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Mercedes Lackey

Goodreads Author

Born

in Chicago, Illinois, The United States

Website

http://www.mercedeslackey.com

Twitter

MercedesLackey

Genre

Fantasy, Science Fiction, Music

Member Since

August 2024

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Mercedes entered this world on June 24, 1950, in Chicago, had a normal childhood and graduated from Purdue University in 1972. During the late 70's she worked as an artist's model and then went into the computer programming field, ending up with American Airlines in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In addition to her fantasy writing, she has written lyrics for and recorded nearly fifty songs for Firebird Arts & Music, a small recording company specializing in science fiction folk music.

"I'm a storyteller; that's what I see as 'my job'. My stories come out of my characters; how those characters would react to the given situation. Maybe that's why I get letters from readers as young as thirteen and as old as sixty-odd. One of the reasons I write song lyrics Mercedes entered this world on June 24, 1950, in Chicago, had a normal childhood and graduated from Purdue University in 1972. During the late 70's she worked as an artist's model and then went into the computer programming field, ending up with American Airlines in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In addition to her fantasy writing, she has written lyrics for and recorded nearly fifty songs for Firebird Arts & Music, a small recording company specializing in science fiction folk music.

"I'm a storyteller; that's what I see as 'my job'. My stories come out of my characters; how those characters would react to the given situation. Maybe that's why I get letters from readers as young as thirteen and as old as sixty-odd. One of the reasons I write song lyrics is because I see songs as a kind of 'story pill' -- they reduce a story to the barest essentials or encapsulate a particular crucial moment in time. I frequently will write a lyric when I am attempting to get to the heart of a crucial scene; I find that when I have done so, the scene has become absolutely clear in my mind, and I can write exactly what I wanted to say. Another reason is because of the kind of novels I am writing: that is, fantasy, set in an other-world semi-medieval atmosphere. Music is very important to medieval peoples; bards are the chief newsbringers. When I write the 'folk music' of these peoples, I am enriching my whole world, whether I actually use the song in the text or not.

"I began writing out of boredom; I continue out of addiction. I can't 'not' write, and as a result I have no social life! I began writing fantasy because I love it, but I try to construct my fantasy worlds with all the care of a 'high-tech' science fiction writer. I apply the principle of TANSTAAFL ['There ain't no such thing as free lunch', credited to Robert Heinlein) to magic, for instance; in my worlds, magic is paid for, and the cost to the magician is frequently a high one. I try to keep my world as solid and real as possible; people deal with stubborn pumps, bugs in the porridge, and love-lives that refuse to become untangled, right along with invading armies and evil magicians. And I try to make all of my characters, even the 'evil magicians,' something more than flat stereotypes. Even evil magicians get up in the night and look for cookies, sometimes.

"I suppose that in everything I write I try to expound the creed I gave my character Diana Tregarde in Burning Water:

"There's no such thing as 'one, true way'; the only answers worth having are the ones you find for yourself; leave the world better than you found it. Love, freedom, and the chance to do some good -- they're the things worth living and dying for, and if you aren't willing to die for the things worth living for, you might as well turn in your membership in the human race."

Also writes as Misty Lackey

Author's website ...more

50 posts
Mercedes Lackey's Blog

New Deluxe Valdemar Collection

I've been very fond of the idea of deluxe books for a long time, ever since I lusted over and finally bought the Red Book of Westmarch version of Lord of the Rings. And I wanted something like that for my own books.

Grandmaster Campaign Header Image

Grandmaster is all of the short stories from the Valdemar anthologies and the Companion, in one place, that I've written or Larry has written or Larry and I have written together.

Si Read more of this blog post »

41 likes · Like • 13 comments • flag

Published on September 11, 2024 14:54 • Tags: valdemar

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Combine Editions
Mercedes Lackey’s books

Average rating: 4.06 · 1,087,186 ratings · 40,162 reviews · 446 distinct works • Similar authors

	Arrows of the Queen (Heralds of Valdemar, #1) 4.13 avg rating — 40,166 ratings — published 1987 — 40 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Magic's Pawn (The Last Herald-Mage, #1) 4.20 avg rating — 28,715 ratings — published 1989 — 29 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Arrow's Fall (Heralds of Valdemar, #3) 4.19 avg rating — 24,570 ratings — published 1988 — 32 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Arrow's Flight (Heralds of Valdemar, #2) 4.13 avg rating — 24,633 ratings — published 1987 — 44 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Magic's Price (The Last Herald-Mage #3) 4.26 avg rating — 22,896 ratings — published 1990 — 25 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Magic's Promise (The Last Herald-Mage #2) 4.22 avg rating — 22,463 ratings — published 1990 — 28 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	By the Sword (Valdemar, #9) 4.28 avg rating — 21,660 ratings — published 1991 — 30 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Fairy Godmother (Five Hundred Kingdoms, #1) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 19,557 ratings — published 2004 — 16 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Winds of Fate (Mage Winds, #1) 4.09 avg rating — 17,757 ratings — published 1991 — 31 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Oathbreakers (Vows and Honor, #2) 4.20 avg rating — 16,317 ratings — published 1989 — 22 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Mercedes Lackey…

Series by Mercedes Lackey

Elemental Masters (19 books)
by

Mercedes Lackey (Goodreads Author)

3.97 avg rating — 93,843 ratings

Valdemar: Vows and Honor (3 books)
by

Mercedes Lackey (Goodreads Author)

4.16 avg rating — 49,516 ratings

Valdemar: Collegium Chronicles (5 books)
by

Mercedes Lackey (Goodreads Author)

4.05 avg rating — 45,047 ratings

Valdemar: Mage Wars (3 books)
by

Mercedes Lackey (Goodreads Author),

Larry Dixon

3.99 avg rating — 40,224 ratings

Alberich's Tale (2 books)
by

Mercedes Lackey (Goodreads Author)

4.23 avg rating — 25,939 ratings

More series by Mercedes Lackey…

It's fair to say that Rebecca Yarros' Fourth Wing—a romance-laced fantasy about dragon-riding warriors—has become the hit book of the summer....

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Mercedes’s Recent Updates

Mercedes Lackey wrote a new blog post How do I publish and sell my finished revised fiction novel (250 pages)? First of all, unless your 250 pages are single, rather than double-spaced, this is not a novel. At best, it is a novella. But number of pages is essen Read more of this blog post »
Jan 23, 2026 10:22AM · like

More of Mercedes's books…

Quotes by Mercedes Lackey (?)

“If I'm walking on thin ice, I might as well dance my way across.”
― Mercedes Lackey

tags: humor

904 likes

“If only. Those must be the two saddest words in the world.”
― Mercedes Lackey

tags: past, regret

632 likes

“If it is stupid but it works, it isn't stupid.
(a Shin'a'in saying)”
― Mercedes Lackey, Owlknight

tags: stupid, stupidity, trying

368 likes

See all Mercedes Lackey's quotes »

Polls

For those who didn't get accepted into Hogwarts, what school/camp is your second choice?

J.K. Rowling

Camp Half-Blood

Rick Riordan

1084 votes, 29.8%

Screw school--I'm going to Narnia!

C.S. Lewis

424 votes, 11.6%

Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women

Ally Carter

194 votes, 5.3%

St. Vladimir's Academy

Richelle Mead

193 votes, 5.3%

Shadowhunter Academy

Cassandra Clare

144 votes, 4.0%

The School for Good and Evil

Soman Chainani

136 votes, 3.7%

Foxfire Academy

Shannon Messenger

119 votes, 3.3%

Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality

Gail Carriger

82 votes, 2.3%

Sunnydale High

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus Vol. 3 by Eric Powell

Joss Whedon

65 votes, 1.8%

Jade Mountain Academy

Tui T. Sutherland

63 votes, 1.7%

Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened

Trenton Lee Stewart

59 votes, 1.6%

Hecate Hall

Rachel Hawkins

52 votes, 1.4%

The House of Night

P.C. Cast

50 votes, 1.4%

The Covenant

Jennifer L. Armentrout

49 votes, 1.3%

Shadow Falls

C.C. Hunter

48 votes, 1.3%

Ever After High

Shannon Hale

44 votes, 1.2%

Battle School

Orson Scott Card

41 votes, 1.1%

School of America in Paris (SOAP)

Stephanie Perkins

40 votes, 1.1%

Artime

Lisa McMann

38 votes, 1.0%

Jedi Academy

Jeffrey Brown

37 votes, 1.0%

Mythos Academy

Jennifer Estep

34 votes, 0.9%

Roke School of Wizardry

Ursula K. Le Guin

34 votes, 0.9%

Spy School

Stuart Gibbs

33 votes, 0.9%

Tagis Praff School for the Magically Inclined

Charlie N. Holmberg

32 votes, 0.9%

Princess Academy

Shannon Hale

29 votes, 0.8%

Master High School

Lisi Harrison

28 votes, 0.8%

Bloor Academy

Jenny Nimmo

28 votes, 0.8%

Miss Cackle's Academy

Jill Murphy

28 votes, 0.8%

Lyle House

Kelley Armstrong

26 votes, 0.7%

Mount Olympus Academy

Joan Holub

24 votes, 0.7%

Ever After School

Shelby Bach

23 votes, 0.6%

Fairy Tale Reform School

Jen Calonita

23 votes, 0.6%

The Collegium

Mercedes Lackey

23 votes, 0.6%

Sword & Cross

Lauren Kate

21 votes, 0.6%

Larwood House

Diana Wynne Jones

17 votes, 0.5%

Princess School

Jane B. Mason

16 votes, 0.4%

Bunson and Lacroix's Boys Polytechnique

Gail Carriger

16 votes, 0.4%

Spence Academy

Libba Bray

16 votes, 0.4%

Great Rapscott School for the Daughters of Busy Parents

Elise Primavera

15 votes, 0.4%

Axis Institute for World Domination

Catherine Jinks

15 votes, 0.4%

Grimm Academy

Joan Holub

14 votes, 0.4%

Arkwell Academy

Mindee Arnett

13 votes, 0.4%

Dunwiddle Magic School

Sarah Mlynowski

13 votes, 0.4%

Stranje House

Kathleen Baldwin

12 votes, 0.3%

The Academy

Tera Lynn Childs

11 votes, 0.3%

Zetes Institute

L.J. Smith

11 votes, 0.3%

Avalon High

Meg Cabot

11 votes, 0.3%

Dunhammond Conservatory

Adi Rule

11 votes, 0.3%

Trident Academy

Debbie Dadey

10 votes, 0.3%

Academy for Monsters

Jennifer Finney Boylan

9 votes, 0.2%

St. Sophia's

Chloe Neill

8 votes, 0.2%

School of Fear

Gitty Daneshvari

8 votes, 0.2%

The Academy of the Airs

Toby Bishop

8 votes, 0.2%

Nerine Academy

Elissa Sussman

8 votes, 0.2%

Greenlaw College

Caroline Stevermer

7 votes, 0.2%

Wizard's Hall

Jane Yolen

7 votes, 0.2%

Animalgam Academy

Aimee Carter

7 votes, 0.2%

Cragbridge Hall

Chad Morris

7 votes, 0.2%

Evernight Academy

Claudia Gray

6 votes, 0.2%

Bathory Academy

Nancy A. Collins

5 votes, 0.1%

Dr. Critchlore's School for Minions

Sheila Grau

5 votes, 0.1%

Winterhaven

Kristi Cook

5 votes, 0.1%

Academy for Earth Space Command

Dan Krokos

3 votes, 0.1%

3642 total votes

93 comments

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Pick-a-Shelf: 2009-02 - Fantasy - What will you Read in February?	37	233	Feb 19, 2009 08:13AM
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Urban Fantasy: Looking for Recommendations: Non-Series Books	64	381	Oct 20, 2009 08:18PM

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