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Octavia E. Butler was the first prominent black female sci-fi author, and one of the most well-known black women in the genre. Not only that, she was also the first sci-fi author ever to receive the MacArthur Fellowship (and also won several other awards such as the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus).
Her works often tackled regular sci-fi issues such as corruption due to power, breeding a "master" race/biological engineering, bodysnatching, historical elements, telepathic mind control, and time-travel - but often introduced racial elements within it.
The first book of hers I read called "Wild Seed" (which is the fourth book - but a prequel to the previous books - in her "Patternist" series of books), I was wowed. It was THE book that got me interested in sci-fi outside of comic books, and while I usually don't care what race or gender the protagonist is, it was nice to have one that was black, female, and most importantly well-written and strong.
I recommend the Patternist series, with "Wild Seed" as the starting book if you are interested in reading something new. "Wild Seed" starts off during the time of African slave trading, with later books going up to beyond the space age.
For more on Octavia E. Butler, visit Wikipedia and check out her book reviews on Amazon.
Her works often tackled regular sci-fi issues such as corruption due to power, breeding a "master" race/biological engineering, bodysnatching, historical elements, telepathic mind control, and time-travel - but often introduced racial elements within it.
The first book of hers I read called "Wild Seed" (which is the fourth book - but a prequel to the previous books - in her "Patternist" series of books), I was wowed. It was THE book that got me interested in sci-fi outside of comic books, and while I usually don't care what race or gender the protagonist is, it was nice to have one that was black, female, and most importantly well-written and strong.
I recommend the Patternist series, with "Wild Seed" as the starting book if you are interested in reading something new. "Wild Seed" starts off during the time of African slave trading, with later books going up to beyond the space age.
For more on Octavia E. Butler, visit Wikipedia and check out her book reviews on Amazon.
