Octavia Butler

One of my all time favorite authors has died. Octavia Butler was only 58, but died from a fatal concussion this weekend.

boing boing
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

All that you touch
You Change

All that you Change
Changes you

The only lasting truth
Is Change

God
Is Change
From Parable of the Sower

I was introduced to her work in 1993, by a friend who happened to own a used bookstore. We met when Wendall introduced me to her wonderful store. (Tales Retold in Silver Spring, MD. Long gone, but never forgotten.) Soon after becoming a customer, I became an employee as well, in what will forever be one of my favorite jobs.

One day, when I had just started working at the store, a man came in and asked for Octavia Butler books. The owner was there, and she quiclky told him no. After he left, I asked her about the stack of Octavia Butler paperbacks behind the counter. I had noticed them before, but I needed to know why she had not mentioned them to him. Why would she not want to make a sale?

She explained that the books were not for sale, and that I was never to tell anyone that they were there. Had they sold, she would never see them again, and she needed them to lend to friends. The books were out of print at that point, and difficult to find. She was more interested in finding new readers for one of her favorite writers than she was in adding to someone's collection. I went home with the books that night, promising to bring them back as soon as I finished them. I now purchace her books whenever I find them, and I always share them with friends.

Just a few weeks ago, her latest book arrived at my door. I had looked forward to a new series, and more books in general from Butler. I can not easily explain how sad I am at the moment.

Thank you, Chris, for considering me a friend, and for lending me her books so many years ago. Thank you Octavia, for being a writer, and for sharing yourself with your readers.