The Xenogenesis books evoke an emotional response because of this - human beings are a social species, and we like to be able to touch one another. The catch is that this genetic manipulation leaves males and females of the original species repulsed by one another when a human is mated to an ooloi, they are forever changed, and can no longer stand the touch of another human without an ooloi in between them to mediate the gap. The ooloi are the keystone, the ones who combine the genes and create the possibility of new life in the offspring of their more conventionally gendered mates. Their mating units have three genders: male, ooloi, and female. They themselves are changed in the process as a consequence of their reproductive system. The Oankali survive by co-opting and cross-breeding with other species from myriad different planets across the galaxy. ![]() In this series, an alien race saves humanity from the brink of complete self-destruction, although the price is high. The most prominent example of unusual matings compelled by an outside force occurs in The Xenogenesis Trilogy. This pattern is evident in almost all of Butler's works, with fascinating and surprisingly novel results every time. Second, there is usually an unexpected repulsion as a result of this breeding parents are unable to stand their own children or humans are no longer able to touch one another. This kind of selective breeding has two outcomes: first, a new society is formed, one with its own rules and morality about what kinds of attraction are considered "normal" although the first generation is forced to participate, the second generation accepts without question. The unusual attractions in her stories are often the result of compulsion by an external force employing eugenics to further its own goals. The ways in which Butler achieves this authentic relationship history may make us squirm as much as the relationships themselves, but this is not surprising given the task at hand. Butler never fails to provide us with the personal history behind the relationships, which gives an underlying layer of authentic humanity to her stories. ![]() Her willingness to explore the range of arousal, intimacy, and attraction between unlikely bedfellows may make us uneasy, but it is always believable. She convinces us of attractions between old people and young people, good and evil people, alien and human, and even between brother and sister, parent and child. One of the elements of Butler's works is her ability to combine diverse types of people in believable ways. Butler does not shy away from difficult situations for her characters, and it is this willingness to defy convention that results in the vividly unique worlds of her stories. ![]() Her stories explore topics ranging from race to feminism to conservation, but it is the interactions between her characters that makes her books so absorbing. Too often seen simply as a "black female science fiction writer," Butler's popularity comes from her strength as a storyteller, not from the color of her skin. Butler is the author of 11 published novels and has won many of science fiction's most prestigious awards, including the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award, as well as the much-touted MacArthur "genius" Award.
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