It's always kind of sad...

It's always kind of sad when one first hears about an interesting writer upon their passing. But after reading this NY Times article on Octavia Butler, who just recently passed at the age of just 58, I am intrigued.

Throughout Ms. Butler's career, the news media made much of the fact that she was an African-American woman writing science fiction, traditionally a white male bastion. But in interviews and in her work itself she left no doubt that her background equipped her spectacularly well to portray life in hostile dystopias where the odds of survival can be almost insurmountable.

"I'm black, I'm solitary, I've always been an outsider," The Los Angeles Times quoted Ms. Butler as saying in 1998. She leaves no immediate survivors.

Set in time periods ranging from the historical past to the distant future, Ms. Butler's books were known for their controlled economy of language and for their strong, believable protagonists, many of them black women.

So, if any members of the Battlepanda hivemind have recommendations as to which book to start with, let's hear it in the comments. If not, I think I'll start with "Kindred".