Andre Norton Popular Books

Andre Norton Biography & Facts

Andre Alice Norton (born Alice Mary Norton, February 17, 1912 – March 17, 2005) was an American writer of science fiction and fantasy, who also wrote works of historical and contemporary fiction. She wrote primarily under the pen name Andre Norton, but also under Andrew North and Allen Weston. She was the first woman to be Gandalf Grand Master of Fantasy, to be SFWA Grand Master, and to be inducted by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. Biography and career Biography Alice Mary Norton was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1912. Her parents were Adalbert Freely Norton, who owned a rug company, and Bertha Stemm Norton. Alice began writing at Collinwood High School in Cleveland, under the tutelage of Sylvia Cochrane. She was the editor of a literary page in the school's paper, The Collinwood Spotlight, for which she wrote short stories. During this time, she wrote her first book, Ralestone Luck, which was eventually published as her second novel in 1938.After graduating from high school in 1930, Norton planned to become a teacher, and began studying at Flora Stone Mather College of Western Reserve University. However, in 1932 she had to leave because of the Depression and began working for the Cleveland Library System, where she remained for 18 years, latterly in the children's section of the Nottingham Branch Library in Cleveland. In a 1996 interview she recalled defending acquisition of The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien for the library. In 1934, she legally changed her name to Andre Alice Norton, a pen name she had adopted for her first book, published later that year, to increase her marketability, since boys were the main audience for fantasy.During 1940–1941, she worked as a special librarian in the cataloging department of the Library of Congress. She was involved in a project related to alien citizenship which was abruptly terminated upon the American entry into World War II. In 1941 she bought a bookstore called Mystery House in Mount Rainier, Maryland, the eastern neighbor of Washington, D.C. The business failed, and she returned to the Cleveland Public Library until 1950, when she retired due to ill health. She then began working as a reader for publisher-editor Martin Greenberg at Gnome Press, a small press in New York City that focused on science fiction. She remained until 1958, when, with 21 novels published, she became a full-time professional writer. As Norton's health became uncertain, she moved to Winter Park, Florida in November 1966, where she remained until 1997. She moved to Murfreesboro, Tennessee in 1997 and was under hospice care from February 21, 2005. She died at home on March 17, 2005, of congestive heart failure. Literary career In 1934, her first book, The Prince Commands, being sundry adventures of Michael Karl, sometime crown prince & pretender to the throne of Morvania, with illustrations by Kate Seredy, was published by D. Appleton–Century Company (cataloged by the U.S. Library of Congress as by "André Norton"). She went on to write several historical novels for the juvenile (now called "young adult") market. Norton's first published science fiction was a short story, "The People of the Crater", which appeared under the name "Andrew North" as pages 4–18 of the inaugural 1947 number of Fantasy Book, a magazine from Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc. Her first fantasy novel, Huon of the Horn, published by Harcourt Brace under her own name in 1951, adapted the 13th-century story of Huon, Duke of Bordeaux. Her first science fiction novel, Star Man's Son, 2250 A.D., appeared from Harcourt in 1952. She became a prolific novelist in the 1950s, with many of her books published for the juvenile market, at least in their original hardcover editions. As of 1958, when she became a full-time professional writer, Kirkus had reviewed 16 of her novels, and awarded four of them starred reviews. Her four starred reviews to 1957 had been awarded for three historical adventure novels—Follow the Drum (1942), Scarface (1948), Yankee Privateer (1955)—and one cold war adventure, At Swords' Points (1954). She received four starred reviews subsequently, latest in 1966, including three for science fiction.Norton was twice nominated for the Hugo Award, in 1964 for the novel Witch World and in 1967 for the novelette "Wizard's World". She was nominated three times for the World Fantasy Award for lifetime achievement, winning the award in 1998. Norton won a number of other genre awards and regularly had works appear in the Locus annual "best of year" polls.She was a founding member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America (SAGA), a loose-knit group of heroic fantasy authors founded in the 1960s, led by Lin Carter, with entry by fantasy credentials alone. Norton was the only woman among the original eight members. Some works by SAGA members were published in Lin Carter's Flashing Swords! anthologies. In 1976, Gary Gygax invited Norton to play Dungeons & Dragons in his Greyhawk world. Norton subsequently wrote Quag Keep, which involved a group of characters who travel from the real world to Greyhawk. It was the first novel to be set, at least partially, in the Greyhawk setting and, according to Alternative Worlds, the first to be based on D&D. Quag Keep was excerpted in Issue 12 of The Dragon (February 1978) just prior to the book's release. She and Jean Rabe were collaborating on the sequel to Quag Keep when Norton died. Return to Quag Keep was completed by Rabe and published by Tor Books in January 2006.Her final complete novel, Three Hands for Scorpio, was published on April 1, 2005. Besides Return to Quag Keep, Tor has published two more novels with Norton and Rabe credited as co-authors, Dragon Mage (November 2006) and Taste of Magic (January 2008). Series Norton wrote more than a dozen speculative fiction series, but her longest, and longest-running project was "Witch World", which began with the novel Witch World in 1963. The first six novels were Ace Books paperback originals published from 1963 to 1968. From the 1970s most of the books in the series were first published in hardcover editions. From the 1980s some were written by Norton and a co-author, and others were anthologies of short fiction for which she was editor. (Witch World became a shared universe.) There were dozens of books in all.The five novels of The Cycle of Oak, Yew, Ash, and Rowan, To the King a Daughter, Knight or Knave, A Crown Disowned, Dragon Blade, and The Knight of the Red Beard, were written with Sasha Miller. The fifth and last novel was dedicated "To my late collaborator, Andre Norton, whose vision inspired the NordornLand cycle." ("NordornLand cycle" is another name for this cycle.) Legacy Often called the Grande Dame of Science Fiction and Fantasy by biographers such as J. M. Cornwell, and organizations such as Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Publishers Weekly, and Time, Andre Norton wrote novels.... Discover the Andre Norton popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Andre Norton books.

Best Seller Andre Norton Books of 2024

  • Gray Lensman synopsis, comments

    Gray Lensman

    E. E. Smith

    Gray Lensman is a science fiction novel by author E. E. Smith. It was first published in book form in 1951 by Fantasy Press in an edition of 5,096 copies. The novel was originally ...

  • A Fighting Man of Mars synopsis, comments

    A Fighting Man of Mars

    Edgar Rice Burroughs

    A Fighting Man of Mars is an Edgar Rice Burroughs science fiction novel, the seventh of his famous Barsoom series. Burroughs began writing it on February 28, 1929, and the finished...

  • Tales from High Hallack Volume Two synopsis, comments

    Tales from High Hallack Volume Two

    Andre Norton

    A rich anthology of short stories from the New York Times–bestselling author and legendary creator of the Witch World series. Each year, Garner’s troupe makes its way to Ithkar Fai...

  • Ruse synopsis, comments

    Ruse

    Cindy Pon

    In nearfuture Shanghai, a group of teens have their world turned upside down when one of their own is kidnapped in this actionpacked followup to the “positively chilling” (The New ...

  • Works of Andre Norton synopsis, comments

    Works of Andre Norton

    Andre Norton

    Table of ContentsAll Cats Are Gray (1953)The Defiant Agents (1962)The Gifts of Asti (1948)Key Out of Time (1963)Plague Ship (1978)Ralestone Luck (1938) IllustratedRebel Spurs (1962...

  • The Wrath of Mulgarath synopsis, comments

    The Wrath of Mulgarath

    Holly Black & Tony DiTerlizzi

    Three ordinary kids, Jared, Simon, and Wallory Grace, have entered another world without leaving this one! Two remarkable talents, New York Times bestsellers Tony DiTerlizzi and H...

  • The Time Traders synopsis, comments

    The Time Traders

    Andre Norton

    The Time Traders Andre Norton The first novel in the classic series, in which wars are no longer fought on land, in the air, or on the seabut throughout time and space itself . . ...

  • The Seeing Stone synopsis, comments

    The Seeing Stone

    Tony DiTerlizzi & Holly Black

    Thanks to the mysterious field guide left behind by their longlost greatgreatuncle Arthur Spiderwick, life for the Grace kidsJared, Simon, and Malloryis beyond weird. When Simon go...

  • Star Born synopsis, comments

    Star Born

    Andre Norton

    Star Born Andre Norton The saga begun in The Stars Are Ours! continues as the growing human colony settles onto their new home world only to discover an unforeseen enemy. . .Gener...

  • The Andre Norton Anthology synopsis, comments

    The Andre Norton Anthology

    Andre Norton

    11 classic science fiction novels and short stories by criticallyacclaimed masterauthor Andre Norton!! Explore the universe alongside Norton and stretch your mind to the edges of t...

  • Andre Norton Super Pack synopsis, comments

    Andre Norton Super Pack

    Andre Norton

    Collected here in one amazing omnibus edition are twelve complete novels and two bonus short stories. That's more than sixhundredthousand words of pulse pounding adventure by o...

  • Complete Time Traders Science Fantasy of Andre Norton synopsis, comments

    Complete Time Traders Science Fantasy of Andre Norton

    Andre Norton

    Contents Ralestone Luck (1938) Drew Rennie, Rebel Series Ride Proud, Rebel! (1961) Rebel Spurs (1962) The People of the Crater (1947) The Gifts of Asti (1948) Voodoo Planet (1959) ...

  • A Giant Problem synopsis, comments

    A Giant Problem

    Tony DiTerlizzi & Holly Black

    Talk about out of the frying pan, into the fire! I was pretty sure that my freaky stepsister and that freaky field guide of hers would ruin my life. But now it looks like they're g...

  • Andre Norton Super Pack synopsis, comments

    Andre Norton Super Pack

    Andre Norton

    Collected here in one amazing omnibus edition are twelve complete novels and two bonus short stories. That's more than sixhundredthousand words of pulse pounding adventure by one o...

  • Classic Science Fiction Collection synopsis, comments

    Classic Science Fiction Collection

    Edwin A. Abbott, Edgar Rice Burroughs, John Wood Campbell, Raymond King Cummings, Arthur Conan Doyle, Tom Godwin, Andre Norton, H. Beam Piper, Mack Reynolds, Mary Shelley, E.E. Doc Smith, Jules Verne & H.G. Wells

    Table of Contents Edwin Abbott Abbott Flatland Edgar Rice BurroughsThe Chessmen of Mars The Gods of Mars .... J. W. CampbellThe Black Star PassesInvaders from the Infinite.... Ra...

  • Tales from High Hallack Volume Three synopsis, comments

    Tales from High Hallack Volume Three

    Andre Norton

    Twentyone stories of fantasy, space, myth, and magic from the New York Times–bestselling author, “one of the pioneer women in science fiction” (Anne McCaffrey). In the third and fi...

  • More Fantastic Stories synopsis, comments

    More Fantastic Stories

    Frank Herbert, R. A. Lafferty, Stanley G. Weinbaum, Clifford D. Simak, Carl Jacobi, Edgar Pangborn & Andre Norton

    Collected here are six fantastic science fiction stories by R. A. Lafferty, Stanley G. Weinbaum, Clifford D. Simak, Edgar Pangborn, Andre Norton, and Frank Herbert. 'Sodom and ...

  • Tales from High Hallack Volume One synopsis, comments

    Tales from High Hallack Volume One

    Andre Norton

    A rich anthology of short stories from the Grand Dame of Science Fiction and Fantasy.   For decades, Andre Norton forged a truly individual legacy. Garnering a devoted legion ...

  • The Wyrm King synopsis, comments

    The Wyrm King

    Holly Black & Tony DiTerlizzi

    Celebrate the 20th anniversary of the #1 New York Times bestselling Spiderwick Chronicles and get ready for the series soon to be streaming on Roku with this eighth and final insta...

  • Scary Stories for Young Foxes synopsis, comments

    Scary Stories for Young Foxes

    Christian McKay Heidicker

    A 2020 Newbery Honor Recipient!Christian McKay Heidicker, author of the Thieves of Weirdwood trilogy, draws inspiration from Bram Stoker, H. P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe for hi...

  • The Andre Norton Collection synopsis, comments

    The Andre Norton Collection

    Andre Norton

    Andre Norton was an American writer of science fiction and fantasy, who also wrote works of historical fiction and contemporary fiction. She was ...

  • The Ironwood Tree synopsis, comments

    The Ironwood Tree

    Tony DiTerlizzi & Holly Black

    First a pack of vile, smelly goblins snatch Simon. Then a band of elves try to entrap Jared. Why is the entire faerie world so eager to get their hands on Spiderwick's Guide? And w...

  • The Collected Science Fiction of Andre Norton synopsis, comments

    The Collected Science Fiction of Andre Norton

    Andre Norton

    Andre Norton is one of the world's most wellknown and respected contemporary science fiction and fantasy authors. Explore The Collected Science Fiction of Andre Norton to experienc...