Part of Series
First published September 1980, this is a collection of previously published stories, plus a new novelette, by Andre Norton with an introduction by C. J. Cherryh. Contents: Spider Silk (1976) Sand Sister (1979) Falcon Blood (1979) Legacy from Sorn Fen (1973) Sword of Unbelief (1977) The Toads of Grimmerdale (1973) Changeling (1980) Introduction by C. J. Cherryh Spider Silk • na • Flashing Swords! #3, ed. Lin Carter, Dell, 1976 Sand Sister • na • Heroic Fantasy, ed. Gerald W. Page & Hank Reinhardt, DAW, 1979 Falcon Blood • ss • Amazons!, ed. Jessica Amanda Salmonson, DAW, 1979 Legacy from Sorn Fen • ss • Garan the Eternal, FPCI, 1973 Sword of Unbelief • nv • Swords against Darkness #2, ed. Andrew J. Offutt, Zebra, 1977 Toads of Grimmerdale • na • Flashing Swords! #2, ed. Lin Carter, Dell, 1974 Changeling • nv Cover art for the DAW editions is by Michael Whelan. (na=novella, a short novel less than 40,000 words. nv=novelette, a novel-like story less than about 17,000 words.)
Author
Alice Mary Norton always had an affinity to the humanities. She started writing in her teens, inspired by a charismatic high school teacher. First contacts with the publishing world led her, as many other contemporary female writers targeting a male-dominated market, to choose a literary pseudonym. In 1934 she legally changed her name to Andre Alice. She also used the names Andrew North and Allen Weston as pseudonyms. Andre Norton published her first novel in 1934, and was the first woman to receive the Gandalf Grand Master Award from the World Science Fiction Society in 1977, and won the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) association in 1983. Norton was twice nominated for the Hugo Award, in 1964 for the novel Witch World and in 1967 for the novelette "Wizard's World." She was nominated three times for the World Fantasy Award for lifetime achievement, winning the award in 1998. Norton won a number of other genre awards, and regularly had works appear in the Locus annual "best of year" polls. On February 20, 2005, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, which had earlier honored her with its Grand Master Award in 1983, announced the creation of the Andre Norton Award, to be given each year for an outstanding work of fantasy or science fiction for the young adult literature market, beginning in 2006. Often called the Grande Dame of Science Fiction and Fantasy by biographers such as J. M. Cornwell and organizations such as Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Publishers Weekly, and Time, Andre Norton wrote novels for over 70 years. She had a profound influence on the entire genre, having over 300 published titles read by at least four generations of science fiction and fantasy readers and writers. Notable authors who cite her influence include Greg Bear, Lois McMaster Bujold, C. J. Cherryh, Cecilia Dart-Thornton, Tanya Huff, Mercedes Lackey, Charles de Lint, Joan D. Vinge, David Weber, K. D. Wentworth, and Catherine Asaro.
