Octavia Butler - A Social Science Fiction Writer

I love Octavia Butler, and was heartbroken when she died in March 2006. Butler's fiction was definitely in the social science fiction vein, and she wrote a couple of series, but my favorite has to be the Patternist series, that begins (within the logic of the series) with Wild Seed (1980).

Octavia Butler - Interview on Democracy Now
Butler gave this interview on her work in November 2005, shortly after release of her last novel, Fledgling.

Wild Seed
The first in the Patternist series (in terms of story chronology, not the first published) tells the story of Doro, the vampire/shape shifter/slaver who is the father/domesticator of all those talented mutants in the rest of the books.

Kindred
Kindred is probably the best known novel in the Patternist series, which included Patternmaster, Mind of My Mind, Clay's Ark, Wild Seed and Survivor. Following from an idea about how slavery and vampirism affect the vampire and his victims, Butler describes the life of Doro, an immortal, and his descendants.

Bloodchild
Bloodchild is a collection of short fiction and essays by Butler, including some fabulous recommendations to dreamers in the essay called 'A Positive Obsession'.

Dawn
Another series of Butler's that falls squarely within the 'social science fiction' vein is that of the Xenogenesis series, that began with Dawn and continued with Adulthood Rites and Imago, and are concerned with the colonization of a new world.

Parable of the Sower
Another series begun by Butler includes the Parable of the Sower and the Parable of the Talents, both of which describe the end of western civilization and its reconstruction.

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