Bloodchild

This is a revised edition of a collection by 1995 MacArthur Genius Grant winner Octavia Butler containing two additional stories, "Amnesty" and "The Book of Martha." As in her longer fiction, Butler explores the compromises one must make to survive physically and emotionally within a morally complex universe. The title novella, which won both the Hugo and the Nebula Awards, concerns an unusual, painful, but unexpectedly rewarding symbiosis between humans and aliens on a distant planet. Also included are another Hugo Award-winner, the post-apocalyptic "Speech Sounds," and two essays about Butler's personal history and the craft of writing.