DUNE 7 BLOG

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Octavia Butler

On March 2nd, Brian spoke at the memorial service for Octavia Butler, held at the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle. Octavia was a brilliant, elegant woman, and will be missed by her family, friends, and fans. I count myself as fortunate to have spent quality time with her. At the ceremony, I also read a statement from Kevin J. Anderson, who said that Octavia was the first science fiction writer he ever met, and that she treated him graciously when he was a high school kid, a wide-eyed fanboy at his first science fiction convention. Hearing Kevin's comments, I was reminded of my father, who was always generous with his time and advice whenever young fans and wanna-be writers approached him. Frank Herbert and Octavia Butler were two of the great ones -- not only as genius writers, but as decent, caring human beings.

-- BH