Editing Octavia E. Butler (section)

===Early stories, Patternist series, and ''Kindred'': 1971–1984===

Butler's first work published was "Crossover" in the 1971 Clarion Workshop anthology. She also sold the short story "Childfinder" to Harlan Ellison for the anthology ''[[The Last Dangerous Visions]]''. "I thought I was on my way as a writer", Butler recalled in her short-fiction collection ''[[Bloodchild and Other Stories]]'', which contains "Crossover." "In fact, I had five more years of rejection slips and horrible little jobs ahead of me before I sold another word."<ref name=ACO>Butler, Octavia E. "Afterword to Crossover." ''Bloodchild and Other Stories''. New York: Seven Stories Press. 1996. p.&nbsp;120.</ref>

Starting in 1974, Butler worked on a series of novels that would later be collected as the [[Patternist series]], which depicts the transformation of humanity into three genetic groups: the dominant Patternists, humans who have been bred with heightened [[telepathic]] powers and are bound to the Patternmaster via a [[Psionics|psionic]] chain; their enemies the Clayarks, [[Mutants in fiction|disease-mutated]] animal-like [[Superhuman|superhumans]]; and the Mutes, ordinary humans bonded to the Patternists.<ref name=Mehaffy />

The first novel, ''[[Patternist series#Patternmaster (1976)|Patternmaster]]'' (1976), eventually became the last installment in the series' internal chronology. Set in the distant future, it tells of the [[Bildungsroman|coming-of-age]] of Teray, a young Patternist who fights for position within Patternist society and eventually for the role of Patternmaster.<ref name="Holden" />

Next came ''[[Mind of My Mind]]'' (1977), a prequel to ''Patternmaster'' set in the 20th century. The story follows the development of Mary, the creator of the psionic chain and the first Patternmaster to bind all Patternists, and her inevitable struggle for power with her father Doro, a [[Parapsychology|parapsychological]] vampire who seeks to retain control over the psionic children he has bred over the centuries.<ref name="Gant" /><ref name="Pfeiffer" />

{{quote box
| width = 20em
| quote = To survive,<br />Know the past.<br />Let it touch you.<br />Then let<br />The past<br />Go.
| salign = left
| source = —From "Earthseed: The Books of the Living," ''Parable of the Talents''.
}}

The third book of the series, ''[[Survivor (Octavia Butler novel)|Survivor]]'', was published in 1978. The titular survivor is Alanna, the adopted child of the Missionaries, [[Christian fundamentalism|fundamentalist Christians]] who have traveled to another planet to escape Patternist control and Clayark infection. Captured by a local tribe called the Tehkohn, Alanna learns their language and adopts their customs, knowledge which she then uses to help the Missionaries avoid bondage and assimilation into a rival tribe that opposes the Tehkohn.<ref name="Holden" /><ref name="Bogstad">Bogstad, Janice. "Octavia E. Butler and Power Relations." ''Janus'' 4.4 (1978–79): 28–31.</ref> Butler would later call Survivor the least favorite of her books, and withdraw it from reprinting.

After ''Survivor'', Butler took a break from the Patternist series to write what would become her best-selling novel, ''[[Kindred (novel)|Kindred]]'' (1979), as well as the short story "Near of Kin" (1979).<ref name="Holden" /> In ''Kindred'', Dana, an African-American woman, is repeatedly transported in time between 1976 Los Angeles and an early 19th-century plantation on the [[Eastern Shore of Maryland]]. There she meets ancestors: Alice, a [[Free Negro|free black woman]] [[Kidnapping into slavery in the United States|forced into slavery]] later in life, and Rufus, the white son of a [[Planter class|planter]] who also becomes a [[Slavery|slaveholder]]. In "Near of Kin", the protagonist discovers a taboo relationship in her family as she goes through her mother's things after her death.<ref name="Holden" />

In 1980, Butler published the fourth book of the Patternist series, ''[[Wild Seed (novel)|Wild Seed]]'', whose narrative became the series' origin story. Set in Africa and America during the 17th century, ''Wild Seed'' traces the struggle between the four-thousand-year-old [[Parapsychology|parapsychological]] vampire Doro and his "wild" child and bride, the three-hundred-year-old shapeshifter and healer Anyanwu. Doro, who has bred [[Psionics|psionic]] children for centuries, deceives Anyanwu into becoming one of his breeders, but she eventually escapes and uses her gifts to create communities that rival Doro's. When Doro finally tracks her down, Anyanwu, tired by decades of escaping or fighting Doro, decides to commit suicide, forcing him to admit his need for her.<ref name="Gant" /><ref name="Pfeiffer" /><ref name="Holden" />

In 1983, Butler published "Speech Sounds", a story set in a [[Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction|post-apocalyptic]] [[Los Angeles]] where a [[pandemic]] has caused most humans to lose their ability to read, speak, or write. For many, this impairment is accompanied by uncontrollable feelings of jealousy, resentment, and rage. "Speech Sounds" received the 1984 [[Hugo Award for Best Short Story]].<ref name="Holden" />

In 1984, Butler released the last book of the Patternmaster series, ''[[Clay's Ark]]''. Set in the [[Mojave Desert]], it focuses on a colony of humans infected by an extraterrestrial microorganism brought to Earth by the one surviving astronaut of the spaceship Clay's Ark. As the microorganism compels its hosts to spread it, the infected humans kidnap others to infect them and, in the case of women, give birth to the mutant, [[sphinx]]-like children who will be the first members of the Clayark race.<ref name="Gant" />