Mercedes Lackey | |
|---|---|
 Lackey at the 2018 Phoenix Comic Fest | |
| Born | (1950-06-24)June 24, 1950 (age 74)[1] Chicago,Illinois, U.S. |
| Occupation | Novelist, short story writer |
| Alma mater | Purdue University |
| Period | 1985–present |
| Genre | Fantasy |
| Notable works | Valdemar series |
| Spouse | |
| Website | |
| mercedeslackey | |
Mercedes Ritchie Lackey (born June 24, 1950) is an American writer offantasy novels. Many of her novels and trilogies are interlinked and set in the world ofVelgarth, mostly in and around the country ofValdemar. Her Valdemar novels include interaction between human and non-human protagonists with many different cultures and socialmores.
Her other main world is similar to Earth, but it includes clandestine populations of elves, mages, vampires, and other mythical beings. TheBedlam's Bard books describe a young man with the power to work magic through music; theSERRAted Edge books are about racecar driving elves; and theDiana Tregarde thrillers center on aWiccan who combats evil.
She has also published several novels re-working well-known fairy tales set in a mid-19th to early 20th century setting in which magic is real, although hidden from the mundane world. These novels explore issues of ecology, social class, and gender roles.
Lackey has published over 140 books and writes novels at a rate of 5.5 per year on average. She has been called one of the "most prolific science fiction and fantasy writers of all time."[2] In 2021, Lackey was named the 38thDamon Knight Grand Master.[3]
Lackey was born inChicago.[1] Her birth prevented her father from being called to serve in theKorean War.[4]
She placed her meeting withscience fiction at age 10 or 11, when she picked up her father's copy ofJames H. Schmitz'sAgent of Vega. She then readAndre Norton'sBeast Master andLord of Thunder and continued to read all of Norton's works. Lackey had difficulties obtaining enough interesting books from the public library to sate her passion for reading. She wrote for herself but without real direction or purpose until she attendedPurdue University. Lackey graduated from Purdue in 1972.[5]
While at Purdue, she took a one-on-one class of English Literature Independent Studies with a professor who was a fellowscience fiction fan. He helped her analyze books she enjoyed and then use that knowledge. Lackey then encounteredfan fiction, which further encouraged her writing. She began publishing work inscience fiction fanzines and then discoveredfilk and had some filk lyrics published byOff Centaur Publications.
Lackey submitted a story toSword and Sorceress, then sold the rewritten story toFantasy Book Magazine. Her first sale was toFriends of Darkover.[citation needed]
She metC. J. Cherryh throughfilk. Cherryh helped Lackey through 17 rewrites of 'Arrows'. During this time,Marion Zimmer Bradley included Lackey's short stories in an anthology,Friends of Darkover. Lackey claims to have been writing so much during this time that she had no social life at all. She divorced Tony Lackey, and eventually married Larry Dixon.[6]
Despite getting her own start as a fanfiction author, she and her agent forbade fan fiction based on her own books for many years, whether distributed offline or online. Lackey stated on her website[7] that this was due to the 1992 Marion Zimmer Bradley fan fiction affair, when a fan accused Bradley of copying the fan's work, and demanded writing credit and remuneration.[8] After several years, Lackey's policy permitted offline fanfic, but only if the author got a release form from Mercedes Lackey that said the author acknowledged that they were using characters that belong to Mercedes Lackey and that the author's work essentially became Mercedes Lackey's property to prevent "infringing on my right to make a living from my own imagination". As of 2009 this policy changed, permitting fan fiction to be licensed as derivative fiction under theCreative Commons umbrella.[9][10]
She married Anthony Lackey in 1972, and they divorced in 1990. In 1990, she marriedLarry Dixon.[1] The couple live outside ofTulsa, Oklahoma.[11]
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Lackey and Dixon have in the past worked inraptor rehabilitation. She refers to her variousparrots as her "feathered children". The afterwords to some of her books refer to rehabilitation andfalconry, and this interest has influenced and informed her writing. She also enjoysbeadwork, costuming, andneedlework. She claims, however, to be a "wretched housekeeper, and by and large an indifferent cook"[12] Besides this, she does radar-reading during tornado season. She helps support theAlex Foundation.
Historically, Lackey was active in thefilking community. She was a major contributor to an early album of space filk,Minus Ten and Counting. She has won fivePegasus Awards, mostly for her songwriting.[13] She was also active in theSociety for Creative Anachronism, and belongs to theGreat Dark Horde.
She participates in The Stellar Guild series published by Phoenix Pick. The series pairs bestselling authors like Lackey with lesser known authors in science fiction and fantasy to help provide additional visibility to them.
Mercedes Lackey was a protégée ofMarion Zimmer Bradley, and got her start writing short stories in Bradley's story collections. Other mentors include writers C. J. Cherryh andAndre Norton, along with her editor,Elizabeth (Betsy) Wollheim ofDAW Books.
Her earlier Velgarth novels are all solo projects, but later volumes in the Valdemar saga are illustrated by her husband Larry Dixon, and in many of her latest works he is also credited as co-author. Many of her other novels are collaborations. She has worked with fantasy authors Andre Norton (such as the Halfblood Chronicles), Marion Zimmer Bradley (such asRediscovery andTigers Burning Bright),Anne McCaffrey (such asThe Ship Who Searched), andPiers Anthony (If I Pay Thee Not in Gold). She has most recently writtenThe Obsidian Trilogy with historianJames Mallory; ahistorical fantasy series about an "alternative"Elizabeth I with romance writerRoberta Gellis; and theHeirs of Alexandria series withDave Freer andEric Flint.[6]
On August 3, 2021,Deadline reported that Radar Pictures had acquired the television rights to the Valdemar novels and thatTed Field would be Executive Producer on the series. The first season is being developed as an adaptation of theLast Herald-Mage trilogy.Kit Williamson and Brittany Cavallaro have been announced as writers and producers for the show.[14]
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