[[quoteright:327:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/octavia_butler.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:327:Here is the author with her work.]]

Octavia Estelle Butler (June 22, 1947 – February 24, 2006) was an American science fiction writer, and probably the best-known (or in a lot of cases, the only known) African-American in that field. She won both [[UsefulNotes/HugoAward Hugo]] and [[UsefulNotes/NebulaAward Nebula]] awards in her lifetime.

Her first published book was ''Patternmaster'' in 1976. Other works of hers include ''Lilith's Brood'' and the ''Parable'' series, and her final book, ''Fledgling''. She was working on a third book in the ''Parable'' series when she died of a stroke in 2006, aged 58.

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!!Works:
* ''Literature/{{Patternist}}'' series
** ''Patternmaster'' (1976)
** ''Mind of My Mind'' (1977)
** ''Survivor'' (1978)
** ''Wild Seed'' (1980)
** ''Clay's Ark'' (1984)
* ''Literature/{{Kindred}}'' (1979)
* ''Literature/LilithsBrood'', aka ''Xenogenesis''
** ''Dawn'' (1987)
** ''Adulthood Rites'' (1988)
** ''Imago'' (1989)
* ''Literature/ParableOfTheSower'' (1993)
** ''Parable of the Talents'' (1998)
* ''Literature/{{Fledgling}}'' (2005)

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!!Trope examples relating to works that don't have their own pages:

* {{Afrofuturism}}: Most of her works feature black people and themes related to the black struggle in America.
* DiedDuringProduction: She hinted before her death that she planned to continue her Hugo Award-winning two-volume ''[[Literature/ParableOfTheSower Parable]]'' series with several more titles, ''Parable of the Trickster'', ''Parable of the Chaos'', and ''Parable of the Clay''. However, she died shortly after publishing one more novel, an unrelated standalone called ''Literature/{{Fledgling}}'' whose ending also left room for a possible sequel.
* FaceFullOfAlienWingWong: In ''Bloodchild'', human hosts (almost always male) act as incubators for eggs of the female aliens, who look something like human-size centipedes. If the host is lucky, the mother gets to him in time to extract the newly hatched larvae before they eat their way out. This relationship is presented as approaching symbiotic; the aliens (mostly) cherish the human families from whom they select their hosts, but the hosts don't get a lot of choice in the matter.
** DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale (...or possibly TrollingCreator): In the afterword to this short story, the author writes that it's "a love story between two very different beings" and that she wanted to write an [[MisterSeahorse MPreg]] story where the guy became pregnant "not because he was forced to" but rather "as an act of love". But in the actual story, the impregnated protagonist: 1) is a young boy barely entering adolescence (no concrete age is given, but he's clearly still much smaller than his older brother). 2) He has been literally [[WifeHusbandry groomed from birth for this purpose]] by the female alien (who is acting like a member of his family and [[BrotherSisterIncest was herself hatched from his father]]). 3) He cannot legally leave the "Preserve" and would be in even more danger outside anyway. 4) He was so horrified by the cesarion-section-like "birth" process that another male went through (without anaesthetics) that he seriously considered killing himself rather than going through that himself. 5) He's being drugged into [[HappinessInSlavery uncaring submission]] on a regular basis all his life and got an extra large dose that day specifically to prepare him for the implanting. And 6) he primarily 'consented' in the end because the alien threatened to do it to his sister instead, which is still not freely given consent.[[note]]There is one brief line in the end where he admits that jealousy may have figured into his decision as well, but there's far more emphasis on his fear and horror and him being a better person than his older brother because he's not willing to use his siblings as a "shield" to save himself. And regarding the jealousy: Again, this boy was groomed by the alien from birth so he would develop feelings of "love" for her and he's being given mind-altering drugs again when the thought about jealousy occurs to him. Drugs that his mother is refusing to ingest, even though they made her much "happier" with her lot when she still did.[[/note]]
** The author also writes that [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic "it amazes [her] that some people have seen “Bloodchild” as a story of slavery"]] - about a story where the humans have to live in a "Preserve" and aren't allowed to own firearms or cars; have been treated literally like cattle in the past; there are several references to ownership/selling of people and splitting up families at the convenience of the owners; being held in the alien's limbs is always described as "caging", and the aliens are constantly worrying about their human's body weight; like they're purposefully fattening them up, etc.
* FirstContactFauxPas:
** ''Bloodchild'' features the T'lic treating humans as cattle before realizing it's not a very sustainable method of hosting their young safely.
** ''Amnesty'' features the Communities kidnapping individuals and attempting to experiment/communicate with them, but abusing them due to a lack of understanding.
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