Andre Norton: Never Truly Gone!
A Tribute to the Great Lady Andre Norton
by Friends, Fans, Colleagues and Peers
Impossible to believe it has been 10 years since you left us!
March 17, 2015 ~ Comments are in the order received
Daybreak 2250 A.D. and real men landing on the Moon at 9 years old and I was hooked. It has been a 43 year long quest to know all of Andre’s works and it has become something I hope never gets completed. It drives me. I lay awake at night thinking - how can I get my hands on that one more thing. No other Author has such a special place in my heart. ~ Jay P. Watts (Lotsawatts) ~ your humble webmaster
Andre Norton was a truly great lady in herself and in her works. She moved the hearts and minds of her readers, inspiring them to reach for their own stars, and she was generous with her encouragement to those of us who followed her into the realms of story telling. I am privileged to have known her and to have been able to call her my friend. Pauline (P.M.) Griffin
I knew Andre for twenty years, we phoned, wrote, and several times I managed to stay with her for a week or two. I miss, not only the talented writer who always had time for a newbie, but my friend, with whom I talked cats, fantasy, and the trials and fun of life in general. No one is truly dead until they are forgotten. It's going therefore, to be a long time before Andre Norton is truly dead. Lyn McConchie.
Though I’m so far down on the food chain, I almost don’t exist, but as a writer, I learned to love all my characters, not just the heroes. You can tell that Andre Norton loved hers (even the scumbags). Jean Lamb
Although I enjoyed most Andre Norton books, it was the Free Trader series that really struck a chord with me. The crew of the Solar Queen was very much a family and they worked together to make their little profits on runs too small to interest big business. The characters were interesting and the captain well respected by the junior members of the crew. Plague Ship will always be one of my favorites.
Ellen Anthony, author Search for the Sun
With Naves of Dreams And Solar Queens and Star Mans Son we walked.
She took us through Keys out of Time and gates that were once locked
Our minds linked with four footed friends our own Keplians we sought.
Defiant Agents we all became as aliens in blue suits we fought
I still wish after fifty years for one more yarn she would tell
I wish that there was only some way to reach beyond that veil.
We all miss you. Ms Norton. Wait for us. Help us find the last gate.
Kathy Haldeman
She was simply the best friend I ever had. When she found out how very badly I wanted to go to a WorldCon being held in my own backyard of Anaheim, California but didn't have the money she paid for my membership and refused to allow me to pay her back.
The day we lost this great lady I cried for hours.
Andre was the first and only writer I ever wrote a fan letter to after reading Breed To Come. I was excited and honored when she replied. We continued writing, eventually she gave me her actual address so I could write direct instead of throw her publisher. That friendship lasted until March 17, 2005.
I will be forever grateful and humbled for her frienship.
Clear skies my dear dear friend.
Love,
Linda Shadle
Andre Norton was one of my favourite authors. Reading one of her books always feels as if I'm stepping into the landscape of my dreams, with people that I recognise and have always known. My favourite book was Beast Master, but I'm still finding books of hers that I haven't read. Ebooks have made books available now that couldn't be found in the UK previously.
I'm writing this on the day that Terry Pratchett died, and feeling very sad to know that I will never meet him nor Andre Norton, the two authors whose alternate worlds I most enjoyed visiting and loved. Their books are our legacy, and I'm very grateful to have them.
Ruth Baxendale
Isle of Man
From 1984 I spent 21 years with Andre either living next door to her or part time living in her house with her and her many cats. At first she was reclusive and shy about meeting other people. Turns out she had suffered from merniers’s syndrome and was dizzy at times from an inner ear disorder and would not leave the house. Her doctor who was a physiologist was giving her powerful drugs which made her slow and in a fog most of the day. Years later when a different doctor was doing a test they saw a spike on the machine and finally found out what the real problem was. Andre was immediately taken off the drugs and she became alive and animated again within a few days. Everyone who was around her daily commented on how much different she was and seemed to comeback alive in front of their eyes. Once the dizziness was under control she started to get out into the community more often and then started some interactions with fans face to face. Later when told that the doctor she was seeing was specialized for working on problems of the mind Andre said “is that why she never listened to me when I told her my knees were hurting.”
Well once she was coaxed into going to conventions she was slow to embrace adoration. This was the first time she was on stage seeing the overwhelming number of her fans clapping and cheering for her and was a bit embarrassed. She would tell the crowds that she was only trying to tell a story. She felt uncomfortable with the adoration but was gracious to everyone while still being a bit reserved. Her whole personality was rooted in the Victorian era rules and customs. She truly was a lady full of grace, with good manners and had a great sense of style especially with the jewelry she wore.
With her income she gave to needy women who were in dire straights; to cat shelters and veteran groups and on and on. She would buy light bulbs from the police benevolent society when they called on the phone asking for donations and garbage bags from the veterans of America. She found it hard to say the word no to most anyone. Every morning she would s tart off by responding to some fan letters and then get down to her current book writing, trying to do a chapter a day. By mid morning she was done writing and had lunch. Then the afternoon was spent researching and at bed time she would read a mystery story. For over a decade she had a maid that did the laundry and cleaned the house for her.
Andre was opening up to being with people so much that she started hosting 
Christmas tea parties at her house. After a few years of going to conventions Andre started to host annual Christmas Tea parties at her private home in Orlando and always had neighbors, friends and other writers attending. She was such a gracious host that was engaging and full of stories to tell.
I can still in my mind see her arching back with her hand to her heart while laughing at a joke during the parties while having a wonderful time. She could talk about the facts of history and make it all come alive. Andre had a lot of stories about the early days of sci-fi publishing and could talk about every publisher and editor and writer of the time, she was a gold mine of this information.
Her dream of starting her own research library finally came to pass. This was another way Andre gave to the community of sci-fi, always thinking of how she could help others, especially women writers. When she finally ran out of stories to write in her 90s Andre started designing and producing jewelry to sell on E-bay and was quit creative and successful at the endeavor. Her mind was incredible in the way it imagined. Her knowledge was vast and her actions changed people’s lives all over the world for three generations. Andre was truly one of a kind and I am so fortunate to have been a part of her life for 21 years.
Mark Karpinski
Andre Norton will never die. Her body might have passed on, the new stories might 
have ended, but her legacy will continue forever. With her emphasis on her fully realized and varied characters---not to mention the cultures and circumstances that made them what they are---she helped expand the entire genre to include less tangible, but oh-so-human elements of motivation and causality. And once released, that genie will never go back into its bottle, for which I, for one, am very grateful.
When Jay contacted me about possibly doing an illustration for this new little treasure he's offering, (the short story - Fanus) I was honored, and, I admit, terrified. I haven't picked up a pencil to draw in a decade or more. Literally. What little art I've been doing, mostly cover art, has been digital. I'm a full-time writer/editor now, and those drawing muscles can get pretty out of shape in a week, let alone years. But I really wanted to sketch something, because that, I felt, was what Andre would want.
Let me explain.
Many years ago, a ten-year-old kid sent a fan letter to her favorite author, with a question about Kartr's ears. She wanted to draw his picture, but more, she just didn't want to sound all gushy and dumb. Ms Norton sent her a letter back, describing his ears, and, more importantly to me at the time, just being nice. A few years later, that same girl sent her still-favorite author some (very bad) photocopies of some of her pencil-sketch portraits of her favorite characters---including Kartr---and Ms Norton once again sent a very sweet and encouraging letter back.
I honestly thought she was just being nice and would eventually toss them...this was before grey-scale photocopies were possible and they were really pretty sad reproductions, but still, it made me feel all warm and fuzzy, and I never forgot her graciousness. Then, a while back, Jay emailed me asking if the photocopies he'd found in her files belonged to me and could he put them up on the site. Of course, I said yes, but I was also extremely pleased to discover that she'd kept them.
Rather like this story, typed on an actual typewriter, with hand-made corrections, those pictures she enjoyed were sketched by a real hand with a real pencil and real paper. Computer art, especially for a story about the sanctity of nature, just wouldn't be right. So...I dug out my pencil and paper and, heart racing, sat down to draw.
Easier said than done, and not just because I could barely hang on to said pencil.
I struggled with an image for the story...until I realized at last that the problem wasn't conceiving an illustration, but rather, once again, that ancient history. I'd sent her portraits all those years ago. Not illustrations, not covers, not paintings, just simple sketches. My concepts of her characters. With that insight, the panic ceased and I put pencil to paper and began carving out these enigmatic characters.
Armed with the scant handful of clues in the story, I let the pencil wander, and after playing with several possible looks, it eventually carved out these two and I knew, at least for myself, I'd found them. Her prehensile lip and his catish nose are deliberate. Don't ask me why, they just...felt right. Hardest part? Getting that "big-eyed" look without it going all squishy. I thought about redoing it and refining it, but feared it would lose something in the translation, so, like the story, you're getting the "rough draft."
And now...rather than put away the pencil and drawing pad...I find myself thinking of another character who needs a face. One of my own, born in that decade since I put the pad away. I've rediscovered my once great pleasure in that graphite-on-paper feel. So once again I find myself saying:
Thanks, Andre. Jane Fancher
See: the Shoty Story Fanus
Ms. Norton was one of my favorite authors growing up- she wrote of things we wanted to believe in, gave us inspiration for the future. My husband, Ken & I were fortunate to meet Ms Norton at a late time in her life and enjoyed her soft voice and great thoughts. She was always a giant in the field of science fiction and a hero for women writers.
B. Kim Hagar, Athens AL
I first contacted Andre through a fan letter to Ace Books back in the early 70's when I was a teen. I was surprised when I received a letter back from her in response. The first couple of letters were the typical fan stuff, but it quickly became friendship letters as I found out the wonderful person who had taken time out of her busy schedule to answer letters from me.
We kept up the written conversation after I joined the Air Force in 1975 and shared a phone call in the late 70's. Over the years and my tours in Korea, we exchanged letters about a lot of things, including folklore I had picked up in Korea. She sent me boxes of books as care packages and I would find things like a couple of jade dragons or a uniquely patterned blanket to send in return.
We would also share some ideas I came up with, like a sword made of dragon scale, which was later used in one of her books. Andre encouraged me to do some writing on my own, but while I collected ideas for stories, my career in the military, and after I retired, as a military contractor left little time for that. At one point in time, when I was trying to overcome a personal crisis, she encouraged me by giving me the nickname of "The Lady Jade Phoenix", as I had risen from the ashes of a part of my life I left behind. She sent me a phoenix pendant to remind me of that. It's a nickname I proudly use to this day.
I was finally able to visit her in 2003, after over 30 years of friendship, and I am glad I did. I wanted to go back, but that was not to be. I was heartbroken when I found out Andre had passed away, but she continues to live on in my memories.
Andre was more than a great writer. She was a great friend. I am very glad to have known her and that she took the time to answer a fan letter from a teenage kid.
As ever, Patricia Jaderborg
I just finished rereading (how many times I do not know) "The Last Planet", Ace edition, originally published by Harcourt Brace in hard cover, 1953 as "Star Rangers". One of my favorites. In the story she champions individuals who are "other" and "Bemmy" (Bug Eyed Monsters). This is a theme that originally drew me to her stories, as being Gay and partly Mahican, I always felt I was "other". ~ Alan Hutchinson
How lucky we are to have had that great lady living so long and have such a wonderful imagination!
I have just discovered her books, at age 45 but each time I pick up one of her books, I'm transported for a while far away with characters I care about. She was a real story teller with right amount of suspense, grit and descriptions of wondrous worlds and strange beings or civilisations.
Thanks, Andre Norton, even if you can't hear me from the worlds of the Forerunner and Witch World. ~ James Coupland
As with so many, I found Andre’s books at my public school library when I was in the 8th grade. My introduction to the worlds of science fiction and fantasy came with a book called “Ordeal in Otherwhere”. I read that book, then re-read it. From there on, I had to seek other books by Andre and easily proclaimed her to be my favorite author.
My love of her books continued through school, college and on into marriage. I scoured book stores for new releases and also for older books, because I was determined to have every book she wrote. Alas, even Andre couldn’t keep apace of my love of reading and so I ventured out and found other authors, and my lifelong love of the genre was solidified.
In 1988, I decided to do something I had never done, I wrote my very first “fan letter”. I wrote to Andre and thanked her for her books that had given me so much pleasure and opened new worlds to me. It was a short letter, but I had learned that it is never a bad thing to thank people who have been instrumental in shaping your life. I figured a secretary would read the letter, but it was okay, because I had done what I felt I needed to do. Later in that year, I had to have gall bladder surgery and was in the hospital, drifting in and out of a drug induced fog. My husband came in to visit and brought some mail for me. I was blown away to find that I had a letter from Winter Park, FL! I figured it would be just a form letter, but was I ever wrong! Andre had written a very personal letter to me, thanking me for the letter I had sent to her and talking about her love of the written word and even giving me a head’s up to a new set of books that she had coming out shortly, all about cats. That letter was better medicine than anything the doctors gave me!
Many years later, we had moved to just outside of Nashville, TN. One evening, after a day spent answering 9-1-1 calls and dispatching police officers, I was dozing on the couch. My husband handed me the phone, and whispered, “It’s Andre Norton”. I figured he was pulling my leg, but, no, it truly was Andre! We had recently discovered that Andre was living in Murfreesboro, TN, just a few miles from our home and my husband had taken it into his head to see if she was “listed” in the phone directory. She was and he with a lot more nerve than I would ever have, had called her and talked to her about his wife who was a huge fan, and she then spoke with me, talking for a little time about the writers’ seminars she was hosting in Murfreesboro and such. I hung up in awe and definitely no longer sleepy!!
A few years later, I saw the news that Andre had passed. My two “encounters” with her were brief and probably nothing that anyone else would have even thought about, but for me, I felt as though I had touched a lodestone and they will always remind me how real and personable Andre was.
Freida Cameron
I picked up one of her books off the bookmobile in seventh grade and was hooked. I love her books and am still trying to get all of them. ~ Marietta
I received notice of Andre Norton's death through an e-mail from her caregiver Sue Stewart. Ms. Stewart said that Ms. Norton died on Thursday, March 17. I cried.
I have read and collected Andre Norton's writings since I was a teenager in the 1950s. Before I received my Master of Library Science degree from Texas Woman's University in 1966, I wrote a professional paper on Ms. Norton. She was kind enough then to respond when I wrote her. Little did I realize at the time that it was rare for an author to correspond with a college student. Ms. Norton was kind and generous with her time to make suggestions and corrections to my paper about her
Many years later I met Ms. Norton at the Worldcon in Boston when she was given one of her many honors. When I learned of her 90th birthday, I started correspnding with her again. This led to me flying to Murfreesboro, TN this past October. I met Ms. Stewart, her caregiver, and Ms. Norton. I spent three delightful never to be forgotten days talking with Ms. Norton. From those conversations I learned that Ms. Norton mentored and corresponded with many writers. I know that I am not the only one who will miss her.
Sharon Faye Wilbur Arlington, TX
Masters Thesis - sharon.wilber.masters.paper.1966.pdf
Letters - sharon.wilber.masters.paper.1966.letters.from.faye.to.andre.b.pdf
Interview - Interview.with.Norton-Faye.wilbur.doc
What can I say about Andre Norton that, hasn’t been said before? I know first hand of the many friends and fans who loved and admired her work. She was a brilliant story teller. Rather than focus on her writing career, I would like to take this opportunity to let people know what kind of person she was. She and I had a very close friendship. My only regret is, I didn’t meet her sooner as I would have loved to have had more time with her.Andre was a caring and giving person. Every month, like clock work, she sent checks to four of her friends, making sure these women had food, electricity and water. She did this for many years! When she was hospitalized, she made sure that these women received their checks. Even on her death bed, these four women received their checks.
Andre made monthly contributions to two Native American schools, and several “no kill” cat shelters. Through her veterinarian’s office, she made monthly donations to the “Noah Fund”. This is a fund specifically for low income families to help pay for medical treatment for their pets. Andre also gave to St. Jude's Children’s Hospital in Memphis Tennessee and the Shriner’s Children Hospital in Lexington Kentucky. She even went so far as to help some of her friends with funeral expenses of a lost loved one.
Andre always helped someone in need. Including strangers! She had learned of an elderly woman, living here in Murfreesboro, who was in need of warm clothes and a coat for the approaching winter. The woman lived on a fixed income, in a senior citizen’s housing development. Andre had me go get the lady and take her shopping for clothes. After the shopping spree, I was instructed to go to her landlord and pay six months rent, in advance, on her apartment. Her generosity was truly boundless.
When Andre began making jewelry, she donated several necklace and earring sets, made of semi-precious stones, to various charity organizations for use in their silent auctions. She often donated autographed copies of her books. When the fund raising season began, local charities always came to her, as her items always assured sizeable bids! She loved making jewelry and was honored and, ironically, despite her fame, somewhat surprised that people were willing to pay high prices for it!I could go on and on about about Andre’s generosity. When the need arose, she gave unhesitatingly, often giving beyond the need! I was very fortunate enough to be with her for a few years. During that time, I never knew her to have a selfish thought. Because she knew I suffer with dyslexia, after moving into my house in mid 2004, she insisted on opening new worlds to me by reading aloud to me every night after I helped her to bed. I would sit at her bedside and she would read to me for an half hour or more. There were times when she would “secretly” order a book for me and surprise me with it. I still have those books and, will always cherish them. They’re a constant reminder of a wonderful woman, who cared enough to see that “other worlds” were opened up to me!
I am so very thankful and privileged to have had Andre in my life. To most, she was Andre Norton, “Grand Dame Of Science Fiction”. To me, she was “Meemaw”, a title she loved and, according to her, was honored to have! I know, I’ll never again look at a
cat without thinking of her! To this very day, as I look around my home at the many keepsakes I have that were hers and, as I ponder the cherished memories I have of her, I find her to be always in my thoughts and forever in my heart! Rest in peace “Meemaw”, I love and miss you very much!Sue Stewart-The Andre Norton Estate
I can’t really say that Andre Norton had a major influence on my life. She didn’t inspire me to do great things, or become a leader, problem solver, writer, or anything other than common and ordinary, a girl from a farm background who went on to get married and work at a variety of jobs that were just a means of putting money in my pocket so I could help put food on the table for my family—consisting of a husband and a series of dogs. However, she did make those years a little more pleasant.
I grew up on Westerns and mysteries and didn’t get into science fiction until high school, when I inadvertently borrowed a book from the school library, titled Mystery Of the Martian Moons—thought it was going to be a mystery story. Well, that turned out to be pretty interesting, and opened up a whole new world—or worlds, as it were. During my junior and senior years of high school, I was offered membership in a book club sponsored by the school. (Boy, did we get some real clankers, urged on us by the school principal as being great literature. Why is great literature always so boring?) My brother and I would carefully select our choices from the available books, tending towards our newly-discovered interest, science fiction. The first Andre Norton book we obtained was The Last Planet. Hey, this is great! After that, any book with the name “Andre Norton” on it was fair game for immediate acquisition. But the books we purchased then were almost all “hard” science fiction.
I didn’t get into any of her fantasy novels until after my marriage and injury in a serious car accident, at which time, my husband bought me a book by an author he knew I favored; the book was Year Of the Unicorn. He hated it—I wasn’t too crazy about it myself. It was rather like coming into a movie in the middle, or starting a book on Chapter Nine. And, we really weren’t “into” fantasy. However, it was an Andre Norton book, so I kept it. Later on, I picked up the first of her “Witch World” novels, and all of a sudden Year Of the Unicorn was in context, as it were.
Many years later, with an ever-expanding library, I had enough of Andre’s books to start feeling like a collector. I even had one bookstore in Minneapolis trained to “feed my addiction.” It was rather pleasant, if somewhat confusing, to have them call me at work and say, “The book you ordered is in.” Book, what book? When did I order a book lately? Then I discovered that she actually wrote stuff besides science fiction. I went on to purchase the Sword trilogy, Velvet Shadows, Snow Shadows, The White Jade Fox, and Ten Mile Treasure, which nearly started a feud with my husband’s niece. I loaned her my copy and nearly had to resort to physical force to get it back—she liked it so much. I eventually had to promise her her own copy—which took me several years to obtain.
I went on to acquire anything and everything I could, even to the point of a two-week project to get a copy of Caroline. At the time we were living on a houseboat in the New Orleans area—north side of Lake Pontchartrain, actually. We were using the local library computers for our Internet connections. I found on one of the bookselling sites a copy of Caroline and clicked on “buy this book” and immediately received a message that the book was not available. After about six times of this, I went to the Interlibrary Loan clerk and asked him to get me this book. Maybe I couldn’t buy it, but I could at least read it. Well, once it was in my hands, I didn’t want to let it go, but I am really “down” on people who steal books from libraries. So, on to the computer and start typing; I could at least make a print-out. After three days, with my husband’s help, I had completely transcribed the entire book. A trip to the local office supply store netted a ream of paper duplicating the old “pulp” paper used in the “cheap” paperbacks of the era, and a good photocopy of the cover, and I was ready to produce my own copy. Careful to not infringe on any copyrights, I also created a “book plate” page stating that this copy was made for my personal library. Two more run-throughs for proof reading and page formatting, then I returned the book to the library. A local print shop owner was so intrigued by our achievement, he did the cutting of the pages for nominal cost. A bit of padding compound (usually used to make scratch pads) and I had my very own personalized copy of a hard-to-obtain book. And wouldn’t you know it, as soon as I didn’t need it, every bookseller on the Internet had copies available!I now have at least one copy of every novel she ever wrote, and all but three of her short stories in “original” publications (I even have “The Boy and The Ogre” in the Golden Magazine); the other three stories I have in the Tales From High Hallack volumes. I have to admit, I could have wished for the publishers of the High Hallack books to have been able to reproduce the original artwork—the drawings for “White Violets” are beautiful. My husband shares (or did, until a stroke left him with only partial vision) a love of books, and our library is (dare I say it?) truly awesome. I think we may have more fiction books than our local library. (Guide Rock is a pretty small town!) Of them all, though, the Norton books are, in my opinion, the prize of the collection. I haven’t gone so far as to collect one of every edition and/or cover art; I’m satisfied with having at least one of every book or story.
I really regret not going to visit with her when we were in Tennessee and not too far from Andre’s home. I will always wish that she could have known how much pleasure she gave me, and how many times, when the “world is too much with me” I grab one of her books and bury myself in it. Feeling sorry for myself … Storm Over Warlock; news
stories too depressing, what’s the future of the human race … The Stars Are Ours! Or if things are worse than that … Breed to Come. The adventures of the Solar Queen, or Beast Master Hosteen Storm are always a good way to alleviate a fit of depression or just simple boredom. To remember how much love can change things, (and how often love is shown in little things--not wildly-romantic gestures) try Snow Shadows, or The White Jade Fox. Want a good rip-roaring adventure—try Yankee Privateer, or of course, any of the Sword trilogies. Truly Andre Norton was a writer to fit any mood, any theme, any age (her “juveniles” are, almost without exception, just as good a “read” for adults.)Sandy Larkey ~ Fan & contributor to this site
Andre Norton was ahead of the curve. She wrote about strong, intelligent and, yes, beautiful women before most and went so far as making them the, gasp - protagonist in her stories. She was an animal activist and expressed her love and protection of the environment way before these topics became in vogue. If Andre were alive today her writing would be still be considered ahead of the times. George Paige TV and Film Producer
Today, in the mail, I received a copy of “Star Mans Son” I had seen it mentioned on a 
“Good Reads” site and decided I needed to get a copy. I am now seventy-one years old and remember this title as one I read in the mid 1950’s when I was in elementary school. Along with some of the Heinlein books, They were the first Fantasy and Science Fiction that I read and set me on a journey lasting until the present time.
As I remember, The Fantasy and SF genre was not well represented in our county library system or in the local book stores, at this time, and it was hard finding titles after I has exhausted what there was. About this time, I discovered “ Ace" , especially the “doubles” in my local drug store and we were on the way.
By the way, my present copy of the above title was sold once, used, in the Book Nook in Sarasota,Fl before being sold to me by Powells in Portland, Or.
All the best, Martin C. Blum
What to say about Andre Norton? How much time do you have? She meant so much to me.
She was an extraordinary writer, gifted storyteller, an excellent editor, a mentor to a generation of authors, a role model and most of all to me, she was my friend. She got me published, a debt I can never repay. She was one of the kindest sweetest people I have ever met as well as one of the most intelligent. I found it amazing just how easy she was to talk with. Her humility was both refreshing and slightly puzzling. How could she not see how beloved she was to her fans? I first discovered her books in 1962, first wrote to her in 1989 and met her in person in 1990 and was privileged to share a friendship for the next 15 years. If I had never accomplished anything else in my life, I am proud to say that I was Andre Norton’s friend.
Paul Goode ~ Long time friend
The tune below is something I wrote in honor of Andre and
is from the Leslie Fish song BANNED FROM ARGO:
Reading Andre Norton
We Read Andre Norton, everyone
Reading Andre Norton is really a lot of fun
With all her tales we’ve yet to read
And the ones we’ve read before
We’ll read Andre Norton evermore
I started with THE STARS ARE OURS
When I was eight or nine
Then I stepped into the WITCH WORLD
And I found that it was fine
I knew a burning passion, yes and endless aching need
An overwhelming hunger that forever I would feed
We Read Andre Norton, everyone
Reading Andre Norton is really a lot of fun
With all her tales we’ve yet to read
And the ones we’ve read before
We’ll read Andre Norton evermore
Her books, they span the alphabet
From A to Q to Z
Sci-Fi, Westerns, Romance and a Murder Mystery
Fantasy, Adventure and it may come as a shock
A horror story written
With her good friend Robert Bloch
We Read Andre Norton, everyone
Reading Andre Norton is really a lot of fun
With all her tales we’ve yet to read
And the ones we’ve read before
We’ll read Andre Norton evermore
Novels, poems and short stories
She’s written in her day
Book reviews and articles
She’s penned to earn her pay
No matter what she’s written, she is by far the Best
I have mostly all her stuff, but now I want the rest!
We Read Andre Norton, everyone
Reading Andre Norton is really a lot of fun
With all her tales we’ve yet to read
And the ones we’ve read before
We’ll read Andre Norton evermore
When I was seven years old I was at my grandparent's apartment on Saturday night. It was hockey night in Canada, which is boring when you are seven years old, or even when you are older. I went exploring in my grandmother's closet, looking for something to do. I found a stack of paperbacks and picked one with an interesting front cover. It was the first Ace edition of Andre Norton's The Stars are Ours! I read it, and then I re-read it. I was totally enthralled by the book. I wanted more books like that, but my grandmother didn't have any more of Andre Norton's books. She told me she would take me to the public library, and they would have more books by Andre Norton.
Twenty years later I went into grad school to become a librarian. I owe Andre Norton an enormous debt: Witch World, the Thieves Guild, the Dipple, alternate worlds, ancient Egypt, pirates and the rest of my life.
Lorna Toolis
Senior Department Head
Merril Collection of Science Fiction,
Speculation and Fantasy
Andre Norton opened my eyes to new universes, starting with Steel Magic, then Moon of Three Rings and on and on. For 46 years your books have brought me pleasure and joy. Thank you for sharing your creative universes with all of us. Terry Broberg-Swangin
THE BOOKS I LOVE
The books I love I lay about, as order in the mayhem,
So that a moment’s notice might afford a chance to read them.
Though cares and toils may grow about me, waist-high to conniption,
Still, I can reach to blind side for some roborating fiction.
And when emergent life defers my reading until later,
Momentum is not lost, for my anticipation’s greater.
Conjoining worlds (commingling their several populations)
Consume my thoughts—so where-away—in my preoccupation.
For from such portals I alight with settled indecision:
How best might I return again to my improving session?
Some books must close on galaxies, while others temper nations—
Worlds and warriors stemmed about, returning to their stations.
Between the covers, life goes on, suspense and animation,
But as though sideways, not headlong, until with jubilation
I am restored and set apart from world to world again.
They all are there who touched me last, unchanged as foe or friend.
And so it is, a time and times, and all throughout the house,
My books, my friends, I read again, till I must put them down.
Nor do I hide a book away, but set it just aside
Until I can return again, rejoin the tale inside.
It is a life I value more than others known to man.
I keep good books about … and at least one is near to hand.
by Steven R. Vogel
For Grand Master Andre Norton
… who taught me and so many others to love books and reading,
and whose stories have ever been near to hand.
Thank you!
See the Article ~ Visiting Miss Norton ~ also by Steven
