Octavia E. Butler
Octavia E. Butler
Octavia Estelle Butlerwas an American science fiction writer. A multiple recipient of both the Hugo and Nebula awards, Butler was one of the best-known women in the field. In 1995, she became the first science fiction writer to receive the MacArthur Fellowship, nicknamed the "Genius Grant."...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth22 June 1947
CountryUnited States of America
bought mother portable stories typewriter
I pecked my stories out two-fingered on the Remington portable typewriter my mother had bought me. I had begged for it when I was ten.
discovered guess men people vampires
Most vampires I have discovered are men for some reason. I guess it's because of Dracula; people are kind of feeding off that.
Most of us, if we're not careful, tend to dehumanize the enemy.
science wants
Hollywood wants to go for the flash, because that's what a lot of them think science fiction is.
people
I used to give up writing like some people would give up smoking.
Getting your writing criticized can be a lot like getting skinned, and you respond to it just as enthusiastically.
adds attitude causes changes forces helps people understand
Every story I write adds to me a little, changes me a little, forces me to reexamine an attitude or belief, causes me to research and learn, helps me to understand people and grow.
certainty former hermit large middle pessimist
I'm comfortably asocial - a hermit in the middle of a large city, a pessimist if I'm not careful, a feminist, a black, a former Baptist, an oil-and-water combination of ambition, laziness, insecurity, certainty and drive.
elements judged people science worst
Science fiction, extrasensory perception, and black people are judged by the worst elements they produce.
people
How dull it is to have people defining you.
beginning behavior bullying cause lead simple suffering
Simple peck-order bullying is only the beginning of the kind of hierarchical behavior that can lead to racism, sexism, ethnocentrism, classism, and all the other 'isms' that cause so much suffering in the world.
enormous good people
I don't write about good and evil with this enormous dichotomy. I write about people. I write about people doing the kinds of things that people do.
human religion societies whether
Religion is everywhere. There are no human societies without it, whether they acknowledge it as a religion or not.
chance period
I had a long period of writing what I think of as 'save the world' novels. 'Fledgling' was a chance to play.