Andre Norton
| Name: | Andre Norton |
| Also Known As: | Andre Norton, Andrew North, Allen Weston, Grande Dame of Science Fiction and Fantasy |
| Occupation: | Science Fiction author |
| Medium: | Books |
| Works: | Witch World series, Elvenbane series, many more series and stand-alone stories and novels |
| Official Website(s): | |
| Fan Website(s): | Andre Norton at ISFDB |
| On Fanlore: | Related pages |
This article is a stub. Please help us out by adding more content. |
Andre Norton, born Alice Mary Norton, wrote science fiction and fantasy stories for over 70 years, from 1934 until her death in 2005. Known chiefly for her extensive body of science fiction and fantasy works, she also published in the genres of historical fiction, romance, and mystery. Late in life, she suffered a complicated series of medical and financial crises that severely affected her ability to write. As a consequence, a number of works were published as collaborations between Norton and other writers, often but not always relatively new writers, with many if not most of these being primarily written by the secondary author. Among these later works were further sequels to several of Norton's series.
Influence
In the printzine era, newsletter-style SF fanzines gave significant praise to Norton's works, and an Andre Norton fan club appeared in the late 1970s.
Norton is often cited as a major influence on subsequent generations of writers, including (among many others) A.C. Crispin and Mercedes Lackey, and as one of SF/fantasy's all-time leading writers for young readers. Following her death in 2005, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) established the Andre Norton Award for middle grade and young adult novels in her honor as part of its Nebula Awards program.
Notable Works
| Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. |
- Beast Master series - Almost none of Norton's work was adapted for television or film; this is the rare exception (and the film released over this title may explain why).
- Free Traders books - group of loosely connected books/sequels and short series with a common SF future setting, includes:
- Dipple series - each volume follows a different refugee finding a way out of camps ("dipples")
- Forerunner series - series involves artifacts left by a vanished alien race
- Moon Singer series - series about Free Trader Krip Vorlund and his psychic companion Maewen
- Halfblood Chronicles series (beginning with Elvenbane) (with Mercedes Lackey)
- Solar Queen series
- Time Traders series
- Witch World series
Fandom & Legacy
Fanfiction based on Norton's works is rare to the extent of holding micro-fandom status, though a handful of material exists at AO3.
Tor.com published an ongoing Andre Norton Reread column by Judith Tarr from 2017 through 2022, constituting a nearly complete survey and discussion of Norton's works.