With his military experience, as well as his greater understanding of the Kolder threat, Simon is invaluable in Estcarp’s service. Only because they were heirs of an age-old knowledge were the dark people of her field, her towns and cities, able to hold back the press.Įstcarp is threatened by its neighbours – Karsten and Alizon – but most of all by the mysterious Kolder, a people from far across the sea whose advanced technology is more than a match for the Witches. The age-old land of Estcarp was menaced from the north and from the south, and also from the sea to the west. Much to Simon’s surprise, the escape is genuine and complete – because the siege perilous transports whoever sits on it to the world in which he truly belongs, and he finds himself in Estcarp, a land ruled by the benevolent magic of matriarchal Witches, but under threat:
A mysterious doctor, claiming to own the siege perilous of Celtic legend, offers him an escape route. Witch World, published in 1963, begins in our own world, where Simon Tregarth, a former colonel who has not quite lost his honesty and ideals in spite of being part of the criminal world, is hunted by ruthless hit-men. During this time, she wrote historical and adventure stories for juveniles, as well as numerous SF and fantasy novels and short stories, both YA and for adults, many of them forming series. She worked as a librarian, a bookshop owner and a publisher’s reader, before finally becoming a full-time writer in 1958. In 1934, she legally changed her name to Andre Alice Norton. She used several male pen-names, to counter the prejudice against female authors, but settled early on the one she’s now known by. Although other authors (most notably LeGuin) made vital contributions, it was this book, and the series it spawned, which was perhaps most responsible for the change of direction in epic fantasy.Īlice Mary Norton was born in 1912 in Cleveland, Ohio, and began writing seriously while still at school. None of this was true when, in 1963, Andre Norton published her seminal fantasy novel, Witch World. Similarly, it’s hardly unusual now to read a fantasy epic that focuses on character and relationships as much as action, or where power lies in the hands of women. In a recent article, I observed that, although there isn’t complete gender equality in fantasy today, female fantasy authors are too usual to need any comment.
0 kommentar(er)
