Thanks for that, Chris. I was saddened to hear the news yesterday. I admired her intellect and her elegant prose style. Amazon.com's home page today also has a beautiful tribute to Octavia written by Alma Alexander.

Sad news indeed. I was glad when we chose Dawn for a discussion as I would not have discussed it on my own. Her ideas were so original and unique. She will be missed.

georgia peach,
Could you please provide a link? I went to the home page and did a search as well, but can't find the Alexander tribute.
Thanks

I read Lilith's Brood several years ago. It was well written, wonderfully crafted, and thought-provoking in ways that sci-fi doesn't often hit. I've not read much of her other works, but have been meaning to. How sad to lose a unique talent.

litlbit

Here's the Amazon US link. (I'm not sure if amazon customizes itself according to your settings, so hopefully this will show up for you).

Here is a link that might be useful: Amazon Octavia Butler tribute

Sorry for the back-to-back post. I'm wondering if the link will go to the correct page, as what shows up on my Amazon home page is a plog, which is part of Amazon's Author's Connect Beta program, where it automatically pushes out author commentaries related to books you've bought (I bought something by Alma Alexander recently). Anyway... in case you don't find it, here is Alexander's tribute to Octavia Butler:

[i]
"Death triggers memory, it is inevitable, and I found myself trying to think back on the details of my one and only - and now all the more treasured - encounter with Octavia Butler. I really was hoping that someday I'd have another chance to talk to her, because my memory of her is so full of warmth and light. I remember, there she was, this imposing black Valkyrie sitting there at a Science Fiction Museum Hall of Fame inauguration dinner last year, and although I had never met her before I knew who she must be - and that, in fact, is very much what I first said to her: 'You must be...' "

"She sighed, with a small smile, and said something about how she MUST be, yeah. How many other black women writers existed in this genre...?"

"It made me squirm a little, because I probably said something that everyone said to her. It's a lonely thing, being the Only, or the First, or the Foremost. People see you and they go, oh, you must be... and you have to be. You have no choice in the matter."

"But after that somewhat thorny thicket of a beginning, I sat there talking with her for at least an hour - this was the infamous Charles Brown DIsappearing Chair incident, where he got up to go and get a drink and told me to mind his chair and I was so engrossed in talking with Octavia that I completely failed to notice when said chair,right next to me, was spirited away by somebody. She laughed, Octavia, and that remains the only audio I can actually remember from that event - that laugh. I have a good idea of what her voice sounded like, but it's not a real memory - I can't hear her talking. But I hear her laughing. "
[/i]

Nice piece, thanks for sharing that, Georgia Peach. In fact when I followed the link I got a piece on Neil Asher Silberman's new book on the kings of ancient Israel. What did everyone else get? I love the Amazon AI system (for that is what it is,) but because I use Amazon as a frequent reference and buy more for others than for myself, it almost never works the way they want it to.

thanks Georgia Peach. I too got a totally different page. Mine came out with adverts for either a phone or a shaver (couldn't quite tell which!!!) and books by authors I've never heard of. Nothing whatsoever to do with me. Looks like their AI has a lower IQ in my neck of the woods (bookshelf?).

What a sad thing to hear, and what a lovely tribute. I suspect and hope we'll see more of those in the days to come. I have only read one of her books, Kindred, last summer. It was pushed on me by a friend who really dislikes sci fi/fantasy, but somehow got ahold of this and it didn't let go. And I understood why. What a talent, and what a loss. I need to read her others.

BTW - if you guys don't mind discussing another of hers, should we do Kindred sometime?

Oh and I hate that Amazon thing, but then I really don't care for how they load up the entire page with junk before you can get to what you want. But thats for another thread...

Thanks, Georgia

Try this link. I was very sorry to hear the news. She was only 58, though apparently had health problems.

Paula

Here is a link that might be useful: Octavia Butler article in the LA Times

Here is a Slate article about her.

Here is a link that might be useful: Slate's article