![]() ![]() ![]() There is, however, no happy ending but a conclusion in which the lead characters have done their best and the world (wherever it is) remains ethically and morally unchanged. As Butler herself said, she does not believe that imperfect human beings can create a perfect world.īutler’s diverse societies are controlled by Darwinian realities: competition to survive, struggle for power, domination of the weak by the strong, parasitism, and the like Within this framework, there is room for both pain and hope, for idealism, love, bravery, and compassion, for an outsider to challenge the system, defeat the tyrant, and win power. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), and similar science fiction in offering an optimistic, rational, and agreeable view of humanity. In this sense, her work does not follow the lead of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series (1951-1993), Arthur C. Butler presented a version of humanity as a congenitally flawed species, possibly doomed to destroy itself because it is both intelligent and hierarchical. ![]() Sign up for Them’s weekly newsletter here.Octavia E. Eyes sparkling like they did that day in the restaurant, Butler took a deep breath and began. Tell a story? Octavia was in her element. There was a skylight above the theater, and I remember the sound of the rain pounding the glass as Nalo leaned forward and asked, “So, Octavia, tell us about what happens on page six?” About 100 of us sat squeezed into the university theater listening to author Nalo Hopkinson interview Butler about Fledgling. Her tour included an event in Toronto the day after our interview. We built a connection that opened a window into my own future, planting the seeds for my own career exploring future realities as a writer. Still, our time together, brief though it might have been, felt magical and expansive. I never got to use the contact information, as Butler passed just a year after we met. It was the most understated way to describe all that she was, all that she would be to all of us. Butler,” then beneath, “Writer,” plus her information. In a bolded cursive, the text read, “Octavia E. She said she wanted to stay in touch and placed a white card with black embossed lettering on it in my hand. She gave me a hug, and it was as wonderful as you can imagine. When the time came to part ways, we stood up and said our goodbyes. We wrapped quickly, putting the recorder away after just a few short exchanges. On record, the author was shy, far removed from the exuberant storyteller she was at lunch - or from her writing voice, for that matter. ![]() The conversation ended not long after it began. Hearing her tell stories in her deep and beautiful voice was enough to inspire my creative practice for decades to follow. Even back in 2005, more than a decade before her popular resurgence (as evidenced by her reaching the New York Times Best Seller List 14 years after her passing), Butler was a hero to me. Whether she was or wasn’t part of the queer community herself is uncertain, but her influence on a generation of queer people - and queer writers - is undeniable. Black readers in particular have found a treasure trove of narratives about our communities stretching into the future. Interest in Butler's books has skyrocketed in recent years, spurred in large part by the recognition of her prophetic faculties. Another of her classics is Kindred, a time-traveling story depicting life on a slave labor plantation alongside the challenges of being a Black woman in a mixed relationship in the 1970s, an adaptation of which arrives on Hulu this week. Some of her most beloved works include Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents, two books in what was to be a trilogy (with the unwritten Parable of the Trickster) about a disabled Black heroine who builds community in in an apocalyptic, future-set Los Angeles and northern Turtle Island. By the time we met, Butler had produced all of the 15 novels and several short story collections that would cement her legacy as a towering figure not just in the realm of science fiction and fantasy - her specialty - but in 20th-century American literature writ large. ![]()
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