Octavia Butler at OnePeoples.com

Wow, this is truly an honor. I get to write about my absolute favorite author. I remember when I first began reading Ms. Butler's work. I was never a big sci-fi or non-fiction reader. "My time is so precious," I thought. I figured if I were going to read, I better make it count, by having it educate me on some level. As it was, biographies and autobiographies tended to be my thing.

One day, while browsing the isles of a local bookstore, I came across a striking image of young black woman nessled in, what seemed to be, an oversized, alien-like flower. It was Ms. Butler's first book in the "Xenogenesis" series. The title: Dawn. Merely out of curiosity and intrigue with the cover illustration, I brought the book. However, it was what was inside that captured my attention and appreciation for Octavia Butler's work, and I have become a true die-hard fan.

Why? Besides the fact that Ms. Butler is a true literary genius, and you'll soon see why when you read your first Butler novel, but because the topics she chooses are very much applicable and interesting in the context of today's society.

Though characterized as science fiction, her story lines are real, relevant, and raw. Butler books are bound to mesmerize and capture your attention. For example, I just finished reading Kindred not too long ago. Kindred is about a young black woman who finds herself transported through time to a pre-civil war plantation, becomes a slave, and cares for her white, slave-owning ancestor.

Kindred was vivid, brutal, raw, and disturbing. Normally, when I read about the brutalities and evils our ancestors faced, particularly during the times of slavery, I get so repulsed and angered that I often discontinue reading. However, Ms. Butler writes in such a way that you are disturbed, often feeling right in the midst’s of the actions going on in the story. However, a compulsion remains to continue reading. That's the beauty of her work. It definitely grabs you.

Other books of note are Dawn and Wildseed. All of her books are great. However, I'd suggest perhaps Dawn as an introduction to her work.

The one book that I wasn't too enthused about was Parable of the Talents. It did not hold my attention as much as the other books. At points, the writing seemed a bit labored and overdone. I was aware a point was being made or drama was being created, as opposed to just feeling it. However, my husband read Parable of the Talents and enjoyed it. So maybe it was just me. Either way, this was my only disappointing read of Ms. Butler's.

Ms. Butler has received many awards and accolades. A Hugo award in 1984, a Nebula award in 1985. She continues to top best seller lists. In 1995 Ms. Butler was awarded $295,000 as part of the "genius grant," a MacArthur Foundation fellowship for her unique synthesis of science fiction, mysticism, mythology, and African-American spiritualism.

(Photo of Ms. Octavia Butler)

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Kindred
A black woman is transported through time to save the life of one of her ancestors--a white slave-owner.

Wildseed
The arranged union between an immortal and a shape-changer set off series of events that encompass the entire Earth, setting the stage for a war that will never end. Winner of the 1995 James Tiptree, Jr. Award and a New York Times Notable Book for 2001.

Parable of The Talents
The sequel to "Parable of the Sower", this novel continues the story of Lauren Olamina, as told by her estranged daughter. As the U.S. continues its rapid slide toward a far-right religious hegemony, already insular communities are further split, and a young woman tries to come to terms with her place in a frightening new world.

Dawn
In this first book of Butler's "Xenogenesis" series, Lilith Iyapo awakens to find herself a captive on a spaceship. Her last memory is of a time centuries earlier when she was traveling in the Andes, mourning the death of her family. A nuclear war destroyed the planet, and the alien Oankali's came to rescue the survivors.

Imago
A human gives birth to an ooloi in this third book of Butler's "Xenogenesis" series. Nor male or female, an ooloi has the Oankali power to mix pure DNA within its body. Will Jodahs, the first human-spawned ooloi, mature to adulthood and fulfill its destiny as a savior of the planet?

Clay's Ark
An unsuspecting family, learning of alien contamination on Earth, becomes involved in the eternal struggle between the Patternists and the Clayarks. A "New York Times" Notable Book for 1997.

Adulthood Rites
In "Dawn", the first book of Butler's "Xenogenesis" series, Lilith Iyapo was rescued from a cataclysmic nuclear war on Earth by the alien Oankali. Now she has given birth to a child who is half-human and half-Oankali. But the purebred humans resent the half-breeds.