Black Power Vampires

octavia butler, who as you know, has absolutely no sense of humor, is accidentally hilarious in her most recent novel, "fledgling". the story centers around a young, by vampire standards, girl (she's 53) who wakes, an amnesiac, in a cave to find her entire family and community has been destroyed: burned like in an alabama church bombing. the story is mostly a mystery where she follows various clues that lead her to the white, vampire supremist vampires who were responsible for the death of her family. the interesting twist is that, she is a genetic experiment. she was bred from a group of black women and as it turns out, because of the melanin in her skin, she is able to walk in the day light, unlike the non melanated vampires who slip into a coma by day.

i love the different takes that black folk have of the vampire mythology. i'm remembering tananarive dues book, "the living blood" that tells a vampire-esque story about a group of black people who became "vampires" (i don't believe they're called vampires in the book) by stealing the blood of jesus while he died on the cross, drank it, and whose main occupation was praying, meditating, and cultivating their supernatural powers in the undergrround stone churches of lalibela ethiopia. i haven't read jewel gomez's "the gilda stories" yet, but wesley snipes' blade also follows a similiar story where the black vampires are a sort of saviour of the world.

octavia butler explores race and class, and in fledgling, sex, in the most provacative of ways. i didn't mention that the 53 year old girl vampire is middle aged by human standards, but has the body of an 11 year old, yet none of the adult human men or women resist sleeping with her. very interesting. she also explores what a healthy polyamourous relationships can look like (whether you're human or vampire...more later...christa