I had so much fun rereading Andre Norton’s Solar Queen series, I decided to revisit one of her other science fiction series: the Forerunner series. The Forerunners were an alien race that preceded humanity in space by thousands of years. They possessed incredible technology. But a war destroyed the mysterious race and obliterated most of their presence on the planets they had colonized. But humans find remnants of Forerunner technology which, of course, causes all sorts of problems.
Storm Over Warlock is the first book in the Forerunner series. It had a classic EMSH cover of Survey survivor Shann Lantee who manages not to be killed with the insect-like aliens, The Throg, attack the human base on the weird planet of Warlock. The series takes a lot of twists as turns over the decades. If you’re looking for a Young Adult SF series with action and adventure, you might try these entertaining novels.
THE FORERUNNER SERIES:
Storm Over Warlock (1960)
Ordeal in Otherwhere (1964)
Forerunner Foray (1973)
Forerunner (first book published by TOR Books) (1981)
Forerunner: The Second Venture (1985)
I like these covers, George, and would love to read Andre Norton’s stories out of such paperbacks.
Prashant, I love the covers on these Andre Norton SF novels, too. Quite a range of styles.
I just might get these and try them out on my nieces, whoa re just getting into SF and fantasy – thanks George
Sergio, your nieces might prefer Andre Norton’s WITCH WORLD series. I’ll be reviewing some of those novels in a few weeks.
I read the first in the series long ago, but not any of the others.
Bill, I loved STORM OVER WARLOCK as a kid especially that cool EMSH cover. The other Forerunner books deepen the story line.
I agree, that is a great cover. Love the insect with the gun.
Jeff, that bug with the blaster is a Throg. Very nasty!
She was one of my early interests, long before I knew she was a woman. sadly, in my callow youth, I might not have read her had I known. Her novel STARMAN’S SON(though under the title Dybreak 2250 A.D. ) was my second SF book after Henlein’s Tunnel In The Sky. I liked this series, but my favorite was the Time Trader books.
Randy, I reread the first three books in the TIME TRADER series a couple years ago. Brought back a lot of memories!
So George, do you classify all of Norton’s work as YA? While I agree that last week’s Solar Queen series was for juvenile readers, this series, which I read while in college, seemed, for it’s time, pretty much straightforward SF.
Tp Sergio I’d say get those nieces started with Heinlein’s juvenile books, including HAVE SPACESUIT, WILL TRAVEL and the rest.
Rick, almost all of Andre Norton’s characters are young men and women. Many are teenagers. I haven’t read many Norton novels from the 1980s or 1990s so I don’t now if her work changed from the Young Adult focus.
These covers again bring fond memories of the 60s to me, especially Emsh(willer). I also started a collection of the magazines like If, Galaxy, Startling Stories etc and of course Astounding/Analog …
In those days “garish” covers were a kind of necessity o attract the mainly male (?) readers.
Totally OT:
Has anyone here followed the controversy re the Hugos? I found something on George R R Martin’s “non blog” – don’t understand it at all …
Wolf, all I know about the Hugo Award controversy is that a group of fans have “hijacked” the nomination process. There’s more details available on BLACK GATE.com
I remember quite clearly when I was in junior high, there was a display of the covers of Storm Over Warlock and Time Traders and Galactic Derelict pinned up on a display on the wall in the school library. I had just started reading Heinlein and these came immediately thereafter. I loved Emsh covers, and I loved those three books.
Stan, I love the original covers on STORM OVER WARLOCK, TIME TRADERS, and GALACTIC DERELICT (one of the best SF ever!). And I enjoyed those great Heinlein juveniles, too, especially CITIZEN OF THE GALAXY.