Tag Archives: Octavia E. Butler

January 27, 2023

Friday Notes (Jan 27, 2023)

I still haven’t gotten used to writing “2023” — it feels like a misspelling. Perhaps in part because it’s an odd number. It’s not prime, and it’s kind of cute that it’s the product 7×17×17=2023. Lucky triple sevens! And a full house, sevens over aces. (Numerology would be another of those things that are fun but which I don’t believe.)

My 2022 plan for Serious Spring Cleaning didn’t end up nearly aggressive as planned. There’s still too much junk. And still too many (piles of) notes and notebooks.

So: Serious Spring Cleaning, take two, and another edition of Friday Notes.

16 Comments | tags: Ally McBeal, Chelsea Handler, Knives Out, Lilyhammer, Mission: Impossible, Octavia E. Butler, Tom Cruise | posted in Books, Friday Notes, Movies, TV

December 16, 2022

Friday Notes (Dec 16, 2022)

By Wyrd Smythe

Since my last post, I’ve been metaphorically becalmed. Which might sound nice, but it’s a term sailors use when there’s no wind, and they’re stuck in one place. Lately, I’ve felt as if there was no wind in my sails.

Some of that is seasonal. The short days, and then that damned “falling back” with its even earlier sunsets. The winter cold and the joy/misery of snow. (I genuinely do enjoy getting outside and shoveling, but it gets harder every year. Growing old is a pain.)

I thought maybe I could kickstart myself with a Friday Notes post.

18 Comments | tags: bad drivers, driving, ice cubes, Octavia E. Butler, snow, winter | posted in Friday Notes

December 31, 2021

Friday Notes (Dec 31, 2021)

By Wyrd Smythe

Welcome to a special edition of Friday Notes. This isn’t just the end of the week or even just of the month (although both are true). It’s also the end of the year!

So this edition of Notes is a reflection on a kind of weird year.

17 Comments | tags: 2021, Agatha Christie, blogger, Chillaxmas, dogs, Octavia E. Butler | posted in Books, Friday Notes

September 25, 2021

Butler: Kindred

By Wyrd Smythe

Not long ago I posted All the Christie as a follow-up to an earlier post about Agatha Christie. I’d read her when I was younger but only realized what an extraordinary writer (and person) she was when I revisited her work recently.

In contrast, I knew Octavia E. Butler only by reputation and some short stories I’d read. This past August I finally set out to correct this egregious oversight for a serious science fiction fan. As it turned out, I sat down to a delicious feast by another extraordinary cook. I relished every crumb, from appetizer to dessert. (I even shamelessly licked the plate.)

The dessert was her finest (and most popular) dish, Kindred (1979). Continue reading

26 Comments | tags: Octavia E. Butler, science fiction, science fiction books, SF, SF Books | posted in Books, Sci-Fi Saturday

September 24, 2021

Friday Notes (Sep 24, 2021)

By Wyrd Smythe

I skipped Friday Notes last month, and almost skipped it this month. To some extent that’s due to the note pile getting smaller, but the larger share of it is the exhaustion and ennui I’ve been feeling all year. My posts-per-month count has been noticeably down since April.

Over the 110 months of this blog (which doesn’t count 2017, the year I took off), the average is 10 posts per month, but in the previous two years it’s 14, so I do seem off my feed lately. OTOH, only 74 posts in 2018 (my lowest year), and I’m at 96 now, so there’s that.

In any event, here’s another edition of FN.

13 Comments | tags: 2048, Octavia E. Butler, time, time travel, touchscreen | posted in Friday Notes

September 18, 2021

Butler: Parable Series

By Wyrd Smythe

This past August I posted about Octavia E. Butler, a highly regarded science fiction author I finally got around to exploring. Now that I’ve read all her work (but for one novel), I’ve gone from being very impressed to being slightly in awe. Her reputation is very well deserved.

Recently I finished her two-book Parable series, Parable of the Sower (1993) and Parable of the Talents (1998). It’s the story of a woman’s lifelong journey building what she names Earthseed, a modern religion with a concrete goal.

What blew my mind, though, was how eerily prescient her President Jarret was of our POTUS45. Nailed it — including the infamous slogan.

10 Comments | tags: Octavia E. Butler, science fiction, science fiction books, SF, SF Books | posted in Books, Sci-Fi Saturday

August 14, 2021

Octavia E. Butler

By Wyrd Smythe

Retirement, along with online access to the library, has opened the door to exploring authors I’ve meant to read for ages. For example, I’d always meant to read one of my dad’s favorite books, The Name of the Rose (1980) by Umberto Eco, but it wasn’t until last year that I finally did (and it was really good; I can see why he loved it).

As a fan of literary science fiction for over six decades, I’ve long felt pressure to explore the works of Octavia Butler (1947–2006). Over the years, in collections, I’ve read some of her short stories (and found them tasty). It was only in the last month or so that I finally got into her novels.

And, my, oh my! She is every bit as good as everyone says she is.

26 Comments | tags: Octavia E. Butler, science fiction, science fiction books, SF Books | posted in Books, Sci-Fi Saturday