For July’s Curious Reading Club interview, I spoke with Susana M. Morris—the author of the fascinating Octavia Butler biography Positive Obsession.

Her research and understanding of Butler is both excellent and inviting; not taking the usual academic tone but really engaging with this incredible writer’s work on a human level. She explained what made Butler so interesting and so forward thinking; what her super powers as an author really were.

But maybe the moment I enjoyed most was asking for her recommendations on what else to read—the suggestions came spilling out of Susana as if I’d tapped into a deep well; her excitement palpably heaped up, and my reading list got full immediately.

I hope you enjoy the full interview.