-
Bloodchild and Other Stories
- Narrated by: Janina Edwards
- Length: 5 hrs and 38 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $19.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Parable of the Sower
- By: Octavia E. Butler
- Narrated by: Lynne Thigpen
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
God is change. That is the central truth of the Earthseed movement, whose unlikely prophet is 18-year-old Lauren Olamina. The young woman's diary entries tell the story of her life amid a violent 21st-century hell of walled neighborhoods and drug-crazed pyromaniacs - and reveal her evolving Earthseed philosophy. Against a backdrop of horror emerges a message of hope: if we are willing to embrace divine change, we will survive to fulfill our destiny among the stars.
-
-
Best Distopian Future Novel
- By Daniel Ward on 01-02-15
-
Dawn
- Xenogenesis, Book 1
- By: Octavia E. Butler
- Narrated by: Aldrich Barrett
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a world devastated by nuclear war with humanity on the edge of extinction, aliens finally make contact. They rescue those humans they can, keeping most survivors in suspended animation while the aliens begin the slow process of rehabilitating the planet. When Lilith Iyapo is "awakened", she finds that she has been chosen to revive her fellow humans in small groups by first preparing them to meet the utterly terrifying aliens, then training them to survive on the wilderness that the planet has become. But the aliens cannot help humanity without altering it forever.
-
-
I couldn't tell if I loved it or hated it.
- By Lindsay on 01-31-16
-
Unexpected Stories
- Two Novellas
- By: Octavia E. Butler
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 2 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This exciting collection presents two previously unpublished stories by SF legend Octavia E. Butler. A Necessary Being precedes the events of Survivor, Butler's third (famously disowned) installment in her Patternist series, and includes characters from it, focusing exclusively on the Kohn, aliens who build their social hierarchies on the blueness of their fur. In Childfinder, a black woman with the gift of identifying children with latent psychic ability refuses to share her skill with an organization of white telepaths.
-
-
Octavia B. is the John Coltrane of Scifi fantasy
- By Adé Ngeno on 06-30-19
-
Kindred
- By: Octavia E. Butler
- Narrated by: Kim Staunton
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Having just celebrated her 26th birthday in 1976 California, Dana, an African-American woman, is suddenly and inexplicably wrenched through time into antebellum Maryland. After saving a drowning White boy there, she finds herself staring into the barrel of a shotgun and is transported back to the present just in time to save her life. During numerous such time-defying episodes with the same young man, she realizes she's been given a challenge.
-
-
The Past of Slavery Still Moves and Wounds Us
- By Jefferson on 12-05-10
-
Wild Seed
- The Patternist Series, Book 1
- By: Octavia E. Butler
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For a thousand years, Doro has cultivated a small African village, carefully breeding its people in search of seemingly unattainable perfection. He survives through the centuries by stealing the bodies of others, a technique he has so thoroughly mastered that nothing on Earth can kill him. But when a gang of New World slavers destroys his village, ruining his grand experiment, Doro is forced to go west and begin anew. He meets Anyanwu, a centuries-old woman whose means of immortality are as kind as his are cruel. Now they begin a struggle that will last centuries.
-
-
A Tough Review To Write...
- By AlTonya on 04-05-21
-
Fledgling
- By: Octavia E. Butler
- Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo
- Length: 12 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the story of an apparently young, amnesiac girl whose alarmingly unhuman needs and abilities lead her to a startling conclusion: She is in fact a genetically modified, 53-year-old vampire. Forced to discover what she can about her stolen former life, she must at the same time learn who wanted - and still wants - to destroy her and those she cares for and how she can save herself.
-
-
really?
- By Kindle Customer on 04-19-20
-
Parable of the Sower
- By: Octavia E. Butler
- Narrated by: Lynne Thigpen
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
God is change. That is the central truth of the Earthseed movement, whose unlikely prophet is 18-year-old Lauren Olamina. The young woman's diary entries tell the story of her life amid a violent 21st-century hell of walled neighborhoods and drug-crazed pyromaniacs - and reveal her evolving Earthseed philosophy. Against a backdrop of horror emerges a message of hope: if we are willing to embrace divine change, we will survive to fulfill our destiny among the stars.
-
-
Best Distopian Future Novel
- By Daniel Ward on 01-02-15
-
Dawn
- Xenogenesis, Book 1
- By: Octavia E. Butler
- Narrated by: Aldrich Barrett
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a world devastated by nuclear war with humanity on the edge of extinction, aliens finally make contact. They rescue those humans they can, keeping most survivors in suspended animation while the aliens begin the slow process of rehabilitating the planet. When Lilith Iyapo is "awakened", she finds that she has been chosen to revive her fellow humans in small groups by first preparing them to meet the utterly terrifying aliens, then training them to survive on the wilderness that the planet has become. But the aliens cannot help humanity without altering it forever.
-
-
I couldn't tell if I loved it or hated it.
- By Lindsay on 01-31-16
-
Unexpected Stories
- Two Novellas
- By: Octavia E. Butler
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 2 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This exciting collection presents two previously unpublished stories by SF legend Octavia E. Butler. A Necessary Being precedes the events of Survivor, Butler's third (famously disowned) installment in her Patternist series, and includes characters from it, focusing exclusively on the Kohn, aliens who build their social hierarchies on the blueness of their fur. In Childfinder, a black woman with the gift of identifying children with latent psychic ability refuses to share her skill with an organization of white telepaths.
-
-
Octavia B. is the John Coltrane of Scifi fantasy
- By Adé Ngeno on 06-30-19
-
Kindred
- By: Octavia E. Butler
- Narrated by: Kim Staunton
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Having just celebrated her 26th birthday in 1976 California, Dana, an African-American woman, is suddenly and inexplicably wrenched through time into antebellum Maryland. After saving a drowning White boy there, she finds herself staring into the barrel of a shotgun and is transported back to the present just in time to save her life. During numerous such time-defying episodes with the same young man, she realizes she's been given a challenge.
-
-
The Past of Slavery Still Moves and Wounds Us
- By Jefferson on 12-05-10
-
Wild Seed
- The Patternist Series, Book 1
- By: Octavia E. Butler
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For a thousand years, Doro has cultivated a small African village, carefully breeding its people in search of seemingly unattainable perfection. He survives through the centuries by stealing the bodies of others, a technique he has so thoroughly mastered that nothing on Earth can kill him. But when a gang of New World slavers destroys his village, ruining his grand experiment, Doro is forced to go west and begin anew. He meets Anyanwu, a centuries-old woman whose means of immortality are as kind as his are cruel. Now they begin a struggle that will last centuries.
-
-
A Tough Review To Write...
- By AlTonya on 04-05-21
-
Fledgling
- By: Octavia E. Butler
- Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo
- Length: 12 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the story of an apparently young, amnesiac girl whose alarmingly unhuman needs and abilities lead her to a startling conclusion: She is in fact a genetically modified, 53-year-old vampire. Forced to discover what she can about her stolen former life, she must at the same time learn who wanted - and still wants - to destroy her and those she cares for and how she can save herself.
-
-
really?
- By Kindle Customer on 04-19-20
-
Octavia's Brood
- Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements
- By: Adrienne Maree Brown, Walidah Imarisha
- Narrated by: Je Nie Fleming
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Octavia Would Be Proud
- By Susie on 06-15-16
By: Adrienne Maree Brown, and others
-
Binti
- By: Nnedi Okorafor
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 2 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Her name is Binti, and she is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at Oomza University, the finest institution of higher learning in the galaxy. But to accept the offer will mean giving up her place in her family to travel between the stars among strangers who do not share her ways or respect her customs. Knowledge comes at a cost, one that Binti is willing to pay, but her journey will not be easy. The world she seeks to enter has long warred with the Meduse, an alien race that has become the stuff of nightmares.
-
-
Meh 2.75 stars
- By Sharey on 10-05-18
By: Nnedi Okorafor
-
The Left Hand of Darkness
- By: Ursula K. Le Guin
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A groundbreaking work of science fiction, The Left Hand of Darkness tells the story of a lone human emissary to Winter, an alien world whose inhabitants can change their gender. His goal is to facilitate Winter's inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization. But to do so he must bridge the gulf between his own views and those of the completely dissimilar culture that he encounters. Embracing the aspects of psychology, society, and human emotion on an alien world, The Left Hand of Darkness stands as a landmark achievement.
-
-
Ruined by the narration
- By James Tomasino on 04-15-20
-
Who Fears Death
- By: Nnedi Okorafor
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 15 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a far future, post-nuclear-holocaust Africa, genocide plagues one region. The aggressors, the Nuru, have decided to follow the Great Book and exterminate the Okeke. But when the only surviving member of a slain Okeke village is brutally raped, she manages to escape, wandering farther into the desert. She gives birth to a baby girl with hair and skin the color of sand and instinctively knows that her daughter is different.
-
-
Amazing Book, bad narration
- By James Thompson on 11-15-16
By: Nnedi Okorafor
-
Noor
- By: Nnedi Okorafor
- Narrated by: Délé Ogundiran
- Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Anwuli Okwudili prefers to be called AO. To her, these initials have always stood for Artificial Organism. AO has never really felt...natural, and that's putting it lightly. Her parents spent most of the days before she was born praying for her peaceful passing because even in-utero she was "wrong". But she lived. Then came the car accident years later that disabled her even further. Yet instead of viewing her strange body the way the world views it, as freakish, unnatural, even the work of the devil, AO embraces all that she is.
-
-
Slow audio speed to 0.9x
- By Camille on 02-02-22
By: Nnedi Okorafor
-
Akata Witch
- Akata Witch Series, Book 1
- By: Nnedi Okorafor
- Narrated by: Yetide Badaki
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Twelve-year-old Sunny lives in Nigeria, but she was born American. Her features are African, but she has albinism. She's a terrific athlete but can't go out into the sun to play soccer. There seems to be no place where she fits in. And then she discovers something amazing - she is a "free agent" with latent mystical power.
-
-
Dialogue driven story with poor dialogue
- By Meredith on 08-13-19
By: Nnedi Okorafor
-
Remote Control
- By: Nnedi Okorafor
- Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh
- Length: 4 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The day Fatima forgot her name, Death paid a visit. From hereon in she would be known as Sankofa - a name that meant nothing to anyone but her, the only tie to her family and her past. Her touch is death, and with a glance a town can fall. And she walks - alone, except for her fox companion - searching for the object that came from the sky and gave itself to her when the meteors fell and when she was yet unchanged; searching for answers.
-
-
Afrofuturist Sci/Fantasy Fairytale
- By Josh Angel on 01-20-21
By: Nnedi Okorafor
-
Valis
- By: Philip K. Dick
- Narrated by: Phil Gigante
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What is VALIS? This question is at the heart of Philip K. Dick's groundbreaking novel, the first book in his defining trilogy. When a beam of pink light begins giving a schizophrenic man named Horselover Fat (who just might also be known as Philip K. Dick) visions of an alternate Earth where the Roman Empire still reigns, he must decide whether he is crazy or whether a godlike entity is showing him the true nature of the world.
-
-
Life changing
- By Michael on 03-16-16
By: Philip K. Dick
-
The Name of the Wind
- Kingkiller Chronicle, Book 1
- By: Patrick Rothfuss
- Narrated by: Nick Podehl
- Length: 27 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is a tale of sorrow, a tale of survival, a tale of one man's search for meaning in his universe, and how that search, and the indomitable will that drove it, gave birth to a legend.
-
-
This is why I joined Audible!
- By customer on 02-14-20
By: Patrick Rothfuss
-
Later
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Seth Numrich
- Length: 6 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The son of a struggling single mother, Jamie Conklin just wants an ordinary childhood. But Jamie is no ordinary child. Born with an unnatural ability his mom urges him to keep secret, Jamie can see what no one else can see and learn what no one else can learn. But the cost of using this ability is higher than Jamie can imagine—as he discovers when an NYPD detective draws him into the pursuit of a killer who has threatened to strike from beyond the grave.
-
-
Another amazing story
- By Victor @ theAudiobookBlog dot com on 03-02-21
By: Stephen King
-
Well-Read Black Girl
- Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves
- By: Glory Edim
- Narrated by: Glory Edim
- Length: 5 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Remember that moment when you first encountered a character who seemed to be written just for you? That feeling of belonging remains with readers the rest of their lives - but not everyone regularly sees themselves on the pages of a book. In this timely anthology, Glory Edim brings together original essays by some of our best black women writers to shine a light on how important it is that we all - regardless of gender, race, religion, or ability - have the opportunity to find ourselves in literature.
-
-
I wish I had...
- By S. Hayes on 03-18-19
By: Glory Edim
-
A Discovery of Witches
- A Novel
- By: Deborah Harkness
- Narrated by: Jennifer Ikeda
- Length: 23 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Deborah Harkness’s sparkling debut, A Discovery of Witches, has brought her into the spotlight and galvanized fans around the world. In this tale of passion and obsession, Diana Bishop, a young scholar and a descendant of witches, discovers a long-lost and enchanted alchemical manuscript, Ashmole 782, deep in Oxford's Bodleian Library. Its reappearance summons a fantastical underworld, which she navigates with her leading man, vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont.
-
-
Not for me
- By Jill on 08-29-19
By: Deborah Harkness
Publisher's Summary
Six remarkable stories from a master of modern science fiction. Octavia E. Butler's classic "Bloodchild," winner of both the Nebula and Hugo awards, anchors this collection of incomparable stories and essays. "Bloodchild" is set on a distant planet where human children spend their lives preparing to become hosts for the offspring of the alien Tlic. Sometimes the procedure is harmless, but often it is not. Also included is the Hugo Award - winning "Speech Sounds," about a near future in which humans must adapt after an apocalyptic event robs them of their ability to speak. In this audiobook, Butler shows us life on Earth and amongst the stars, telling her tales with characteristic imagination and clarity.
Featured Article: The Best Short Story Audiobooks to Immerse Yourself In Now
Although brief in length, short stories have had a huge impact on the canon of great literature. In fact, some of the most historically revered novelists wrote short stories, which make excellent introductions to their work. Plus, these bite-size listens are the perfect way to get a big dose of literary inspiration even when you’re short on time. From a wide variety of genres, including sci-fi, fantasy, romance, and more, here are the best short story audiobooks.
More from the same
What listeners say about Bloodchild and Other Stories
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Donna D
- 08-03-15
Good stories, well narrated
I really enjoyed these short stories by Octavia Butler that I am ashamed to admit I had not heard of or read before. Sci for stories that can give insight to societal problems, though they are cloaked in an imaginative story of what ifs. This author has a great imagination and I love both the stories and her afterward explanations of what inspired her to write each one and what she was thinking. The narrator was very good also. I will be reading and listening to more from this author.
23 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sharey
- 02-27-17
New Fan
I listened to Kindred, enjoyed it, and went on to this. I normally don't like short stories--they leave me either empty or frustrated for more. These stories were excellent, however. I just bought Dawn because I'm intrigued by Octavia Butler's imagination and compelling writing style.
17 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- KeviaG.
- 10-11-16
Brilliantly Written
After listening to Sirius Satellite Radio the Karen Hunter show, Octavia Butler was an author Karen stated that she had read and that she was African American. i immediately searched Audible for books written by the author and was at once engulfed into the stories wanting them to be much longer. Science fiction has often been a favorite of mine and I was proud to know that a Woman African American author was writing in the category. I have many credits to use and will be using them for more of Octavia Butler books and other authors as well.
12 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Cy Hy
- 07-29-19
Typically Butler
By which I mean, stellar, unique, creative and wonderful. Aliens which are supremely GROSS, Aliens who aren't gross, but interesting, cultural solidarity,, vampires-ish, powerful women, super powers, a conversation with god, and more. All characters feel authentic and real. The suspension of disbelief never disturbs me in Octavia Butler's work and worlds. I can't turn away.
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- S. Smith
- 07-27-18
Exquisite short stories
All the stories were interesting, some were completely enthralling. Bloodchild, The Evening and the Morning and the Night, Speech Sounds, and Amnesty are just amazing. I was sad when they ended and couldn’t listen to more. This collection is my first introduction to Butler’s writing. Officially hooked. The narrator emotes well and subtly differentiates between characters. A good starter for what I hope will be my new favorite author.
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Alan Meigs
- 03-27-18
what a hell of an imagination, wow!
perhaps my favorite collection of short stories. so vivid and challenging. uncomfortable, beautiful, and human.
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 05-24-17
Thought provoking stories
Ms. Edwards narration was delightful and added to the stories' richness as well as giving the listener a sense of connection to Octavia Butler's insightful essays.
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 06-05-16
Brilliant!
This is my first foray into this authors' work. The stories and essays were wonderfully written and thought-provoking, the narration a perfect fit. The afterwords were a great inclusion.
I'm looking forward to listening to more of Octavia E. Butlers' work in the future!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Aza
- 07-30-15
Unique and engaging
Just as amazing as any other Butler book, but getting to hear so many of her stories in one collection is very special. It's like a glimpse into her mind and all its creative genius. So sad that we won't have any more books from her.
Reader was a good match and did a great job bringing the stories to life.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- RobinA
- 08-16-21
Love Octavia Butler
I bought this book because it has one of my favorite short stories. It have it read tome is actually the best part.
Fabulous science fiction.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Johan
- 09-30-21
Liked every story and enjoyed the epilogs
Blood child is my favorite of this collection and will probably sit in me for some time. I enjoyed the epilogs and the perspective of the author as my interpretation varied from her intention a few times. I would recommend :)
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Ariel
- 02-16-21
Average
The first few stories are OK but it goes down the hill in the last ones. Cheap morality about "the environment" or Guantánamo Bay are neither entertaining nor educative.
-
Overall

- Miss A A MacKenzie
- 01-12-20
a sparkling collection of short stories
I am a massive fan of Octavia Butler's novels and series so it was great to spend some time with the short stories. I also really enjoyed the afterwords, where Butler wrote a little more about the references and origins of the stories, and the process of writing.