I've seen Repo Man and Diner but not that other movie.

Andre Norton pretty much invented the trope of the alienated teen who really is special/super-powered

Not to want to diss Norton, but John Wyndham did that earlier; Chocky and (especially) The Chrysalids. Which were the other SF books you got in school libraries in the UK along with Cat's Eye, Have Spacesuit, Will Travel and John Christopher.

My first Norton was Witch World. I didn't read Star Rangers until I was older, but it's still pretty good. I read the Witch World series at about the same time I read the Darkover series, and used to get them confused (I was pretty young), but I've since gone back and read some from each. WW much more with the sci-fi, less fantasy, and much more interesting treatment of female characters.

I think, possibly, she collaborated with -- Anne McCaffrey? -- in the late 80s on a series, which I read

Black Trillium? Some other female sci-fi/fantasy author in there also. I read the first one but didn't love it.

And I've seen all three movies, and have sometimes gone for days at a time without quoting at least one of them.

Oh, yeah, the Witch World series. I remember those. I liked Heinlein better at the time. I suspect that if I went back and read both again, that might change.

I've seen Diner and Buckaroo Bonzai and part of Repo Man, but never read any Norton. In fact, I had never heard of her before this conversation.

Ah well.

never read any Norton. In fact, I had never heard of her before this conversation.

Me, neither. I have a serious deficit in the sci-fi/fantasy reading (both YA and "adult") that seems to be a staple of Buffistas' reading diet.

I have a serious deficit in the sci-fi/fantasy reading (both YA and "adult") that seems to be a staple of Buffistas' reading diet.

Me too! I read Piers Anthony when I was 14, and Orson Scott Card to impress a boy in college, and Laurell K. Hamilton because the Anita Blake books were supposed to be like Buffy, but that's pretty much as far as I got as far as contemporary fantasy/SF goes.

the Anita Blake books were supposed to be like Buffy

I think Buffy manages her love life better.

Bwah!

Who could be said to have a worse one?

I have a serious deficit in the sci-fi/fantasy reading (both YA and "adult") that seems to be a staple of Buffistas' reading diet.

And me as well. Other than the Narnia books, I never read any fantasy at all growing up. In college and shortly thereafter, I read the Belgariad, LotR, and the Thomas Covenant books at the urging of cute geeky guys I was trying to impress. Those were enough to hook me on the genre, but I've always been pretty eclectic and idiosyncratic in my choices. More than with any of my other genres, I'll just walk through a bookstore and browse, rather than going by recommendations from friends, reviews, etc. Two of my favorite series (the Jaran novels and the Kushiel trilogy) even caught me first by their covers.