ot: Andre Norton on Kindle

[filkferengi]

Several compilations of Andre Norton works are free or .99 over on Kindle right now, over on amazon.com. The collections include 5, 7, 12, 14, or 15 works in one, as well as several individual works.

note: I don't know if that works for other countries or not.

Squee!

Comments

[elouise82.livejournal.com]

So what would you all recommend as a starting place for a person who has never read a single Andre Norton book b/c this person always thought for some reason that she wrote horror sci-fi? (I once saw a brief clip from one Alien movie as a child and it nearly made me sick to my stomach, so you can imagine I tend to run in the other direction from anything hinting of terror.)

I love the Vorkosigan saga, Star Trek, Doris Egan's Gates of Ivory trilogy, and am a lifelong Star Wars nerd, for sci-fi. I can go epic or low for fantasy, with magic or without, sweeping or personal, and at this point in my life I'm especially drawn to personal-set-within-the-larger-scale-of-epic, and I always love quiet fantasy. Though I'm always up for an old-fashioned epic extravaganza, with magic and elves and wizards and all the rest, if for nothing else but sheer nostalgia.

So bearing that in mind, what recommendations do you have for this Norton-newbie?

[filkferengi]

Great question!

First off, Andre Norton mostly wrote stand-alones or in sets of 2, so you won't have the long evolution and development that you get over the more extended series. With lots of action and adventure, mostly of an individual or small group against great odds, doing clever things in difficult situations, there's plenty there for mwt fans to enjoy.

If you do e-books, I'd suggest starting with gutenberg.org, since those are free. There're several novels & short stories. Why not start with a couple of short stories go get a taste?

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=andre+norton&go=Go

For sf, try "All Cats Are Gray." For fantasy, try "The Gifts of Asti" or "The People of The Crater" [a novella]. For novels, _Ralestone Luck_ is one of her earlier books. It was contemporary adventure when first written; we'd probably call it ya today. It's a quick read, light and fun.

For more ya adventure, _Ride Proud, Rebel_ and _Rebel Spurs_ are the western adventures of a young former Confederate. Her historical research was impeccable, & her prose always engaging.

For an sf novel, _Time Traders_ is the first of that series.

Any Andre Norton will stand alone, but some are loosely connected by mention of common institutions, such as the Thieves' Guild, or the Galactic Patrol.

There's a bibliography here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andre_Norton_bibliography
that includes sorting by series.

She also wrote lots of younger and middle-grade ya. _Star Ka'at_ is the first of a fun series [but not available at Gutenberg].

http://www.andre-norton-books.com/ is the ultimate Andre Norton site. There're unpublished stories, all kinds of cover art, essays, tributes, etc. [including several theses!]. Warning: it may be a bit of a time-sink.

I hope that helps, without being too scary. If you have any more questions, just ask.

[elouise82.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I downloaded "All Cats Are Gray" and "The People of the Crater" on my Kindle, and am looking forward to dipping my toe into the world of Norton!

[filkferengi]

Cool! I hope you'll post here to share your adventures.

Since it's a Megan Whalen Turner comm, I'd suggest marking your post ot: for off-topic. Those are often the best discussions, but folks appreciate a heads-up about what they're getting in to. [For example, you'll notice basically all my posts here are ot: ; being something of a matchmaker, I find cool stuff & like to share it with the cool folks hereabouts.]

Cool beans.

[tiegirl.livejournal.com]

Wow, thanks! I haven't even heard of a few of these. She was my favorite growing up. And our limited library system had quite a few of her books.

Re: Cool beans.

[filkferengi]

The only thing even better than cool, new-to-you Andre Norton is free, cool, new-to-you Andre Norton.

I hope you enjoy them.