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OSC uses her book Wild Seed over and over in his book How To Write Science Fiction and Fantasy an an example of how to do things right. It's great.
My favorite was Kindred.
I also really liked Parable of the Sower.
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Wild Seed is the prequel to her Patternist series. It works well as a stand alone novel, and is worlds better than the rest of the series (it's clear that she learned a thing or two between the writing of the rest of the series and the writing of this book).
Kindred is a stand alone novel. Parable of the Sower is the first of two books. She had worked on a third book, got stuck with it, and wrote the stand along novel Fledgling, which was published shortly before she died.
You'll find her Xenogenesis trilogy published in a single volume called either Xenogenesis or Lilith's Brood, or individually as Dawn, Adulthood Rites, and Imago. Her short fiction is collected in a small book entitled Bloodchild.
There's an early novel, fairly weak, that Butler herself disliked a fair amount. I'm drawing a blank on its name.
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Octavia's worst crime against humanity is that she didn't write *more*. I could drown myself in her work.
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I just googled looking for that early novel, but didn't find anything. I want to say that it is The Wine of Violence, but I'm about 90% sure that I'm wrong; I think that that's an early James Morrow novel.
Anybody know anything about Seed to Harvest? It's apparently slated for a 2007 release. My guess is that it's what she'd written of the third Parable book, but this is the first I've heard of it.
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I personally think starting with the Xenogenesis series is fine, too. They're small books, easy to read, as Noemon said you can even find them together in one volume.
I think I liked the whole Xenogenesis series even better than Wild Seed. Imago is my favorite of the three.
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quote:Originally posted by The Pixiest: Survivor. I didn't think it was that bad.
Really? Survivor? I'm sure you're right, but I have no memory of that at all. As for its quality, it isn't that it was a horrible book, it's just that it wasn't much compared to her other stuff.
quote:Octavia's worst crime against humanity is that she didn't write *more*. I could drown myself in her work.
Agreed. There was far more selfishness in my sadness at her death than there usually is when someone I admire dies.
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I just barely finished Wild Seed. Heady stuff. I quite enjoyed it. Also, Kindred is great. It's in the SF section, but doesn't really feel like SF aside from the occassional time travel thing. That one is about slavery. Very well written.
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I can't believe I forgot about Xenogenesis. That's what got me started on Octavia Butler. It's great.
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I was actually mad at her for dying. I've never had that reaction before. Sad, yes, but I loved her writing so much and she only had, what 9 books? I felt cheated. I wanted, NEEDED more!
I'd start with either Parable of the Sower if you'd like a coming-of-age story in a dystopian near-future, or with the Xenogenesis trilogy if you'd like something dealing with aliens and the questions of personhood and humanity. I've always had a special place in my heart for the third book in the series, Imago, since I read it when I was 5th grade (a lot went over my head, but the story really affected my thought processes).
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I should add I don't think they necessarily need to be read in order. Sure, it's preferable, but I read Imago first, then read Dawn and then Adulthood Rites and I still enjoyed Dawn even though there were some spoiler things I already knew about when I read it.
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I read them in that order as well. If you don't mind being plunged into an alien psyche and biology from the first sentence - and spending a couple of chapters wondering what the heck is happening - it's not a problem. However I also think that there's value in following Lilith through the books (even through she's only the main character in Dawn) in her understanding of this these alien beings.
What I really love about the series is how the small throw-away sentences show the change and growth in all of the characters, as well as increasing our understanding of humanity, the aliens, and their interaction. I could easily write 30 pages on each of the books.
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Since beginning Song of Ice and Fire I must admit that I keep thinking, "Now GRRM, you'd better not kick the bucket before you finish this!!"
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I read the Parables duet. I got Lilith's Brood from the library, but since most of the reviews on the cover mention "sensuality" I decided maybe it's not where I want to go right now.
But I really liked the Parables duet, and I am looking for other books by her through the library system.
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If you liked the Parables books, I recommend Kindred, which happens to be my favorite book of hers.
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I know I don't have to read them in order, but I want to. I can get all of the books through the library here, so I'd rather start from the beginning.
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