SOURCE: "African-American, Feminist Science Fiction," in Sojourner: The Women's Forum, Vol. 19, No. 6, February, 1994, pp. 12-4.

Johnson is a writer and activist. In the following review, she traces Butler's portrayal of humanity in her Patternist novels and the Xenogenesis trilogy, and discusses with the author her Parable of the Sower.

I read to escape. Oh, not as often as when I was twelve years old, but my favorite coping mechanism is reading. Mind candy usually. You know the stuff: mysteries, lesbian fantasy, and occasionally science fiction. But when life gets confusing or I am particularly in need of a vacation or a time of reflection, I turn to books that are more than fluff. Books written by authors whose insights stimulate and challenge me. Octavia Butler's books occupy a secure niche in this last and, perhaps, most important category of comfort reading.

Octavia Butler writes science fiction. She is...