Rare Books
"'Unexpected Stories' is, by any measure, an unexpected fit. This slender but resonant volume contains two stories--recently unearthed and never before in print--by one of the most significant figures in modern science fiction: Octavia E. Butler. 'A Necessary Being' takes us into the heart of an alien culture with a rigid hierarchical system based on caste and skin coloration. With the arrival of visitors from a distant mountain tribe, the society known as the Rohkohn finds itself faced with the sudden prospect of profound social change. In the second story, 'Childfinder,' the title character is a woman who uses her psychic abilities to track down children with similar nascent abilities--and protect them from the abuses of a predatory society. These may be early stories, but they are the clear reflections of a powerful and original talent, and their belated publication is a major literary event. As novelist Nisi Shawl notes in her eloquent introduction, we may live in a fundamentally unfair world, but 'sweet surprises' occasionally come our way. 'Unexpected Stories' is one of those surprises. It is a book that Butler's many admirers have been waiting for, whether they knew it or not. The Subterranean Press edition of 'Unexpected Stories' will be its first print edition, with a newly-commissioned introduction by Nisi Shawl, and an afterword by Butler's longtime agent and literary executor, Merrilee Heifetz"--From dust jacket.
657200
