Octavia Butler

So fantasy was fine early on, and when I discovered science fiction, I was very happy with it, because my first interest in science fiction came with an interest in astronomy.

No one was going to stop me from writing and no one had to really guide me towards science fiction. It was natural, really, that I would take that interest.

I was attracted to science fiction because it was so wide open. I was able to do anything and there were no walls to hem you in and there was no human condition that you were stopped from examining.

Science fiction let me do both. It let me look into science and stick my nose in everywhere.

The thing about science fiction is that it’s totally wide open. But it’s wide open in a conditional way.

Fantasy is totally wide open all you really have to do is follow the rules you’ve set. But if you’re writing about science, you have to first learn what you’re writing about.

I began reading science fiction before I was 12 and started writing science fiction around the same time.

And by the way, I wanted to point out that Kindred is not science fiction. You’ll note there’s no science in it. It’s a kind of grim fantasy.

What I’m working on now – I’m back to fantasy, although considering that it’s me, I’m turning it into a kind of science fantasy. It’s a vampire story – but my vampires are biological vampires. They didn’t become vampires because someone bit them they were born that way.