"Bloodchild" is quintessential Butler. I would definitely recommend this to people wanting to get a feel for Butler's work and if they wanted to read one of her novels. "The Evening and the Morning and the Night" was also very gristly and good. I was meh on the stories in more realistic settings. They were well written, but they didn't showcase the reasons I read Butler. I don't think "Speech Sounds" has aged well. I've read a good amount of Butler's novels and considered her to be insightful, so it was disheartening to me to read something that felt very dehumanizing of people who are nonverbal or who have mental disabilities with little pushback from any of the characters or narrator within the story. Her essays are great, and it's nice that we get a little explanation from Butler after each story. It's nice to hear from the author herself about her process and inspirations.