Search Worlds Without End

Nebula Award-nominated Novelette

An act of compassion puts a trapeze master in India on a collision course with a terrifying supernatural power.

This novelette was originally published on Tor.com on January 23, 2019.

Read the full story for free at Tor.com.

Finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Related Work

Luminescent Threads celebrates Octavia E. Butler, a pioneer of the science fiction genre who paved the way for future African American writers and other writers of colour.

Original essays and letters sourced and curated for this collection explore Butler's depiction of power relationships, her complex treatment of race and identity, and her impact on feminism and women in Science Fiction. Follow the luminescent threads that connect Octavia E. Butler and her body of work to the many readers and writers who have found inspiration in her words, and the complex universes she created.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Alexandra Pierce
• Introduction - essay by Mimi Mondal
• Dear Octavia - essay by Alaya Dawn Johnson
• Dear Octavia, Octavia E. Butler, Ms. Butler, Mother of Changes - essay by Sheree Renée Thomas
• Writing the World Into Being - essay by Karen Lord
• My One-and-Only Octavia - essay by Nisi Shawl
• Dear Octavia - essay by Moya Bailey
• Dear Octavia - essay by Tara Betts
• Octavia Butler - Master Cultural Translator - essay by Z. M. Qu?nh?
• Dear Ms. Butler - essay by Ben H. Winters
• Dear Octavia - essay by Hoda M. Zaki [as by Hoda Zaki]
• Dear Ms. Butler - essay by Brenda Tyrrell
• Dear Octavia - essay by Connie Samaras
• Dear Ms. Butler - essay by Jennifer Marie Brissett
• "Let's Dwell a Little": The Trickster Within Octavia E. Butler - essay by Rebecca J. Holden [as by Rebecca Holden]
• Octavia Butler - Praise Song to a Prophetic Artist - (2006) - essay by Andrea Hairston
• The Final Frontier - essay by Jewelle Gomez
• Dear Octavia - essay by Sophia Echevarria
• Thank You for Being Fearless: A Letter to Octavia E. Butler - essay by Tiara Janté
• Dear Octavia - essay by K. Ceres Wright
• Themes of Power, Family and Change in Octavia Butler's Wild Seed - essay by Valjeanne Jeffers
• Nationalism, Reproduction, and Hybridity in Octavia E. Butler's "Bloodchild" - (2008) - essay by Raffaella Baccolini
• Dear Octavia - essay by Tuere T. S. Ganges
• War Is Very Popular These Days - essay by Cat Sparks
• Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis Trilogy: A Biologist's Response - (2002) - essay by Joan Slonczewski
• Dear Octavia - essay by Elizabeth Stephens
• A Missive from the Last Stall - essay by Aurelius Raines, II
• Dear Octavia Butler - essay by Jeffrey Allen Tucker
• Dear Ms. Butler - essay by Paul Weimer
• Disrespecting Octavia - essay by Gerry Canavan
• Octavia Butler and the Black Science-Fiction Heroine - (1984) - essay by Ruth Salvaggio
• Connections, Links, and Extended Networks: Patterns in Octavia Butler's Science Fiction - (1984) - essay by Sandra Y. Govan
• The Butler Effect - essay by Kathleen Kayembe
• Dear Octavia - essay by Jeremy Sim
• Dear Ms Butler - essay by Mary Elizabeth Burroughs
• Dear Octavia Butler - essay by Indrapramit Das [as by Indra Das]
• Dear Octavia - essay by Lisa Bolekaja [as by Lisa Bennett Bolekaja]
• Dear Octavia E. Butler - essay by Christopher Caldwell
• Facing Dyslexia: A Letter to Octavia Butler - essay by Hunter Liguore
• Missives Through the Multiverse: Ephemeral Letters to Octavia Butler - essay by Joyce Chng
• Ms. Butler - essay by Stephen R. Gold
• Dear Octavia - essay by Michele Tracy Berger
• Dear Octavia - essay by Rachel Swirsky
• Dear Octavia - essay by Stephanie Burgis
• Dear Octavia - essay by Bogi Takács
• Octavia - essay by Asata Radcliffe
• butler8star@qwest.net - (2013) - essay by Nnedi Okorafor
• Dear Ms. Butler - essay by K. Tempest Bradford
• Dear Ms Butler - essay by Kate Gordon
• Dear Octavia - essay by Cat Rambo
• Dear Octavia - essay by Amanda Emily Smith
• To Octavia Butler, Elsewhere - essay by Alex Jennings
• Dear Ms. Butler - essay by Cassandra Brennan
• A Letter to Octavia Butler - essay by L. Timmel Duchamp
• Dear Kindred Teacher - essay by Rasha Abdulhadi
• Dear Octavia - essay by Steven Barnes
• A Memorial to Octavia E. Butler - (2010) - essay by De Witt Douglas Kilgore and Ranu Samantrai
• "We Keep Playing the Same Record": A Conversation with Octavia E. Butler - (1996) - interview of Octavia E. Butler - interview by Stephen W. Potts