My Library -- Andre Norton

Andre Norton in the 1950's
Source: https://dmrbooks.com/test-blog/2020/3/17/andre-norton-15-years-gone

I thought that I would start the exploration of my library with the books of Andre Norton. Over the past year or so, Tor.com has been running a series of articles discussing the books of Andre Norton. Plus, I’ve run across a number of other articles about her books as well. What I found amazing was all the Andre Norton books that I had no clue existed. She was one of my favorite writers when I first began to read science fiction, but given all the books that I missed, it seems that we must have had a falling out at some point rather early on. Something happened, and I think I know what, so let’s explore what that was.

First; a time line. I began reading science fiction books from the library and paperback books probably in 7^th Grade, which would be 1962. (I was a rather slow starter as a reader). This would be the point where I discovered Andre Norton books. Presently, I have 28 of them of them in my collection, pictured below. However, just for a point of reference, Night of Mask was copyrighted in 1964, and all the books to its right were copyrighted in 1964 or later.

In the ten years from 1962 to 1972 my passion for science fiction was white hot. I recorded reading 100 SF books in 1966. And yet, the vast majority of those 28 Andre Norton books I read were written in decade before I started reading science fiction. However, I know know that she wrote several dozen books during my white hot decade, but I only read a handful of them. And further, I have no recollection of ever coming across all those books of hers that I must have passed on. (That’s not too surprising, as I have a very poor memory of my life.)

Arranged in copyright date order. Ace periodically reissued these books, so that this would not be the order I acquired them. The final two books had her name, and the Solar Queen, but little else of Norton, I suspect. 

So, what happened?

I think what happened can be narrowed down to two words; “Witch World.”

I still have a typewritten list of books that I read as of January 6^th 1965. Below is the list of Norton Books with my letter grade rating for each book.

The Stars Are Ours E (Excellent)

The Crossroad of Time E

The Time Traders A

Galactic Derelict B

The Defiant Agents B

Key Out of Time B

The Beast Master B

Lord of Thunder B

Sargasso of Space A+

Plague Ship A+

Storm over Warlock B

Catseye B

Star Born C

Star Gate C

Starman’s Son C

Judgment on Janus C

Witch World F

Web of the Witch World F

I also have an upgraded list from September 1965 without grades that lists 7 more Norton books, but they were more of her earlier books. It seems that I got rid of the Witch World books, since I don’t have them in my collection, which is something that I usually don’t do, unless I really, really don’t like a book. Though, perhaps they were library books – I noticed that in one book, I marked the books I had read, and the books I owned from the books listed, and there were more that I had read then I owned at that point, so it is possible.

Given my opinion of her Witch World series, and the fact that I picked up only a handful more of her books over the following decade, I think I can clearly lay the blame for our breakup on Ms Norton. She moved on as an artist, moving more and more into fantasy, while as a reader, I didn’t, or at least, I didn’t move with her into fantasy when she moved on. My impression is that I’m far from the only one who puts a line under Witch World, as a turning point in her writing focus. She became more focused on exotic world-building and fantasy elements than she had been in her earlier books. And while I have some fantasy books in my library, they are a distinct minority. And, indeed, today, I have no interest in reading fantasy – even if Tor.com gives them to me for free. But my issues with fantasy can be another post, someday.

Andre Norton 1990's
Source: http://www.andre-norton-books.com/

Looking back, I can now see that what I liked about her early books was that they were largely “boys’ adventure stories.” Ms Norton had reliably delivered these male-orientated adventure stories – even changing her name to do so – before moving on by expanding her horizon with a wider range of characters and more fantasy settings. Now, this is all to the good. Artists of all sorts should evolve and explore the extents of their talents and interests, even if they risk alienating old fans by doing so. So I have nothing to complain about. I enjoyed her boys’ adventure books, and I moved on as well, by eventually outgrowing her target audience. And to be fair, I have never abandoned my taste for adventure stories. Indeed, I write them now. So all, in all, I have fond memories of her books – the early ones, and would like to read some of her non-SF adventure books even today. But I’ve no desire to revisit the ones I’ve read. I’ll leave that for new readers or readers who are more nostalgic than I.

My Library