There are no words adequate enough to shower praise on this collection of works by Octavia Butler. One of the most prolific science fiction writers there ever was. An area where not many of people of color ventured, she opened the door widely. You can travel back in time or imagine a woman Professor X, keeping children with special abilities safe. She even breaches the subject of mental illness.

This collection will enthrall you, as Ms. Butler's stories pull you in.

Octavia Butler: Kindred, Fledgling, Stories and Essays: Library of America. This is a large omnibus of Octavia Butler's writings including: two very good novels, eight of her best stories, and several essays on science fiction, race, and other things. In Kindred a young black woman is transported back in time and place over and over in order to save her great-great grandfather from himself or she will cease to exist. In Fledgling, a young black girl finds out through harsh realities that she is part of a vampire clan and seeks to re-join them. The stories are excellent, like the award winning "Bloodchild" and the equally stunning "Childhunter". The Library of America volumes are always done very well. I don't read much paper anymore (digital/eyesight), but I've got their Philip K. Dick collections and Gary K. Wolf's Science Fiction Novels collections. They do a good job. This Butler collection is a great introduction to her work and a great collector's volume

Octavia Butler is one of my all-time favorite science fiction authors, so I was very excited to receive this book. Butler was one of the first authors I read when I started reading Science fiction. I've read most of her fiction, but not all of it, and I'm very excited to find that not only were there some old favorites here, like Fledgling, but some others I hadn't yet read.

That said, Fledgling is one of my favorite vampire stories, but I do like to warn everyone, there were some parts that were difficult to get through, not because of the writing, but because of the characters. The lead character appears to be a very young girl, but she had adult relationships with some of the characters, and some people might have trouble reading about that. All in all, though, just Fledgling alone is an excellent book, and a good reason to pick up this volume.