MERCEDES-LACKEY Digest 1125 Topics covered in this issue include: 1) Re: Sword of Ice by Chris & Sean Talbot 2) Re: Musical instruments in Valdemar-- by Jennifer Wrenn 3) Re: Monster Braid, TAKE COVER! by Taeyana-+AT+-aol.com 4) Unexpected Song/Misty's music/keyboards/other musical notes (sorry! I couldn't resist!) by "John and Kara Pekar" 5) Re: the Last Straw by Mark Severson 6) I'm Baaack ! by Nyonya Aman 7) Re: JH & ValSpeak by KayCeeFour-+AT+-aol.com 8) music... by cjkocher-+AT+-spectra.net 9) Re: Sword of Ice by AERDEN-+AT+-delphi.com 10) Un-subscribing by mrtmh-+AT+-primenet.com ('Reesa/Glenna) 11) lifebonds by kholder-+AT+-dutch.worc-acad.pvt.k12.ma.us (kali holder) 12) Re: Barbies/the last straw/stuff about predjudice/bits and piece by "JAIME HATHAWAY" 13) Re: Unexpected Song/other musical notes by EmiGryphon-+AT+-aol.com 14) Re: Barbie Clothes by merdowynn-+AT+-juno.com (Rev. Richard E. Smith) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 5 Mar 1997 21:13:21 -0500 From: Chris & Sean Talbot To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-herald.co.uk Subject: Re: Sword of Ice Message-ID: <199703060213.VAA09921-+AT+-relief.idirect.com> At 04:21 AM 3/3/97 GMT, you wrote: > My wonderful husband bought me a copy of the other day, >and I've finally gotten around to reading it. So far I think the story >about the Herald trapped in the mine cave-in is the best one of the lot. >Right now I'm in the middle of the one about the arsonist who set the >theatre on fire. Will keep you all posted. (g) I agree about the Devils Mouth Cave. It was by far my favorite. I loved that story almost as much as some of the books. Though I must admit my very favorite is the one about the old lady and her grand daughters. That is the best one though it made me think of why it would happen. Sorry I don't know if you had read that one. Hope I didn't give anything away. Aistes ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 05 Mar 1997 21:06:31 -0500 From: Jennifer Wrenn To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-herald.co.uk Subject: Re: Musical instruments in Valdemar-- Message-ID: <1.5.4.32.19970306020631.0066417c-+AT+-atlonline.com> At 12:27 AM 3/6/97 GMT, you wrote: >Catherine wrote: >Can anyone tell me if they use any sort of keyboard instrument(s) in >Valdemar, e.g. piano, organ or equivalent thereto? I can't recall any >mention of such in any of the Valdemar books but my memory may be faulty. I haven't noticed any kind of instruments like those, but I've kinda wondered myself why there weren't any. I've come to the conclusion that keyboard instruments, even if they were developed, wouldn't be used much, because so much of the music in Valdemar is played by the Bards and Minstrels, who have to travel a lot (can you imagine trying to lug a huge grand piano around on a circuit?!). But I bet the Bards sure would have a lot of fun with one, I know I do! I seem to recall someone talking about lifebonds in RL, a while back. I would just like to contribute a little example here: My 'significant other' and I seem to be so closely in tune sometimes that I will answer his question -before- he asks it. Maybe coincidence, if it had only happened once, but this has happened with a somewhat frightening regularity. Now, I'm NOT saying that we are lifebonded (though I could wish, romantic that I am), but that kind of closeness is the closest thing to one I've ever experienced (and I'm only 18!). I think lifebonds, or something similar in intimacy, could exist here in RL, but I don't know that people here are really receptive much to that sort of thing. 'Tis sad, but true, methinks. People so often have too many other trivial worries that sort of edge out the big ones like love. Anyways, that's my semi-rant on the state of humanity and my deep philosophical thought for the day, so I'll leave you all to ponder. Zhai'helleva, listsibs! Nightsong jwrenn-+AT+-atlonline.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Mar 1997 23:11:08 -0500 (EST) From: Taeyana-+AT+-aol.com To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-herald.co.uk Subject: Re: Monster Braid, TAKE COVER! Message-ID: <970305231049_-1774582109-+AT+-emout07.mail.aol.com> ::Rolls her eyes and gives Akiko to the one eyed glare with her green eye, then opens up her blue one and gives "Akuta" ((Sp?)) a two eyed glare:: I do not lurk, shadows are my friends, I am POed at you now, and I yank your braid REALLY hard now. ::Chuckles::I have only been on the list for a few days, so give me a break. 'Kiko- >>What do you think *I* am doing? See, I did not use contractions. I >>am obsessed with Data, the most lovable android in Science Fiction history. >>And I'm also obsessed with Star Trek. Oops. The Trek writers made a mistake >>in that last sentence! ::gags::Yeah, just kinda obsessed with him. Look I know 'Kiko, we go to the same school, and she is so totally "chippy" over Data. (Sorry, Akiko, couldn't help that pun) She even stands like him, walks like him, and talks like him. ::rolls her eyes:: At least 'Kiko has stopped rhyming every other word. I fear that we won't get the "Data syndrome" out of her by the time she leaves for Japan. ::pouts:: She gonna leave!!!! WAHHHH. ::grins::Sorry. But, if you want to get something to 'Kiko before that forementioned month, E-mail me, outside of the list please! I read this stuff normally only on the weekends. Apologies for that, but the rest of the week is *Way* to busy to read them every day, or every other day for that matter. Anyway, I guess this is just me saying hello, and that I am really not sane, One of my slogans is "Alcatraz, Outpatient, Pshyco Ward" ::grins:: Well, I am an odd persona, very Indian mixed with Celtic heritage, and just a splattering of French. and since I tend to do alot on getting to one's roots, I do lots of weird things that mix all of my heritage. So, if I break into an Indian war dance while singing a Celtic chant and poking someone with a French sword, you now know why. By the way I also do alot of the different languages thing. Some I made, some other people made, and some things that just plain are. ::shruggs:: By the way, I was hyper when I wrote this so if it sounds odd, it isn't my fault, really, it is hers ::points to one of her other personalities:: ::Grins::Kidding, though sometimes you wouldn't believe that one.... Oh, and if the spelling sucks sorry... "A good speller is the sign of an organised person, and organised people are so totally sane." ::smiles and shruggs::I just am a *really* bad speller. Slainte agus slaiorse. Ummm, health and freedom, if and only if I remember my Gaelic correctly... Taeyana Aka- Black Dragon, Lady Chaos, Feathered and Beaded Braid Wearer. ::grins::I will have to explain those later, I assume... next post, cause I have to get off now... ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 6 Mar 1997 00:33:49 -0500 From: "John and Kara Pekar" To: "MISTY" Subject: Unexpected Song/Misty's music/keyboards/other musical notes (sorry! I couldn't resist!) Message-ID: <199703060537.AAA28699-+AT+-nessie.crosslink.net> Heyla, all! I'm going to keep this short tonight, because it's really late. (huge sighs of relief are heard from various quarters of the room...) Re: "Unexpected Song" from Andrew Lloyd Weber's _Song and Dance_ IIRC, the relationship described in this song doesn't last, so that would rule out it being about a lifebond. It *is* a beautiful song, though. I heard it sung by Bernadette Peters on a special about Weber's music, and couldn't get it out of my head for weeks. Re: Misty's music Thanks for the reviews, positive and negative. I'm intrigued enough to put the music on my "someday, when I have time" list. I agree with the folks who weren't crazy about some of the lyrics, though...Some seem really awkward, even contrived; others just don't seem to be song material to me, or at least not the sort of songs I think of when I think of Valdemaran music. Re: keyboards? I don't recall a single mention of keyboard instruments anywhere in any of the Velgarth books. Gitterns (which I assume are basically guitar-like); 12-string gitterns, which are invented during MPromise by the instrument-maker who sells Van an instrument for Medren (can't remember whether it was a lute or a gittern); lutes; pipes of various sorts (shepherds', which might be like panpipes, and probably something like recorders); drums, IIRC the Midwinter celebration Talia attends with Jadus, and Tarma uses one as well; harps, like My Lady; flutes, maybe? but no keyboard instruments. I suspect it's only a matter of time before one of the artisan-Blues with an interest in music comes up with something, though. Come to think of it, I don't recall any woodwinds, either, other than pipes and maybe flutes. There must be some sort of brass instruments, or at least horns (made of horn); those are indispensible in war. One thing I've been speculating about is what the music of the different peoples sounds like. I've assumed that Valdemaran music is basically like British or Appalachian folk music, because of the style of most of the lyrics at the end of the books. But what scales/modes do the Shin'a'in use? How about the Tayledras? What earthly music might their two musics sound most like? (I know there are some Shin'a'in songs in V&H, but I haven't heard them, which I guess leaves me free to speculate. ) What about the Karsites? Heavily religious cultures often use a lot of music in their worship, so I would expect the Sun Priests to chant Gregorian-style, if nothing else. Anyone else want to make a suggestion? Well, I said I'd keep it short, and I almost kept my promise! Since I seem to have music on the brain tonight (as ever), I gift all insomniac listsibs with a small choir of softly singing sheep, who know every lullaby you ever loved, even if you've forgotten it. Sleep well! Wind to thy wings, Kara "So many books, so little time" ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 05 Mar 1997 21:40:28 -0800 From: Mark Severson To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-herald.co.uk Subject: Re: the Last Straw Message-ID: <331E58CC.7104-+AT+-eonet.com> This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --------------27784C7160E Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Tax Zombie here, I am attempting to link a copy of the file of the Last Straw to this message. I haven't tried this before so it will probably fail. If it does and you wish to read "The Last Straw" which I STRONGLY suggest you do - then you should go to the Firebird Music website. It is listed under Misty's name. Read it, understand it. There are some really sick people out in this world. Some of them have decided to try and make her life a living hell. Read the last straw. If you find yourself offended by it then I think you had better do a reality check. Remember - her books are fantasy - not reality. the tax zombie has spoken - I hereby promise to burn my soap box. but seriously people - read it. --------------27784C7160E Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline; filename="M0pho4d0.htm" Here's the deal. Most of the people who are going to read this are nice people. Some are nice people who are a little flaky, but that's cool. Some are nice people who are a LOT flaky, but that's cool, too. But some are not nice people, and they have real problems. A few of these are dangerous, and want to manipulate and hurt other people, including us. We just learned something recently that just happened to be.... THE LAST STRAW Mercedes Lackey This is going to offend some people. These are the people who most need to read this. This definitely has needed to be said for a long time. We're writers. We write fiction, which is, by definition, NOT FACT. Creative and entertaining lies, if you will, but still not truth by any kind of stretch of the imagination. So, we've written over 40 books, of which a grand total of three are dark fantasy that involve the occult, "real" psychic powers, and nonstandard religions. So what attracts so much trouble and so many lunatics you'd think it was a "Free beer and come as your favorite psychosis party" in downtown L.A.? You've got it. The "Diana Tregarde Investigations." Take, for instance, the undeniable fact that I haven't written (and at this point, don't intend to write) any more of them. Why? THEY DON'T SELL. The numbers are there in black and white. DT books are consistently and vastly outsold by every other type of fantasy we write. Now some people would decide that there was an Evil Force out there preventing the sale of their glorious books and determine to thwart that force and PROVE how wonderful the "unpopular" books are, but hey, call me nutty, but I believe that people are trying to tell you something when they don't buy a book, and that is, THEY DON'T WANT THEM! Why should we write something people don't want? If every hardcore Diana Tregarde fan bought fifty copies of each book, I could afford to maybe buy a new VCR with the royalties. There are plenty of other people who are already writing books people don't want, and doing it in bigger numbers than we can! Just take a look at the remainder- racks! But, oh, the rumors! Conspiracy theories that would make Oliver Stone burst into tears of envy! Someone periodically starts a rumor that the publisher is "suppressing" the books---the fact is, that like me, they want to publish books that are going to compete with our more popular series. Another is that they have been published, but a fundamentalist group bought them all so no one else could read them, ignoring the fact that if anyone bought an entire print-run of anything, it would be on the New York Times bestseller list! Or my favorite two rumors, that appeared IN THE SAME WEEK, one that Larry was a fundamentalist who was preventing me from writing them, and a rumor that Larry was an evil pagan who was preventing me from writing them! Then there are the letters taking me to task for not following the letter-writer's own particular brand of politically correct neopaganism. THESE BOOKS ARE ENTERTAINMENT ONLY, PEOPLE! I'M NOT RUNNING A RECRUITMENT BUREAU, HERE! And if YOU want a book featuring YOUR favorite brand of religion, YOU go out and write and try to sell one, and good luck and don't let the door hit you on the way out! They were written at the time when horror was outselling everything else, and hey, I wrote them to make money. We've got a mortgage to pay. I suppose by some people's standards that is a heinous crime, but I'm sorry for offending your delicate little sensibilities. Actually, no I'm not. Get a life, get a grip, and grow a spine; you all ought to know by now that we don't do PC. Then there are the people who insist that the Guardians are real. Hey, if there really were Guardians, you'd see panicky skinheads buying up the Rogaine supply like the KKK at a white sale. There'd be no such thing as a crooked televangelist, when they'd have real demons popping in on their shows to tell them where they were REALLY going. "But Guardians must be real," comes the cry, "How could you make something like that up?" Oh for crying out loud, an "occult police force" is one of the oldest gizmos in horror fiction! The Nine Unknown Men, the Hunting Lodges, the White Lodges, Dr. Orient, Agatha Christie's Harley Quinn, to name a few; there's been more good and bad books involving occult "police" than there have been books about vampires! That's FICTION, people! Do you really, truly, think that if there WERE an "occult police force" they'd have let those kids in Florida kill their mother and drink her blood, that they'd let kiddie- porn and snuff-film makers continue to operate, or that they WOULDN'T make it their business to track down and dispose of serial killers? What're these guys supposedly doing, punishing junk-bond dealers? The thing is, on one level I can sympathize with people who would really like to believe that Guardians are real. The world is a scary place, and more and more scary things are happening in it, things that really look as if there was a single evil hand behind it all. Hey, I wish there were Guardians! I also wish for peace, prosperity and an end to war. There's about an equal chance for either. But now we get a little more into the shallow end of the reality pool, because some of these people claim that the Guardians are this big, cohesive group watching over everything. As far as that goes, in MY books, the Guardians aren't even organized! They're about as cohesive a group as a herd of grasshoppers! The closest thing to "organization" they have is when two of them run into each other at the Karaoke Club and find out they both want to sing "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park." There's NO group meetings, NO politics, no nothing---yet these same people have invented an entire complex hierarchy for them, complete with lodge meetings, secret handshakes, and decoder rings! Cripes! They aren't even reading the books, they're just reading what THEY want to see into the books! It gets stranger. A whole lot stranger. We aren't even in the reality pool, anymore, we're out in the crabgrass around it. There are people claiming to BE Guardians---and people who claim they would be Guardians if only some Evil Force wasn't keeping them from finding their own little Yoda and having their occult powers activated. Okay, I can even sympathize with this one, because I've been there too. When your life is in the crapper, you can't get a job that doesn't involve a paper hat and a nametag, and you think that if you dropped off the planet no one would miss you for weeks, it's comforting to believe that all your misfortunes can be blamed on an Evil Occult Force. I had myself talked into that one for a while, but at one critical point I had what the Twelve Step groups call "a moment of clarity," when someone else who had bought into the delusion began coming up with things I knew just weren't true and I realized that the world is what it is, and it doesn't take an evil force to make it that way--- and that I was doing a better job of keeping myself unemployed than any Evil Occult Force could. That's when I forced myself to admit that I had the best chance of making my life better if I just got a good suit from Goodwill instead of wearing costumes, pounded the pavement looking for work instead of waiting for a Dream Job to be given to me, and put more and smarter effort into realistic goals, like learning computer programming instead of spending all my time staring at a candle and trying to contact my Personal Psychic Trainer. That's when I also realized that I really liked making up the stories, so I didn't give them up, I just stopped telling myself they were real. And I started writing them down, which was a lot more fun when other people started to read them and told me how good they were. But guys, people who tell you that they are Guardians never made that jette back to coolsville (To quote Dennis Miller). They're still in a wobbling pirouette that's taking them straight into the orchestra pit. And here we go right off the end of the bell curve, because the same lunatics who say that they are Guardians are bound and determined that I am a Guardian! Jeez Louise, if I had occult powers, would I be sitting here writing my ass off for a living? Heck no, I'd be out in Vegas in the VIP suite with half a dozen semi-naked chorus boys feeding me caviar, that's where I'd be! I'd be cruising the Bahamas on the way to my own tropical island. I'd have a mansion and fifty servants, and the biggest aviary outside of a zoo, that's what I'd have, and I'd have more semi-naked chorus boys to do all the cage- cleaning and feeding for me! Meanwhile Larry would be winning Le Mans and Sebring in his unbreakable Lotus (a real occult miracle), and on the side he'd be having one-man shows at the Guggenheim and his personal Ford Indygo would be winning the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. Oh, and he'd also take a few hours off to do some hawking with his Ornate Hawk-Eagle, taking the prizes for high- catch of the day, of course. I'd write for fun, when I felt like it, and not every day, eight hours a day, seven days a week. Have we got that straight, all you cosmic cupcakes? Do you think if I had occult powers I wouldn't have KNOWN those freaks in Oklahoma City were going to blow up a building with a day-care center full of kids in it practically in my own back yard and have DONE something before it happened? Do you think if I had occult powers I wouldn't have warned my friends in Los Angeles to be somewhere else when the Northridge Quake busted loose? Or warned my parrot-breeder friends in Florida to get their setups into concrete blockhouses long before Hurricane Andrew came through? For crying out loud, wouldn't I have KNOWN Larry's studio was going to have a fire, that our rearmost room was going to flood, that his car was going to have a wreck, and that our garage was going to get hit with a tornado???? Wouldn't I have DONE something to avoid these things? And just because those things all happened, that DOESN'T mean that I have these cosmic powers and I either LET them happen or MADE them happen because I am evil! Shoot, if you're looking for someone with Major Occult Powers, try someone like Dick Clark---filthy rich, no scandals, and he looks HOW old? Or Paul McCartney, who hasn't aged a day since 1972. The guy that invented Pet Rocks---geez, how many of us did he sucker into buying a road-rock in a cardboard box? Had to have been occult powers. Or--- it has to be the way the world works. Reality check time, people, here's a whole ROLL of quarters, there's the clue machine, GO BUY SOME. And people, why would someone who belonged to a super-secret high-risk occult-society with amazing powers at her beck and call be stupid enough to draw the attention of all the Bad Guys by WRITING ABOUT IT? "Hello? Is anyone paying attention? Oh, no---well, let me just run up a GREAT BIG SIGN that says 'Guardian here! Come and get me!'" Just what was that supposed to accomplish? Was I supposed to be looking for other Guardians? But if I BELONGED ALREADY to this so-called "Inner Circle" why would I be looking for them? Was I supposed to be recruiting new Guardians? Guys, that gag is straight out of THE LAST STARFIGHTER. Yeah, that's a good idea, Gunga Din; let's just raise our profile a lot higher for the Bad Guys to shoot at, and meanwhile, we'll sort through all the mail from every guy who ever wanted to levitate and shoot lightning bolts "Just like in the comic books." Hey, we'll find a LOT of potential Guardians that way! Now at this point, if you've somehow been sucked into a group like I've described, and you've raised these objections, your Fearless Leader the Great Cranko is saying, "Well of course she'd say THAT, she wouldn't want to blow her cover"---like it wouldn't already have been blown higher than a palm tree at Bikini Atoll---but just how many of those "of course she'd say that"s are you going to accept before your logic circuit kicks in? Oh, it gets better! Not only am I a Guardian, but I'm supposedly the source of (or involved in) political corruption among the Guardians. The Old Order has gone bad and is trying to suppress the Young Turks (you know, if I tried to write that plot, my editors would reject it as being too trite). I helped organize some whoop-de-ding spell- casting session to "burn out" all of those who wouldn't follow and obey us. And it's time to destroy the Old Order to make way for the New, Pure of Heart, Full of---well, it rhymes with "hit." Follow and obey ME? I can't even get plumbers to finish fixing my pipes on time! Where the hell did this paranoid delusion come from? If there are any of you out there who have bought into THIS particular schizoid fantasy, I have some real harsh words for you. PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY. You are responsible for your OWN thoughts, actions, and attitudes, dudes and dudettes. Somebody else may preach these things, but YOU are the one responsible for hanging your logic out to dry, putting your brain on "record" and forgetting that you're supposed to think as well as believe. And if your "coven leader" is feeding you this line of garbage---when you READ that this is the last thing we would believe in, you SEE and HEAR that our books are preaching compassion and not trashin', and you can find out with no trouble whatsoever the amount of charity work we do---WHO DOES LOGIC SAY IS THE REAL BAD GUY? Whose ACTIONS are consistent with someone who does the right thing aswell as talking about it? Who goes out and tries to help, instead of blaming some poor fantasy writers for "oppressing him?" And kids, when he tells you that you are all going to have to destroy the old order to make way for the new---think REAL HARD for a minute. Those same words have been spoken by other people who got their followers to go out and do horrible things FOR them. People like Thomas Mitzger, Charles Manson and Jim Jones---people who worked up hysteria and paranoia among THEIR followers then sat back with folded hands while real blood flowed, and said, "but I am innocent, I haven't done anything!" Okay, so maybe all these guys want to do is have you all hold hands in a circle and try and give me a headache. Hey, knock yourselves out, have a good time, and don't drive home intoxicated afterwards. But maybe they want to manipulate you into doing something very bad in the real world. I've got news for you, kids. IF THEY DO, YOU ARE STILL RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN ACTIONS. YOU will go down; maybe embarrassment, maybe to jail---maybe to Death Row. Why? Because YOU handed over your brain and conscience to a would-be tin-pot dictator who gets his jollies out of manipulating people he thinks are weak- willed and suggestible suckers. And right now some of you are saying "oh that couldn't possibly happen among fans!" (or pagans, or whatevers). Guess again. It not only can, it already has. Within my own very limited circle of acquaintances, I PERSONALLY have VERIFIED with mundane sources---one man ennobled in the SCA who took on a contract-killing and is currently in prison for it, one man in fan circles who was convicted of child molestation and went to jail for it and died there, one man in RenFaire, sf-convention and pagan circles who was caught and convicted of multiple torture-murders, one man in fan and SCA circles who was caught and convicted of setting pipe-bombs in public buildings. That's just among people I knew. I'm not the only author who's had their fiction distorted like this, and it makes all of us want to track the creeps responsible down and pound them into the ground like tent pegs. But WE are adult, compassionate, responsible (there's that word again) human beings, and we know that would be wrong. So we sit in our offices and get death- threats and wonder which one of these loons is going to be THE one--- and if this time someone is going to get hurt. It might be the psycho himself, or it might be one of his followers who decides to show up. Maybe Aleister Junior will egg one of his followers into buying a Saturday Night Special and go blaze away at a book signing. Most of us writers are only partly worried about ourselves---because maybe what happens is an innocent fourteen- year-old flings herself into the line of fire, or is just standing there getting a book signed, and becomes a statistic. How the hell do you think we'd feel about THAT? I can tell you that there are at least some writers---or the people left behind (if it was the writer who got toasted)---who wouldn't sit in their offices and wring their hands afterwards. They'd track down the creep responsible, and for half an hour forget they were adult, compassionate, responsible human beings and turn him into a thin layer of red gel on the concrete. It would be wrong, but that's what they'd do. Want to make a judgement call on good and evil? Anyone who would be the instigator of something like that is hardly on the side of the angels. Anyone who causes that sort of disaster is propagating the real evil in the world, not some poor hacks writing thrillers to pay the mortgage. So before your local wizard who claims to be a Guardian or one of the Nine Unknown, or the leader of a Hunting Lodge gets you into anything deeper than some joyful, joyfilled celebrations of life, compassion, and all that is right and good in the world---maybe you'd better draw his attention to that paragraph about the thin layer of red gel. Because sometimes, boys and girls, what you think is a striped worm turns out to be the tail of a tiger and no magic is required. ### Now, for all of you who are still with me, if you encounter any of these people, DO NOT flame them, engage in arguments, post to their bulletin boards, or have anything whatsoever to do with them. If you meet them in the real world, DO NOT argue; just smile and nod, back away slowly, and when their attention is taken away, RUN LIKE HELL. These are unpredictable people, and they could decide that YOU are the embodiment of the great evil that is oppressing them. ----------------------------------- End of message from Mercedes Lackey- If you wish to write Mercedes concerning this post, you can contact her via postal mail: Mercedes Lackey P.O. Box 8309 Tulsa, OK 74101 USA Notes from Firebird Misty asked me to post this in our on line catalog after the latest round of problems with death threats. Given that there is an ongoing investigation into this matter by the FBI, the amount that I can say about it is limited. What bothered Misty more than the possibility of getting shot, or Larry getting shot, was the vision of some 14 year old fan standing in line at a book signing, getting into the line of fire and ending up dead or worse. I'll say it again: The idea that a fan of her work could end up in the wrong place, at the wrong time and end up dead or worse is what is driving the "Last Straw" letter. For the record Misty and I have been friends for close to two decades. She has in that time changed from working full time as a main frame programer for a large airline, to a well respected and successful writer in the fantasy world. Once she achieved a certain level of visibility, something strange started to happen. Odd people started crawling out of the woodwork. And some of these people were very, very odd. There were the old so-called friends who could not stand her successes. Vicious personal attacks came from people within Science Fiction & Filk fandoms. There were the SCA households that assumed that now that she had some books published, she was rich, and should give them funds to run their extended households. And got angry when she said no. There were the fanfic writers that wanted her to get them published, and got mad when she did not wave her magic wand and get them the publishing contract of their dreams. There was the real life tragedy that ended in a murder, suicide, and nearly ended up as a double murder, suicide. This incident started when Misty and her husband Larry Dixon sheltered a woman escaping a bad marriage and her child. This episode included: pipe bombs, people, (not just the woman's ex-husband), keeping Misty's house under surveillance. People with high powered rifles being run off the property in the middle of the night. Police that would not take the threats seriously. a unresponsive legal system, and a judge with attitudes firmly rooted in the neolithic age. The nut case involved tried to kill his ex-wife, and the people trying to help her. He only managed to kill his two year old daughter and the shoot himself. This was done on a court ordered visitation, despite everything Misty and Larry and the mother, and the lawyers could do. And then there were the pagans. Once the Diana Tregarde books were published, every pagan nut (please note, the nut applies to specific pagans, not to all pagans) with an ax to grind decided that the portrayal of magic in the books was not correct. Some of these people did not take no for an answer, and when their dearly held believes were not accepted and enshrined in the Diana Tregarde books, they got nasty. Big time nasty. Death threats, curses, hate mail directed at Misty. Once it was clear that these avenues were blocked, or at least ineffective, some enterprising souls started going after people close to Misty. They tried to get to her through Larry, Firebird, family, and friends. The problem is not SF fans, or pagans. The problem is with people who have boundary problems. People who are not real clear on where to draw the line between their own life, and their favorite author's life. Most of Misty's fans are good caring people, who would never think of stepping over the line. However, and this is a big however, there are people out there who are incapable of recognizing where the lines are drawn. These people range from annoying, to the truly deadly. And it is impossible to tell them apart. This latest death threat is being taken seriously. It threatens Misty, Larry, and anyone who is with her. How would you like to be standing in line at a book signing when the nut with a gun or a bomb shows up trying to take Misty out? What? It could never happen? People don't do that? Remember the two year old that ended up with a bullet through her head? Not a character in one of Misty's books. But a real world small child that lived under Misty & Larry's roof, played with their cats, pulled the tails of the parrots, and never hurt anyone in her life. A small child Misty and Larry tried to protect. Dead. Brains splattered all over the crib. Too graphic for you? You bet. True? You bet. And it could be you next. Is Misty angry? Yes, she's furious. Nuts out there have repeatedly threatened to kill her, her husband, their friends, and now the threat is to you, her fans. All over a set of characters in a fantasy book. Becoming a successful writer should not be equal to living in a war zone. This is the kind of treatment fans are dishing out to many of your favorite authors. Crazy fans are making Misty's life hell by projecting their own fantasies on her. By all means buy Misty's books, her music, Larry's art work. Enjoy the products of their creativity. Empathize with the characters, and the life situations that the characters find themselves in. But beware if you or anyone else starts confusing the characters with the author. . Do not give the nut cases any more power. The single most important thing you can do is avoid these nuts. Isolate them. Laugh at them from a distance. Don't let them into your life. Don't let yourself get taken by some charismatic lunatic with murder on the mind. And run like hell if anyone tries to get you to buy into their warped view of the universe. Teri Lee Firebird Music [Go to Index] [Go To Order Form] [Go To Help] [Go To New Items] [Go To On Sale] [Go To Mercedes Lackey Index] [Go To Celtic & Folk Music Index] [Go To Science Fiction & Fantasy Index] [Go To New Age Index] [Go To Filk Music Index] [Go To Native American Music Index] [Darwin Index] [Go To Tempest Index] [Go To Welsh Music Index] Copyright © 1997 Firebird Arts & Music of Oregon, Inc. --------------27784C7160E-- ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 06 Mar 1997 16:28:54 +1100 From: Nyonya Aman To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-herald.co.uk Subject: I'm Baaack ! Message-ID: <331E5616.43F1-+AT+-australia.net.au> Heyla , all ! Gods, how I've missed you guys ! Yeahyeah , this is the annoying Lady Z'hana :) back on line ! I was losing my sanity , raving about ML to my pal till she recoils in horror whenever I even TRY to talk to her about books ! So , I decided I was suffering from mailing-list deprevation ( Ack - get those coconuts matches and flamethrowers AWAY from me , this isn't ALL fluff ! Sheeps to all the anti-fluffists !) so , HERE I AM ! Okay , I've been doing some serious reading ( heck - I've been sneak-reading in class , right in front of the English teacher ! Besides , aren't they the ones getting all frothy at the mouth trying to make us read ? ) and I decided that my life didn't revolve around ML anymore ! ( looks of horror and cries of betrayal ) Any of you have this adventure game called Death Gate ? Y'know , the fantasy-magic game about his Patryn dude called Haplo who has runes on his body ? I finished the game pretty fast ( thanks to internet cheat codes ! ) and I liked the story line . On the weekend , me and the same friend ( y'know the one with Mistyphobia ) went romping round the mall to bookshops and stuff , then to my delight , I found novels about Death Gate!!! They're by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman - really cool books . There's a crazy magician in those books , one whose called Zifnab - you'll love'em ! He's so insane - he thinks his James Bond , then morphs into Luke Skywalker (ROTFL) I know , I'm crazy . So - you guys quickly grab those books and tell me who you think is crazier - Zifnab or Alfred ( this bumbling mage who faints in deadly situations instead of using his formidable magic !) -- Zhai'helleva Lady Z'hana Lakemba, Sydney NSW, Australia -- Wassalam Nyonya binte Aman Lakemba, Sydney NSW, Australia ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 6 Mar 1997 01:53:24 -0500 (EST) From: KayCeeFour-+AT+-aol.com Subject: Re: JH & ValSpeak Message-ID: <970306015323_140145458-+AT+-emout18.mail.aol.com> myktshr-+AT+-ldd.net (miyako hirao) wrote: > JH was > an experience I don't care to repeat if I had the choice. I've ranted about > this before, but the way they speak -- it's just unnatural, to me. English > wasn't meant to be spoken that way. Maybe it's not English at all If the way the characters talked bothered you because you thought it was unrealistic, it wasn't. People did and still do talk just as the characters did in Jinx High. It started as a local dialect. I first encountered people who spoke like this growing up in Calif. At first it was mainly young people who spent most of their lives on the beach (surfers, dropout, etc.), but it soon became a way of talking for white teens in the Los Angeles-San Diego area. To the rest of the world, it became known as ValSpeak through the medium of two movies; "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" and "Valley Girls". These two movies made it seem like only people from the Valley (San Fernando Valley) spoke like this. Unfortunately, it was further spread than that. The upswing was that most people grew out of it and stopped speaking that way. However, because fo the movies, some people thought everyone in Calif. talked like that or that it was cool to speak that way and the fad spread across the country. "ValSpeak" is still in vogue throughout the parts of the U.S., mainly in high schools (and prep schools) in white, affluent neighborhoods. It is mainly used as a "social dialect" rather than a regioanl dialect. It's use identifies the speaker as belonging to a particular social group. It is a portable method of social distinction used in the same way clothing is used. Similar to the way "Public School English" and "Rhyming Slang" are/were used in Britain to identify a speaker with his social class. I believe it falls under the heading, Cen correct me if I'm wrong, of a patois. Misty obviously had been exposed to speakers of ValSpeak, because never once while reading the book, did I, *with apologies to all* a former Val Boy, ever once think any of the characters speech patterns were unreal or unbelievable. Now, granted that JH is not the best of Misty's work, but if your only problem with it is the way the kids talked, well, I sorry, but it is a form of speech still currently in use. You don't have to like it, but you should be aware that it is valid. KC KayCeeFour-+AT+-aol.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 06 Mar 1997 03:04:04 -0500 From: cjkocher-+AT+-spectra.net To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-herald.co.uk Subject: music... Message-ID: <331E7A74.6076-+AT+-spectra.net> > I don't recall a single mention of keyboard instruments anywhere in > > any of the Velgarth books. Nope... no keyboards or related instruments, which is usually the case in fantasy stories... I honestly can't think of a single story/world/author where a piano as we know it is used or even mentioned in a storyline. > pipes of various sorts > (shepherds', which might be like panpipes, and probably something like > recorders) I would also think tin whistles or anything easily made from a strong reed or hollow branch. > There must be some sort of brass instruments, > or at least horns (made of horn); those are indispensible in war. Definitely horns of some kind are used... specific reference is found in BTS ... near the end ... horns signal retreats, attacks, prepare-to-charge ... I don't remember any musical use of brass being mentioned however... I've assumed that Valdemaran music is basically like > British or Appalachian folk music, because of the style of most of the > lyrics at the end of the books. Accurate guess I would think... the lyrics do fit the folk-ballad-troubadour style ... perhaps medieval folk music? This too might give a reason for no keyboard instruments... in our world, the piano came along much later than other instruments too... But what scales/modes do the Shin'a'in > use? How about the Tayledras? What earthly music might their two musics sound most like? I would say a combination of celtic and native american music. The harp and the instrument "played by striking the strings with tiny hammers" would suggest a celtic parallel, while the winds and "singing hawk's cry" would suggest a native american flute. The drums also suggest native american or celtic ... the larger drums being the kind found at powwows and smaller drums being similiar to the bodhran or perhaps the dumbek (middle eastern drum) ... As for scales/modes .... I'll think on that a bit more... > What about the Karsites? Heavily religious cultures often use a lot f music in their worship, so I would expect the Sun Priests to chant Gregorian-style, if nothing else. Anyone else want to make a suggestion? I would think old Spanish or Middle Eastern influences for Karse... it would certainly fit the language, which is described as being very beautiful... "liquid" was the exact term used. Excellent thread idea here!! Things have been *way* too quiet around here... ;) Crys -- ---------Christopher J. Kocher-------Crystal D. Sarakas-------- ----------------------cjkocher-+AT+-spectra.net--------------------- "Would anybody like to write a song with me now? A line at a time?" - Ray Davies, during a CompuServe chat "It is appallingly clear that our technology has surpassed our humanity." - Albert Einstein -------Ask about ordering information for "Ninth Aspect"------- ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 06 Mar 1997 07:04:01 -0500 (EST) From: AERDEN-+AT+-delphi.com To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-herald.co.uk Subject: Re: Sword of Ice Message-ID: <01IG698JSGTK9X3MOO-+AT+-delphi.com> On 5-MAR-1997 21:08:28.4 mercedes-lackey said to AERDEN Sword of Ice discusstion: me>I agree about the Devils Mouth Cave. It was by far my favorite. I Aistes--I haven't gotten to the story about the woman and her granddaughters yet. I was hit with a writing urge that I've surrendered to. (g) No, you didn't give anything away. I'm still trying to figure out how "Ironrose" got accepted for the anthology. Sigh. Say, has anyone been watching with Gillian Anderson? It's been on The Learning Channel all this week, and has had some fascinating stuff covered in it--bionic limbs, anti-agathics, FTL travel, terraforming, etc. I'm enjoying it. Chantal/Aerden Lady of the Order of Putzer Servants "Doubt is the basis of faith." --Malcolm Muldridge ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 6 Mar 1997 10:28:36 -0700 (MST) From: mrtmh-+AT+-primenet.com ('Reesa/Glenna) To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-vanyel.herald.co.uk Subject: Un-subscribing Message-ID: <199703061728.KAA07115-+AT+-primenet.com> Really quick and totally off-topic. Most of you don't even know me. *grin* That's what I get for lurking. In the hopes that I will soon have a part-time job to occupy my time, I'm going to unsubscribe from this list. If anyone wants to write me privately my email addy is mrtmh-+AT+-primenet.com I'm still on the Bower list, and I'm working at answering my personal e-mail. *grin* *hugs* You guys have fun. It was a blast. 'Reesa Lady In Green, Cat Person, and all-around nut-case. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< 'Reesa >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> We're just harmless historical nuts/ Who wear boiler- plate on our butts/ Who dress up in clothes from the 12th century/ To bash on each other with sticks and debris/ And make up the world's largest private ar-my... /Harmless historical nuts! "True Story" | Leslie Fish | Serious Steel >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< http://members.tripod.com/~LadyReesa/index.html ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 6 Mar 1997 14:54:14 -0400 From: kholder-+AT+-dutch.worc-acad.pvt.k12.ma.us (kali holder) To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-herald.co.uk Subject: lifebonds Message-ID: Nightsong (like the name) said: > My 'significant other' >and I seem to be so closely in tune sometimes that I will answer his >question -before- he asks it. Maybe coincidence, if it had only happened >once, but this has happened with a somewhat frightening regularity. I think that shows that you are really in tune with each other, I do that to my mom all the time. Also some time ago the relevence of acknowledgement (sp?, I'm truly a horrid speler ) in lifebonding (forgive me those who wish this discusion would just Die). I think that it is something that must be acknowledged to grow and become a "real" link. And why do Tayledras names recur throughout the sereases, like Firesong,the name of a mage in Winds and female scout in Magic.Hmmmm...maybe this has something to do with his "one-ness" and the fact that he is gender-balanced. Hmm Can people in Velgarth be re-incarnated into the opposite sex? Alright people chew on that. "May you see with eyes light in of everdark, may your mind walk free, unfettered, touching well and wisely, may you go in peace"--last fairwell of the Ghatti (I hope I remembered it right) Shadowsong ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 22:47:31 CST From: "JAIME HATHAWAY" To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-herald.co.uk Subject: Re: Barbies/the last straw/stuff about predjudice/bits and piece Message-ID: <2DC1A15F8-+AT+-future.judson.edu> > >Misty and Firebird are making Velgarth Barbie doll clothes. > > > > > Agreed. AUUGGHHHHH!!!!! Save us! Ok, I'm really sorry...I've been too busy to do anything but skim the posts....but.....BARBIE? Will someone please private email me with the specifics on this? Is this for real? Jacquelle jsjahath-+AT+-future.judson.edu "You broke your little ships." Lily to Picard Star Trek: First Contact ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 6 Mar 1997 17:32:25 -0500 (EST) From: EmiGryphon-+AT+-aol.com To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-herald.co.uk Subject: Re: Unexpected Song/other musical notes Message-ID: <970306173133_1613021002-+AT+-emout15.mail.aol.com> << Re: "Unexpected Song" from Andrew Lloyd Weber's _Song and Dance_ IIRC, the relationship described in this song doesn't last, so that would rule out it being about a lifebond. It *is* a beautiful song, though. I heard it sung by Bernadette Peters on a special about Weber's music, and couldn't get it out of my head for weeks. >> Well, even though the relationship doesn't last in the SONG part of song and dance, I believe that it does continue and resolve itself in the DANCE part. I could be wrong, but I think that's the way it is! <> The main reason that that instrument was something other that a 12 stringed glittern, and the part that was invented, was that they had metal strings instead of gut strings. Remembre, Master Dawson also had a 6 stringed one! ~*Ashkeiryana Moonbright ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 06 Mar 1997 17:44:52 EST From: merdowynn-+AT+-juno.com (Rev. Richard E. Smith) To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-herald.co.uk Subject: Re: Barbie Clothes Message-ID: <19970306.154350.5391.16.Merdowynn-+AT+-juno.com> sadly tis true the herald clothes are out there, see firebird, Misty listed below Last straw (in the Web page). It is SEXIST TOO, Ken as a herald barbie as something else. Thought of buying it for my Gay Bob Doll that an ex gave us for a yule joke gift. But well is it worth it to further line Misty's pockets and more than that de - leather my Bob? I can see bob mackey design a Son of the Sun outfit for Barbie next. MM Merdowynn ------------------------------ End of MERCEDES-LACKEY Digest 1125 **********************************