Editing Octavia E. Butler (section)

=== Creation of alternative communities ===
Butler's stories feature mixed communities founded by African protagonists and populated by diverse, if similar-minded individuals. Members may be humans of African, European, or Asian descent, extraterrestrial (such as the N'Tlic in [[Bloodchild and Other Stories|''Bloodchild'']]), from a different species (such as the vampiric Ina in [[Fledgling (Butler novel)|''Fledgling'']]), and cross-species (such as the human-Oankali Akin and Jodahs in the [[Lilith's Brood|''Xenogenesis'' trilogy]]). In some stories, the community's hybridity results in a flexible view of sexuality and gender (for instance, the [[Polyamory|polyamorous]] extended families in ''Fledgling''). Thus, Butler creates bonds between groups that are generally considered to be separate and unrelated, and suggests hybridity as "the potential root of good family and blessed community life".<ref name="Kilgore" /> 

''[[Kindred (novel)|Kindred]]'' is one of the only works of 20th-century American literature to feature a [[Interracial marriage in the United States|married interracial couple]].{{citation needed|date=May 2025}} As Farah Peterson comments, in an American society gripped by racism, it took "a fantasy novelist... to imagine how one of these marriages would work in practice" and write the possibility of such a relationship into literary history.<ref name="peterson">{{cite web|last=Peterson|first=Farah|title=Alone with Kindred|url=https://www.threepennyreview.com/alone-with-kindred/|publisher=threepennyreview|access-date=30 August 2023}}</ref>