This is a reproduction, slightly edited, of what appeared in APAPLEXY 94 (c. Samhain 1985), 92 (c. Imbolc 1986), 90 (c. Beltaine 1986) and 87 (early September 1986)
Starting with the intention of fitting as many of these as possible into the same level or parallel world, for after all, every story might be in a slightly altered parallel world, we find that most of the Norton tales can fit into the same universe. Differences in speech, politics, weapons, etc. can as easily be due to differences of time or location as to of parallel universes.
There are two A.D. dates, of which I am aware, for the Norton galactic stories. STAR GUARD takes place in 3956 and THE LAST PLANET in 8054. Neither of these has a cross reference to dates After Flight, which appears to be the main calendar in use in Terran Galactic Civilization.
There is no need to exclude both these stories from the paralled world of FORERUNNER FORAY and the others that can be pinned together because of remarks made in FORERUNNER FORAY simply because of prejudice against Terrans by some older star faring races in STAR GUARD and THE LAST PLANET. in STAR GUARD we see Terra on the verge of challenging its second class citizenship in the Federation, after three centuries of secretly colonizing a large number of planets.
Thus, the rapid expansion and growth we encounter, in a largely Terran universe, can be explained by the fact Terra and humans have won first class citizenship, that these tales focus on human colonies, which it might be policy to allow to be serviced (I'm thinking of the Patrol officers we meet, etc.) by humans, and, perhaps, the few races (Arcturans, for example) so prejudiced against us, have few, if any, colonies.
FORERUNNER FORAY ties together a number of Norton novels. The story begins on Korwar. The young heroine, Ziantha, was forced to this planet in the same upheaval that deprived Naill Renfro (JUDGEMENT ON JANUS and VICTORY ON JANUS), Troy Horan (CATSEYE) and Nik Kolherne (NIGHT OF MASKS) of their various home worlds and dumped them as children in the Dipple. As they all seem to be in their late teens at the start of their stories, these tales would appear to take place about the same time.
Not only the description of some residents of Waystar, but also the reference to the gem stone that was a key to the finding of a Forerunner city-world give us a relative date to UNCHARTED STARS and its prequel ZERO STONE (FF pp 80ff and 63-64)
The Ris Lantee we meet in FORERUNNER FORAY identifies his parents (FF 271-2) as the protagonists of STORM OVER WARLOCK and ORDEAL IN OTHERWHERE.
On page 64 of FORERUNNER FORAY there is mention of the mysterious ruins on Korwar called Rukharv. These play a greater role in CATSEYE. They are also mentioned in DREAD COMPANION, where the disastrous Fauklow expedition is not referred to (p. 9). While CATSEYE gives a date three years previous to its own happenings for the ill-fated Fauklow expedition (p. 56), it states that the Rukharv ruins were explored as early as the first survey of Korwar, two centuries earlier.
Within this inter-connected series of stories, only, I think, DREAD COMPANION, provides us with a date. That story starts in 2422 After Flight (p. 181). It concludes in 2483 with human colonies reeling from alien attack. While there may be insufficient data to equate these aliens with the Throgs who confront Shann Lantee (Ris's father) with absolute certainty, the fact that the war with the Throgs is described as the first in centuries (OIO p. 132) and to have lasted more than a century (SOW p.6) and that the vague comments on the aliens of DREAD COMPANION do not conflict with the description of the Throgs, permits the postulation of this theory.
"They searched for months and never found any trace of you. The matter was only dropped when the war broke out." This, from page 181 of DREAD COMPANION may date the outbreak of the war with the Throgs to 2433 AF. STORM OVER WARLOCK may take place c. 2530 AF. The human civil war (the withdrawal of some planets from the Confederation is already occurring (OIO p. 6) not too long after that, say c. 2540 and the Dipple stories, etc. about ten or fifteen years later.
If we equate AF and YF dates and consider stories using these dates, we may first mention the Norton story perhaps most distant in time. On page 57 of YURTH BURDEN we see the early disaster that explains the two peoples on Zacar took place in 7052 AF under an Empire. It is unlikely that this is the same Empire of THE LAST PLANET, as that was falling in 8054 AD.
ANDROID AT ARMS presents a number of beings, or androids, waking up some time after 2265 AF (pp 26, 63). ICE CROWN is set in the 17th or 18th Century (p. 6)
If the aim is to connect as many of these stories as possible in the same parallel world, the date on page 62 of UNCHARTED STARS is not taken as YF or AF and it is not taken as AD. It may be some later Terran starting point that is used for that date, or a starting point on another world. Or, it may well be that the Flight in the Galactic calendar is an alien flight and did take place c. 1395 AD. If so, this does give us a cross reference for AF and AD dates.
The main problem such a theory presents is that STAR GUARD then occors seven years after UNCHARTED STARS, or a little less, as this is a reference to a recent happening. This plus the anthropocentric view of these stories causes me to prefer an alternative expanation.
What is far more fun about the galactic stories of Andre Norton than their possible dates (which just might not be fun at all to some people) is that familiarity of background. There is a similarity in setting. There is a fast paced, expanding civilization with survey scouts and patrol ships and traces (as large as planet-sized cities) of the Forerunners.
Returning to boring history, some of these numerous similarities can suggest approximate dates to tie in other stories with those already mentioned. Reference to beast masters in ORDEAL IN OTHERWHERE can suggest a possible connection with BEAST MASTER and its sequel LORD OF THUNDER. Arzor, the world where these two stories are set, turns out to contain a Forerunner site discovered as part of the plot. It is a site not referred to in the earlier DREAD COMPANION or ORDEAL IN OTHERWHERE, but mentioned in FORERUNNER FORAY and UNCHARTED STARS. Is it significant that MOON OF THREE RINGS and its sequel EXILES OF THE STARS refers to the Limbo of the Dane Thorson stories and the Astra of STAR BORN and its prequel THE STARS ARE OURS, but not Arzor?
A slip. Astra is mentioned in LORD OF THUNDER (and also in Voorloper along with Arzor and Limbo). It is Hawaika of KEY OUT OF TIME that is mentioned in EXILES OF THE STARS.
There are some Norton novels that offer fascinating embellishment of the continuous history of Terran civilization, if one doesn't take the easier, and possibly more plausible route of assigning them to alternate universes.
STAR GUARD and THE LAST PLANET seem alone in portraying prejudice against humans by humanoid Arcturans (and Vegans, Procyonians and Polarians SG). The only reference to these worlds I recall is the deep crimson wine of Arcturus (MOON OF THREE RINGS p. 57). Yet, the rest of her stories, while almost silent on the prejudiced races seems to have some interesting and curious connections to the two AD dated novels.
In FORERUNNER FORAY the term, "Arth type one," is used. In THE LAST PLANET the world onto which the starfire crashes is significantly, "Arth," type. The Trystians are mentioned in ZERO STONE and its sequel UNCHARTED STARS. Here, too the Faltharians, Terran mutants, and also an "Arth" type world. Of course, the Zacathans are common to a number of stories. And again from THE LAST PLANET the ESP ratings are similar to those of EXILES OF THE STARS (pp. 182-183)
It is interesting that the Patrol in THE LAST PLANET are still wearing the black and silver uniforms they wore more than four thousand years earlier, when Terrans were too inferior a species to join. And, in all the stories in between, when earthmen and their descendants appear to dominate the service, the uniforms are the same color (e.g. ZERO STONE p. 158, STAR HUNTER p. 93, ORDEAL IN OTHERWHERE p. 131)
This raises a fascinating question, truly fascinating; what about SECRET OF THE LOST RACE? Here is a novel seemingly connected with the others of the Galactic stories. Some of the action takes place on Loki (home planet of the Patrol officer in ZERO STONE p. 165). Most, however, occurs on Fenris, the closest planet in the same system to its sun, and one mentioned in FORERUNNER FORAY p. 89. SECRET OF THE LOST RACE gives us blasters, tanglers, credits, free traders, Basic, Stars and Comets and the Parol -- all common to other stories.
However, in SECRET OF THE LOST RACE the Patrol wear blue uniforms.
A closer look at the universe of these blue garbed Patrolmen confronts us with astonishment. "Terrans have been exploring the Galaxy" (perhaps an exaggeration; it's a pretty big place) "for less than three centuries... Four intelligent alien races have been discovered, two of them humanoid ...none had achieved space flight save in their own systems." p. 61
There is the perhaps reasonable suggestion of an alternate universe. There is also the possibility this story took place prior to STAR GUARD. For in STAR GUARD we have Central Control and a great many species both old and new to space. And yet, on page 148, it says that prior to the three hundred year domination of terrans by Central Control space had been a major human concern for, "Centuries."
The earliest star travellers from Earth had seemed to consist exclusively of the heroes in the sequels to THE TIME TRADERS, in THE STARS ARE OURS and its sequel, STAR BORN. Now to these five novels there is the possibility of adding at least one more.
It seems possible to suggest that following a series of atomic wars, etc., we probed the stars for centuries in a relatively unpopulated area, then ran into the mainstream of Galactic civilization, got put promptly in our place, but because of our temperament and rapid breeding (We have secret colonies on a thousand planets at the time of STAR GUARD), finally three hundred years after being put in our place (i.e. about 600 AF?) we become full citizens and then a prominent species of the galaxy.
It is quite possible that SECRET OF THE LOST RACE and THE SIOUX SPACEMAN are both separated from the bulk of the Galactic stories in different parallel universes from each other. It is very difficult for these two accounts to share the same parallel one. We are told on page 8 of THE SIOUX SPACEMAN that at the beginning of Terran galactic expansion we encountered the decadent, cruel empire of the Styor, who now occupy two-thirds of the inhabited and habitable worlds.
Thus, while it is suggested above how SECRET OF THE LOST RACE may be connected to most of the other stories and how it may share some features and planets, etc., THE SIOUX SPACEMAN may be left in its own universe.
On page 157 of STAR GUARD a minor charachter is named. "Alone of the Horde he had knowledge of mechanics -- had the know-how to take a ship -- if they were lucky enough to steal iit -- into space." He is, "Kosti, the small lean man."
Does anyone recognize that name?
What is the name of that, "Lumbering bear," of a jetman on the Solar Queen? Not the little pale Venusian, but his partner from what had once been Europe? Karl Kosti.
And, so we led straight into a consideration of four novels in the very early days of Terran Galactic Civilization.
Once again, the point should be stressed that it may be more logical to place different stories and series in different alternate universes. However, the purpose of this article has been to try to place as many as possible within the same one.
The Dane Thorson Solar Queen stories present us with unusual difficulties in that even within the same novel there are glaring internal inconsistencies.
In the first book, SARGASSO OF SPACE, the, "Archaeological team," transported from Naxos to Limbo is given as consisting of four men, including the alien, on page 47 and of five on page 63. On page 32 Limbo is one of three planets in its system. On page 55 there are more than three. On page 48 the Rigellian is green. Yet on pages 222 and 230 he is blue. Graham Darling's delightful defense that just as we can become red faced, flushed with anger or shame, so perhaps the Rigellian becomes blue when excited deserves mention.
However, these are minor points.
How many alien species have we contacted? Take a look at this (still from SARGASSO OF SPACE p. 37), "All of the strictly human races we have encountered are descended from Terran colonies. And the 5 non-human ones..." Yet, 35 pages later we run into this gem: "We've contacted eight X-Tee races so far...the Sliths are reptilian, the Arvas remotely feline, the Fifftocs brachiopod. Of the rest, three are chemically different from us, and two -- the Kanddoyds and Mimsis -- are insects."
I prefer the term X-Tee to ET, but they both mean the same thing. My grade two math was up to the possibility of the 8 minus 5 equals 3, but my limited science balked at the implication that the three chemically different species could be human. Karen very graciously answered my plea for expert scientific advice on this matter, and that advice did not result in a reconciliation of these conflicting statements.
Besides the whole tone of SARGASSO OF SPACE and the other three novels in the series makes it impossible to accept that we have encountered even as few as eight alien species. There is that exchange on page 75 of SARGASSO OF SPACE which hardly makes sense if Terran Galactic Civilization has only contacted eight alien races. It should be noted that this one ship does encounter the Limbians (SARGASSO OF SPACE) and the regenerated brachs of POSTMARKED THE STARS.
And, take a look at page 28 of that fourth novel, "Xenobiology was a required study for cargo masters." Yet Dane, Acting Cargo Master, fails to identify the Sitllith (same page). Later (p. 92), they run into this tall, bright yellow alien and Dane thinks maybe the medic, "With his greater knowledge of X-Tees could name the species."
We mustn't forget the green (blue) Rigellian, and, of course, the Salariki. And, even the gorps, the mortal enemy of the Salariki, are referred to as, "Intelligent." (PLAGUE SHIP p. 47)
The inescapable conclusion is that whether we pick 5 or 8, probably some zeroes should be placed after that digit.
An interesting conjecture is that maybe Andre Norton chose a low number to indicate that the Solar Queen stories (even if in an alternate universe) take place not too long after SECRET OF THE LOST RACE, where on page 123 the four species we've met are named; only one of those names is similar to those on the Dane Thorson list. It should also be noted that in the Solar Queen stories the Patrol wear black and silver uniforms (e.g. PLAGUE SHIP p. 186).
Although it is easier to assign STAR GUARD to another parallel universe from the Solar Queen tales, there is some similarity of background besides the name Kosti. In both there have been atomic wars and these wars have devastated at least one continent. In STAR GUARD (p. 182) north-eastern North America had been abandoned for a thousand years, and, in fact, the remark could apply to the entire continent, as the repopulation comes from Africa, South America and the Pacific. In PLAGUE SHIP only the far west of a continent and its far south have been resettled. As there is reference to a northern arctic, this must be either North America or Europe (west coast leaves out Asia). However, the continent was left abandoned, "Close to two hundred years." The Big Burn, the large central and eastern part, still remains largely unexplored at the time of PLAGUE SHIP.
It would have been nice to squeeze STAR GUARD and the Dane Thorson stories into the same universe, especially after the fun of fitting in SECRET OF THE LOST RACE before STAR GUARD. The case may still be made and the name Kosti is a curious connecting link. Nevertheless, at this instant, I think I will backtrack and say that the absence of Central Control (hence demanding that the Dane Thorson stories would have to come before STAR GUARD) and those black and silver uniforms incline me to the easier path that STAR GUARD and the Dane Thorson novels do not occupy the same univers.
It has been demonstrated above (different names for the "few" known alien species) how the Solar Queen stories would appear to occupy an alternate universe from SECRET OF THE LOST RACE.
Now, how do the Solar Queen stories relate to the rest of the Galactic stories, or, at least, to start with, those centered on FORERUNNER FORAY? Well, in ZERO STONE and its sequel there are references to Free Traders, to plague ships and to the planet Sargol. Sargol is also mentioned in JUDGEMENT ON JANUS. As I'm tired, I'll skip the rest and go to FORERUNNER FORAY itself, in which the heroine is working for the criminal Lady Yasa, a Salarika. Also, in this novel the importance of the planet Limbo is mentioned (p. 88). I should add that the Thassa of Yiktor are also mentioned (p. 51). That last provides a tenuous tie-in to MOON OF THREE RINGS and its sequel, EXILES OF THE STARS. On page 213 of EXILES OF THE STARS there is mention of, "Limbo -- that had been the startling discovery of a Free Trader in the earlier days."
For those courteous readers, who have reached this point with little or no background in Andre Norton, Limbo was the world with a Forerunner installation encountered by the Solar Queen in SARGASSO OF SPACE, the Salariki are the residents of Sargol, recently discovered at the time of SARGASSO OF SPACE and PLAGUE SHIP, half of which takes place there, the Thassa are the wisewomen of Yiktor, planet of the MOON OF THREE RINGS.
I guess I should add for anyone interested in origins (Does anyone recall the very first article of the very first APAPLEXY?), that recent careful re-reading of SARGASSO OF SPACE, now that I have read STARMAN JONES, leads me to suspect that Heinlein did exert an influence on Norton. STARMAN JONES was published two years before SARGASSO OF SPACE and the secrecy of the astrogator's computer text (SARGASSO OF SPACE p. 23), the importance and worry on entering "Hyper space," (p. 50ff) and even the name of the first Terran to achieve inter-stellar flight (SARGASSO OF SPACE p. 23) suggest to me the influence of Heinlein's novel.
In addition the two characters Van Rijn and Van Rycke are similar enough for me to wonder at an influence there. The earliest Poul Anderson Van Rijn story I notice is dated one year after SARGASSO OF SPACE, though the thought Anderson corrupted the likeable Van Rycke and the Free Traders is less appealing, at least to me, than the one that Andre Norton transformed the less pleasing, to me, Anderson creation, into her Free Trader. Apologies to those, including Aquila, who like Van Rijn. Solarguard Homepage