Bloodchild and Other Stories is the only collection of science fiction stories and essays written by American writer Octavia E. Butler. Each story and essay features an afterword by Butler. "Bloodchild", the title story, won the Hugo Award and Nebula Award. It was first published in 1995. The 2005 expanded edition contains the additional stories "Amnesty" and "The Book of Martha".
Stories
"Bloodchild" "Bloodchild" was the winner of the 1984 Nebula Award for Best Novelette, the 1985 Hugo Award for Best Novelette, the 1985 Locus Award for Best Novelette, and the 1985 Science Fiction Chronicle Award for Best Novelette. It was published in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine in 1984, in Bloodchild and Other Stories, Four Walls Eight Windows in 1995, and by Seven Stories Press in 1996 and 2005."Annotated Bibliography of Butler's Fiction." Strange Matings: Science Fiction, Feminism, African American Voices, and Octavia E. Butler. Ed. Rebecca J. Holden and Nisi Shawl. Seattle: Aqueduct Press, 2013. 274-292.
"Bloodchild" describes the unusual bond between a race of lifeforms called the Tlic and a colony of humans who have escaped Earth and settled on the Tlic planet. When the Tlic realize that humans make excellent hosts for Tlic eggs, they establish the Preserve to protect the humans, and in return require that every family choose a child for implantation.
Summary The story is set when society is ruled by an insect-like species called the Tlics. Gan, the narrator, lives on the preserve, a protected community, where all humans or “Terrans” live. Here, each family must volunteer one child to bear the eggs of a Tlic. Gan was chosen by the Tlic T'Gatoi before he was born, which in his eyes was an honor. However, Gan starts to grow contempt and fear for T'Gatoi after he watches her perform a bloody Caesarean section on Lomas who is the human host of T'khotgif's eggs and caring for the Tlic larva more than the Terran man who was bleeding out on the floor and close to death. After the graphic surgery was finished, T'Gatoi walked in on Gan with an illegal gun in his hand about to end his own life, realizing he had no choice but to hold T'Gatoi's children if he lived. She asked Gan if he preferred that she impregnate his sister, Xuan Hoa, instead. But out of a mix of jealousy, protectiveness, and love for his sister, he agrees to bear T'Gatoi children, under the conditions that she lets him keep the gun. She agrees and promises to take care of him.
Butler's inspiration In many interviews and in the afterword of "Bloodchild" Butler reveals the motivation behind her writing. She wrote the story to simply explore her fears behind the parasitic botfly that she discovered while in the Amazon. She also aimed to depict a human male's experience of pregnancy "my pregnant man story" including the physical risks and the development of maternal feelings towards his alien offspring. This resulted in the creation of a story about a loving symbiotic relationship between two very different species, which Butler emphasizes is not about slavery despite some critics' interpretations. Lastly, Butler wanted to address the theme of "paying the rent" in human emigration into space, and the need for a quid pro quo or "accommodation" rather than repeating colonialist tropes in traditional science fiction.
Themes Butler's short story "Bloodchild" disrupts many conventional categories of identity through hinting at the idea of race, gender and sexuality. She uses the concept of a human boy becoming impregnated by a female creature to reverse the roles and give the reader a point of view on birth that is different from the conventional way of thinking. It's unconventional to show a female Tlic in power over a submissive boy, especially because she is in a higher power over the other Tlics. Though T'Gatoi is in power, in a place that is conventionally held by a man, she still keeps what may be identified as feminine traits, such as kindness, empathy and understanding. Conversely, the male humans in the story sometimes exhibit a revulsion to taking on what they perceive as a female role, and experience relations with Tlics as oppression despite their own role as colonizers. The mix of unconventional ideas of gender and power go against simple binaries to reveal how identity is simply constructed through systems of control. These binaries are not innate but created by society.
Critical reception
María Ferrández San Miguel views the relationships between the Terrans and Tlics as a form of continuous traumatic stress (CTS).Ferrández San Miguel, María. “Cuerpos Apropriados: Trauma, Biopoder y Poshumanidad En ‘Hijo de Sangre,’ de Octavia Butler y ‘La Chica Enchufada,’ de James Tiptree, Jr.” Atlantis, Revista de La Asociacion Espanola de Estudios Anglo-Norteamericanos, no. 2, 2018, p. 27. Ferrández cites a 2013 article from the Journal of Peace Psychology on CTS research by mental health professionals who investigated the impact of apartheid in South Africa during the 1980s. The Terrans' residence in the Preserve creates a perceived threat to their survival, leading to a symbiotic relationship between the two species rooted in fear.Stevens, G., G. Eagle, D. Kaminer and C. Higson-Smith. 2013. "Continuous Traumatic Stress: Conceptual Conversations in Contexts of Global Conflict, Violence and Trauma." Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology 19 (2): 75-84.
Critic Jane Donawerth observes that "in this short story... the conventional adolescent male narrator/hero is punished by rape, incest, reproductive exploitation by the dominant race, and anticipation of a painful caesarean birth—and he is expected to like it, as women in many cultures have been expected to comply with their oppression." Specifically, the narrator takes on the role of black female slaves in the United States, who were "forced to carry the offspring of an alien race."Donawerth, Jane. Frankenstein's Daughters: Women Writing Science Fiction. Syracuse, N.Y: Syracuse University Press, 1997. 129. Kristen Lillvis further argues that this reference to historical reproductive slavery allows the male narrator to have "access to the power of maternal love" that follows the "tradition of nonphallic maternal authority that developed out of black women's experiences during slavery."Lillvis, K. "Mama's Baby, Papa's Slavery?: The Problem and Promise of Mothering in Octavia E. Butler's "Bloodchild"." MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the U.S., vol. 39 no. 4, 2014, pp. 7-22.
"The Evening and the Morning and the Night"
Winner of the 1987 Science Fiction Chronicle Reader Award, and nominated for the 1987 Nebula Award for Best Novelette, The Evening and the Morning and the Night explores a world where a genetic disease has caused the appearance of a new social caste. Decades after the introduction of a successful cancer cure, it is revealed that the children of its users develop "Duryea-Gode Disease", a dangerous genetic disorder that causes "drift", a dissociative state characterized by violent psychosis and self-harm. The onset of symptoms is inevitable but can be delayed by restricting one's self to a minimal diet. The incredible violence caused by DGD patients experiencing drift has caused people with this disease to be shunned by society.
The short story follows Lynn, a second generation DGD patient as she visits Dilg, a retreat specifically designed to safely house DGD patients experiencing drift and bring them under control by encouraging creative behavior and artistic expression.
"Near of Kin" Published in Chrysalis 4 in 1979; in Bloodchild and Other Stories, Four Walls Eight Windows in 1995; by Seven Stories Press in 1996 and 2005.
"Near of Kin" relates a discussion between a girl and her uncle. Having recently lost her mother, the girl confides in her uncle about the lack of relationship that she had with her mother, as she was left to be raised by her grandmother. The girl and her uncle talk around a family secret that the girl felt was the justification of her abandonment. She compares her looks and personality with that of her uncle, seeking confirmation that she was his child. With this knowledge, the girl finds understanding for her abandonment and neglect.
In her afterword, Butler explains that the influences for "Near of Kin" come from her Baptist background and incestuous Bible stories such as those of Lot's daughters, Abraham's sister-wife, and the sons of Adam having sex with the daughters of Eve.
"Speech Sounds"
Winner of the 1984 Hugo Award for Best Short Story, "Speech Sounds" explores a universe where a virus has eradicated speech.
"Crossover" Published in Clarion in 1971, "Crossover" tells the tale of a lonely woman who is employed in an unsatisfactory factory job and grappling with alcohol dependency. During the three-month imprisonment of her partner, the protagonist pondered the possibility of suicide, but ultimately did not follow through with it. Instead, her behavior becomes increasingly self-destructive as she resorts to alcohol as a means of coping and escaping the reality of her life. The protagonist's frequent visits to the liquor store are indicative of her reliance on alcohol to ease her struggles.
In the afterword, Butler explains how the characters in "Crossover" were influenced by her old, dull jobs and the strange people she met while doing them, as well as her own fears of failing as a writer.
"Amnesty" Published on SciFi.com, January 22, 2003; later included in Bloodchild and Other Stories, Seven Stories Press in 2005.
In "Amnesty", Noah, the main character, meets with prospective human employees for the Communities, an alien species that has taken over Earth's desert areas. Noah, who was abducted by the Communities when she was a child, attempts to convince the humans to overcome their fear of the aliens so they can prosper alongside them. During her pitch, Noah compares her experiences with both the Communities and the humans. Despite being treated as a lab experiment by the aliens, Noah stated that she never once faced as much cruelty as she did once her own government captured her after being released by the Communities. As a result of her experiences with both aliens and humans, Noah has become one of thirty "translators" to participate in the enfolding process which allows communication with the Communities and also enforces a bond between humans and aliens.
In her afterword to "Amnesty", Butler explains that the story was inspired by Dr. Wen Ho Lee's wrongful imprisonment for espionage by the US government.
One of the main themes of "Amnesty" is fear, mostly the fear the humans have of the alien Communities. Claire Curtis discusses this fear as a natural and rather overwhelming feeling. She states that humans do things simply out of fear, whether it's fear for others, fear for ourselves, fear of the unknown or, more importantly, fear of the known. "Amnesty" explores the idea that people are so afraid of the Communities simply because humans know nothing of who the aliens are, how they function, or what their intentions are. It is because of fear that humans turn to destruction rather than collaboration.Curtis, Claire P. "Theorizing Fear: Octavia Butler and the Realist Utopia". Utopian Studies 19.3 (2008): 411–431. Elisa Edward also discusses how the human race is fearful of their existence and how fear is turned into anger and frustration towards the Communities.Edwards, Elisa. Edwards, Elisa. Octavia Butler's "Amnesty." (2003) in Race, Aliens, and the U.S. Government in African American Science Fiction. Münster [u.a.: Lit, 2011. Print.