Symbiosis, Power and Afrofuturist Vampiric Subjects in the Fiction of Octavia E. Butler: ‘A Regular Little Vampire’

This chapter explores the representation of vampiric subjects in Octavia E. Butler’s fiction. Although only one of her published works (Fledgling 2005) features characters who are explicitly stated to be vampires, Butler’s work includes numerous creatures who display vampiric characteristics. In this chapter, I situate Butler’s work within the (sub)genre of Afrofuturism and show how she uses vampiric motifs to explore issues of race, gender, sexuality, power, hybridity, symbiosis, and consent. Ultimately, I maintain that Butler’s vampires emerge what Jack Halberstam calls sites of overdetermined meaning. That is, they play host to multiple overlapping, often competing, anxieties, and fears.