My most significant alien encounter this year has been in the science fiction of Octavia E. Butler. I have only dipped into her work, enjoying her Xenogenesis Trilogy (1987-89) and a collection of short pieces, Bloodchild and Other Stories (2nd ed., 2005). Butler’s work creates space for highly complex conversations about gender, race, slavery, and 20th c. sf’s main questions: what does it mean to be human and can humanity be remade? Recently in the wake of the stunning Marvel Cinematic Universe superhit, The Black Panther, Butler’s name has been associated with 
Afrofuturism. She might be distinguished as perhaps the only black woman making a living as a science fiction writer in her generation. However, she has won pretty much all the awards–including the Genius Grant–so I think her work speaks for itself.
Butler’s heritage is not incidental to her work. Beyond drawing minority and poor characters into her work…
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James' Ramblings 