Talk:Witch World

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(old)[edit]

This really needs to be organised better. Some of the bibliography is all over the place. Lee M 16:52, 31 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Kirkus Reviews[edit]

At Kirkus Reviews online (Search Results: "Andre Norton") I counted contemporary reviews of 27 novels by Andre Norton from 1934 to 1962, the year before Witch World (novel) (including six starred reviews). Probably I missed some. Yet I found no reviews of the first six Witch World novels (1963 to 1968, while at least eight more of her books were covered) and only five reviews of later Witch World books by Norton alone.

namely, five reviews, following our listings on this page:

Estcarp: Trey of Swords (1977)[1]
High Hallack: The Crystal Gryphon (1972)[2]; The Jardoon Pard (1974)[3], Gryphon's Eyrie (1984)[4]
later: The Warding of the Witch World (1996)[5]

Part of the explanation may be that the first six Witch World novels were paperback originals. ISFDB confirms that, and confirms that the five sequels whose reviews did find were all hardcover. Some other sequels were hardcover, Gryphon in Glory for one. I have not checked the 27+ earlier books that were reviewed.

--P64 (talk) 00:43, 30 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Confirmed. Relying on ISFDB, more than 20 of Norton's pre-1963 books covered by Kirkus Reviews, every one was a first edition hardcover. Seven pre-1963 novels not reviewed were Ralestone Luck (Appleton-Century, 1938), four that debuted as Ace doubles, and two "by Andrew North" from the obscure Gnome Press. From 1963 (Judgment on Janus) the review service passed over some of Norton's new hardcovers from Harcourt and other major publishers.

Search by title works very well. Most later Witch World books that Norton facilitated but did not write were reviewed.

--P64 (talk) 18:04, 30 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Genre[edit]

Why do we classify this body of work as alternate history? Why not science fiction?

See Talk: Witch World (novel)#Science fiction. --P64 (talk) 20:40, 21 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Probably due to the "parallel world" designation in the text. Some folks equate parallel worlds with alternate history, though they are by no means synonymous. By no stretch of the imagination could the Witch World represent an alternate history; its history and geography are completely separate from ours, and there could be no conceivable point of divergence. I've removed the category from the article. BPK (talk) 21:21, 21 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. I should have said yesterday that I had revised the book article Witch World (novel) substantially (and deleted cat Alternate history by the way). I had not, have not revised this page at all. From the series I have read only the novel and I posted here for cross-reference, Talk: Witch World (novel)#Science fiction. Of course that article should focus on the first book because we do have the series/universe article as well.

In The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, Clute --? who wrote the Norton entry iirc-- makes clear as a literary critic that the WW series is essentially fantasy because it moves away from science fiction elements quickly. But it was "adopted as science fiction". He doesn't credit AN with much other noteworthy fantasy fiction and implies that she has a longer entry in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (he also co-edited), which I haven't read.

--P64 (talk) 17:18, 22 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Witch World shared universe[edit]

Andre Norton at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database groups all of Norton's Witch World publications, as author or editor, under the heading Witch World Universe. By design is that identical to the scope of this article and list? (That is, discounting mistakes such as whether Were-Wrath is in the series; ISFDB lists it only elsewhere.)

In other words, do all authorized Witch World publications credit Norton as co-author or editor? This concerns the so-called "shared universe". Did Norton author-ize other WW fiction, not listed here, without credit to her as co-author? For instance, Lyn's books includes remarks by Lyn McConchie on the nature of their collaboration, all "marketed as by Andre Norton and Lyn McConchie".

--P64 (talk) 18:00, 22 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

(quote) Witch World has become a SHARED WORLD, with books either edited or codeveloped with AN. --"Norton, Andre" in the Clute/Grant 1997 Encyclopedia of Fantasy, p. 693 (a useful source on other points, to be continued; "Shared World" is another encyclopedia entry)

'Codeveloped' is a good descriptive term. Has there been any later WW fiction published, neither edited by nor codeveloped with? --published legally, that is authorized, as eg Todd McCaffrey writes Pern novels solo, as well as some with his Mum Anne McCaffrey.

--P64 (talk) 01:52, 8 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]