Positive Obsession

A magnificent cultural biography that charts the life of one of our greatest writers,situating her alongside the key historical and social moments that shaped her work. As the first Black woman to consistently write and publish in the field of science fictionOctavia Butler was a trailblazer. With her deft penshe created stories speculating the devolution of the American empireusing it as an apt metaphor for the best and worst of humanity–our innovation and ingenuityour naked greed and ambitionour propensity for violence and hierarchy. Her fiction charts the rise and fall of the American project–the nation’s transformation from a provincial backwater to a capitalist juggernaut–made possible by chattel slavery–to a bloated imperialist superpower on the verge of implosion. In this outstanding workSusana M. Morris places Butler’s story firmly within the culturalsocialand historical context that shaped her life: the Civil Rights MovementBlack Powerwomen’s liberationqueer rightsReaganomics. Morris reveals how these influences profoundly impacted Butler’s personal and intellectual trajectory and shaped the ideas central to her writing. Her cautionary tales warn us about succumbing to fascismgender-based violenceand climate chaos while offering alternate paradigms to religionfamilyand understanding our relationships to ourselves. Butler envisioned futures with Black women at the centerraising our awareness of how those who are often dismissed have the knowledge to shift the landscape of our world. But her characters are no magical martyrsthey are toughflawedintelligentand complicateda reflection of Butler’s stories. Morris explains what drove Butler: She wrote because she felt she must. \