Standalone Novels
The Sioux Spaceman stars Kade Whitehawk as a rebellious junior member of the Terran Space Service, an organization involved in intergalactic trade. The background of this science fiction novel is a little different from the author's usual universe of Free Traders and long-vanished Forerunners. Here, the Terrans are newcomers to the stars where the humanoid Styor lords still rule a decaying galactic empire. Kade despises the Styor for their arrogant belief that all other races are little more than animals or slaves. On his first outbound mission, he tangles with a Styor lord and is bundled back to the Traders' Base on Lodi in disgrace. Kade is surprised to learn that he has been assigned to another mission, this time on the primitive, fur-trading world of Klor, with the warning that if he screws up again, he'll end his career on a labor gang. Unfortunately, the Styor have already established themselves on Klor and have enslaved the aboriginal population of Ikkinni, who very much remind Kade of his Sioux ancestors prior to the Spanish introduction of horses into the New World. When he accidentally learns how to free the Ikkinni from their Styor slave collars, Kade must decide whether to step back into his official role as a trader, or join the slave rebellion. What are the Ikkinni still lacking that made Kade Whitehawk's Sioux ancestors into such formidable warriors? When the junior trader figures out the answer to this question, he and the Ikkinni are off and galloping.
Star Hunter: On the jungle world of Jumala, a wanted man is in hiding -- a man whose mind has been imprinted with the brain pattern of another. As a deadly game of hide-and-seek begins to unwind, a man who does not know his own powers faces an interstellar safari determined to run him to ground -- dead or alive!
Eye of the Monster: Rees Naper had never trusted the reptillian Ishkurians, in spite of the fact that many of the Teraan colonists thought they had been wronged. His worst fears were realized when the Terran authorities decided to grant the Ishkurians self-government and withdrew their protective forces from the planet. It turned out that he was right - as soon as the last troops left the "crocs" went on a killing rampage. Cut off from the remaining fortified outposts by miles of jungle and armies of crocs, Rees knew that his only chance for survival was to outwit the cunning reptiles. He had to learn to think like a croc, feel like a croc...and see through the eye of the monster!
Operation Time Search: Snooping around a top-secret government installation, photographer Ray Osborne stumbled across an experimental time field. Suddenly the familiar Ohio landscape disappeared and Ray found himself transported to a prehistoric world where the dread priest of Atlantis waged a war against the Sun-born of Mu. So while the scientist of the Twentieth Century worked desperately to draw him back to the present, Ray Osborne was recruited by the people of Mu to win a war that could change the course of history, and trap him in the past forever!
Dark Piper: Vere Collis, a young man from a military family, narrates in first-person the apocalyptic story of Beltane, a very remote Terran outpost whose human colonists are mainly scientists. As the Terran Confederation gradually disintegrates under the burden of interstellar wars, Beltane becomes more and more isolated--an easy target for mercenary soldiers who still possess the ships to travel between stars. Retired Sector-Captain Griss Lugard attempts to warn the colonists of their imminent danger. When this fails, he leads a group of youngsters (including the narrator, Vere Collis) deep underground before a series of explosions seals them from all contact with the outer world. Vere and his friends must return to the surface, in spite of monsters who have adapted to life underground. That which awaits them among the silent ruins of their home is even more shocking.
Bertie and May is an autobiography/biography started by Bertha Stemm Norton and finished by her daughter (Andre) It is tale of Bertha (Bertie) and her older sister May and their life in rural Ohio during 1880 when Bertha was Eight and May was ten. It only covers several months. It reads a bit like the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. A charming peek at a gentler time and place.
Zero Stone series
The Zero Stone: In search of the truth about a mysterious ring stone with phenomenal powers, gem trader Murdoc suddenly finds himself hunted through space by an unscrupulous religious order.
Uncharted Stars: In this sequel, Jern continues the search for the source of the mysterious gem. With the felinoid mutant Eet, he spaces from Lorgal, a planet of sand, rock and roasting sun, to Sorois, refuge for the scum of galactic civilization. The quest ends at Waystar, asteroid stronghold of the Thieves' Guild. The Guild holds a map, a star map which will lead to the treasure of a long-dead civilization . . .
Dipple/Janus/Forerunner series
Storm Over Warlock: The Throg task force struck the Terran survey camp a few minutes after dawn, without warning, and with a deadly precision which argued that the aliens had fully reconnoitered and prepared that attack. Eye-searing lances of energy lashed back and forth across the base with methodical accuracy. And a single cowering witness, flattened on a ledge in the heights above, knew that when the last of those yellow-red bolts fell, nothing human would be left alive down there. And so Shann Lantee, most menial of the Terrans attached to the camp on the planet Warlock, was left alone and weaponless in the strange, hostile world, the human prey of the aliens from space and the aliens on the ground alike.
Catseye: When Troy signs on as a bottom-level employee at Kossi Kyger's exotic pet shop, his sole ambition is to find a job that will keep him out of the Dipple for more than a day at a time. He soon realizes that his boss might be dealing in a more illegal market than unusual pets for Korwar's richest citizens. Even more unsettling, Troy finds himself in telepathic communication with the most exotic creatures in the shop: Terran cats, a kinkajou, and two foxes. When his boss is murdered, and one of the other employees attempts to kill the Terran animals, Troy rescues his telepathic companions and flees into Korwar's wilderness, one of the galaxy's largest hunting preserves and also home to mysterious and dangerous alien ruins.
Judgment On Janus: Naill Renfro and his mother were just two members of the flostom that had washed up in the Dipple, the vast refugee camp on Korwar that had taken in the dispossessed of the destroyed worlds, then forgotten about them. In order to buy his mother the drugs she required end her days in oblivion, if not peace, Naill sold the last thing of worth he had left; himself. He knew the planet Janus would not be a pleasant world, else there would have been no need for indentured labour. But both the service and the planet are living hells, right up to the time Naill found a pretty tangled in the roots of a felled forest giant. Then he found the true meaning of hell as a disease overwhelmed him, leaving the Garthmen to abandon him to a strange fate as he is transformed into a new form: green skinned Ayyar of Iftcan, a civilization that had died more years ago than either Naill or Ayyar cared to think of...
Ordeal In Otherwhere: An illegal trading venture to the planet Warlock has resulted in a crew-woman going insane due to the mind influence of the females of the pseudo-reptilian Wyverns of Warlock. So the trader captain purchases the "labor contract" of Charis, a former education officer to a fanatic religious colony, thinking because she is female he can use her to contact the witches and induce them to trade with him. However, the Witches incite the males to overrun the trader's encampment and Charis is forced to flee to the wilderness to save her life. There, she manages to save the life of a "curl-cat" who becomes her telepathic companion; she also encounters Shann Lantee and his wolverine partners, and together they defeat the Thieve's Guild attempt at takeover of the planet.
Victory On Janus: In the vast jungles of Janus, the peopkle of Ift and Naill Renfro, former Earthman and now halfling, were in trouble: Earthmen were destroying their homeland and they had no idea why. Until Renfro discovered that people who looked like Ifts, whose minds were controlled by an unknown, unnamable foe, had set the Earthmen against them. Now Renfro and the Ifts had to battle an enemy that looked like themselves - with no way of telling the difference!
Forerunner Foray: When a highly skilled sensitive comes into contact with a strange green stone, she finds herself trapped in the past in the identity of another person.
Forerunner: "Kuxortal has always been," Forerunner begins. This ancient port was established in the time of antiquity and has built and rebuilt itself on the ruins of former civilizations. Kuxortal is inhabited by a lowly race of Burrowers, who tunnel and excavate beneath the city's towers and sometimes discover artifacts from the past. Simsa is a Burrower who has spent her entire life in the service of an older, crippled mentor, Ferwar, who had reputedly rescued Simsa from a trash heap when she was an infant. Simsa, with her blue-black skin and platinum hair, clearly comes from different stock than the other Burrowers, but Ferwar never revealed her origin.When scavengers attempt to loot the treasures that Ferwar had left behind, it becomes clear that Simsa must flee. Especially when they discover that the scavengers consider Simsa one of the treasures that they have come to steal...
Forerunner - The Second Venture: Sisma, the beggar whose mind held the ancient legacy of the Forerunners, had escaped her claw-and-fang life in the Burrows, with the off-planet Rangers. But the Rangers wanted her in captivity for study by historians. So Sisma and Zass, her winged hunting zorsal, escaped again, taking a stolen lifeboat to an unknown world. A desert where shapeshifting creatures lurked beneath the sand, where Zass and Sisma's hunting skills, psychic powers, and strange link to the Elder One in Sisma's mind were their only survival weapons. Then Thom, the Ranger who saved--and perhaps betrayed--Sisma, crashed on the planet. Together, they realized that a mysterious, mind-threatening and possibly monstrous power had found them... And only the Elder One could help.
"Magic" series
Steel Magic: Sara, Greg, and Eric Lowry are exploring the woods near their uncle's Hudson Valley estate when they are magically transported to the land of Avalon. There they meet Huon, Warden of the West. When he tells them that the forces of darkness have stolen the three talismans that protect Avalon-King Arthur's sword, Excalibur; Merlin's ring; and Huon's horn-the children set off on a quest to find the three tokens of power. For Avalon stands as a wall between the Dark and the mortal world. And if Avalon falls, so does Earth...
Octagon Magic: Octagon House has an overrun yard, and most of the local children thinks that a witch must live there. Then Lorrie, a new girl, takes refuge in the overgrown yard from bullies and finds that the place isn't quite what it seems. The two women who live there aren't witches, but the house is rather strange. Sometimes doors (including the front gates) will open, other times they will not. The strangest thing, however, is the dollhouse version of Octagon House in the toy room., When she climbs up on the rocking horse in the room, she finds herself entering the past- and the dollhouse. In a series of adventures she learns about the people who had, at one time or another found refuge there. She also learns how to deal with the people in her new town. While Octagon House fascinates Lorrie, others just see it as an old property of no particular value. When Lorrie learns that the property is going to be seized by the city to put a road through it, she sets her heart on saving it. But can she?
Fur Magic: When his father is called to active duty in Vietnam, Cory Alder leaves Florida to live with his adopted Native American uncle, Jasper. Jasper’s Idaho ranch is like a foreign country. Cory is afraid of the cougars, bears, and wolves; he doesn’t like the big mountains and doubts he’ll ever be able to ride a wild horse. Then he meets an old Nez Perce Medicine Man called Black Elk, who catapults Cory into an alternate universe where animals live in tribes, hunt, and go on the warpath. Transformed into a beaver called Yellow Shell, he learns to speak their language and discovers that they all fear the legendary Changer, who plots to reshape the creatures of both the human and animal realms and use them for his own nefarious ends.
With two worlds hanging in the balance, Cory must rely on courage and instinct to defeat this cunning enemy and be restored to his human form. Is he strong enough to stand up to the Changer and overcome his own fear of the unknown?
Dragon Magic: Sig, Artie, Kim, and Ras live in the same neighborhood and go to the same school, but they have nothing in common…until each of them sneaks into the old abandoned house on the corner and discovers the strange puzzle box covered with pictures of four dragons. Drawn by powerful magic, the boys find themselves bound together by a mystery that will transform them all―and transport them into worlds that are populated by heroes and dragons of lore….
Red Hart Magic: When his father marries her mother, Chris Fitton and Nan Mallory--both twelve--are thrust into a new life. While their parents are enjoying an extended honeymoon, Chris and Nan must live with Aunt Elizabeth, attend new schools, and worst of all, be civil to one another. They're certain that their future is bleak--until Chris's visit to the Salvation Army store. It is there that he finds the model of the Red Hart Inn, a structure that holds a strange allure for them both. That night, Chris and Nan find themselves in the same dream--living inside the Red Hart Inn in seventeenth century England. And when danger threatens, they must set aside their differences and find a way to work together--before it's too late….
Dragon Mage: Shy realizes that she is lucky to be taken in by her grandparents after her father dies–but life above an antique store in Slade’s Corners, Wisconsin is not exactly the place a teenage girl wants to be.One day while going through boxes of her father’s boyhood stuff, she comes upon a rare old set of dragon puzzles … all of which are missing pieces. Her grandmother recalls the fantastic tales Shy's father would tell about his travels to lands of dragons and adventure. She always thought that these fantasies were inspired by the puzzles Shy has found.Shy realizes that by mixing and matching the different sets she can complete a single dragon puzzle that combines all of the others. Upon doing so she is whisked away to ancient Babylon where she must continue the duties of her father’s legacy as a servant to the dragon and a savior of the world.
Moon Magic series
Moon of the Three Rings: At the time of the Moon of Three Rings, the galactic trade ship Lydis
lands on the planet Yiktor. On Yiktor, Krip Vorlund, a junior crew
member, seeks amusement at a beast show. He is strangely attracted to
the owner of the show animals, a delicate and mysterious woman, Maelen.
When Vorlund is kidnapped by a Combine seeking to control the planet, he
learns too well the nature of Maelen's sorcery; she transforms him into
a wolfish creature, in which form he retains his own soul. Between them
-- Krip and Maelen -- they spin an eerie tale of dreams and visions, of
metamorphoses and extrasensory perception, of timelessness and
limitlessness...Exiles of the Stars: As crew members of the Free Trader ship Lydis, Maelen, in the furred body of Vors, and Krip Vorlund, who now walked as a Thassa, had put down on the planet Thoth to find themselves in the midst of an explosive civil war. The Thothian priests wanted them to transport the valuable Forerunner treasure to Ptah for safekeeping. The Free Traders agreed. But shortly after lift-off disaster struck - and their ship was forced down on the uninhabited, terror-filled planet of Sekhmet.
Flight in Yiktor: A psychic sorceress, a telepathic adventurer, and deformed ex-slave use their extrasensory powers to stop an intergalactic organization of thieves from looting the planets.
Dare To Go A-Hunting: Krip Voreland, interplanetary Free Trader, Maelen, sorceress of the Moon of Three Rings, and Farree, an orphan with iridescent wings, search for the mystery of Farree's ancestry, the secret of this race of winged people known as the Little People and their well-guarded treasure.
Witch World series
The "Witch World" series is Norton's best-known, and longest-running, series.
Estcarp Cycle
Web of the Witch World picks up Simon and Jaelith's story approximately a year after the first book ends. Simon is now wed to Jaelith and he is a March Lorder, defending Estcarp's borders. However, not all is well and word is delivered to Simon that Loyse has being kidnapped by some unknown foe. He immediately sets off on the trail of the kidnappers and finds it leads him into Karsten, while Jaelith heads to her former witch sisters in the hopes of convincing them that she still has her powers.
Three Against the Witch World: The offspring of Simon Tregarth, half earthling, half witch-brood, realized that they alone could perceive the four directions - for everyone else, there was no East! It was a blank in the mind, a blank in legend and history. And when new menaces threatened, the Tregarths realized that in that mental barrier there lay the key to all their world... somewhere to the unknown eastward must lie the sorcery that had secretly molded their destinies!
Warlock of the Witch World: focuses on the second son of the trio – Kemoc, the titular “warlock.” The Valley of Green Silences, chief citadel of the Light, is besieged and its people are looking for allies. One of these potential friends is Dinzil of the Heights but Kemoc senses something foul underlying the man’s handsome and ostensibly friendly exterior. Unfortunately, no one else feels similarly and Kemoc has no supporting evidence. Dinzil seduces Kemoc’s sister, Kaththea, and lures her to his seat of power in the mountains. The book is the story of Kemoc’s efforts to rescue his sister and expose Dinzil’s malevolence.
Sorceress of the Witch World: Kaththea the Sorceress called forth a power such as no longer existed on the distant planet known as the Witch World. It was a power so great that it could destroy all that she loved best - and might even prove to be a greater evil than the shadow itself. Yet there could be no other choice for Kaththea than to call on Hilarion in the death-naming. For she was a witch deprived of power and she needed a guide to regain her lost skills and her lost world. There was only this ancient one, the opener of gates, with force mighty enough.
Trey of Swords: The past and the future merge as the lost battle of Witch World is fought again - but this time, it must be won! For as ancient heroes walk again by day, so do ancient evils - and it is up to Yonan the weakling, and Crytha, the untrained witch-girl, to halt the Forces of Darkness by the power of the sword of ice, the sword of shadow... and one sword more.
Ware Hawk: Tirtha was the last of the line of Hawkholme. Men who hated those of the Old Race had destroyed her clan, and she alone lived to carry the burden of her family's destiny. Driven by powerful magic to return to her ancestral home, she set out into the twisted, ruined mountains of Eastcarp. Her hired guide was a Falconer, a man of an ancient warrior race who was also alone in the world, and falconless. But a Dark One was determined to foil their mission -- and only together could they hope to stand against its awesome powers.
Gate of the Cat: American Kelsie McBlair
falls through a gate in an ancient stone ring in the Scottish Highlands
while rescuing a wounded wild cat. She and the cat and newborn kittens
are besieged on the other side of the Gate by a Dark Rider and a pack of
skeletal hounds. When a dying Witch bequeaths her true name and her
jewel of power, Kelsie finds herself compelled to take up her sorcerous
mission into the heart of Escore, the Green Valley, where magic lies in
"trembling balance between the forces of Light and those of the Dark."Ciara's Song: In Karsten, Ciara of Elmsgarth is only a small girl when the edict is carried out to kill all with Witch blood, and take all they own. As a mob murderers her family, Ciara is rescued and protected by the powerful Lord Tarnoor and his son, Trovagh. As the years pass, Ciara and Trovagh grow to love each other and marry, raising children of their own. Then an evil sorcerer rises to power, and his vendetta against Ciara threatens all she loves.(with Lyn McConchie)
The Duke's Ballad: Born into a family with magical powers, Aisling is a young witch who fights to protect her homeland of Kars. Unfortunately, the biggest threat to Kars is her older brother, Kirion, who has chosen to use his powers for evil, and years ago forced Aisling into exile. Since Aisling’s departure, Kirion has tightened his hold on Shastro, the Duke of Kars. Through Shastro, Kirion’s dark influence works to subjugate the entire realm. With her younger brother Keelan helping her, Aisling returns, in disguise, to undermine Kirion’s power and defeat the evil duke. But as Aisling gets closer to Shastro, the Duke takes a liking to her, and she finds herself questioning her mission. But when a neighboring clan lays siege to Kars, Aisling and Keelan realize they must act, lest Kirion bring even more death and suffering to Kars’ loyal subjects than he has already caused. Using all the magic, persistence and ingenuity she can summon, Aisling must somehow find a way to avoid the attention of her dangerous older brother, save the people from his murderous sorcery, and return to their Dukedom the peace and prosperity it once knew.
(with Lyn McConchie)
High Hallack Cycle
Year of the Unicorn: Far from the besieged home of Simon and Jaelithe, in peaceful Norsdale, we meet Gillan, who longs to leave her dull life in a secluded country abbey. But when her wish comes true, she finds more than a little adventure. As she ventures out, not only is her life in danger, but also the power that lies within her, waiting to be discovered.
The Jargoon Pard: Kethan, son of Gillan and Herrel, heir to the House of Car Do Prawn, destined to become lord of Arvon, acquires a leopard-skin belt with strange powers, its clasp a leopard's head made from jargoon stone. Unable to take it off, Kethan becomes part man, part beast. In the perilous confrontation between his inner good and evil, he discovers his true identity and the quest he must undertake.
Zarsthor's Bane: Brixia, once the lady of a Hall in High Hallack, and her companion, the cat Uta, while scavenging for their living in the deserted Dales, are drawn into Waste where Light and Dark Magic still exist, in search of a power object, Zarsthor's Bane. While fending off an attack by predators, Brixia discovers a place of Green Magic.
Gryphon in Glory: The Waste was stirring and strange forms of the Dark, long quiet, began to wake as Kerovan - whose cloven hoofs marked his kinship with the Old Ones - journeyed into the Waste on a secret mission, leaving behind the girl he loved. Joisan, however, rode after him, wearing about her neck Kerovan's gift, a small crystal globe encasing a miniature gryphon. While Kerovan strove fror answers to the riddles of the Dark, Joisan worked to unlock the power of the crystal gryphon. But only together could they hope to find the ancient Sleeper and defeat the forces of evil....
Horn Crown: When the Elder People deserted the Witch World, the cosmic Gate opened and human households migrated in. Though they found the land abandoned, the roads empty and the shrines unattended, they soon became aware that the Old Gods still retained their dread powers. Elron the Clanless and Gathea the Wise Woman were drawn unwillingly side by side into unexplored realms. Each had a separate quest but their fates were linked by the unknown. Each sought an unholy alliance; each was in conflict with the other.
The seminal Witch World novel - the book that tells of the first coming of mankind and which sets the basis for the entire series.
Gryphon's Eyrie: Kerovan--he of the cloven hooves and amber eyes--is driven toward the mountains--toward the dark. With him goes the Lady Joisan, who carries within her secrets unknown to Kerovan.By calling upon the Powers within themselves, willing the forces of Light to fight against the forces of the Dark, they reach their destination...only to face That Which Runs the Ridges in the final battle. Everlasting Undeath--and horror for all the world--will take them if they fail. (with A.C. Crispin)
Songsmith: Eydrth is a Master Songsmith...who has no magic. She will do anything to save her father from the evil that has stolen his mind. But the paths to the magic of the Witch World are many - and to save the ones you love, the truest magic must come from the heart...(with A.C. Crispin)
Silver May Tarnish: The Dales of Andre Norton’s Witch World have endured wars, natural disasters, the predations of strange creatures, and treachery. None loves the land as well as Lorcan, orphaned at birth, who has sought his birthright for as long as he can remember. Exiled from his native land when it was invaded by Alizon, he spent his youth in Paltendale where he was treated as an outsider, especially by Hogeth, an heir of that dale, who resented Lorcan’s presence when both were still young men. When he came of age, Lorcan left to seek his own destiny. Since then, he has fought valiantly to rid the Dales of the Alizon invaders, but not even his efforts can prevent the deaths of many people, and the destruction of many keeps and garths. The war now over, he has survived, but so have those who would plunder the lands of the survivors. And among the plundering bandits is his nemesis from Paltendale, now more bitter and determined to vanquish Lorcan. During his travels Lorcan has joined with five blank shields, who, fighting together for common cause, become his boon companions. Then he meets a young noble lass, from a dale known as Honeycoombe for its beekeeping. Her dale has been decimated by the war, but with Lorcan and his band, she will try to rebuild a home where they all can live in peace. Lorcan feels that he might at last find happiness with the valiant fair maiden. But Hogeth now leads marauders across the dales, destroying what they cannot rightfully have, and there will be no peace in the dales until Lorcan and Hogeth settle their old, bitter score.(with Lyn McConcie)
Other Witch-World Books
Spell of the Witch World: is a short story collection containing the following: "Dragon Scale Silver", "Dream Smith", "Amber Out of Quayth"Lore of the Witch World: is a short story collection containing the following: "Spider Silk", "Sand Sister", "Falcon Blood", "Legacy From Sorn Fen", "Sword of Unbelief", "The Toads of Grimmerdale", "Changeling"
Wizard's Worlds: is a later short story collection that includes most of the stories found in Lore, and also the short novel "Were Wrath".
Norton edited collections of Witch World stories by other authors: Tales of the Witch World, Tales of the Witch World 2 and Tales of the Witch World 3 and Four From the Witch World.
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