#733 Blood Child- Octavia Butler

#733 Blood Child- Octavia Butler

In this reality a group of humans fled earth as refugees and now live on another planet with superior beings. They are large slug-like creatures that, after seeing the violence in human nature, keep them in preservations. They allow humans and themselves to live together as host families. “Host” also being literal as they are used to incubate their young. When old enough, they are implanted with baby slugs.

“They don’t take woman” he said with contempt

“They do sometimes.” I glanced at him. “Actually, they prefer woman.

You should be around when they talk among themselves.. They say woman have more body fat to protect the grubs. But they usually take men to leave

The woman free to bear their own young.”

“To provide the next generation of host animals,” he said, switching

from contempt to bitterness.

In the family we see, Gan has just become implantation age and is chosen by his host slug for the job. There is a theme of subservience, with most humans living off the eggs of slugs that keeps them in a dreamlike trance and also helps them live longer. That theme turns into one of choice and free will as Gan has second thoughts about the situation.

There is a lot packed into this story. In the preface to this collection Butler, talks about her struggle with the short story:

“The truth is I hate short story writing. Trying to do it has taught me much more about frustration and despair than I ever wanted—yet there is something seductive about writing short stories. It looks so easy. You come up with an idea, then ten, twenty, perhaps thirty pages later, you’ve got a finished story.”

For the most part, I have had some trouble with stories that pack in so much, with stories that could and should be turned into longer pieces. However, this story I like both at this length, and could also see it expanded to a larger format. Perhaps it’s the genre. It’s more about the conceptual situation you’d want to hear more about than the characters themselves. Either way, good start to this book. 

Rating: 8-8-8-8- Total= 32