Bloodchild
The Hugo, Locus and Nebula award-winning novella
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4.6 • 5 Ratings
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Publisher Description
Set on a distant planet, Bloodchild is award-winning author Octavia E. Butler's shattering meditation on symbiosis, love, power and tough choices. It won the Hugo, Locus, Nebula and Science Fiction Chronicle awards and is widely regarded as one of her greatest works. Perfect for fans of the thrilling Arrival and the works of Ursula Le Guin.
'Butler graces new mansions of thought with her eloquent, distinguished and poignant prose. Although this book is little in size, its ideas are splendidly large' Booklist
'One of the most significant literary artists of the 20th century' Junot Diaz
Years ago, a group known as the Terrans left Earth in search of a life free of persecution. Now they live alongside the Tlic, an alien race who face extinction; their only chance of survival is to plant their larvae inside the bodies of the humans.
When Gan, a young, boy, is chosen as a carrier of Tlic eggs, he faces an impossible dilemma: can he really help the species he has grown up with, even if it means sacrificing his own life?
What readers are saying about BLOODCHILD:
'The best short story I've ever read. Utterly compelling, disturbing, intimate'
'Absolutely amazing. A must-read for Sci-Fi lovers'
'Wonderfully written, masterfully built and oh so thought-provoking, Bloodchild is everything you could wish for in a work of science fiction'
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Collected in this slim volume is the entire output of short fiction from the pen of MacArthur Award winner Butler (Parable of the Sower). ``I hate short story writing,'' Butler admits in her preface; not surprisingly, then, there are only five tales here, ranging in date from 1971 to 1983. Two essays round out the volume: one an inspirational piece about making writing a habit, the other a more personal reminiscence about what it's like to be poor, female, black--and to persist in the writing of SF anyway. ``Bloodchild'' (which won both a Hugo and a Nebula ) is a compelling and horrifying novella combining a love story between a human and an alien with a coming-of-age tale; it is, as Butler puts it, a ``pregnant man'' story. ``The Evening and the Morning and the Night'' concerns genetic disorders, personal responsibility and pheremones; ``Near of Kin'' takes a sympathetic look at a dysfunctional family; and ``Speech Sounds,'' another Hugo winner, depicts a near-future society in which a virus has nearly destroyed people's ability to communicate. Here, too, is ``Crossover,'' Butler's first published story, which deals with the ghostly by-products of hopelessness and drudgery. Following each entry is an enlightening afterword that provides a refreshing look into Butler's writing process and that helps to clarify what excites and motivates this exceptionally talented writer.
