🛸 Bloodchild - love, coercion, and the bargains that keep us alive

🛸 We're getting together to talk about Octavia Butler's Bloodchild.

You can genuinely care for someone and still have very little freedom in the arrangement that binds you. If refusing their terms puts your safety at risk, affection does not settle whether your agreement is freely given. At the same time, describing the relationship only as exploitation might miss attachments that matter to the people inside it. How should we judge consent when the alternatives are frightening, and can a bargain become fairer without pretending those unequal choices do not exist?

The plan
Please read only Bloodchild beforehand: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/octavia-e-butler/bloodchild-and-other-stories/9781583226988/
The rest of the collection is not assigned.

• Which gestures of care feel reassuring, and which make the imbalance harder to ignore?
• How does the story distinguish being needed from being valued?
• What does Butler achieve by making an unfamiliar relationship feel emotionally recognisable?

When and where
🗓️ Date: Sunday, November 29, 2026
🕒 Time: 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM, Vancouver local time
📍 Location: UBC Learning Exchange, 612 Main St, Vancouver, BC V6A 2V3
We will meet at the main entrance.
Arrive 10 minutes before the start; doors close 10 minutes after the start.
Cap: 40

Date update: This event has moved from Sunday, November 22 to Sunday, November 29, 2026. The location is unchanged.