L. Penelope's books include the Earthsinger Chronicles: Song of Blood & Stone, Whispers of Shadow & Flame, and the forthcoming Cry of Metal & Bone.At Tor.com she tagged five books where gods walk the Earth, including:
Wild Seed by Octavia ButlerRead about another entry on the list.
This was the first of Octavia Butler’s work that I ever read, and it remains my favorite. A recent re-read just reinforced how much I love this book! When Anyanwu, an African shapeshifter who’s lived for hundreds of years, meets Doro, a being thousands of years old who must change bodies to survive, it is not a match made in heaven.
Each has found a very different way to survive their long life—Anyanwu by living quietly among her people and changing shape to stay hidden, and Doro by propping himself up as a god and pursuing the mother of all eugenics programs. He breeds anyone he finds with special abilities, ultimately seeking to craft someone else like him, acompanion in his long, lonely existence. The fact that he’s found a possibility in Anyanwu is marred mainly by their philosophical clashes. Doro doesn’t give brutality or murder a second thought, viewing humans beneath him, plus his survival depends on taking lives periodically. Anyanwu holds human life sacred and her desire to protect her children, and their descendants is what first cause her to leave her home and follow Doro to the new world.
What follows is the story of a centuries-long, complex relationship between two not quite humans who master manipulation, giving hope, and causing harm to one another in an endless dance.
--Marshal Zeringue
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