The Duke’s Ballad

American science fiction and fantasy author Andre Norton (born Alice Mary Norton; died March 17, 2005) also produced works of historical and modern fiction. She wrote largely as Andre Norton, though she occasionally used the aliases Andrew North and Allen Weston. She was the first woman to be inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame, become Grand Master of Fantasy for Gandalf and become Grand Master of the SFWA. Cleveland, Ohio, was the birthplace of Alice Mary Norton in 1912. Her parents were Bertha Stemm Norton and rug entrepreneur Adalbert Freely Norton. Under the instruction of Sylvia Cochrane, Andre started writing while attending Collinwood High School in Cleveland. She authored short stories for The Collinwood Spotlight, the school newspaper, for which she served as the literary editor. She authored Ralestone Luck at this time, which was later released in 1938 as her second novel. In 1930, Norton received his high school diploma and enrolled in Flora Stone Mather College at Western Reserve University with the intention of becoming a teacher. Following his high school graduation in 1930, Norton enrolled in Flora Stone Mather College at Western Reserve University with the intention of becoming a teacher.

Dueling MagicsBorn into a family with magical powers, Aisling is a young witch who fights to protect her homeland of Kars. Unfortunately, the biggest threat to Kars is her older brother, Kirion, who has chosen to use his powers for evil, and years ago forced Aisling into exile.Since Aisling's departure, Kirion has tightened his hold on Shastro, the Duke of Kars. Through Shastro, Kirion's dark influence works to subjugate the entire realm.With her younger brother Keelan helping her, Aisling returns, in disguise, to undermine Kirion's power and defeat the evil duke. But as Aisling gets closer to Shastro, the Duke takes a liking to her, and she finds herself questioning her mission. But when a neighboring clan lays siege to Kars, Aisling and Keelan realize they must act, lest Kirion bring even more death and suffering to Kars' loyal subjects than he has already caused.Using all the magic, persistence and ingenuity she can summon, Aisling must somehow find a way to avoid the attention of her dangerous older brother, save the people from his murderous sorcery, and return to their Dukedom the peace and prosperity it once knew.