Since the beginning of 2016, I have been reading and reviewing one book a month based on the results of a poll on Patreon. All of these monthly reviews can be viewed here.
The April theme is Tiptree Award-recognized science fiction (written by women since it is Women in SF&F Month, after all!). As stated on their website, the James Tiptree, Jr. Literary Award is “an award encouraging the exploration and expansion of gender.” There’s a handy database for viewing and searching the books that have won the award or been selected for the Honor List or Long List.
When I scoured my bookshelves for applicable books, I didn’t find that many Tiptree Award winners, especially considering I’ve already reviewed some of those I do have. However, I found several that had received honors so this month’s selections were books that received a Special Honor or a place on the Honors List:
- Alanya to Alanya (Marq’ssan Cycle #1) by L. Timmel Duchamp (Received Special Honor for the series in 2009; Novel on 2005 Long List as well)
- Ascension (Tangled Axon #1) by Jacqueline Koyanagi (2014 Honor List)
- God’s War (Bel Dame Apocrypha #1) by Kameron Hurley (2011 Honor List)
- The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson (2013 Honor List)
- Wild Seed (Patternmaster #1) by Octavia E. Butler (Received Special Honor in 1995)
The April book is…
Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler
As the acclaimed Patternist science fiction series begins, two immortals meet in the long-ago past—and mankind’s destiny is changed forever.
For a thousand years, Doro has cultivated a small African village, carefully breeding its people in search of seemingly unattainable perfection. He survives through the centuries by stealing the bodies of others, a technique he has so thoroughly mastered that nothing on Earth can kill him. But when a gang of New World slavers destroys his village, ruining his grand experiment, Doro is forced to go west and begin anew.
He meets Anyanwu, a centuries-old woman whose means of immortality are as kind as his are cruel. She is a shapeshifter, capable of healing with a kiss, and she recognizes Doro as a tyrant. Though many humans have tried to kill them, these two demi-gods have never before met a rival. Now they begin a struggle that will last centuries and permanently alter the nature of humanity.
Hugo and Nebula award–winning author Octavia E. Butler’s sweeping cross-century epic places her “among the best of contemporary SF writers” (Houston Chronicle).
My version of the book is in the Patternist omnibus, but I’m planning to review the first book on its own since it sounds as though the individual novels are not very closely connected. I’m really looking forward to reading Wild Seed this month!
