Quotes from Andre Norton

If you’re looking for the A to Z post, click on the button to the left or scroll down.

These are the quotes tweeted between April 4 and April 10, 2013. All but the last are from Andre Norton’s Lore of the Witch World, a collection of short stories.

“No man or woman might ever turn again and decide upon some other path once their feet were firm set on one of their choice.” “Sand Sister.” Tursla, recognizing that she has made an irrevocable choice in leaving Tormarsh.

“We need only face squarely what comes.” “Falcon Blood.” Tanree, after she has managed to destroy Jonkara.

“A land so rent produces in time those with a natural bent toward evil.” “Sword of Unbelief.” Outlaws have flourished after the war that rent High Hallack.

“To have some knowledge but not enough is a thing which eats upon one.” “Sword of Unbelief.” Elys is trying to track Jervon, and feels crippled by her lack of training in her gifts.

“I must remain me.” “Sword of Unbelief.” Elys is fighting the compulsion of the creature which has ensnared Jervon.

“How does one kill a god? With unbelief.” “Sword of Unbelief.” Perhaps not a god, but a supernatural being that has Elys and Jervon in its hold – unless they can summon enough disbelief to rescue themselves.

“How much could he do at once?” Sue Ann Bowling, Homecoming. Roi is trying simultaneously to protect himself and a friend, hold torn blood vessels together, and Heal the friend’s injuries – all without training – and is beginning to realize that he may have bitten off more than he can chew..

Inherited Language (A to Z Challenge)

Humans are born with some kind of instinct for language and communication. Exactly what is inherited is a matter of some contention among linguists, but our species learns language in childhood. A baby is born listening to sounds, but initially does not understand them or have the physical coordination to produce language. Learning, however, is very fast, and a normal child rapidly learns to understand and speak the language(s) by which that child is surrounded.

In my science fiction the R’il’nai actually inherited their language. A newborn R’il’nian did not have the capacity to understand all of the concepts, nor the coordination to produce all of the sounds, but the language, not merely the ability to use it, was there and the first babbling generally made sense. Humans never succeeded in leaning R’il’nian, and even R’il’noids, those human-R’il’nian hybrids with the most R’il’nian genes, could at best learn R’Gal, a very simplified version of R’il’nian. To Marna, who heard it first as an adult, R’Gal sounded like a pidgin version of R’il’nian.

Most Humans could not even learn R’Gal. Part of the difficulty for Humans was that the R’il’nai were capable of distinguishing a larger number of phonemes than are Humans, which prevented some otherwise excellent linguists from learning R’Gal. But even R’Gal speakers could not generally learn R’il’nian, which involved not only sound, but also esper and empathic components.

I’m doing my A to Z blogs from my books, both characters and background information. For characters I’ll introduce them quickly, say what point of time they’re talking from since their situations change drastically through the books, and let them talk. Background information will vary according to what I’m talking about. All of these blogs will be scheduled to go live just after midnight Alaska time.