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Bloodchild and Other Stories

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"Bloodchild" redirects here. For the Tim Bowler novel, see Bloodchild (novel).

Bloodchild and Other Stories
First edition
Author Octavia E. Butler
Country United States
Genre science fiction, horror
Publisher Four Walls Eight Windows,Seven Stories Press
Publication date Aug/Sep 1995
Media type Print (hardcover,trade paperback)
Pages 144 pp
ISBN ISBN 1-56858-055-X (1st ed.)

Bloodchild and Other Stories is Octavia E. Butler's only collection of science fiction stories and essays. This collection includes "Crossover," one of her first published stories, and "Speech Sounds," a Hugo Award winner.[1] "Bloodchild," the title story, won both the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award.[2] Each story features an afterword by Butler.

"Bloodchild" is often referred to as Octavia Butler's "pregnant man story". Butler shares her desire to imagine possibilities of male pregnancy in the "Bloodchild" afterword. [3] Her idea of a pregnant man is written in this story alongside detailed body imagery and complex relationships; generating themes of gender, maternity, and reproduction.[4][5] Some critics may consider whether to analyze it as a story referring to love or slavery.[5]

Readers have mistakenly assumed that "Bloodchild" is a story about slavery.[6] However, in a conversation between Octavia Butler and Stephen W. Potts, she claims "it is basically a love story. There are many different kinds of love in it: family love, physical love…The alien needs the boy for procreation, and she makes it easier on him by showing him affection and earning his in return. After all, she is going to have her children with him […] But so many critics have read this as a story about slavery, probably just because I am black."[7]

Another award winning piece included in the collection is "Speech Sounds," which won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 1984.[8] The inspiration for this story struck Butler at a low point in her life. In this story's afterword, she describes that she "noticed trouble brewing" on a bus during one of her weekly trips to visit a friend dying of multiple myeloma.[9] She explains that "'Speech Sounds' was conceived in weariness, depression, and sorrow. I began the story feeling little hope or liking for the human species, but by the time I reached the end of it, my hope had come back. It always seems to do that."[9]

These afterwords give readers an intimate glimpse into Butler's experiences. Butler had a strong influence, especially among science fiction writers of color.[10] Admirers of her work recognize her impact on the genre. A review of an anthology celebrating Butler's work states "Though she wasn’t prolific, Butler (1947–2006) produced several important novels (Kindred, Lilith’s Brood, Parable of the Sower) and short stories (“Blood Child,” “Speech Sounds”) that changed the genre of science fiction and helped empower many new SF writers of color".[10] She is recognized as one of the first African American women to gain significant acclaim within the science fiction community.[11][12]

Contents

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 [hide] 

  • 1Stories
  • 2Essays
  • 3References
  • 4External links
    • 4.1Reviews

Stories[edit source | edit]

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  • Bloodchild[1] – won the 1984 Nebula Award for Best Novelette and the 1985 Hugo Award for Best Novelette
  • The Evening and the Morning and the Night[2]
  • Near of Kin
  • Speech Sounds[3] – won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 1984
  • Crossover – bought by Robin Scott Wilson to be published in 1971 Clarion anthology
  • Amnesty
  • The Book of Martha

Essays[edit source | edit]

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  • Positive Obsession
  • Furor Scribendi

References[edit source | edit]

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  1. Jump up^ included a. o. in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Second Annual Collection edited by Gardner Dozois (1984)
  2. Jump up^ included a. o. in Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora edited by Sheree Thomas (2000)
  3. Jump up^ included a. o. in A Woman's Liberation edited by Connie Willis and Sheila Williams (2001)

External links[edit source | edit]

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  • Bloodchild on Washington Post website
  • Bloodchild and Other Stories in Google Books
  • Bloodchild and Other Stories title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
  • Furor Scribendi beginning (available in full after registration at Writers of the Future website)

Reviews[edit source | edit]

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  • Novelist and short-story writer Octavia Butler defies categories by J. Douglas Allen Taylor, Metroactive Books (1996)
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Works by Octavia Butler

Categories: 

  • Science fiction short story collections
  • Works by Octavia Butler
  • Hugo Award for Best Novelette winning works
  • Single-writer short story collections
  • 1995 short story collections
  • African-American short story collections
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  1. ^ "1984 Hugo Awards". The Hugo Awards. Retrieved 2015-11-23.
  2. ^ "1985 Hugo Awards". The Hugo Awards. Retrieved 2015-11-23.
  3. ^ Butler, Octavia E. (2012-07-24). ""Bloodchild" Afterword". Bloodchild: And Other Stories. Open Road Media. ISBN 9781453263662.
  4. ^ Helford, Elyce Rae (1994-07-01). ""Would You Really Rather Die than Bear My Young?": The Construction of Gender, Race, and Species in Octavia E. Butler's "Bloodchild"". African American Review. 28 (2): 259–271. doi:10.2307/3041998.
  5. ^ a b "Authentication for Library Electronic Resources & Services - UO LIbraries". muse-jhu-edu.libproxy.uoregon.edu. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
  6. ^ Smith, Stephanie A. (2007-07-01). "Octavia Butler: A Retrospective". Feminist Studies. 33 (2): 385–393. doi:10.2307/20459148.
  7. ^ Potts, Stephen W.; Butler, Octavia E. (1996-11-01). ""We Keep Playing the Same Record": A Conversation with Octavia E. Butler". Science Fiction Studies. 23 (3): 331–338.
  8. ^ "1984 Hugo Awards". The Hugo Awards. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
  9. ^ a b Butler, Octavia E. (2012-07-24). ""Speech Sounds" Afterword". Bloodchild: And Other Stories. Open Road Media. ISBN 9781453263662.
  10. ^ a b "Nonfiction Book Review: Strange Matings: Science Fiction, Feminism, African American Voices, and Octavia E. Butler by Edited by Rebecca J. Holden and Nisi Shawl. Aqueduct (Pathway, dist.), $20 trade paper (328p) ISBN 978-1-61976-037-0". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
  11. ^ Canavan, Gerry (3-1-2014). "Missing Octavia: A Review of Strange Matings: Science Fiction, Feminism, African American Voices, and Octavia E. Butler". Marquette University, e-publications@Marquette. DePauw University 2014. Retrieved 3-1-2014. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help); line feed character in |title= at position 46 (help)
  12. ^ Birns, Nicholas. "Octavia Butler: fashioning alien constructs." Hollins Critic 38.3 (2001): 1+.Academic OneFile. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.
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