Andre Norton III

Standalones:

Outside: A young girl determines to find out what is outside the sealed off city in which she's always lived but discovers that the only way she can get out is with the help of a mysterious rhyming man.

Dread Companion: Accepting a post as governess to get away from a world which has little to offer a woman of intelligence, Kilda soon comes to realise that there is something strange about her charges. Like Miles and Flora in "The Turn of the Screw", Bartare and Oomark have an invisible companion who is rather unpleasant, and they start to play mind games with Kilda under the direction of the mysterious "She". When they arrive at their destination, the planet Dylan, things get worse; Kilda follows the children through some kind of gateway into a very different world, woven by Norton from the legends of the land of Faery. 

Breed To Come:  When desperate measures failed to control what men had begun and could not stop, they fled their polluted planet, leaving behind an epidemic virus born of experimentation. Yet unlike men, whom the disease could destroy, the animals of the planet thrived. Each generation was more forceful and intelligent than the last. In the ruins of what was once a university complex, a vast band of The People, more highly evolved than those on the outside, sought to master the works of men. And they learned that the demons (as men were called) were not legendary but real. Then one day a spaceship landed...

Here Abide Monsters:  Nick Shaw and Linda Durant pass through a door to another realm, into a world where their nightmares are real and deadly. They band together with an English group, some of whom have been on the planet since before the turn of the century...

Iron Cage:  Jony, a prisoner of an alien race, comes to live with a gentle tribe of intelligent animals and discovers camaraderie and love . . . until a spaceship of humans shatters their peaceful lives. Now it's up to Jony to defend his protectors from his own race.

Day of the Ness:  Nine-year-old Hal traces a frantic S.O.S. to a group of friendly space aliens held captive inside a mountain by the evil Ness who plan to take over the world.

The White Jade Fox:  Saranna had heard rumors about Tiensin, the strange old mansion with its oriental treasures. She had heard it was haunted. Now with her own eyes she had seen it was true. The Macabre circle of small foxes ringing the dancer in the secret garden, the mysterious robed woman with a fox’s face. Had Saranna realy seen them? Or had she dreamed it? Saranna had gone to Tiensin under protest. Her spoiled young niece, Honora, had forced her to become a governess to her stepdaughter, Damaris. Never had Saranna encountered anyone as thoroughly evil as Honora. She was beautiful, and she could pull the wool over any man’s eyes. But she could not deceive Saranna. Or Damaris, whom she was planning to cheat out of a huge inheritance. Even the handsome and trustworthy Gerrad Fowkes seemed to be taken with the deceitful young stepmother. Saranna knew now that the future held great danger for her and Damaris. She needed desperately to talk to someone. But there was no one. Except Gerrad Fowkes. Or was he too enamored of Honora to believe Saranna?

Merlin's Mirror:  brings to new life the legendary King Arthur and the wizard Merlin in the light of modern knowledge of a lost period of history and today’s understanding of science and interplanetary communication. Yet, as in all Norton’s wonder novels, this is a fabulous adventure in fantasy. Here is Merlin, half star-born, gifted with the advice of an alien intelligence, given the task of renewing civilization and starting humanity again up the ladder to the stars. Here is Arthur, unaware of his stellar heritage. And here too, is the Lady of the Lake, akin to Merlin in that she is also a listener to the music of the spheres and obedient to a celestial command post.

No Night Without Stars: Sander was a metalsmith who should have succeeded his father as the new master smith. But everyone thought that he was too young. He sets out to the ruins of the Before people to try to llearn their skills and prove himself. He meets Fanyi who is at the ruins for her own reason. A good clean fantasy for young adults.
 

Knave of Dreams: Unfortunately for Ramsey Kimble his original body is back on Earth, dead and buried. In the alternate universe that had been troubling his dreams, the body he now inhabits is supposed to be dead, too, but there was a hitch in the plot to murder Kaskar, crown prince of Ulad. Thus Ramsey wakes up on a bier surrounded by flowers, candles, and guards who have been spelled into statues. There is magic afoot in Ramsey's new world, and plots to murder or manipulate the new Kaskar-returned-from-the-dead. He must quickly sort out his friends from his enemies. His ability to dream true in this new universe makes him the wild card in any scheme to seize the throne of Ulad. Ramsey-now-Kaskar has become the Knave of Dreams.

Wraiths of Time:  When she tries to prevent the theft of a mysterious black box containing an Egyptian ankh, Tally Mitford is unexpectedly hurled back in time to the kingdom of Meroe, a nation threatened by magical forces more real and powerful than anything she has ever seen.

Perilous Dreams: Tam-sin knew dreams; she had been able to summon and dismiss them at her own will; they and the people in them had been but toys with which she could play at desire. Until she had dreamed for Lord Starrex and plunged them both into such a venture as she could not control. Somehow she had brought them here, to new identities, new adventure, and doubtless, new dangers. But there was Kas, who had striven to put an end to both in two times, two worlds, and who must also have been wrenched with the into this, though not in her company? She was to find out, and the doing was to bring her into the alien laws and unmapped lands of yet a third world, and eventually a fourth and a fifth . . . For Tamisan, or Tam-sin, or whatever her name in whatever world, dreamed true—and in so doing altered continually the writing of the histories of the stars.

The Opal-Eyed Fan:  Was it a random storm or destiny's mischief that shipwrecked lovely Persis Rooke on Lost Lady Key? Persis couldn't be sure. Rescued by the handsome Captain Crewe Leverett and marooned on the darkly mysterious island with his strange sister and her beau, she was aware only of the oppressive superstitions of the natives who feared a strange curse--the curse of the opal-eyed fan. Somehow she knew she had to learn the unspoken secret of the island and the truth about the fabulous Spanish lady who, years before, had left the infamous Satin-shirt Jack dead and then disappeared forever. But Persis was not aware of the evil that awaited her, nor of the romance that would endanger her until it was too late. . . .

Velvet Shadows:  Tamaris Penfold was hired as a companion to Alain Sauvage's frail but lovely half-sister, Victorine. She would be a "friend" who would try to protect her from another scandalous involvement--like the one back in France. Alain was a generous and thoughtful employer. Victorine a bright and amusing companion. But Tamaris could not help wondering about the significance of the gold and enamel snake Victorine wore around her neck. Nor could she stop thinking about the fact that someone had been going through her belongings and leaving strange objects among them. Then one day Alain was forced to reveal the true story of Victorine's past. A past, Tamaris suspected, that would soon gain on the future and place everyone at Rancho del Sol under a shadow of constant fear..

Yurth Burden: The world of Zacar was wracked with storms and life there was hard. Yet tow races shared it with no love between them. The Raski were the first people, the Yurth the late comers. This is the story of Elossa, the Yurth girl who followed the Call that every Yurth sensitive must follow when the time came. And this is the story of Stans, the Raski, who had to achieve manhood by blood rite against the hated Yurth. This is a novel of a world where ancient injustice had been done and never righted, where brooding evil and age-old vengeance awaited peace-makers-- and of two who brought this terror down upon their own heads.




Seven Spells To Sunday: For unhappy Monnie Fitts and timid Bim Ross - two foster children who live the the Johnsons - finding an old, faded purple mailbox in a vacant lot was to be their secret. The seven mysterious stars painted on the door made it even more important - and strange. Once they wrote their names on it, life would be different for them. Each day, as Monnie and Bim visit the mailbox, unusual gifts and notes appear - a broom, a wand, a light - even a voo-don't doll: in all, six magical wonders that plunge them deep into a week of unexplained happenings. Not until the seventh suspenseful day do they know where the powerful spells will lead them. Frightened, but brave, the two children enter a supernatural world to find answers only they can understand. (written with Phyllis Miller)


Snow Shadow: Being able to step back into the past seemed like a wonderful stroke of luck for erica Jansen. Northanger Abbey was like another world. And her introduction to the family there had come from a charming man, Preston Donner. She felt very fortunate indeed. But from the moment she became a guest at the Abbey, she felt like a prisoner. First there were the arguments she couldn't avoid...then the murders she could not ignore...and then the man who stepped out of her own buried past to entwine her in a terror from which she saw no escape.

Psychocrat Series: 

Ice Crown:  The planet Clio was the subject of an experiment by the centuries ago Psychocrats, seeded with people conditioned to develop the history they wanted, and carefully sealed since its discovery, to protect its inhabitants from the trauma of realizing that. But there appear to be Forerunner artifacts on the planet, so a carefully secret mission goes to attempt to retrieve them. Roane is dragged along by her uncle, with his son Sandar, because as a family member her uncle can use her with fewer questions. But in the course of scouting about, seeking their object, she is in a building when others arrive, and unable to escape as the men bring in the princess they had kidnapped. An appeal from Princess Ludorica has her helping her escape the kidnappers -- and then helped her escape Uncle Offlas and Sandar, who would have erased her memory and handed her over to her pursuers to hide their mission. This leads to intrigue, adventure, and action, and includes the question of what, exactly, the Ice Crown of the title and the crowns of other kingdoms do to the people of them; the making of a wreath for an imaginary baby from wayside flowers; hiding behind the kennel of savage dire hounds; an abrupt change in Princess Ludorica as she became queen; a man who claims to have suffered hearing problems ever since another man saved him from a rock fall; and a secret passage into the royal city.

Android At Arms:  Andas, Prince of Inyanga and likely heir to the emperor, went to sleep in a lavishly appointed bed chamber. He wakes in a stark prison cell, which comes as something of a surprise.Andas isn’t alone in the prison. His fellow prisoners come from many worlds, but all have one thing in common: they all are important people, at least on their own planets. Someone has gone to a lot of trouble to kidnap powerful (or potentially powerful) people. That someone might be … the Psychocrats. Or the heirs of the Psychocrats. It’s impossible to tell, as the villains rule through their machines.On the basis of surprisingly little evidence, the prisoners convince themselves the mass kidnapping is only half of the scheme. The villains must have built android doubles for the prisoners, then swapped those doubles for the originals. Using the strategically placed androids, androids conditioned to obey their creators, the villains can control the galaxy.

 Quag Keep series

Quag Keep: Once, they were role-playing gamers in our world. They came from different places and different backgrounds. Now they're summoned together by some magical force...to a land that mirrors the games they used to play. Quag Keep.  Can they band together to unlock the secret of their summoning--and rescue from the legendary Quag Keep the person who may be able to return them home?

Return to Quag Keep these brave adventurers try to unlock the secrets of this magical world and maybe even return home to ours. Filled with classic dungeon crawls, mysterious wizards, and attacking dragons The Return to Quag Keep is a must for all role-playing fans as well as seminal Andre Norton fans.

Star Ka'at series

Star Ka'at: Jim has lost both his parents in a plane crash and is living with foster parents who are adequate but not especially loving. Elly's grandmother dies after Elly had tried for a long time to take care of her and now Elly is homeless. They are befriended by two magnificent star Ka'ats who have come to rescue their downtrodden relatives on earth before the planet gets any worse off than it is now. They communicate telepathically. The kids find out too much and the ka'ats have to make a decision about Jim and Elly.

Star Ka'at's World: Jim and Elly Mae travel to a distant planet as guests of Tiro and Mer--members of a super-intelligent race of Ka'ats. On this strange world, work is done by machines, which are controlled by thoughts from the Ka'ats. But Jime and Elly cannot learn this power and become dependent on their hosts for everything--even meals! Determined to find their own food, Jim and Elly explore a nearby city where human-like beings once lived. But fierce robots now march down the streets. Tiro and Mer rush in to protect their human friends and are kidnapped by the robots. Jim and Elly must use all their courage and wits to find a way to rescue the Ka'ats!

Star Ka'at and the Plant People: Jim and Elly Mae are exploring the planet Zimmorrah, home of their super-cat friends, the Star Ka'ats. Suddenly Elly Mae senses that someone is hurt and crying for help. She cannont send her thoughts to this strange being, as she can to a Ka'at, but she can FEEL its desperate need. Searching for the source of the cry, Jim and Elly Mae are drawn to a remote island enclosed in an enormous glass dome. Inside live semihuman plant people who are threatened by evil creatures who look like both a spider and a crab.The children and their Ka'at friends must fight off the crab/spider monsters and prevent them from destroying the plant people!

Star Ka'at and the Winged Warriors: The Star Ka'ats make an interplanetary journey to another ka'at colony where life forms have grown to monstrous proportions and nearly exterminated the ka'at colonists.



Collections

High Sorcery Warlocks of other worlds - or scientists of times unknown?  Craike, a man hunted in two worlds… Miss Rutheven, whose needles pointed to secret kingdoms… Dagmar, with the fatal fascination of Helen of Troy… Ully, whose music touched the powers before mankind… Tamisan, the sorceress who found herself the victim of her toys… These and others like them, inhabit Andre Norton’s world of HIGH SORCERY, where the primeval desires and fears of man – his loving and loathing – are merged with his dreams of future knowledge and technological power. Those who have enjoyed the alchemy of Norton’s other mind-bending tales should enjoy these!

The Many Worlds of Andre Norton aka The Book of Andre Norton is a best-of which also includes some essays on writing.

Garan the Eternal Ace pilot and discarded world war 3 hero Garin Featherstone, on a routine expedition, gets sucked down below the ice crust of Antarctica into a "land of the lost," of sorts: without the dinosaurs, but there are wise and civilized lizardlike people, furry house elves, and enormous intelligent bees. Those are the good guys. It seems to have been the lizards who called Featherstone down, using arcane means. His mission: to rescue and then mate with Thrala, last daughter of the humanlike Older Ones - they who, long ages past, came as refugees to this planet and kickstarted evolution. Or at least they gave it a helpful push or two towards the weird, down in the crater. Meanwhile on the bad guy side, you've got a bunch of bad descendents of the humanlike Older Ones, who used to call bad people down to mate with them instead of good people. As a result: all bad. They keep huge, slavering ratlike dogs (possibly doglike rats), and experiment with weaponized fungus.

Basically the top bad guy and Garin both want the same girl, and after all the drama pans out in the crater, we flash back to the original planet of the Older Ones where Garan, the same bad guy, and the same girl had roughly the same problem: reincarnation, apparently. 

The main tales of Garin/Garan and his time-crossed exploits are backed up with two unrelated stories: "One-Spell Wizard" about a wizard who can't make his spells last more than 24 hours, and "Legacy of Sorn Fen" about a magic ring that turns one-eyed cripples into successful bartenders. But when the local jerk overlord discovers the secret, will bad stuff happen pending some further comeuppance?