Storm Over Warlock by Andre Norton

Shann Lantee, a poor and uneducated young man, feels fortunate to have achieved his goal of being included on a survey team of Terrans seeking out new planets to colonize. Unfortunately, here on the planet of Warlock, the team’s survey camp has been attacked and all but destroyed by the Throgs, an alien race of beetle-like beings that have plagued mankind’s ascendancy to the stars for more than a century. Shann must not only somehow survive against the Throgs but also, along with his two pet wolverines, determine the nature of the local planetary species, known for now as the Warlockians, and carve out some sort of a future for himself.

First published in 1960, this was one of the first novels to appear under Alice Mary Norton’s pseudonym, Andre Norton. It also begins the “Forerunner” series which features a vanished alien race whose power was incomprehensible if the artifacts left behind are any indication. The series also loosely ties in with other Andre Norton series, most notably in the description of the “witches” found on the planet Warlock.

The novel is fairly typical of an Andre Norton yarn. We have a protagonist with a less-than-ideal background, traveling across the wilderness in a largely solo affair, to ultimately surprise everyone, including himself with a profound contribution. The aliens encountered along the way are well-developed and unique, a hallmark of Norton’s work. There is plenty of adventure along the way, but also a lot of introspection from Shann. Along his journey, he discovers another Terran survivor, a survey team officer who begins by taking Shann for granted but who ultimately recognizes Shann’s grit and wisdom. It’s sort of a coming-of-age novel, which is also not surprising given the majority of the author's output as well as her origins as a young-adult writer.

An interesting tale that pulls me toward reading more from the prolific Andre Norton.

Flashing Swords! 2 (Lin Carter - editor)

From the 1960’s on into the 1980’s, a group of fantasy authors participated in a somewhat loosely organized association they called “Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America” or SAGA. It was an informal group begun by Lin Carter and meant to promote the appreciation of the sword and sorcery sub-genre of fantasy fiction. This book collects four long stories by the group’s members, all of which depict their own on-going series characters:

1) “The Rug and the Bull” by L. Sprague de Camp features a Pusadian tale

2) “The Jade Man’s Eyes” by Michael Moorcock features his anti-hero, Elric

3) “Toads of Grimmerdale” by Andre Norton, a Witch World story

4) “Ghoul’s Garden” by John Jakes, a Brak the Barbarian entry

All four stories were good ones even though I hadn’t read any of the larger works by several of these authors. I suppose if I had read some Witch World before, for example, I might have appreciated the characters, the settings, the lore, etc. even more. But as it was they all worked sufficiently for those readers who have no prior anchor points. My favorite of them all was the Brak story, perhaps because I have read those. These are iconic series and characters and I enjoyed the chance to sample those that were new to me.