Junie.

Octavia Estelle Butler, 1947-2006, was a rare person indeed. One of only a few African American FEMALE science fiction writers, she was quiet and stayed away from the public. No small potatoes but also a Hugo and Nebula award winner.

Raised by her mother and granny after her father passed away when she was an infant, she was an only child growing up in a strict Baptist home. Once in school she started reading and seemed to naturally gravitate to fantasy and science fiction.

Shy and reserved, she started writing and making up stories by age 10 to stave off boredom and loneliness. After watching Devil Girl from Mars, she, not surprisingly, thought she could do better. Her sci-fi career was launched.

After college and numerous writing courses she bumped into Harlen Ellison (who in turn introduced her to Samuel R. Delaney) she had been writing seriously and trying to get published. Not a bad couple of folks to hang with.

Best known for the novel series: Patternist and Lilith's Brood she wrote over a dozen novels and many short stories. Always a loner and rarely seen outside her home she died in 2006 after a bad fall.