Andre Norton: One Terrific Writer

“Andre Norton is a Wo-man!?!”  The young man’s voice broke on the final word in the sentence.

Books and Jaguars

It was sometime in the late 1990’s, I’d guess about 1998.   The setting was Taylor Ranch Branch Library where (at that time) I’d spend a couple hours each week putting the book shelves in order.  (You know you’re a Virgo when you volunteer to organize other people’s book shelves.)

The staff knew that I write fiction for a living.  Every so often they would send someone interested in writing off to find me where I was lurking among in the shelves.  This time it was a young man of high school age.  He was nice enough but trying to hide his shyness with a bit of swagger.

“I’ve never read any of your stuff,” he said, nervously pulling random books off the shelf and putting them back again.  “But then I don’t usually read women writers.”

“That’s okay,” I replied.  “So do you read SF or Fantasy?  Who do you read?”

He paused.  “Andre Norton.  A.C. Crispin.”

I had to swallow a laugh.  Sensitive as I wanted to be to his feelings, I couldn’t resist.  We were in the “N” section.  I pulled out a newer release of one of Andre Norton’s novels.  Inside the jacket flap was a picture of her at her “grandmotherly” best.  I opened it and showed it to him without comment.

“Andre Norton is a Wo-man!?!”

I nodded.  “A.C. Crispin is, too.  The ‘A’ is for ‘Ann.’  She’s often called Annie.”

Relax.  This isn’t going to be a rant about how women writers still must battle against bias in the field.  I just thought it was a funny story.  Anyhow, is there a better way to illustrate the impact of Andre Norton on readership of SF and Fantasy?  I’d read Andre Norton when I was younger than this young man.  Here was someone discovering her as a favorite twenty or more years later.

What is it about Andre Norton’s work that makes it last when so many of her contemporaries have not?  For one, I think it’s her focus on characters, not just cool ideas (though she has a ton of those, too).  For another, she didn’t write just one type of story.  She wrote a whole bunch.

Both Jim and I love Andre Norton’s work, so this morning I went out to our personal library to review the offerings.  We had a good four feet of shelf space dedicated to  her works  – and that was just the paperbacks.  There was Witch World, that marvelous tale of Simon Tregarth and what happened when he fled from our world into an unknown world where everything was different.

There was The Beast Master – featuring Hosteen Storm, a Navajo refugee from a destroyed Terra.  “Hosteen” is a Navajo word, roughly meaning “old man” but also used to indicate any respected man in the community.  Seeing that book reminded me of an anecdote a friend told me.

She was interviewing Andre Norton as part of research for her dissertation.  She arrived soon after someone had sent Andre the “Navajo codetalker” GI Joe figure.  My friend seemed a bit puzzled by Andre’s excitement over this cheap, mass-produced bit of plastic.  I’m betting that Andre would have been remembering the days before Tony Hillerman’s mystery novels raised general awareness of the Navajo tribe, days when no one had heard of the code talkers.  But Andre had known.  She’d had the vision to imagine these adaptable people heading out to the stars.

Next, I picked up Shadow Hawk, a tale set in 1590 BC, when the Hyksos ruled Egypt…  There was The Jargoon Pard, the first novel I read where shapeshifters were depicted as something other than evil werewolves or some other monsters.  There was Star Gate, an adventure-packed tale on alternate worlds where you might find yourself fighting another version of yourself…

And that was just a handful.  I didn’t seem to have a copy of Fur Magic, the story of a young boy who finds himself transformed into – if I remember correctly – a beaver.  I remember being fascinated by how he had to adjust to all the changes in perspective and ability…  I’m sure reading that novel  impacted and continues to impact on my own writings about non-humans.

The one time I had a chance to meet Andre Norton, I was too shy to speak to her.  She’d been signing for a long line of people at – I believe – a World Fantasy convention.  Roger [Zelazny] finished his own lot and went over to say “hello” – they shared an Ohio bond, as well as that of being writers.  I just watched in polite awe as two of my writer heroes chatted just like “real” people.

However, later I did have contact with Andre Norton .  In the mid-1990’s I submitted a short story to Cat Fantastic IV.  It was a “cold” submission, as I recall, so I didn’t have a lot of hope of getting in.  Therefore, along with my manuscript, I sent a self-addressed envelope with the return postage clipped to the corner.

(You did this because “disposable” manuscripts were only just coming in then.  You clipped the postage because if the story was taken, then the stamps weren’t wasted.)

Roger had died a short time before and I was not only stony-broke but relocating.   It’s a muddled time for my memory, but my memory remains sharp of  my surprise and excitement when a standard-sized envelope arrived with Andre Norton’s name in the return address spot.  It contained a short note accepting the story.

It also contained my postage.  I couldn’t believe it.  My hero had bought my story.  She liked it!  And she’d sent me back my postage.  I teared up.

As I said, I was stony-broke at the time, but I couldn’t bear to spend that money on anything routine.  I’d been admiring some Oaxacan jaguar heads at Jackalope, a local market specializing in folk art.  Impulsively, I decided to celebrate.  Not only did I buy one of the large heads, but a smaller, more detailed one that caught my eye.  They hang in my kitchen where I can admire them every day – and remember a lady of great talent and kindness.

When Cat Fantastic IV came out containing “Noh Cat Afternoon,” the publisher didn’t mentioned my story on the jacket or in the lead material, but Andre Norton’s own introduction singled it out for special mention, saying that among the cats readers would meet were: “…talented Japanese cats able to improvise a Noh play to interest a lordling.”   I melted all over again.

Thank you Andre Norton, wherever you may be.  Thank you for wonderful stories and kindness to strangers.  I’m sure I’m not the only person with tales to tell about how your stories added to the richness of their lives.