octavia butler

this stern-looking woman is octavia butler. she wrote novels and stories in the science-fiction genre. she died last week. she was 58.

truth, i've read only one of her books. "mind of my mind." it was years ago that i read it. she just published a book last fall that i'm interested in, though. i'm waiting for paperback.

she lived in lake forest park, wa, probably pretty close to the bookstore where i worked, third place, because she came in fairly regularly. she was a big woman, very tall, imposing. her voice was tremendously deep.

she would buy cheesy romance novels, real crap. i think they were like candy for her. she probably swallowed them whole.

i never said, hey, you're octavia butler, aren't you? i never did. partly because i'm shy and she was a little scary but also partly because i imagined she might have appreciated the anonymity, privacy, what have you. being a famous writer and all. i sort of regret it, because it would have been nice to meet her. (maybe we could have become friends! you never know.) sometimes i think she might have appreciated being recognized.

i don't know. i'm sad that she died, though.