Lame, lame, lame.

[gement]

Octavia Butler died Friday at the age of 58. This makes me very sad. I didn't always like her books, but they always made me feel challenged and uncomfortable, which means I was thinking. I only learned from the obit that she was local and a non-driver, so we may have riden the same buses. Ships passing in the night.

Also the cat was clawing the carpet right next to me trying to get a reaction, so I held her down by the shoulders and neck, and she held still for a bit and then made a little squeak sound that sounded like "ack I can't breathe!"... and I just meant to say I'm bigger than you, not I keel you, and now I'm afraid that I've accidentally broken trust and she'll be scared of me.

Also I need to pick a new advisor and I'm fretting. Not such a good day from the inside of my head, though the weather is pleasant.

Comments

[sistawendy.livejournal.com]

I've never read Butler. Which of her titles do you recommend as a gentle introduction?

[gement.livejournal.com]

The first I read of her, and still my favorite, is a short story called "Speech Sounds." It's about what happens to culture when language breaks down.

For novels, I'll list several options, depending on which other things you might be in the mood for. Before anyone lynches me for any of these comparisons, I think one of Butler's strengths was writing in multiple moods and on multiple themes, and I compare her to other authors in terms of theme and tone, not necessarily writing quality.

My entry book was "Mind of My Mind," which is modern, urban, has psychics, and left a strong Heinlein flavor in my mouth in terms of plot structure. For more of an Anne Rice flavor I'd suggest "Wild Seed," which spans several millenia of the selective breeding program that leads to MoMM. If you're in more of a creeping alien incesty Orson Scott Card mood, try something from the "Xenogenesis" series. If you want a good werewolf flick, "Clay's Ark".