New From Octavia Butler

Yes, I am still behind in my reading but cannot pass up the opportunity to share this about Octavia Butler's latest!

Octavia E. Butler has always given readers science fiction stories that are beautifully written and inclusive. Her novels, which include Pattern Master, Wild Seed and Parable of the Sower (all Aspect reprints from 1995, 1999 and 1995 respectively), are set in worlds that reflect much of our contemporary diversity and expand on it with the introduction of altered humans and separate species. Butler uses her fiction to explore many of our social concerns regarding race, gender, class and sexuality.

Fledgling delves into many of the same social issues Butler examines in her earlier novels. It is different, however, in that the imagined species Butler creates is a race of vampires who have created their own mutation. The fledgling referred to in the title is Shori, a young woman of startling abilities who, after losing her memory, must learn everything about her life and her people anew.

In Shori, Butler presents a vampire who is black, a distinctive quality she uses to touch on the race issues humans face, while at the same time making the fledgling's color one of the things that gives her added abilities. Along the way, Butler presents a tale full of mystery, suspense and taut storytelling that also challenges assumptions about gender, sexuality and relationships between the powerful and the weak. As with most of her novels, the building and sustaining of community is a major element of the tale, and shadows Shori's journey into the world of the Ina, the vampire portion of her heritage.

Butler's writing here is as gratifying as her other works, and will be pleasing to fans of her science fiction. It also appeals to diehard fans of vampire novels, although she rejects and challenges many of the established tenets of vampire lore. The novel is, above all, a literary gem that is accessible to all readers.