Andre Norton Forum

Re: Fav short fiction

: The Gifts of the Asti : Sand Sister : Ully the Piper : Toads of Grimmersdale : High Sorcery is great. I just finished Spell of the Witch World and found it so wonderful. Every one a gem.

All of your choices are good choices. Except for "Gifts" they are Witch World stories. "Gifts" is also the only Science Fiction in your bunch.

I guess I was very impressed with not just the quality, and 'goodness' of the stories that Pohl included, but also with the mixture of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Two of the chosen stories were familiar, and often republished SF, and two were the seldom republished novellas. All of these stories display the mixture ease with which Andre Norton writes in both worlds, and how sometimes a story starts as fantasy, and ends with science fiction.

"All Cats are Gray", uses a future where there are 'big calculators', and the idea that there are gray's beyond the vision of humans. A space ship version of the Flying Dutchman.

"Were-Wrath" is a pure fantasy, with a sword & horse society. There are human monsters and the 'noble' were.

"MouseTrap" for all it's Martian setting is a Western. There are the same red dust settings, with the added twist of monsters.

"Serpent's Tooth" combines the mystery of a 'search' for the precious. Characters both human and strange. It isn't until the end that the Tooth is determined to be.... Well the story is a mix of Fantasy Quest and Science Fiction post apocalypse.

With a choice of just 4 stories, I think that Pohl got the heart of Andre Norton. The only thing missing is a Witch World story, but then we don't know were "Were-Wrath" takes place.

I might have included "Gifts of Asti" because it shows the transition that Andre Norton often makes. {Stealing from an oft quoted saw.} Any sufficently advanced science can appear as magic. But which of the other stories would I have removed to make a place for it.

None.