On June 24, 1950, Mercedes Lackey was born. Lackey’s tales of elves, dragons, wizards, and other fantastic creatures have made her an enormously popular fantasy author.
Lackey says that she first discovered science fiction and fantasy at the age of ten or eleven, browsing through the books in her father’s library, and she remembers Andre Norton as being an early favorite author. Lackey was a voracious reader, to the point that her local public library had a difficult time keeping up with her.
She began writing stories in childhood but had no serious thoughts of becoming a writer until her years at Purdue University, where a professor who was also a science fiction fan helped her begin to analyze the books she liked and to use her understanding of what worked and what didn’t in her own writing.
Shortly thereafter, Lackey discovered the worlds of fan fiction and filk music (roughly, folk music, but with SF/fantasy-themed lyrics), and became active in both communities. Her earliest professional publications were short stories published in the Sword and Sorceress series of anthologies edited by Marion Zimmer Bradley, who was an important early mentor for Lackey.
In 1987, Lackey published her first novel, Arrows of the Queen. Like much of Lackey’s work, it’s set in the fictional country of Valdemar and follows a young woman’s journey to becoming a member of the queen’s corps of guards.
Lackey has now written more than 30 novels in the Valdemar universe, usually in trilogies. The separate trilogies are linked, some more tightly than others, and collectively cover more than 3,000 years of Valdemar’s history. One of the most popular pieces of the Valdemar writing is the Vows and Honor trilogy, which grew out of Lackey’s early stories for the Sword and Sorceress books; the trilogy is about the adventures of Tamra, a powerful swordswoman, and Kethry, a sorceress of noble birth.
Lackey’s other large fictional universe is the Elves on the Road universe, which comprises about two dozen novels. It is much like our own world, but with the addition of elves and magic. Most of these books take place in the modern world, but the Doubled Edge sub-series, co-written with Roberta Gillis, beginning with This Scepter’d Isle, is a four-volume series following the rise to power of Queen Elizabeth I.
As with many fantasy writers, fairy tales are an important influence on Lackey’s writing, and she has written two series of novels directly inspired by classic fairy tales. In the Elemental Masters series, powerful wizards are able to control the four elements—fire, water, earth, and air—and each volume is a loose re-imagining of a fairy tale. The Fire Rose, based on Beauty and the Beast was originally published as a stand-alone novel, and has come to be known as “volume 0” of the series; the official volume 1 is The Serpent’s Shadow, inspired by Snow White.
TheTales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms series offers a more adult take on the romantic and sexual themes of fairy tales, and are aimed at readers who want a cross between fantasy and romance novels; the series begins with The Fairy Godmother.
Lackey is an unusually prolific writer, with almost 150 novels and short story collections to her credit. In part, that’s because she’s very comfortable with collaboration. She has edited several volumes of short stories/ by other authors set in her Valdemar universe; and several large series of novels have been co-written with authors.
The Heirs of Alexandria series, written by Eric Flint and Dave Freer, is set in Venice during the 1530s, as the characters become aware that magic and other ancient powers long thought to have vanished are reawakening; the series begins with The Shadow of the Lion. James Mallory is co-author of the Obsidian Universe novels, beginning with The Outstretched Shadow; it’s the story of a great war between the magical forces of good and evil.
Much more of Lackey’s writing is available at OverDrive.
Also This Week
June 22, 1940
Abbas Kiarostami was born. Kiarostami was an Iranian filmmaker whose career began with short films in the early 1970s. He came to international attention in the late 1980s as a leader of the Iranian New Wave. Kiarostami’s movies are often set in small villages, and frequently mix elements of fiction and documentary. In his 1999 film The Wind Will Carry Us, a group of documentarians plan to record the funeral practices of a remote village; when their intended subject lives longer than expected, they are forced to adapt to the village’s slower pace of life.
June 23, 1960
The Food and Drug Administration approved the use of Enovid as a contraceptive, making it the first officially approved oral contraceptive. In some states, it was difficult for women to access contraceptives; it wasn’t until 1972 that a Supreme Court ruling made “The Pill” available to all women in the United States. Enovid was eventually replaced by safer and more effective drugs and was taken off the market in 1988. In The Birth of the Pill, Jonathan Eig reports on the doctors who developed oral contraception, and the activists who fought for its approval by the FDA.
June 26, 1970
Nick Offerman was born. Offerman is an actor and writer, best known for his seven years on the sitcom Parks and Recreation. He is also a skilled woodworker, with a side business making furniture and small boats. Offerman’s ventures into movies have usually been in small roles, but he gets a rare leading role in Hearts Beat Loud, about a father and daughter who record a song that unexpectedly becomes a viral sensation.
June 27 is National PTSD Awareness Day
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a mental disorder that develops in response to traumatic events. Symptoms may include thoughts or dreams related to the event, flashbacks to the event, heightened responses to reminders of the event or attempts to avoid such reminders. In the United States, it’s estimated that about 7% of adults will experience PTSD at some point. Two groups who frequently experience PTSD are military veterans and survivors of sexual trauma. The Evil Hours by David J. Morris is a “biography” of PTSD, tracing the history of the disorder and its treatment.