Luminescent Threads

Introduction by Alexandra Pierce

Introduction by Mimi Mondal

SECTION 1: 

Alaya Dawn Johnson: Dear Octavia

Sheree Renée Thomas: Dear Octavia, Octavia E. Butler, Ms. Butler, Mother of Changes

Karen Lord: Writing the World into Being

Nisi Shawl: My One-And-Only Octavia

Moya Bailey: Dear Octavia

Tara Betts: Dear Octavia

Z.M. Qu`ynh: Octavia Butler – Master Cultural Translator

SECTION 2: 

Ben H. Winters: We Could Have Used You This Year

Hoda Zaki: Dear Octavia

Brenda Tyrrell: Dear Ms Butler

Connie Samaras: Dear Octavia

Jennifer Marie Brissett: Dear Ms. Butler

Rebecca J. Holden: ‘Let’s Dwell a Little’: The Trickster Within Octavia E. Butler

Andrea Hairston: Not Just Tearing Down the House (reprinted with permission from Daughters of Earth: Female Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century, 2006)

SECTION 3: 

Jewelle Gomez: The Final Frontier

Sophia Echavarria: Dear Octavia

Tiara Janté: Thank You For Being Fearless: A Letter to Octavia E. Butler 

K. Ceres Wright: Dear Octavia

Valjeanne Jeffers: Themes of Power, Family and Change in Octavia Butler’s Wild Seed 

Raffaella Baccolini: Nationalism, Reproduction, And Hybridity In Octavia E. Butler’s ‘Bloodchild’ 

Tuere T. S. Ganges: Dear Octavia

Cat Sparks: War Is Very Popular These Days 

Joan Slonczewski: Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis Trilogy: A Biologist’s Response (reprinted with permission; 2000) 

Elizabeth Stephens: Ode to Octavia 

Aurelius Raines II: A Missive From The Last Stall 

Jeffrey Allen Tucker: Dear Octavia Butler

Paul Weimer: Dear Ms. Butler 

Gerry Canavan: Disrespecting Octavia 

Ruth Salvaggio: Octavia Butler and the Black Science Fiction Heroine (reprinted with permission from Black American Literature Forum, Vol 18, No 2, Summer 1984) 

Sandra Y. Govan: Connections, Links, and Extended Networks: Patterns in Octavia Butler’s Science Fiction (reprinted with permission from Black American Literature Forum, Vol 18, No 2, Summer 1984) 

SECTION 4: 

Kathleen Kayembe: The Butler Effect

Jeremy Sim: Dear Octavia 

Mary Elizabeth Burroughs: Dear Ms. Butler 

Indra Das: Dear Octavia E. Butler 

Lisa Bennett Bolekaja: Dear Octavia 

SECTION 5: 

Christopher Caldwell: Dear Octavia E. Butler 

Hunter Liguore: Facing Dyslexia: A Letter to Octavia Butler 

Joyce Chng: Missives Through The Multiverse: Ephemeral Letters To Octavia Butler 

Stephen R. Gold: Ms. Butler 

Michele Tracy Berger: Dear Octavia 

Rachel Swirsky: God is Change 

Stephanie Burgis: Dear Octavia 

SECTION 6:

Bogi Takács: Dear Octavia 

Asata Radcliffe: All That You Change 

Nnedi Okorafor: butler8star@qwest.net (reprinted with permission from Strange Matings, 2013) 

K. Tempest Bradford: Dear Ms. Butler 

Kate Gordon: Dear Ms. Butler 

Cat Rambo: Dear Octavia 

Amanda Emily Smith: Dear Octavia 

Vonda N. McIntyre, Sandra Y. Govan, Jeffrey Allen Tucker, Veronica Hollinger, Sweta Narayan, Marleen S. Barr and Joan Gordon: Reflections on Octavia Butler (reprinted with permission from Science Fiction Studies, Volume 37, Number 3, November 2010) 

Alex Jennings: To Octavia Butler, Elsewhere 

Cassandra Brennan: Dear Ms. Butler 

L. Timmel Duchamp: A Letter to Octavia Butler 

Rasha Adbulhadi: Dear Kindred Teacher 

Steven Barnes: Dear Octavia 

SECTION 7:

Science Fiction Studies Memorial

SECTION 8:

An interview with Octavia Butler