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Octavia's Brood

By: Adrienne Maree Brown, Walidah Imarisha
Narrated by: Je Nie Fleming
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Summary

Whenever we envision a world without war, without prisons, without capitalism, we are producing speculative fiction. Organizers and activists envision and try to create such worlds all the time. Walidah Imarisha and adrienne maree brown have brought 20 of them together in the first anthology of short stories to explore the connections between radical speculative fiction and movements for social change. The visionary tales of Octavia's Brood span genres - sci-fi, fantasy, horror, magical realism - but all are united by an attempt to inject a healthy dose of imagination and innovation into our political practice and to try on new ways of understanding ourselves, the world around us, and all the selves and worlds that could be. The collection is rounded off with essays by Tananarive Due and Mumia Abu-Jamal and a preface by Sheree Renée Thomas.

©2015 Walidah Imarisha and adrienne maree brown (This edition 2015 AK Press and the Institute for Anarchist Studios) (P)2016 Audible, Inc.
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Critic reviews

"Those concerned with justice and liberation must always persuade the mass of people that a better world is possible. Our job begins with speculative fictions that fire society's imagination and its desire for change. In adrienne maree brown and Walidah Imarisha's visionary conception, and by its activist-artists' often stunning acts of creative inception, Octavia's Brood makes for great thinking and damn good reading. The rest will be up to us." (Jeff Chang, author of Who We Be: The Colorization of America)
"Conventional exclamatory phrases don't come close to capturing the essence of what we have here in Octavia's Brood. One part sacred text, one part social movement manual, one part diary of our future selves telling us, 'It's going to be okay, keep working, keep loving.' Our radical imaginations are under siege and this text is the rescue mission. It is the new cornerstone of every class I teach on inequality, justice, and social change.... This is the text we've been waiting for." (Ruha Benjamin, professor of African American studies at Princeton University and author of People's Science: Bodies and Rights on the Stem Cell Frontier)
"Octavia once told me that two things worried her about the future of humanity: The tendency to think hierarchically, and the tendency to place ourselves higher on the hierarchy than others. I think she would be humbled beyond words that the fine, thoughtful writers in this volume have honored her with their hearts and minds. And that in calling for us to consider that hierarchical structure, they are not walking in her shadow, nor standing on her shoulders, but marching at her side." (Steven Barnes, author of Lion's Blood)

What listeners say about Octavia's Brood

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a bit hit & miss

I enjoyed many of the stories, but some were weaker than others. I think I may have preferred a mix of different voices performing the stories. I am keen to read more Octavia Butler now!

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Disappointed

I still have it on my shelf because I've been exchanging books so much, however I have struggled in every story and doubt I'll finish. This is a book for teens or quite possibly for older kids. As an adult I find it really hard to engage and enjoy. The stories so far are very predictable and cheesy, seems wrong to have Octavia's name in the title. Not for me.

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2 people found this helpful