Bloodchild by Octavia Butler

            Science-Fiction has always been a favorite literary genre of mine, well second to Fantasy anyhow. But what I love about the genre so much is how it can really take you out of your comfort zone and give you a new perspective of something you might have encountered before or not. Genetically altered talking animals, reproduction through biomechanical means, a strange new alien race, etc. Scifi has created so many strange new experiences for people all over and I feel that’s what makes it such a great genre besides the whole “imagine the future” or “space adventure”.

            Defamiliarization is something I love about science fiction. Just take an ordinary situation and give it a total twist in the direction of “weird and unworldly”. This is exactly why I enjoyed Octavia Butler’s story the Bloodchild. It took something I was familiar with and gave it an abnormal twist.

            When I first started reading Bloodchild I really had no idea what was going on but as I eventually read on and finished the story I got a good idea of what it was about and I found it really interesting. The relationship between the insectoid Tlic race and the humans made me feel a little yucked out at first but then I came to find it really cool since it was similar to how some species on Earth here interact with each other. Except with the Tlic and the human refugees there’s an intriguing symbiosis going on. The Tlic could easily take down a human and use them as a host to birth their young but instead they coexist somewhat peacefully with the humans. The Tlic care for the humans and in exchange the humans act as carriers for their young.

            This whole relationship between the aliens and humans is in my opinion very well represented by the human Gan and his Tlic caregiver T’Gatoi. I found their relationship actually quite heartwarming in some aspect. T’Gatoi treats Gan and his family somewhat like an actual family instead of like cattle to be used for carrying Tlic young.

            I think it’s beneficial to read stories which place us in unfamiliar situations that leave us lost or weirded out. It gives a person a chance to see things from a clear perspective since they have nothing to really compare to. And from there, it’s a whole new experience to use as a way to explore something entirely new.