Mercedes Lackey

"There are other writers who don't want anyone messing with their world and characters (some have even described a feeling like "being raped" when they discovered there was fanfic about their stuff. On the one hand, I kind of sympathize...but there is no way short of inventing mind control that any writer is ever going to be able to control what happens to his book, world, or characters once the manuscript leaves his hands. So IMHO, I think you ought to just pull on your adult pants, face up to that, and wave goodbye to your book as it heads out into the world.  You did your best by it, you tried to make things clear, you gave it the best start in life that you could, but it's on its own now, and you can either make yourself crazy by trying and failing to keep control, or you can do the smart thing and go on to the next book."

- Mercedes Lackey, quoted in this forum post at the Drunkard's Walk forum

Mercedes Lackey is an Author of fantasy and Urban Fantasy literature. And filk singer. Started out as a Fanfic writer.

She sometimes writes with other authors, including her husband, Larry Dixon, who also illustrates her work.

She was and is also an avid player of City of Heroes.


 * Numerous books in a fantasy world of her own devising named Velgarth; most of them focus on The Kingdom of Valdemar and its allies. Called the Heralds of Valdemar series on this wiki, since we couldn't think of anything better.
 * The Mage Wars trilogy, which describes events in the prehistory of the setting
 * The Last Herald-Mage trilogy
 * The Collegium Chronicles the latest series
 * Brightly Burning, a standalone novel detailing the story of Lavan Firestorm, a historical character mentioned in the Arrows trilogy.
 * The Vows and Honor series, two novels and a collection of short stories featuring Heterosexual Life Partners Tarma and Kethry
 * Exiles' Honor and Exiles' Valor, two prequel novels about a soldier-turned-teacher-and-bodyguard
 * To Take a Thief, a prequel novel about a street thief-turned-Herald
 * Arrows trilogy
 * By The Sword, a novel linking Vows and Honor with the main Valdemaran series
 * Mage Winds trilogy
 * Mage Storms trilogy
 * Darian's Tale trilogy
 * Four urban fantasy series, all of which take place in the same universe:
 * Three horror novels featuring magical Guardian/romance novelist Diana Tregarde
 * The SERRAted Edge books, involving elves, car racing, and lots of child abuse. The main characters do their best to end the child abuse whenever they detect it. Since several of them are elves (and car racers, too), their best is pretty good.
 * The Bedlam's Bard books, which follow the development of a very powerful Bard; he also associates with elves a lot.
 * The Elizabethan series The Doubled Edge, which is the backstory of the elven politics in the Serrated Edge and Bedlam's Bard series, and is a retelling of the life of Queen Elizabeth from her birth to her crowning, and her association with the elves.
 * Elemental Masters series, about hidden mages in post-Victorian England (with one set in California). These are based somewhat loosely on fairy tales.
 * Several retellings of not-in-the-common-lexicon mythological stories.
 * The Firebird
 * The Black Swan (Swan Lake from Odile's point of view)
 * The Dragon Jousters novels: A series involving a new world based on Bronze Age Egypt, where persons who can tame and ride the wild dragons of the land are sort of the ultimate weapon. The main character is a dragon tamer named Kiron (AKA Vetch). Novels in this series:
 *  Joust (2003) 
 *  Alta (2004)
 *  Sanctuary (2005)
 *  Aerie (2006)
 * Bardic Voices, a fantasy series about a group called "The Free Bards," essentially the non-union alternative to their world's Bardic Guild; some of them also have Magic Music. This was based on her writing the novelization of the original Bard's Tale video game; she wanted to expand on the Magic Music idea.
 * If I Pay Thee Not in Gold, co-written by Piers Anthony, about a world whose magic powers change hands every few generations, just long enough for most people to forget that society was ever different. Those with the magic of course make the rules, and in the heroine's country it's in the hands of women, hence a matriarchal society where most men are slaves. There are other magical races as well, including a race of "demons" who change gender when they have sex, and die if their partner is unfaithful.
 * The Obsidian Trilogy, a fantasy trilogy done in conjunction with James Mallory about a coming war with demons. Later they released The Enduring Flame Trilogy, set a thousand years later.
 * Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms, a romantic series set in a world governed by the Tradition, a magical force that causes certain people's lives to follow folkloric motifs (Cinderella, Snow White, etc.) Much of the humor and conflict arises from the fact that the protagonists are often aware of the Tradition, and the truly skilled can deliberately invoke whichever tale or aspect of a tale will help them out of a tight spot.
 * Wing Commander: Freedom Flight (with Ellen Guon), the first novel based on the Wing Commander franchise. One of her few licensed novels, and the only one which stuck closely to the themes of the original game (the remainder, written primarily by a well-known military fiction author and conservative pundit, veer far more toward traditional Military Science Fiction).
 * The Halfblood Chronicles (with Andre Norton), a fantasy trilogy.
 * The Heirs of Alexandria, a Historical Fantasy series with Eric Flint and David Freer.
 * The Ship Who... Searched (with Anne McCaffrey)
 * Gwenhwyfar: The White Spirit: her take on Arthurian legend, told from the perspective of Arthur's queen.