
Young people are transported to historical and magical adventures in three fantasies by the author of the Witch World series and “a superb storyteller” ( The New York Times ). In the six stand-alone novels that comprise her Magic Sequence series, Andre Norton, a “pioneer” in sci-fi and fantasy, conjures the perfect alchemy of enchanting fantasy and poignant human drama as ordinary kids travel through a variety of portals into historical and magical realms (Anne McCaffrey). In the first three novels collected here, the young heroes are transported to the days of King Arthur, the time of the American Civil War, and the supernatural world of Native American myth. As always, “Andre Norton can be relied upon to convert her magic formulas into adroit entertainment” ( Kirkus Reviews ). Steel Magic : On a picnic in the Hudson Valley, Sara Lowry and her brothers Greg and Eric discover a medieval castle, where suddenly they’re enveloped by a gray mist and emerge in the time of King Arthur. To save Avalon, they must recover three magic talismans—Arthur’s sword, Excalibur; Merlin’s ring; and the horn of Huon—or remain forever trapped in the distant past. Octagon Magic : There are lots of scary stories about the strange eight-sided house in Lorrie’s neighborhood. Does a witch live there? Is it haunted? But when Lorrie meets the mysterious lady of the house, she’s granted access to explore. In one room, she finds a rocking horse and an exact miniature of the big house. When Laurie climbs on the rocking horse, she is transported into the eight-sided dollhouse and the past, where she meets people who once found this home a refuge. Fur Magic : When his father is called to active duty in Vietnam, Cory Alder leaves Florida to live on his adopted Native American uncle’s Idaho ranch. There, an encounter with an old Nez Perce Medicine Man called Black Elk catapults Cory into an alternate universe where animals live in tribes, hunt, and go on the warpath. Transformed into a spirit animal—a beaver named Yellow Shell—he soon finds himself in the middle of a war between humans and beasts with supernatural powers.
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.