Erin's Short Blog

  What does Bloodchild say about love?  The relationship between Gan and T’Gatoi left a bad taste in my mouth. After reading the story once, I assumed their relationship was intended to be interpreted as manipulative. However, here’s what Octavia Butler had to say about the story: “It amazes me that some people have seen Bloodchild as a story of slavery. It isn’t. It’s a number of other things, though. On one level, it’s a love story between two very different beings.” Personally, I still think Bloodchild makes more sense as a slavery narrative than as a love story. However, I can’t really argue with Butler about what she intended when she wrote the story. So from this point on, fine, Bloodchild is about love, presumably between Gan and T’Gatoi. But if that’s the case, what is Butler trying to say about love? The society in this story is poorly designed for easy love between Terrans and T’Lic. Terrans have much less autonomy than T’Lic. The T’Lic seem to be the only species wh...

  I always knew when Jenny was on the phone. I could tell from Mom’s half of the conversation, when she dropped her stranger-voice. “Hello?” She would begin, smooth and clear, in the same tone the 911 ladies used on the gunshot victims on TV. Then there’d be a pause, a breath, and a rush of those rougher, louder, jumbled-together family-words. And then I knew, because who else could they be for? There was only one not-stranger who wasn’t within earshot. Mom devoured those phone calls. She strangled the landline with both hands, wrapped the cord around her wrists tight enough to turn her fingers blue, practically shoved the speaker into her ear canal. After all, family wasn’t family if it didn’t hurt a little. If it didn’t cramp your fingers, turn your hands all pins-and-needles-y, make your eardrums ache. Those were good pains. They reminded you someone else was there, a little too close, even. But now Jenny was gone, too far to pinch or prod or needle. The landline, with its dente...