Andre Norton Forum

The first Web forum I ever created was called The Witch World Message Board. I felt that Andre Norton's Witch World stories were sufficient in numbers to bring in a lot of Norton fans. To build up our online community I took a risk and collected email addresses from science fiction and fantasy news groups (this was 1997 when the practice was not yet completely frowned upon) for people who expressed love or at least fond memories for Andre Norton's stories.

I sent out a message to a couple hundred people, telling them who I was and where to find the Witch World Message Board. Many of them came and joined our community. I was even told that Andre herself was shown the forum and was quite moved to see so many fans discussing her books.

To the best of my recollection, there has never been a flame war in the Andre Norton discussion community, although I am not 100% certain of that. There was once another Andre Norton discussion group on Yahoo! but I haven't heard about it in years.

We do still keep the discussions going in the current Andre Norton Forum. As I've done for a couple of other forums this week I want to link to some of the early discussions on SF-Fandom in the Andre Norton Forum and then I'll link to some of the most recent discussions.

These discussions began in 2003, when we rebuilt our forum after a server crash.

• Andre Norton Book Collection


• Andre Norton "Ku****e" movie?


• In gathering?


• Not "Going to Graceland"


• Two questions??


• "Magic" colors in the Witch World


• "Star Soldiers"


• I've never heard of Andre Norton


• Elvenbane and Elvenblood

Here are some of the most recent discussions, several of which are ongoing:

• 'Ware Hawk & Trey of Swords


• My best A. Norton's short stories


• Star Flight republished


• New fans discovering Andre Norton


• The birth of the Tregarth triplets


• Seven Riders of Arvon


• (Andre Norton) Audio Books


• Norton Cover Artist and their work

If you have ever read Andre Norton's stories, did you know her fandom is still alive and well? Did you know that Norton books are still being published? Would you like to join us and share your thoughts about her career and stories?

If you have never read Andre Norton and would like to learn more about her work, the Andre Norton Forum is the place you need to be. Come on over and check us out. I think you'll like what you find.

SF-Fandom is a moderated, fan-run community devoted to science fiction, fantasy, history, and mythology. SF-Fandom was founded in 2001 and is part of the Xenite.Org network. Free registration is required to post. Please be sure you read our Posting Guidelines.

Witch World site relaunched

Xenite.Org has completely redesigned, reorganized, expanded, enlarged, improved, and otherwise reshaped its popular Andre Norton's Witch World site.

Originally called The Witch World Page when it was first launched back in 1996, the Xenite site has grown through the years to span multiple pages and now multiple sub-directories. We've also added a new section for fan site listings.

Some of the essays on the site have been revised and updated with more recent information, although there are now so many Witch World books it seems unlikely the site will ever be complete or thorough. It's intended to provide a solid introduction to the Witch World and its lands, peoples, and history but nothing more.

Andre Norton fans still discuss the Witch World in SF-Fandom's Andre Norton Forum. There are many topics that interest Norton's readers. She was more prolific and inventive than J.R.R. Tolkien and her influence upon modern science fiction and fantasy was at least as profound as Tolkien's, if not more so.

We've occasionally discussed (at SF-Fandom) bloggers who mention Norton fondly on their blogs because she is still relevant to today's science fiction and fantasy. Her stories were about character more than about ideas, but she shaped some pretty interesting ideas.

The Witch World popularized the idea of traveling between worlds through gates -- sound familiar? Stargate fans should recognize the concept immediately. Norton's other SF franchises include the Forerunner books (future space-faring civilizations explore ruins of ancient space-faring civilizations that vanished millions of years in the past). The Galactic commonwealth books echo the themes of Asimov's Foundation and Galactic Empire franchise, Star Trek, and Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda. In fact, Norton's future civilization suffers a collapse into chaos very much like the fall of the Systems Commonwealth.

Andre Norton's Witch World gave us powerful adepts who waged terrible wars (a concept touched upon in Babylon-5's Techno-Mages. She gave us the Kolder War, a conflict in which magic fought technology (and magic won, with the help of a technological warrior). She gave us the Dales of High Hallack, where every family with two sheep and a farm had the potential to rise to power and wealth. And she gave us a world rich with vast landscapes, ever-changing geological features, new cultures just beyond the horizon, and histories the depth of which would have made Tolkien weep with euchatastrophic joy.

If you have never read the Andre Norton books you have no idea of how much wonder you have missed. Discovering Andre's imagination for the first time is like opening King Tut's tomb and finding Rameses, Nefertiti, and King Scorpion standing beside the boy pharoah's sarcophagus.

The new layout of the Witch World site looks like this:

• Andre Norton's Witch World


• Andre Norton's Legacy


• The Witch World books used as sources


• Adepts of the Witch World


• Cultures of the Witch World


• Families of the Witch World


• Andre Norton Fan Sites Directory


• Chronology of Years in the Witch World

I hope you find the site worth browsing. It brought me much pleasure through the years, creating it, updating it, and sharing it with friends and strangers alike.

SF-Fandom is a moderated, fan-run community devoted to science fiction, fantasy, history, and mythology. SF-Fandom was founded in 2001 and is part of the Xenite.Org network. Free registration is required to post. Please be sure you read our Posting Guidelines.