Tales of Valdemar #3

Crossroads and Other Tales of Valdemar

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An original short fiction anthology set in Mercedes Lackey's bestselling world of Valdemar-featuring heroic Heralds and their horselike companions-and including an all-new novella by Lackey herself, as well as stories by other masters of the fantasy genre.

This anthology includes:
Introduction by Mercedes Lackey
Transmutation by Larry Dixon
The Feast of the Children by Nancy Asire
Death in Keenspur House by Richard Lee Byers
Dawn of Sorrows by Brenda Cooper
Horse of Air by Rosemary Edghill
A Change of Heart by Sarah A. Hoyt and Kate Paulk
All the Ages of Man by Tanya Huff
War Cry by Michael Longcor
Strength and Honor by Ben Ohlander
The Blue Coat by Fiona Patton
Safe and Sound by Stephanie Shaver
Song for Two Voices by Janni Lee Simner
Finding Elvida by Mickey Zucker Reichert
Darkwall’s Lady by Judith Tarr
Naught but Duty by Michael Z. Williamson
Landscape of the Imagination by Mercedes Lackey

338 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 6,2005

This edition

Format
338 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published
December 6, 2005 by DAW
ISBN
9780756403256
ASIN
0756403251
Language
English
Characters More characters
  • Tarma

    Tarma

    ...

  • Kethry

    Kethry

    ...

  • Treyvan

    Treyvan

    Gryphon friend of Darkwind and mate to Hydona. He has known Darkwind since Darkwind was a child....

About the author

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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 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


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