I am not an early adopter (I just bought a DROID cell phone for father's day - for $48 - and I am FINALLY able to actually send "text" messages) but I was among the first in line when Ms. Octavia E. Butler began publishing in the late seventies. I started with "Mind of My Mind" and rode with her all the way through her last novel "Fledgling."
I think Ms. Butler's "Parable" novels: "Parable of the Sower" and "Parable of the Talents" are not only great science fiction but classic literature. My favorite Butler novel is "Wild Seed" and my favorite character is "Doro," an amoral body snatcher. My major pet peeve with Ms. Butler is her portrayal of black men. All her heroines are black women and almost all of them are enamored of, married to or protected by white men. Black men are almost always the villains - either as fathers, brothers, husbands or associates - with the great and notable exception of Lauren Olamina's husband Bankole in "Parable of the Sower." Bankole is a kind, decent, strong black man. My least favorite Butler novel is "Kindred." The very notion of this modern black woman enduring all the savagery of pre-civil war slavery while married to a blond-haired white man is and was offensive to me. That all said, I consider my signed editions of Ms. Butler's first six novels among my most prized possessions. ~rave! --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, George Arterberry <brotherfromhow...@...> wrote: > > Noir, > > > Thoughts on her writings? >
