2.27.2006

octavia butler 6/22/47-2/24/06


i can't believe it...

i was introduced to her work thru kindred. i was interested in how a writer would treat the subject of a modern black person being sent back into slavery. of course, it turned out to be about much more than that.

and i was hooked.

after that, i came across wild seed in a bookstore, recognized the author's name, and bought it on faith. whoa.

science fiction about blk folks?
like...african spirits/tales embraced and brought to life?
word?

later, i was given parable of the sower for my 25th birthday. i saw so much of myself in lauren, it was as if butler knew me. knew struggles that i'd barely articulated to anyone. i was seeing my thoughts/feelings reiterated to me, sometimes verbatim.

i was also stunned by butler's almost prophetic vision of this country's future, and how we're still careening towards it as i type this. in high school, i started a never-finished story along the same lines--gated communities, a super-drug wreaking havoc...i have no clue where i was going with it, but i'm sure she did a better job than i could have at the time.

i think i read sower in a day or two. i found out there was a sequel, and got that, too. parable of the talents--to me--didn't have the same magic as sower, but it still made some important points. and i enjoyed the "end" to the story.

bless her life.

the ancestors will embrace her, just as we thank her for the stories she left behind. may she return to the peace she was born with.

ashe.

2 comments:

creatrix said...

right. i mean, it's not like an athelete when you know his/her career is over. you can write books until you're 90, you know?

*sigh*

neo said...

Its too difficult attimes to wrap one's head around it. I didn't even get a chance to fully digest the bulk of her work. I'm glad I was introduced to her stuff before she passed.