Secretly 4,5 stars, just because her later works are even better and there needs to be some distinction to validate this. ( )

WHO SUCKED ME IN
Claire Rousseau in their PKD Award, Looking for Leia, The Watch & WTF Happened with the RWA?! - Genrewise #15 on YouTube published on 22 jan. 2020

These stories make it clear that from her earliest days Octavia Butler had a gift for creating new types of characters -- some human, some not -- who were very alien but still approachable. As a novella and short story, these works don't have the richness of her novels, but they are still well worth reading. ( )

Two fantastic short stories. Second one a bit frustratingly too short, I wanted more. ( )

Really enjoyed these two short stories by Octavia E. Butler. They were wonderful and I was left wanting more.

Per usual, here are my reviews for the two stories.

"A Necessary Being”(5 stars)-Butler creates a world in which the color of a person's skin means they are meant to be leaders. We find out that these "people" are able to change colors which shows what type of caste they belong to. We follow Tahneh who is a Hao. Hao are kidnapped and forced to govern "tribes". We get peeks into what was done to Taneh's father who was the Hao before her. Tahneh is not able to have a child which means her "tribe" is desperate for another Hao. When a Hao and two other "people" are found nearby, Tahneh can either go along with what her people want, or try to steer them to something new. This story really plays with race, class structure, and consent. You can see pieces of plots and narrative that will show up in Butler's Xenogenesis series.

"Childfinder" (5 stars)-Way too short. Seriously. I wanted more. We are in a new world when those who have telepathic abilities are valued. An older woman has found a new child with these abilities. We find out that she is focusing on finding black children and trying to hide them from a larger organization who does not have their best interest at heart. We have Butler playing with the angry black woman trope a bit and how black people do their best at not showing their feelings, i.e. their hatred. Who better to go out and find children with special abilities and teach them to keep their feelings inside. This really did read like a start to a longer book and I really really wanted that longer book. ( )