I've read everything Norton ever published under that name. I've wanted to get hold of some of the things she published as Andrew North, but...lazy. I've also not read any of her collaborations.
The first was Daybreak 2250 A.D, aka, Star Man's Son. Not only did it start me on Norton, but it introduced me to SciFi and Fantasy, and, in a way, changed my way of thinking and my view of the world. Much of the SciFi I read was 60s social commentary, at a time in my life when I was becoming socially conscious. Just think, I could have spent my 20s reading gothic novels instead.
This is almost as bad as JZ's confession last night that she's never seen Buckaroo Banzai or Repo Man or Diner.
Me too, and I've also never read any Norton.
I'm with Cindy.
I've seen Repo Man, and I've always meant to see Diner. That's all I can claim off that list. No Norton that I'm aware of.
Me too, and I've also never read any Norton.
I'm with Cindy.
Well it's too late for you now. Andre Norton pretty much invented the trope of the alienated teen who really
is
special/super-powered. Her and early Marvel Comics. Anyway, it's the fundamental presmise of BtVS and most things ever on the WB.
Andre Norton pretty much invented the trope of the alienated teen who really is special/super-powered
It's always boggling to realize that, yes, someone did have to think of it first, especially with things that become so pervasive. It's like listening to people say, "I don't like Tolkien, it's just like all the other fantasies out there."
Andre Norton and the Heinlein juveniles were the first science fiction I read and the first books I bought. I still have Andre Norton books I bought more than 35 years ago. (Aside from an occasional ice cream or candy bar, my allowance all went for comics and paperbacks.) I'm not sure you would catch the Norton love as an adult; she has a great imagination, but both her characters and prose can be a bit one-dimensional. I think the science fiction like The Time Traders holds up best.
Andre Norton pretty much invented the trope of the alienated teen who really is special/super-powered. Her and early Marvel Comics.
Yup. Almost every novel involves a young adult who's isolated socially in some way -- orphaned, usually, in addition to something else -- faced with an opportunity to take a new path. They change, they grow, they discover new talents, and find a place for themselves in a new world. It sounds simplistic, but for a geeky 12-year-old? Gold.
I'm not sure you would catch the Norton love as an adult; she has a great imagination, but both her characters and prose can be a bit one-dimensional.
This is true, but I still read her. I was recently disappointed with Voodoo Planet, but Star Rangers, aka The Last Planet, still holds up pretty well.
She was certainly at the forefront of seeing the Alien as just another kind of sapience, no better or worse than humanity. And I loved the use of "bemmie" as derogatory slang for "non-human". BEM, bemmie, get it? Heh.
My first Norton, as I said in my LJ this morning, was The Stars Are Ours, followed not long after by Daybreak 2250 AD and The Last Planet. One of the ones I'd like to find and reread is Star Gate, where Earth has become a supplier of mercenaries for planetary wars across the galaxy. That one was interesting, and particularly grim. Neat stuff.
BEM: Bug-Eyed Monster. Shorthand for the evil aliens in many 1950s movies.
