Bloodchild and Afrofuturism

My initial reaction to Bloodchild is that it's pretty off-putting, frankly. I have fears about child birth and rearing and this hits me in a particular place. It's intimately disturbing, only in a way that a well-hidden family secret could be. Other aspects of the text, like the biological composition of the various species; Terran, Tlic, and N'Tlic, take a bit to process. However, once their purpose, the Terran, is established, to be used as vessels to birth parasitic Tlic, it was easier to understand the story and broader nature of the Preserve. 

The inter-species procreation implications that are suggested, however, are additionally very off-putting. To further this discomfort, it's implied that do to their biological benefits, Terran were once caged for their body heat. The Tlic would let the Terran consume their eggs in order to keep them in a drunken stupor, letting them take advantage of their body heat and bodies as vessels for procreation. This system later changed, though, in favor for the Terran to have more freedom and not be caged as breeding animals. But it's interesting to reflect that the Tlic are (implied) the main political decision-makers, so I believe that maybe they're making decisions that only make the Terran feel like they're have some semblance of equality. And this is what Gan may have realized towards the end when Gatoi cut open Lomas.   

Moreover, Bloodchild made me think about insects and parasitic relationships and how ignorance plays an important role in politics. As mentioned earlier, it seems as though there is a clearly defined parasitic exchange between the Terran and Tlic, however in recent history it is under more mutual terms, maybe. Gan makes a good point, he wishes that the Terran would be more educated so that they would no longer be ignorant of what implantation entails. If people are ignorant of the risks and nature of the process, then of course the Tlic can still abuse the Terran people due to their ignorance, even if not by their (Terran) own doing.

The ideas in Bloodchild would make for an interesting graphic novel. I desperately wanted supplementary visuals to clarify the odd descriptions of the species, however the descriptions weren't as limiting as a Samuel Delaney novel; I could move past their ambiguous nature. I can imagine the Preserve being an overgrown, natural but isolated area of land. Almost dystopian in nature, maybe a land from a Vandermeer novel; you know that type of landscape that is simply unexplainable and intangible. More so, the fluidity with which the characters move could be emphasized in a graphic novel, while simultaneously delivering the complex nature about procreation and politics. I think the story could be well expanded upon in this format if given enough material.