Prolific Science Fiction Author Andre Norton Dies
Andre Norton Dies at 93, An Unusual Last Wish Fulfilled
by Kevin Howell, PW Daily -- 3/22/2005
Prolific science fiction/fantasy author Andre Norton, 93, died Thursday of congestive heart failure--not long after her publisher fulfilled her wish to hold a copy of her final novel in her hands.
Tor Books president and publisher Tom Doherty did this by pushing the printing and binding date of Three Hands for Scorpio ahead by two weeks. "We did the entire print run of her book early," said Jim Frenkel, who edited Norton's books at Tor for the last two decades.
The company got a copy "straight from the bindery," Frenkel continued. "We Fed-Ex overnighted her a first copy. I heard secondhand that she held it and said she was pleased by the cobalt blue color of the jacket. She was very specific that when she died she wanted her first and last novels to be cremated with her."
During the past few years, the author had severe health problems, although her publishing output remained strong. She survived cancer in her 80s but broke a hip, which made it hard for her to move around in her home. "Last year she moved in with Sue Stewart and her husband and they had a special room built onto their house specifically equipped to make Andre comfortable," Frenkel said. "Recently she'd had little strokes and a larger stroke about a week ago."
During a writing career that spanned more than 70 years, Norton wrote more than 160 novels, anthologies and collections. She started writing in her teens and after finding resistance from publishers because of her gender, she adopted an androgynous literary pseudonym to get published. In 1934, when she published her first novel, The Prince Commands, at the age of 22, she legally changed her name to Andre Alice Norton.
"She was one of the very early pioneer female authors in the male dominated genre of science fiction/fantasy writing," Larry Woods, owner of Bookman/Bookwoman Rare and Used Books in Nashville, Tenn., told PW Daily. Norton moved to Murfreesboro, a Nashville suburb, in the early 1990s. "Her early novels were highly successful from the very beginning. She was always very well thought of and respected by everyone who knew her."
"She broke ground in science-fiction/fantasy not only as a woman writing in that genre but for having non-standard protagonists, like women and Native-Americans," Frenkel told PW Daily.
"She was a remarkable storyteller and marvelous adventure writer. She was one of the bestselling authors in fantasy, period. She was so generous with her time and unselfish about helping other writers."
"Alice Mary Norton was the very first professional writer to ever extend to me a helping hand," Hugo Award-winning author Harlan Ellison told PW Daily. "I was still in high school, and we both lived in Cleveland. I remember taking a streetcar to visit her. At the time she was probably in her 30s, which seemed ancient for me. We sat for several hours in her parlor talking, and she fed me milk and cookies. She gave me a great piece of advice--make sure the word 'star' or 'space' is in the title." Norton and Ellison were founding members of the Cleveland Science Fiction Society.
Arguably her most popular books were the titles of her Witch World series, which began in 1963. The first novel, Witch World, was nominated for the World Science Fiction Society's HUGO award as best novel of the year. The Beastmaster was made into a film starring Marc Singer in 1982. It was followed by two sequels (Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time in 1991 and the TV movie Beastmaster 3: The Eye of Braxus). It also spawned a syndicated TV series that ran from 1999 to 2002.
Her novels were always "YA friendly with no explicit violence, sexuality or language," Frenkel commented. "But her novels were not delicate; there was always lots of real action in her books." Ellison agreed, noting, "Andre went on to become one of the two germinal sources to drawing young readers to the genre of imaginative fiction. She and the juvenile novels of Robert Heinlein were the two major writers to inveigle readers to look further into the genres. People would graduate from Andre's straightforward adventure novels to more complex novels."
In later years, the prolific Norton co-authored novels with many of science-fiction/fantasy's top female writers, including Marion Zimmer Bradley, Mercedes Lackey, A.C. Crispen and Sherwood Smith. (She even collaborated with her mother, Bertha Stemm Norton, co-authoring the semi-autobiographical 1969 novel, Bertie and May, about two little girls living in rural Ohio in the 1880s.)
Just nine months ago, Frenkel was working with Norton on her final novel, Three Hands for Scorpio (due in April). "It was a marvelous experience," said Frenkel. "She was very responsive to my suggestions. She wrote her books in longhand and had someone transcribe them onto a computer. Her handwriting wasn't great, but it was no worse than mine. She'd planned this novel as the first book in a trilogy, but unlike many multi-part books, Scorpio stands on its own."
Besides the forthcoming Three Hands for Scorpio, Tor Books is releasing four Norton hardcovers in 2005. The Duke's Ballad (Jan.) is co-authored with Lyn McConchie. Beast Master's Planet (May) is an omnibus of two previously published novels in the Hosteen Storm series. Dragon Blade (Aug.) is the fourth book in the Cycle of Oak, Yew, Ash, and Rowan series and co-authored with Sasha Miller. And Masks of the Outcasts (Sept.) is an omnibus of two previously published novels, Catseye and Night of Masks.
This year, just a few days after her 93rd birthday on February 17, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America created the Andre Norton Award, a new literary award to recognize outstanding science fiction and fantasy novels written for the young adult market. Norton was the first woman to win SFWA's Grand Master of Fantasy Award in 1977. She also won the Nebula Grand Master Award in 1984.
"She was unfailingly open and generous," remembered Ellison. "A fine, kind, and decent woman. She was not a reclusive woman, but a very private and quiet lady. She was also one of the least quirky people I've ever met."
by Kevin Howell, PW Daily -- 3/22/2005
Prolific science fiction/fantasy author Andre Norton, 93, died Thursday of congestive heart failure--not long after her publisher fulfilled her wish to hold a copy of her final novel in her hands.
Tor Books president and publisher Tom Doherty did this by pushing the printing and binding date of Three Hands for Scorpio ahead by two weeks. "We did the entire print run of her book early," said Jim Frenkel, who edited Norton's books at Tor for the last two decades.
The company got a copy "straight from the bindery," Frenkel continued. "We Fed-Ex overnighted her a first copy. I heard secondhand that she held it and said she was pleased by the cobalt blue color of the jacket. She was very specific that when she died she wanted her first and last novels to be cremated with her."
During the past few years, the author had severe health problems, although her publishing output remained strong. She survived cancer in her 80s but broke a hip, which made it hard for her to move around in her home. "Last year she moved in with Sue Stewart and her husband and they had a special room built onto their house specifically equipped to make Andre comfortable," Frenkel said. "Recently she'd had little strokes and a larger stroke about a week ago."
During a writing career that spanned more than 70 years, Norton wrote more than 160 novels, anthologies and collections. She started writing in her teens and after finding resistance from publishers because of her gender, she adopted an androgynous literary pseudonym to get published. In 1934, when she published her first novel, The Prince Commands, at the age of 22, she legally changed her name to Andre Alice Norton.
"She was one of the very early pioneer female authors in the male dominated genre of science fiction/fantasy writing," Larry Woods, owner of Bookman/Bookwoman Rare and Used Books in Nashville, Tenn., told PW Daily. Norton moved to Murfreesboro, a Nashville suburb, in the early 1990s. "Her early novels were highly successful from the very beginning. She was always very well thought of and respected by everyone who knew her."
"She broke ground in science-fiction/fantasy not only as a woman writing in that genre but for having non-standard protagonists, like women and Native-Americans," Frenkel told PW Daily.
"She was a remarkable storyteller and marvelous adventure writer. She was one of the bestselling authors in fantasy, period. She was so generous with her time and unselfish about helping other writers."
"Alice Mary Norton was the very first professional writer to ever extend to me a helping hand," Hugo Award-winning author Harlan Ellison told PW Daily. "I was still in high school, and we both lived in Cleveland. I remember taking a streetcar to visit her. At the time she was probably in her 30s, which seemed ancient for me. We sat for several hours in her parlor talking, and she fed me milk and cookies. She gave me a great piece of advice--make sure the word 'star' or 'space' is in the title." Norton and Ellison were founding members of the Cleveland Science Fiction Society.
Arguably her most popular books were the titles of her Witch World series, which began in 1963. The first novel, Witch World, was nominated for the World Science Fiction Society's HUGO award as best novel of the year. The Beastmaster was made into a film starring Marc Singer in 1982. It was followed by two sequels (Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time in 1991 and the TV movie Beastmaster 3: The Eye of Braxus). It also spawned a syndicated TV series that ran from 1999 to 2002.
Her novels were always "YA friendly with no explicit violence, sexuality or language," Frenkel commented. "But her novels were not delicate; there was always lots of real action in her books." Ellison agreed, noting, "Andre went on to become one of the two germinal sources to drawing young readers to the genre of imaginative fiction. She and the juvenile novels of Robert Heinlein were the two major writers to inveigle readers to look further into the genres. People would graduate from Andre's straightforward adventure novels to more complex novels."
In later years, the prolific Norton co-authored novels with many of science-fiction/fantasy's top female writers, including Marion Zimmer Bradley, Mercedes Lackey, A.C. Crispen and Sherwood Smith. (She even collaborated with her mother, Bertha Stemm Norton, co-authoring the semi-autobiographical 1969 novel, Bertie and May, about two little girls living in rural Ohio in the 1880s.)
Just nine months ago, Frenkel was working with Norton on her final novel, Three Hands for Scorpio (due in April). "It was a marvelous experience," said Frenkel. "She was very responsive to my suggestions. She wrote her books in longhand and had someone transcribe them onto a computer. Her handwriting wasn't great, but it was no worse than mine. She'd planned this novel as the first book in a trilogy, but unlike many multi-part books, Scorpio stands on its own."
Besides the forthcoming Three Hands for Scorpio, Tor Books is releasing four Norton hardcovers in 2005. The Duke's Ballad (Jan.) is co-authored with Lyn McConchie. Beast Master's Planet (May) is an omnibus of two previously published novels in the Hosteen Storm series. Dragon Blade (Aug.) is the fourth book in the Cycle of Oak, Yew, Ash, and Rowan series and co-authored with Sasha Miller. And Masks of the Outcasts (Sept.) is an omnibus of two previously published novels, Catseye and Night of Masks.
This year, just a few days after her 93rd birthday on February 17, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America created the Andre Norton Award, a new literary award to recognize outstanding science fiction and fantasy novels written for the young adult market. Norton was the first woman to win SFWA's Grand Master of Fantasy Award in 1977. She also won the Nebula Grand Master Award in 1984.
"She was unfailingly open and generous," remembered Ellison. "A fine, kind, and decent woman. She was not a reclusive woman, but a very private and quiet lady. She was also one of the least quirky people I've ever met."
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