Alma Thomas, Octavia Butler, critical fabulation, and late bloomers

"If I could only turn the clock back about sixty years, I'd show them." —Alma Thomas

Driving through rural Virginia years ago, a friend and I had a disagreement about the book A Little Life. A few months before, I’d reached the end of 700-odd pages of suffering—at this friend’s recommendation—only to literally throw the book across my Brooklyn bedroom. It is the one and only time I can remember abusing a book in anger. (Further, I thoug…