Wild seed
by Octavia E. Butler · first published 1980
60% recommend40% neutral
Doro is an entity who changes bodies like clothes, killing his hosts by reflex--or design. He fears no one--until he meets Anyanwu. Anyanwu has also died many times. She can absorb bullets and make medicine with a kiss, give birth to tribes, nurture and heal, and savage anyone who threatens those she loves. She fears no one--until she meets Doro. From African jungles to the colonies of America, Doro and Anyanwu weave together a pattern of destiny that not even immortals can imagine.
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…Search for Meaning - Victor Frankl. Living Buddha, Living Christ - Thich Nhat Hanh. Cosmos - Carl Sagan. The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. LeGuin. The One who Walks Away from Omelas - U.K. LeGuin. Wild Seed - Octavia Butler. The Heike Monogatari - (tr. Helen Craig McCullough) “The sound of the Gion Shoja temple bells echoes the impermanence of all things; the color of the sala flowers reveals the truth…
on “Ask HN: What books have made the biggest impact on your mental models?” ↗…is different from writing nonfiction (for information). For excellent fiction first-sentences: "Doro discovered the woman by accident when he went to see what was left of one of his seed villages." --Wild Seed, Octavia Butler. It introduces the main characters, and shows you their relationship and their relative importance to the plot of the novel.
on “How to Write an Opening Sentence” ↗Wild Seed, also by Octavia Butler, is one of the best books I have read this decade. It is probably the best science fiction book I have read in many years.
on “One of the greatest science fiction magazines is now available online (2017)” ↗…Moorcock - The English Assassin (1972) M. John Harrison - The Pastel City (1971) Moebius-s Le Garage Hermétique (The Airtight Garage, 1976–1979) Octavia E. Butler-s Kindred (1979) Octavia E. Butler - Wild Seed (1980) Philip K. Dick - A Maze of Death (1970) Philip K. Dick - A Scanner Darkly (1977) Philip K. Dick - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) Philip K. Dick - Flow My Tears, the Policeman…
on “New Wave Sci-Fi: 75 Best Novels of 1964–1983” ↗…Xenogenesis, DNA traders save the remnants of humanity; Patternist: psychic battles and diseases that improve us at the cost of our humanity; Kindred, the shocking intersection between slave times and now; Wild Seed, life as someone that can shape shift and lives thousands of years; Flesgling, a weirdly sexy albino vampire overturns the vampire hierarchies; and so many short stories that leave you going “whoa.” So…
on “The Life of Octavia Butler” ↗I am looking forward to Wild Seed more than I looked forward to LOTR. Altho with similar trepidation about being true to author intent. I will watch Kindred but it will be hard to watch, even the graphic novel I haven’t finished.
on “The Life of Octavia Butler” ↗