Mind of My Mind

by Octavia E. Butler

This second novel in the series recounts the story of how the Patternist society originated. The novel is set in Forsyth, California, a city near Los Angeles, in the 1970s. The leader of the telepathic humans that later became known as the Patternists, was a man originally from Africa named Doro. Doro is about 4,000 years old and immortal. Since Doro does not have physical immortality, he must move his essence to different bodies as time goes on for his continued survival. Doro tends to procreate with and breed people who are telepathically sensitive, in an effort to make a group of superhuman telepaths. The story is focused on one of Doro's daughters, named Mary, who is a young, poor biracial woman. Doro's hope is that his daughter Mary will connect with other telepaths and ultimately become an exceptional telepath who is able to link with other telepathic people.

In the midst of Mary's status change from a "latent" to an "active" telepath, she makes the first ever Pattern as a result of her attaching mentally onto six other active telepathic people. Two years later, after Mary has added 1,500 people to her community of Patternists, Doro thinks Mary has acquired too much power and demands that she stop acquiring telepaths. This creates a conflict, as Mary will destroy herself and as a result all Patternists if she discontinues the expansion of her Patternist community. With support from her people, Mary gains the strength to fight and ultimately kill Doro. There are many Patternist casualties in the fight; however, Mary is ultimately able to continue to grow and protect the Patternist society she has created.