Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Octavia Butler, RIP

I just heard the news that pioneering feminist African American science fiction author Octavia Butler died over the weekend. Apparently she fell and suffered a head injury. She died on Saturday.
Yet another talent lost far too soon. Butler was only 58 years old. She was hugely talented, and one of the most openly political of modern sf writers. She once stated that she started writing sci fi because she had been reading it for a while and had noticed that "apparently there are no black people in the future".
She will be very much missed.

2 comments:

belledame222 said...

Indeed.

Anonymous said...

About Ms. Butler, your are right, of course. The field has lost one of its greats and for me a personal heroine. She broke a thick glass ceiling in science fiction and as a published science fiction writer, who happens to be both a female and African American, the lost of her talent is especially great...I wrote my own blog about it and about the time I met her at my website if you want to check it out.

It is most definitely a sad time.

Nicole Givens Kurtz
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2006 Fresh Voices in SF Finalist
Zephyr Unfolding
http://www.zephyrunfolding.com