This is the Mercedes Lackey FAQ. It is posted monthly to alt.books.m-lackey, or or about the 25th. Send all corrections, informations, and polite criticisms to : tpaulk@metronet.com Copies are also available through email by request, and will be available through FTP when a site is confirmed. Corrections: Last update: 10 September, 1995 Thanks to Scott (saverte) for the new MOTQ contact. Thanks to Jerry Cullingford for the third WWW page. HUGE thanks to Captain Fluffy (tpaulk@metronet.com) for taking over the FAQ from Tabbifli. Contents: 1. Order To Read? 2. How Can I Reach Her Or Other Fans? 3. She's Got Songs, Are They Recorded? 4. Does She Really Believe This? 5. Why No MU*s or FanFic? 6. Anything Else? A list of the Works of Mercedes Lackey can be found as FAQ (2 of 2). 1. In what order do I read her books? (For a complete list, see FAQ-Books) Most people suggest reading the books chronologically, except for the Velgarth novels, which is suggested to be read in published order. The FAQ book list has them in chronological order by series, which just happens to be the published order for all except the Velgarth and the Diana Tregarde novels. The Tregarde novels - publishing order Burning Water Children of the Night Jinx High The Velgarth novels - publishing order Heralds of Valdemar The Last Herald Mage Vows & Honor By the Sword The Mage Winds The Mage Storms Mage Storms and Mage Wars are being The Mage Wars written and published simultaneously. 2. Can I reach Mercedes Lackey anywhere? How about other fans? * Email - She has an address. As per her request, that address will not be published on the net.. If you have it, please don't post it. It's only polite. *Postal - Send mail to her at any of the following addresses. Please mark CLEARLY that it is for her C/O one of the addresses. Baen Books DAW Books TOR Books P.O. Box 1403 375 Hudson Street 49 West 24 Street Riverdale, NY 10471 New York, NY 10014 New York, NY 10010 Queen's Own Firebird Music High Flight PO Box 132 P.O. Box 14785 P.O. Box 8309 Shiloh, NJ 08353 Portland, OR 97214 Tulsa, OK 74101-8309 She has requested that no fan stories be mailed to her, please. Other fans can be reached via the following methods: Online Services - Please see the service for more information. * Modems of the Queen - GEnie (supervised by M. Lackey and L. Dixon) contact: trystane@genie.com (Trystane) * Arrows Online - America OnLine contact: annes3832@aol.com (Anne) Internet Services * alt.books.m-lackey - UseNet newsgroup * mercedes-lackey@herald.co.uk - Listserv list Subscribe: listproc@herald.co.uk Help: mel@herald.co.uk (Melanie Harper) World Wide Web Pages http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/ism/lackey/lackey.html http://www.best.com/~hart/lackey/ http://www.portal.com/~jerry/lackey/lackey_reviews.html Postal Service * Queen's Own monthly newsletter - For information, send mail to: Queen's Own PO Box 132 Shiloh, NJ, 08353 3. Does she have any of the music out so I can listen to it? Yes. Firebird Arts and Music carries a full range of Mercedes Lackey songs, Larry Dixon and Jody Lee artwork, and a whole lot of other things. To get their most recent catalog, send mail to: Firebird Arts and Music P.O. Box 14785 Portland, OR 97214-9998 To call: 1-800-752-0494 (USA only) (503) 239-9941 (Oregon and International) (503) 232-2706 (FAX) 4. Does she really believe in all that stuff she writes about? Maybe. She might be a member of an alternative religion; she hasn't said for sure. However, she sums it up best in the Author's Note at the back of Sacred Ground (1994 edition): "I am not a guru, shaman, Grand High Pooh-Bah, Guardian, Mistress of the Martian Arts, or any incarnation of the same. I have no lock on Immortal Wisdom, and in my experience, anyone who claims to, has his eye on your money (granted, I do too, but only insofar as entertaining you enough to buy my next book). To confuse me with what I write is as fallacious as confusing a truck driver with his Peterbilt." 5. Why won't she let us have a MUSH or write fanfic? Russell Galen is Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixson's agent. He has made the following statements in a general post to alt.books.m-lackey, dated in October 1994. Any use of works by Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixson in fan fiction or a role playing game is strictly prohibited. The reasons are as follows: A. It is copyright infringement. Any unauthorized use of intellectual property, whether or not for profit, is copyright infringement. B. The authors are against it. Knowing that strangers are making use of one's world, one's characters, one's creations, is usually a very unpleasant feeling, one of violation and intrusion. C. There's been a great deal of discussion here as to whether a MUSH or MUD would help or hurt the salability of commercial game rights. The fact is, we don't know. It might have no effect, or a ruinous effect. There is ample evidence for both from other media, and I don't know the answer. Given that uncertainty, we have to err on the side of caution and protection. D. All of us on this side have discussed this and are resolved to take no chances with these valuable copyrights, and will vigorously pursue all legal means at our disposal. Also, any action we might take would not be limited to individuals but to the universities and other organizations that permit their equipment and lines to be used for this illegal purpose. E. Yes, we're greedy and narrow-minded in defense of our clients' ability to make a living. This is Mercedes Lackey's job. Anything that threatens her ability to make a living is no less an evil than any other situation in which an innocent party is forced, by the actions of strangers, to fight for her livelihood. So, please, folks - Just Say No to Lackey-MUDS. If you want to write Fanfic, please send mail to the Queen's Own or HighFlight addresses above, and request a release form. Don't go doing something that you're going to wind up regretting, later. 6. Anything Else That You Can Think Of? Think something else should be here? Send mail to tpaulk@metronet.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------