Octavia Butler, of course, is brilliant and disturbing.

I'm mostly a novelist these days, but I have written short stories in Fantasy, Science Fiction and horror.

I myself was born in Sacramento, California in 1966.

Mama took me in her arms and held me tight. Her embrace was hot and she smelled like sweat, dust, and grease, but I wanted her. I wanted to crawl inside her mind to find that place that let her smile and sing through the worst dust storms. If I had to be crazy, I wanted my mama's kind of crazy, because she was never afraid.

I think people enjoy a series. When you like a story, many readers want more of the same, which is dandy, if the author and the characters have more to say.

Fantasy is, of course, booming, and I think it's beginning to stretch its range as well.

I suppose if I was to have to pick a few, Ursula LeGuin would have to top the list. It was while reading her work that I decided I wanted to be an author.