Mercedes Lackey

Appearing Thu,Fri,Sat,Sun

Mercedes entered this world on June 24, 1950, in Chicago, had a normal childhood and graduated fromnPurdue University in 1972. During the late 70’s she worked as an artist’s model and then went into thencomputer programming field, ending up with American Airlines in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In addition to hernfantasy writing, she has written lyrics for and recorded nearly fifty songs for Firebird Arts & Music, a smallnrecording company specializing in science fiction folk music.n“I’m a storyteller; that’s what I see as ‘my job.’ My stories come out of my characters; how thosencharacters would react to the given situation. Maybe that’s why I get letters from readers as young asnthirteen and as old as sixty-odd. One of the reasons I write song lyrics is because I see songs as a kind ofn‘story pill’ — they reduce a story to the barest essentials or encapsulate a particular crucial moment inntime. I frequently will write a lyric when I am attempting to get to the heart of a crucial scene; I find thatnwhen I have done so, the scene has become absolutely clear in my mind, and I can write exactly what Inwanted to say. Another reason is because of the kind of novels I am writing: that is, fantasy, set in annother-world semi-medieval atmosphere. Music is very important to medieval peoples; bards are the chiefnnews bringers. When I write the ‘folk music’ of these peoples, I am enriching my whole world, whether Inactually use the song in the text or not.n“I began writing out of boredom; I continue out of addiction. I can’t ‘not’ write, and as a result I have nonsocial life! I began writing fantasy because I love it, but I try to construct my fantasy worlds with all thencare of a ‘high-tech’ science fiction writer. I apply the principle of TANSTAAFL [‘There ain’t no such thingnas free lunch’, credited to Robert Heinlein) to magic, for instance; in my worlds, magic is paid for, and thencost to the magician is frequently a high one. I try to keep my world as solid and real as possible; peoplendeal with stubborn pumps, bugs in the porridge, and love-lives that refuse to become untangled, rightnalong with invading armies and evil magicians. And I try to make all of my characters, even the ‘evilnmagicians,’ something more than flat stereotypes. Even evil magicians get up in the night and look forncookies, sometimes.n“I suppose that in everything I write I try to expound the creed I gave my character Diana Tregardenin Burning Water:n“There’s no such thing as ‘one, true way’; the only answers worth having are the ones you find fornyourself; leave the world better than you found it. Love, freedom, and the chance to do some good —nthey’re the things worth living and dying for, and if you aren’t willing to die for the things worth living for,nyou might as well turn in your membership in the human race.”