There are places that Science Fiction takes you: the stars, distant planets, galaxies we never knew were in existence. Inside of those journeys, there is travel and there is even time travel. In other words, no boundaries exist for storytelling. So, the Fantasy side of SciFi relies upon the creation of what we will call an "alternate reality." In its sub genre Speculative Fiction, this phenomena often turns a mirror on the current ills of society. In Literature, you really cannot have an illness without some bout with horror. If we are tying them all together, it is generally for a good reason.
California-born Octavia E. Butler wrote with the best reason in mind, discovering and harnessing the power of her inner voice. Growing up African-American in post WWII California was one where her strict Baptist upbringing (her grandfather was a preacher) installed a "conscience" firmly in her.
I began writing about power because I had so little.
Butler grew up losing her father at seven, dyslexic, and a social outcast. Her source of power was the public library. She planned her escape into the pleasures of reading fairy tales and early Science Fiction. At ten, she asked for a typewriter. At thirteen, despite the world around her saying it was not possible - she began to write Science Fiction. She attended night classes, so she could work during the day and write all night. Through Harlan Ellison and Samuel R. Delany, Butler refined her work and eventually successfully sold a few stories.
As a writer, Butler was young and hungry. The steady diet of otherworldly reading and a daily life in the wake of major change during the late 1960s gave her reason to chase her visions and capture them upon the page. 1984's "Bloodchild" is an easily accessible (important to Butler who regularly insisted that her books were printed in hardback editions for purchase by libraries) exemplary novelette that dissects her mix of the maternal and the horrific. In Butler's view, both of these facets created tension and were present in all of our lives.
In the future, a group of Earth survivors have escaped to a new planet occupied by insect-like lifeforms known as Tlic. In their system, the Tlic discover that the humans, now called "Terrans" make excellent hosts for Tlic eggs. So they establish The Preserve where the humans can live as a family with one caveat. Narrated by the child Gan, the story opens with the family devouring "sterile eggs" with an almost narcotic bliss. Provided by their caretaker T'Gatoi, everyone eats their eggs except Gan's mother. While they imbibe this rare treat, T'Gatoi holds Gan against her underbelly with several arachnida limbs that secretly resemble a cage. Butler is mixing this family forced to live under these circumstances savoring this almost life-providing egg ("They prolonged life, prolonged vigor") with a Lovecraftian sense of a horrible unknown.
From Gan's standpoint, T'Gatoi is taking enjoyment from the family. Even with all the hints of how these lobster-like probes are all around a child, "it is an honor to have T'Gatoi in the family." Context-wise, one can only wonder how this Dionysian trance would make this event occur to everyone in the Terran family. However, Gan's mother, Lien did not partake. Through her, we obtain the sense that they are obedient and appreciative out of deference to this system. Furthermore, Lien is lying about what she feels out of her competing maternal instinct to preserve her family unit. T'Gatoi says that she considers this her second home and summons Lien. No matter how politely Lien can say no, T'Gatoi woos her into the cage where T'Gatoi's menacing tail stings her bare leg forcing her into a semi-anesthetized state.
If this is all sink-crawling, it is meant to be. However, in the grand design of Robert A. Heinlein's "Starship Troopers" battling insectoid creatures, there is only the us against them reality. For Butler, T'Gatoi is regularly invited into the house and these methods almost masquerade as acts of necessity and love. Even as his mother lies in this stress-free state, the act of T'Gatoi "toying with her long, graying hair" revives Gan's wish that he could be the recipient to giving love while her defenses are down. As Lien drifts away, she even utters "I should have stepped on you when you were small enough."
Butler's home within The Preserve in a complex palette for uncertainty. In reading it, she does not provide any expositional explanation (like Anne McCaffery's dragonriders who benefit from their history, which also introduces the conflict.) In fact, the conflict here is staying alive under Tlic rules and dealing with any circumstances as a family. Nonetheless, Gan's standpoint and the ongoing presence of T'Gatoi seems to indicate that he belongs to her more than the other children.
The cage retracts. T'Gatoi orders Lien to wake up as there has been a disturbance outside. Before you know it, T'Gatoi is carrying a bleeding, unconscious man inside. He needs T'Khotgif Teh she says and with that hideous process unfurls. Gan is ordered to slaughter an animal in the kitchen, something he has strangely never done - but all of his family have. We discover that the outgoing sewer pipe has been disconnected to secretly stash the family's gun. If T'Gatoi finds out, there will be trouble and disappointment, both of which we have no earthly idea of her reaction and level of punishment. Gan kills a furry, muscular creature called an achti and takes it to T'Gatoi.
This is all meant to knock you off balance and make you struggle to keep your footing. As horrific as this process is, Butler examines it from the eyes of a mother. Suddenly, the room is only occupied by the man, T'Gatoi and Gan as an assistant of sorts. Butler is drumming up the tension of this event, but T'Gatoi is in control and even somewhat comforting the patient who continues to fall unconscious. Gan is trying his best to suppress his fear, but his inner voice reflects confusion until T'Gatoi finds the first "grub." Butler now makes it crystal clear. "The grub ate through its egg case..and began secreting poison." That poison is what made him sick and was the alert that something was wrong. With that T'Gatoi began removing all the grubs and transferring them to the achti where they would stay alive. This bone-chilling bout of horror was no infestation or invasion, it was a sideways version of childbirth. These eggs maintain the existence of the Tlic. With the man as a host, something went horribly awry. We are left to wonder where they will go next. As in all Science Fiction, that fear of the unknown is there to keep even the smallest part of its story traveling, moving, and evolving.
After its publication in a 1984 edition of Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction magazine. "Bloodchild" won all three SciFi awards, the Nebula, the Hugo, and the Locus. Butler had finally found success. That freedom gave her the time to research her work. In 1995, Butler became the first Science Fiction writer to be awarded a MacArthur Genius Grant. By 1999, her books were finally hitting the New York Times bestsellers list. Leaving us with the 1979 classic "Kindred," and the incomplete Earthseed series "The Parable of The Sower," and "The Parable of the Talents," Butler emerged from a seven-year bout with writer's block in late 2005. On February 24, 2006, she passed away from a fatal stroke suffered while outside of her home.
NEW MUSIC THIS WEEK
CHARLI XCX - Wuthering Heights [GALAXY GREEN LP/CD/CS](Atlantic)
After years of being a low priority, Grammy-winner Charli XCX has spent the early portion of 2026 promoting a pair of passion projects. While the showbiz satire "The Moment" is accruing more theatres every week, the big budget adaptation of "Wuthering Heights" will be joining it soon. Inspired by the screenplay, Charli formulated an entire album to accompany writer/director Emerald Fennell's screenplay. Those expecting more tracks like "Brat" will be surprised at the dark Gothic turn her dance music takes here.
BECK - Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime [HEART RED LP](Capitol)
On what could be 2026's ideal Valentine's Day soundtrack, Beck compiles old soundtrack contributions (The Korgis barely Top 40 hit that he revamped for "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind") and a seamless tribute to a doo-wop classic ("I Only Have Eyes For You.")
CONVERGE - Love Is Not Enough [GOLD LP/CD](Epitaph)
Metalcore continues to work its way back up the Metal ladder again on this blistering ninth album from Massachusetts' Converge. A mix of political anger and personal confusion, give Metalcore the same epic sweep that Deafheaven provides on "Lonely People With Power." These rhythmically charged recordings (the title track) and almost abstractly-written songs (the crushing "We Were Never The Same") carry the same in-your-face immediacy as the records of old. However, Kurt Ballou's production makes Converge sound less Extreme on this album giving these songs to even those who do not normally gravitate toward screaming vocals.
JEFF BUCKLEY - Live At Sin-E [4LP/2CD](Legacy)
Legend has it that when they dimmed the lights at this New York city coffeehouse, a waiter took off his apron and strapped on his guitar to change everything. Originally an EP designed to introduce Jeff Buckley to the world at large, the expanded edition of the entire show does more than hint at his future greatness. Originally culled down to the hypnotic "Mojo Pin" and a thunderous "Eternal Life" paired with two covers, "Sin-E" was less an "Unplugged" performance and more a showcase for an artist whose best songs still played in his head. Now expanded to two hours, Buckley can be heard at his most experimental, joyous and enthralling. After word of these small shows hit the industry types, Buckley was signed and ready to make a quantum leap to stardom with the immortal "Grace."
WORM - Necropalace [RED 2LP/CD](Century Media)
Over their lengthy, winding songs, Death Metallist Worm twists their music into a creation that maintains its connection to their old imagination while opening up new vistas for a Doomy/Death blend that is equal parts 1986 (the King Diamond-esque Blackheart") and 1996 (the challenging reward of the title track.) All the cuts traverse all the early turns in Death Metal from its inception and even wheel out some Prog influence. "Necropalace" is packed with so many haunting quiet passages and blaring bursts, that Worm is even clever enough to incorporate the themes from previous songs into the closer with special guest guitarist Marty Friedman. One to definitely premiere in the dark night well before dawn.
ALICE COSTELLOE - Move on with Your Year [LP/CD](Universal UK)
The soothing languid voice of Costello is one you are sure to be hearing more of this year. Like contemporaries Cate Le Bon and Weyes Blood, these are songs of sorrow ("Anywhere Else") delivered with a strange sense of slightly joyful release. As Costelloe recovers from a major tragedy, she deals with her emotions over a set of radiant Pop. Despite the weight of a song like "Too Late Now," Costelloe is an individual enough singer/songwriter (think Joni Mitchell in the Seventies) that you connect emotionally (often through her smart sense of repetition) and leave knowing that she managed to escape this desperate time in life.
Mik Davis is the record store manager at T-Bones Records & Cafe in Hattiesburg.
