as likely to be racists and subject to the same destructive cultural forces. It hints at a larger world, a larger conflict, but feels self-contained. The tragedies and self-destructive impulses are all present in the story. Barbara, an African American telepath with the ability to locate future telepaths has broken from an organization of predominately white telepaths, and even though she knows she is ultimately propagating the same mistakes, she cannot help but leave her students and fellow dissidents a legacy of bitterness, hatred, and revenge.

I had personally never read any of Octavia Butler's previous work, but Unexpected Stories is a wonderful introduction to her voice and world.

I'm a HUGE Octavia Butler fan. In fact, her books were my first intro to queer lit of any kind and really defined my expectations for sci-fi. I think she was an unparallelled thinker, and I was devastated when I learned that she has passed years before I started reading her stuff. The idea that I would never get a new book from her was maddening. When I saw that a new collection of her stories was coming out, I almost cried I was so happy.

A Necessary Being- 4.5 stars

This story reminds me of everything that I love about Octavia Butler. Amazing, effortless-feeling world building, interesting commentary on gender roles and the concept of castes/races, and some excitement to boot. I loved it, though it was far too short for me, even at novella length. I could have used 200 more pages, plus a sequel.

Childminder- 3 stars

Short but powerful. This is more or less a direct commentary about race relations and wealth disparity, with the added element of telepathy. There is a lot of anger and desperation in this short story. I had trouble with the bleakness of it, though I enjoyed it all the same.

**Copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review**

When Octavia Butler passed away, I was extremely saddened. Not only had I met her and found her to be an extremely gracious and lovely woman, but I felt that an extremely strong voice in Science Fiction had been taken from us far too soon.

So it was with that in mind that I sat down to read these previously unpublished stories.

"A Necessary Being" was my favorite of the two. Butler makes a novella feel almost epic as she tells us a story that captures some of her most important themes: racism, gender roles, alienation, and class structure. The story is extremely rich and reminds me of some of her longer works.

"Childfinder" felt more like a hint at something more. While exciting, it's more of a taster and left me longing for a work that will never be completed. When it ends, you feel like it's only the beginning and you feel someone incomplete.

While I want to give this five stars just for the glory that was Octavia Butler, the reviewer in me must give it four stars. "A Necessary Being" would likely rate five stars on its own, but "Childfinder" felt like too much was missing.

I do definitely recommend this for people who are familiar with Butler and her other works. Reading something new from her is like a little present and I'm glad the publishers have released these.

*ARC provided by Netgalley for review purposes.

I love Octavia Butler's work and reading these early works was such a pleasure. Her talent at writing thought-provoking and captivating work never ceases to amazes me. These short stories give a snippet into worlds that share commonalities with our own world and humanity struggles and end with the reader having to use their own imagination to think about how those worlds continue on and evolve.

“A Necessary Being” is a solid novelette about the meeting of cultures, filled with manipulative cynicism, with an unexpectedly hopeful finish. Worth seeking out.

“Childfinder” is truly worthy of being a Final Dangerous Vision. It explores the helpful oppression of one culture over another while trying to force integration, which still feels timely. The afterword about this story is brutal.

These two short works definitely show why Butler is considered such a sci fi genius. These stories suck you into their world from the start and keep you reading eagerly until the end. If you've never read any Butler before, this short book will give you a taste of her talent. If you're already a Butler fan, you won't want to miss these stories.

The ideas and prose contained in these stories is both familiar and new. Is it because the protagonists are female? Maybe. While they are certainly intelligent thinkers and leaders, as well as powerful females in their own right, they are at the same time humanoid in their expression of human nature - with all its strengths and weaknesses. The ideologies in these stories seem so progressive and feel so modern that when you are done reading it is difficult to imagine that they had been written so long ago. An engaging read on both counts, these finds are ones where you are disappointed the story has ended.

This book brings delight to a all AfrAm girls that read sci-fi "classics" that contained no mention of our multi-hued skin tones, multi-faceted leadership experiences, or STEM contributions. Except of course, as a domestic and sexual servant class.

Really pleased to have stumbled across these two previously unpublished short stories by this great writer. Recommend to all of her fans. Very refreshing read. Reminding me of the thought provoking concepts that she always included in her writing.

My introduction to Octavia Bulter, I am hooked! Both short stories are excellent, absolutely​ Love how quickly you are transported!!! A long time sci-fi reader it has been a very long time since I have found an author whose collection I've wanted to read entirely! Looking forward to many more great reads!

After 8 years without Ms. Butler's work, I was really looking forward to these short stories. The stories are a bit rough around the edges being some of her earlier work but they are unmistakably Octavia Butler. And it was a privilege to read them.

I'm only giving it 3 stars because there were only 2 stories. I want more!

I was so excited to find previously unpublished stories by Octavia Butler. While it is noted that these are early writings, I found all the same things that I love about all of Octavia Butler's works- characters developed so fully and richly in succinct manner.

Savor this experience! New stories likely to become old favorites. An unexpected gift for us all. I've long been so jealous of the academics/writing professionals who get to view her papers at the Huntington Library...but so happy for this outcome!

Two short stories. The first is longer and quite enjoyable. The story takes place in an alien civilization where castes are determined by the color of your skin. Explores themes of leadership as well as race/caste. 2nd story, Childfinder, was shorter and I didn't care for it much.

I'm a first time reader of this wonderful author. How she got by me will always be a mystery, but now that I have found her, I will start to read her work "like a man who has been searching for water and has finally found it."

Having been an Octavia Butler fan for many years, it was with much delight to find two more of her stories.
These stories show the beginnings of the characters we came to expect from this writer.
So very glad to find them.

This was my first time reading Octavia Butler. The writing was beautiful and pulled me right into these worlds. I am not a sci-fi person, so I may not read other stuff by her, but these were excellent reading.

Octavia Butler became my all time favourite author after discovering her obituary in the NY Times which prompted me to search the shelves of Barnes and Noble to find her books. This collection is great. The first story is my favourite.

What a refreshing collection on two stories?those of us growing up reading bengali short stories by Ashapurna Devi can so easily corelate to the style. Awesome and refreshing, wonder why i did not get a chance to read work of this author before

Octavia Butler never disappoints. Her creative powers were well evidenced in these short but brilliant works. One can only begin to imagine what she could have written if the time had been there . . .