Andre Norton was known as the “Grand Dame of Science Fiction and Fantasy”. Born on February 17, 1912 (as Alice Mary Norton), she remained with us until March 17, 2005. Andre published over 100 books and many more short stories under various pseudonyms but the two best-known were Andrew North and Andre Norton. Alice Norton took a man’s pseudonym to get past the prejudices of the male-dominated pulp publishing world of the 1930s-1950s. By the 1960s Andre Norton was an established science fiction and fantasy writer, well-respected within the genre publishing world.

Xenite.Org has been publishing fan content about Andre Norton — especially about her Witch World books — since 1997, when we first launched this Website. One of our first four fan sites was the old Witch World Message Board. Our sister site SF-Fandom now operates the Andre Norton Forum.

Here is a brief guide to the Andre Norton content you will find on Xenite.Org:

Witch World Articles With the publication of the seminal novel Witch World in 1963, Andre Norton launched a new sub-genre of science fantasy stories in which heroes characters passed from one world to another through “gates”. The gate concept has been adapted by many writers since then, including the creators of the “Stargate” movie and the spinoff TV shows: Stargate SG-1, Stargate: Atlantis, and Stargate: Universe.

Andre Norton Collecting If you have an interest in collecting Andre Norton books this list provided to Xenite.Org by Irene Harrison, Andre Norton’s most notable bibliographer, is a great place to start compiling a list of books to acquire. An Andre Norton’s Collector’s Starting List

Almost Middle-earth This brief essay from Xenite.Org founder and J.R.R. Tolkien scholar Michael Martinez compares Andre Norton’s Witch World to Middle-earth and suggests that Tolkien fans would enjoy the original Norton stories as much or nearly as much as they love Tolkien’s work: Almost Middle-earth – An Essay on the Witch World (February 6, 2005)

Witch World Canonicity The question of “canon” inevitably arises in any discussion of a popular writer’s literature where other hands have played a part in publication. Xenite.Org founder Michael looks at the question of which stories should or may be considered “canonical” for Andre Norton’s researchers. Losing Witch World (February 7, 2005)

The Legacy Xenite-dot-Org founder Michael Martinez wrote a brief tribute for Andre Norton soon after she passed away in March 2005. Read it again and remember The Lady with love. Andre Norton’s Witch World Legacy (March 17, 2005)

Official Xenite Announcement When Andre Norton passed away on March 17, 2005 Xenite.Org published a special tribute biography of The Lady. We also blacked out our Website for 24 hours and made sure that all visitors to this domain saw the biography. Andre Norton Passes Away on March 17, 2005