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Reading Wednesday
Sep. 15th, 2021 07:03 am Just finished: The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. I don't have much to add—it was very good and very chilling and set the standard for postapocalyptic writing.
Currently reading: Wild Seed by Octavia Butler. I also thought I'd read this one before, but embarrassingly, it turns out that I'm vaguely familiar with the story because Orson Scott Card quotes it a lot in his book about writing science fiction and fantasy, which I reread multiple times as a child.
It's about two immortals, Doro, who jumps into other people's bodies when he is about to die, and Anyanwu, who can shapeshift and heal, and their power struggle over a century. Doro cultivates humans as "seeds," breeding them for psychic abilities and then harvesting their bodies as hosts, but is thrown when he encounters Anyanwu, who can match him in power. He convinces her to come to America with him in the hopes of bearing children that she won't outlive.
This is one of those groundbreaking books in terms of Afrofuturism, feminist sci-fi, and literary sci-fi, dealing with colonialism, gender, slavery, and eugenics. Like everything I've read by Butler, it feels fresh and contemporary and relevant despite being 40 years old. I'm reading it in dribs and drabs because to be honest, I'm too exhausted at night to stay conscious for more than a few minutes at a time, but I'm really enjoying it.
Currently reading: Wild Seed by Octavia Butler. I also thought I'd read this one before, but embarrassingly, it turns out that I'm vaguely familiar with the story because Orson Scott Card quotes it a lot in his book about writing science fiction and fantasy, which I reread multiple times as a child.
It's about two immortals, Doro, who jumps into other people's bodies when he is about to die, and Anyanwu, who can shapeshift and heal, and their power struggle over a century. Doro cultivates humans as "seeds," breeding them for psychic abilities and then harvesting their bodies as hosts, but is thrown when he encounters Anyanwu, who can match him in power. He convinces her to come to America with him in the hopes of bearing children that she won't outlive.
This is one of those groundbreaking books in terms of Afrofuturism, feminist sci-fi, and literary sci-fi, dealing with colonialism, gender, slavery, and eugenics. Like everything I've read by Butler, it feels fresh and contemporary and relevant despite being 40 years old. I'm reading it in dribs and drabs because to be honest, I'm too exhausted at night to stay conscious for more than a few minutes at a time, but I'm really enjoying it.
