New Releases by Mercedes Lackey

This is the new novel in Mercedes Lackey''s series set in an alternative Edwardian Britain, where magic is real, and elemental masters are in control.

Richard Whitestone is an Elemental Earth Master. Blaming himself for the death of his beloved wife in childbirth, he has sworn never to set eyes on his daughter, Suzanne. But when he finally sees her, a dark plan takes shape in his twisted mind - to use his daughter''s body to bring back the spirit of his long-dead wife.

A massive collection of wonderous science fiction and fantasy stories from New York Times best-selling Mercedes Lackey. Includes Fiddler Fair and Werehunter for the first time in one volume. Fiddler Fair Running the gamut from her beloved Bardic fantasies to urban fantasy set in the modern world, from science fiction adventure to chilling horror, this is Mercedes Lackey at her best. Animal rights fanatics try to "liberate" genetically reconstructed dinosaurs. Lawrence of Arabia meets a power beyond human comprehension, and King Arthur is reborn into the present day when he again gains possession of the enchanted sword Excalibur. Werehunter A young woman who has been given the power to transform herself into a leopard, but she now finds herself pursued by a hunter who is more than human. Skitty, ship''s cat extraordinaire, and telepathic problem-solver, saves the day on a spaceship. Return to the world of the Heralds of Valdemar series, and much more. Plus, Merecedes Lackey''s celebrated occult detective Diana Tregarde, attends a gathering of romance writers and encounters a visitor whose passionate desire is for fresh, warm blood. At the publisher''s request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).

A second anthology of new stories set in the universe of Lackey''s Elemental Masters alternate-reality Edwardian London features magically gifted individuals whose stories are loosely based on classic fairy tales and includes contributions by leading genre authors.

A young woman becomes paralyzed and must become a brainship¾and find her Brawn, her human soul mate, so that she can discover a cure for her illness. Tia Cade is a headstrong, smart, and very normal girl until she contracts a terrible illness that leaves her with the bare semblance of life. Tia''s only hope: to become the oldest person ever to train to be one of the legendary star travelers, the brainships. But now that Tia is free of her ravaged body, there still remains the task of finding the right partner to be her Brawn, the human element every brainship requires. And when the disease that debilitated Tia threatens thousands more, selecting a Brawn who is her true soul mate may allow Tia to find the origin of the terrible plague¾and perhaps even a cure. At the publisher''s request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).

In this epic fantasy adventure series opener, a young elf, afraid of the magic inside her, becomes a fearsome warrior. She is the unwanted spawn of a mad king and queen, her lands lost before her birth; her family—her very name—erased from history. Cursed by many, yet protected by an even great curse. She was born on a night of storm and terror, raised in protected concealment, then banished from the only home she had ever known—an ancient enemy’s final stroke in a war begun centuries before. Secret studies of hidden lore reveal the truth of the Prophecy that heralded her coming. Dark dreams teach lessons of war and duty, of strategy and Magecraft, that she could not learn in a thousand lifetimes. She does not have a thousand lifetimes. She has just one—and time is running out. For the Prophecy spoke not just of her, but of a great Darkness that would destroy the Elven kingdoms. A Darkness that is coming ever closer. She is Vieliessar Farcarinon and she must save her people. Even if she must shatter custom and destroy the world she was born to rule . . .

Magpie, Lena, and Bear continue on their individual quests as they work to attain the status of full Heralds, Bards, and Healers of Valdemar.

They came from the sea… For as long as she could remember, Mari Prothero had seen things—tiny manlike creatures that were mischievous and wore only seaweed, and beings that seemed to be made of water. Mari had grown up in a tiny Welsh fishing village where she lived alone with her father, Daffyd, a master fisherman—her mother and brother having drowned when she was a child. On the morning of her eighteenth birthday, her father finally told her the great secret of the Prothero family. Her family had an ancient covenant with magical shape-shifters, the Selch. Her lost mother and brother were not truly dead, but neither were they human. Now Mari must abide by her family’s magical compact or face dire consequences. But Mari is not without protectors. The tiny creatures she had seen her whole life counseled her to bargain with the Selch. While in faraway London, the head of the Elemental Masters had dispatched some very unique champions to come to Mari’s aid....

A young Herald trainee in Haven, Mags, is trained as a spy to uncover secrets held by a mysterious new enemy of the kingdom of Valdemar.

New York Times bestselling author Mercedes Lackey In an isolated land where the lure of the "Moontide" leads to shipwrecks, a woman is torn between obeying her father or her king.

Anxious to avoid the Traditional path, Bella dons a red cloak and ventures into the forbidden forest to consult with "Granny," the local wisewoman.

Mercedes Lackey''s magical Elemental Masters series recasts familiar fairy tales in a richly-imagined alternate Victorian world Susanne Whitestone, an Earth Master magician, had always lived in Whitestone Manor and liked nothing more than to keep the land itself and its animal inhabitants thriving. For the last eleven years, she has had a special teacher in the forest—a powerful fae known only as Robin. Susanne, at twenty-one, doubted any mortal Earth Master could find fault with the practices that Robin taught her. But though Susanne was her father’s only child, she had never set eyes on him, for Richard Whitestone lived as a recluse in a sectioned off wing of the manor. Richard Whitestone was also an Earth Master, but since his beloved wife’s death in childbirth, he had lived a kind of half-life. He hated even the thought of the child who had ended his wife’s life. His own life had withered, and as he had grown bitter, and blighted, so had everything he could see from his windows—the once-beautiful private garden was now as stark and wizened as his heart. But as the years passed, Richard found that there was one thing that gave him solace—the thought, an obsession, that he could bring his Rebecca back to life through necromancy. He would need an appropriate vessel for her spirit, a young woman, preferably one who looked like she did and was approximately the same age that Rebecca has been at the time of her death—twenty-one....and Susanne was the image of her mother.

In March 1987, a young author from Oklahoma published her first novel, Arrows of the Queen. This modest book about a magical land called Valdemar was the beginning of a fantasy masterwork series that would span decades and include more than two dozen titles. Now readers can take a journey to the world of Valdemar-including Tanya Huff, Mickey Zucker Reichert, Fiona Patton, and Judith Tarr-each adding their own special touches.

The New York Times–bestselling author presents three exciting short urban fantasy novels—including a prequel story to the Diana Tregarde series! Arcanum 101: Diana Tregarde, practicing witch, romance novelist, Guardian of the Earth. Studying at Harvard, Diana is approached by Joe O’Brian, a young cop who has already seen more than one unusual thing during his budding career. The distraught mother of a kidnap victim is taking advice from a “psychic” and interfering in the police investigation. Will Diana prove that the psychic is a fake? Unfortunately, the psychic is not a fake, but a very wicked witch—and the child’s kidnapper. Drums: Jennifer Talldeer, shaman, private investigator, member of the Osage tribe. Most of Jennie’s work is regular PI stuff, but Nathan Begay brings her a problem she’s never seen before. His girlfriend, Caroline, is Chickasaw to his Navaho, but that’s not the problem. Somehow, Caroline has attracted the attention of an angry Osage ghost. Thwarted in love while alive, the ghost has chosen Caroline to be his bride in death. Ghost in the Machine: Ellen McBride: computer programmer extraordinaire, techno-shaman. The programmers and players of a new MMORPG find that the game’s “boss,” a wendigo, is “killing” everyone—even the programmers’ characters with their god-like powers. A brilliant debugger, Ellen discovers that the massive computing power of the game’s servers have created a breach between the supernatural world and our own. This wendigo isn’t a bit of code, it’s the real thing . . . and it’s on the brink of breaking out of the computers and into the real world.

Legacies, the first book in the exciting new Shadow Grail series from Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill Who--or what--is stalking the students at Oakhurst Academy? In the wake of the accident that killed her family, Spirit White is spirited away to Oakhurst Academy, a combination school and orphanage in the middle of Montana. There she learns she is a legacy--not only to the school, which her parents also attended, but to magic. All the students at Oakhurst have magical powers, and although Spirit''s hasn''t manifested itself yet, the administrators insist she has one. Spirit isn''t sure she cares. Devastated by the loss of her family, she finds comfort with a group of friends: Burke Hallows, Lachlann Spears, Muirin Shae, and Adelaide Lake. But something strange is going on at Oakhurst. Students start disappearing under mysterious circumstances, and the school seems to be trying to cover it up. Spirit and her friends must find out what''s happening--before one of them becomes the next victim... At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Prince Manfred and his mentor and bodyguard, the deadly warrior Erik, survived dangers and enemies both natural and supernatural, and if they thought that their new mission was going to be anything but more of the same, they soon gave up on that hope. Returning from Jerusalem, they and their escort of knights of the Holy Trinity are escorting an envoy of II Khan Mongol to the lands of the Golden Horde-between the Black Sea and the Carpathians, which happen to be eastern bastion against their old enemies, the demon Chernobog and his possessed puppet, the Jangellion. Unfortunately, what began as a diplomatic mission leads to Manfred and his knights being caught up in an inter-clan civil war, rescuing a fugitive woman and her injured brother, and becoming involved in the problems of Prince Vlad, Duke of Valahia, who has been held as a hostage by King Emeric of Hungary until freed by Countess Elizabeth Batholdy to use as bait to capture a group of nonhumans. Instead, the wolflike nonhumans, who masquerade as gypsies, free Prince Vlad, and help him to return to his homeland to raise revolt against Hungary and to renew age-old magics. Manfred and Erik are forced into an alliance of convenience between the Golden Horde and the ancient magical forces of Valahia, as directed by the troubled Vlad. The magic calls for blood and Vlad is deathly afraid of it¾and at the same time, is irresistibly drawn toward it . . . At the publisher''s request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).

In the Enduring Flame trilogy, Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory have given readers a new view of the complex and fascinating world they originally created for the Obsidian Trilogy. Jumping one thousand years in time, Lackey and Mallory have told the compelling story of Harrier Gillain, the first Knight-Mage in a thousand years; Tiercel Rolfort, the first High Mage in hundreds of years; and Shaiara, the young leader of a desert tribe who takes both boys under her wing but has a special affection for Harrier. These three young people are their world''s main defense against the evil called up by the rogue Wild Mage, Bisochim. Bisochim''s conviction that he was restoring the balance was shattered the moment Ahairan took her first breath. Now, in The Phoenix Transformed, Bisochim joins forces with Harrier and Tiercel, and the three mages search desperately for a way to destroy Ahairan as she sends her magical forces against them and the desert nomads under their protection. With more than one twist in the telling, centering on a magic-plagued journey across a blistering desert, The Phoenix Transformed is the stunning conclusion to The Enduring Flame. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The long-awaited brand new novel in the bestselling Valdemar series. In this chronicle of the early history of Valdemar, Mercedes Lackey''s bestselling world, a thirteen year- old orphan named Magpie escapes a life of slavery in the gem mines when he is chosen by one of the magical Companion horses of Valdemar to be trained as a Herald. Thrust into the center of a legend in the making, Magpie discovers talents he never knew he had and witnesses the founding of the great Heralds'' Collegium.

Mercedes Lackey''s magical Elemental Masters series recasts familiar fairy tales in a richly-imagined alternate Victorian world Ninette Dupond was a dancer with the Paris Opera Ballet. She had been very lucky—if she had not been pretty, and a natural dancer, she could only have become what her mother had been: a washerwoman. But Ninette’s good luck ended the day that the lead dancer sprained her ankle and Ninette was chosen to dance her part at a matinee. Her reviews had been very good—too good. Shortly thereafter, Ninette had been fired in an attempt to soothe the wounded ego of the ballet’s primary soloist. Alone, unemployed, and filled with despair, Ninette had returned to her apartment to find a thin, rangy, tabby-striped tomcat sitting on her windowsill. He seemed like just another stray, until abruptly he spoke to her, mind-to-mind. Ninette though she was going mad, but the cat offered her an alternative to a life of destitution, albeit a very odd one. He proposed that she impersonate a renowned Russian ballerina, Nina Tchereslavsky, and go to work in a specific music hall in Blackpool, England. The cat also told her that he would take care of her in every way—he would somehow convey the English and Russian languages to her, supply her with money, and guide her every move. With no other option open to her, she place her life in his paws. What Ninette didn’t know was that the cat was an Elemental Spirit sent to protect her, and that the music hall in Blackpool was owned by an Elemental Master. But she also didn’t know that the real Nina Tchereslavsky no longer existed. For the real Nina had been “absorbed” by an Elemental Spirit of the darkest kind that was now bent on Ninette’s destruction….

"Before he learned that High Magic was real, Tiercel Rolfort wasn''t sure what he was going to do with his life. Now he knows: keep from getting killed long enough to somehow teach himself High Magic and try to save the world." "Harrier Gillain always knew that his role in life was to keep Tiercel out of trouble. He''s still doing it - only now he''s got to fend off attacks by a powerful, rogue Wild Mage. That Harrier is destined to be the first Knight-Mage in a thousand years isn''t helping matters. Knight-Mages tend to get a lot of people killed, and Harrier doesn''t like killing." "Hidden deep in the desert, Wild Mage Bisochim continues his attempts to restore Darkness to the world - to fix the Balance. Despite the resistance of his bonded dragon, Bisochem knows he''s doing the right thing. When he''s healed the Balance, then Saravasse will love him again." "The desert tribes have taken Bisochim''s sermons on the damaged Balance to heart. They know that those who will not help repair the Balance are enemies, and young Zanattar and his followers are determined to destroy them." "One tribe has resisted Bisochim''s siren call to war. Led by Shaiara, they have made the long journey into desert lands that even their fellow tribes consider mythical. Concealed from both magical and earthly searches, her people seek only peace. And then a huge black dragon dumps two weary warriors on Shaiara''s doorstep." "Tiercel, Harrier, Shaiara and the dragon Ancaladarf seek desperately for a way to stop Bisochim and Zanattar, but the boys have only been Mages for a few moonturns. Can they really stop a war?"--BOOK JACKET.

The Outstretched Shadow, the first book in The Obsidian Trilogy from Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory Kellen Tavadon, son of the Arch-Mage Lycaelon, thought he knew the way the world worked. His father, leading the wise and benevolent Council of Mages, protected and guided the citizens of the Golden City of the Bells. Young Mages in training--all men, for women were unfit to practice magic--memorized the intricate details of High Magic and aspired to seats on the council. Then he found the forbidden Books of Wild Magic--or did they find him? The three slim volumes woke Kellen to the wide world outside the City''s isolating walls. Their Magic was not dead, strangled by rules and regulations. It felt like a living thing, guided by the hearts and minds of those who practiced it and benefited from it. Questioning everything he has known, Kellen discovers too many of the City''s dark secrets. Banished, with the Outlaw Hunt on his heels, Kellen invokes Wild Magic--and finds himself running for his life with a unicorn at his side. Kellen''s life changes almost faster than he can understand or accept. Rescued by a unicorn, healed by a female Wild Mage who knows more about Kellen than anyone outside the City should, meeting Elven royalty and Elven warriors, and plunged into a world where the magical beings he has learned about as abstract concepts are flesh and blood creatures-Kellen both revels in and fears his new freedom. Especially once he learns about Demons. He''d always thought they were another abstract concept-a stand-in for ultimate evil. But if centaurs and dryads are real, then Demons surely are as well. And the one thing all the Mages of the City agreed on was that practicing Wild Magic corrupted a Mage. Turned him into a Demon. Would that be Kellen''s fate? Deep in Obsidian Mountain, the Demons are waiting. Since their defeat in the last great War, they''ve been biding their time, sowing the seeds of distrust and discontent between their human and Elven enemies. Very soon now, when the Demons rise to make war, there will be no alliance between High and Wild Magic to stand against them. And all the world will belong to the Endarkened. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

When a dragon storms the castle, what should a (virgin) princess do? Why, turn to her studies, of course! But nothing practical-minded Princess Andromeda of Acadia finds gives a definitive solution. The only Traditional answer, though, is soothing the marauding dragon by a virgin sacrifice. Things are going fairly smoothly with the lottery—except for the women chosen, of course—until Princess Andromeda herself is picked! But facing down the dragon doesn''t go quite as planned, and now, with the help of her Champion, Sir George, Andromeda searches for the dragon''s lair. But even—especially—in the Five Hundred Kingdoms, bucking Tradition isn''t easy. It takes the strongest of wills, knowledge, quick wits and a refusal to give up, no matter what happens along the way….

A beautiful witch faces her worst nightmare -- an evil teenage girl who dreams of ruling the world . . . and just might have the witchy power to do it!

The fourth novel in Mercedes Lackey''s magical Elemental Masters series reimagines the fairy tale The Snow Queen in a richly-detailed alternate Victorian England The letter that introduced twelve-year-old Sarah Jane Lyon-White to Isabelle Harton, who ran the Harton School in central London, seemed quite simple and straightforward. But it was what was not written in the letter that resonated to Isabelle’s own finely tuned “extra” senses: “Sarah has gifts we cannot train,” the letter whispered to her, “nor can anyone we know. Those we trust tell us that you can….” And it was true, for the Harton School was far from ordinary. It was Isabelle’s job to train children who possessed the odd types of magic that could not be trained by London’s powerful Elemental Masters: clairvoyants, telepaths, those with the ability to sense hidden danger, the vision to see into the past, and even that rarest of all talents: the ability to see and communicate with the dead. But Isabelle was uneasy, for though she knew that Sarah Jane had a touch of telepathy, there seemed to be something else about the girl—something that had not yet manifested. And Isabelle was right to be worried, for as soon as Sarah’s full talents became evident, there was an attempt made on her life. For Sarah was that rarest of magicians: a true medium, and for some reason, a powerful Elemental Master wanted her dead. Isabelle knew that to protect her ward she would have to seek help from the Elemental Masters of the city. That meant she would also see Lord David Alderscroft, the man she had once loved, but who had inexplicably chilled toward her and broken her heart long ago—for he was the leader of the city’s Elemental Masters, the man who was now called the Wizard of London.

Mage Kellen and his Elven allies must find a way to reclaim the High Magick from the Demons to prevent the forces of Light fall victim to forces of evil.

In the third novel of the best-selling Dragon Jousters series, The Altan serf Vetch has escaped the enemy kingdom of Tia, only to find his homeland, Alta, enslaved by the evil Priest-Kings. With a small band of followers, Vetch must gather a secret army of dragon riders to rid their world of war and magical domination once and for all.

Fantasy-roman.

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 masters such as Mickey Zucker Reichert, Judith Tarr, Tanya Huff, and others.

Mercedes Lackey''s magical Elemental Masters series recasts familiar fairy tales in a richly-imagined alternate Victorian world Eleanor Robinson’s life had shattered when Father volunteered for the Great War, leaving her alone with a woman he had just married. Then the letter came that told of her father’s death in the trenches and though Eleanor thought things couldn’t get any worse, her life took an even more bizarre turn. Dragged to the hearth by her stepmother Alison, Eleanor was forced to endure a painful and frightening ritual during which the smallest finger of her left hand was severed and buried beneath a hearthstone. For her stepmother was an Elemental Master of Earth who practiced the darker blood-fueled arts. Alison had bound Eleanor to the hearth with a spell that prevented her from leaving home, caused her to fade from people’s memories, and made her into a virtual slave. Months faded into years for Eleanor, and still the war raged. There were times she felt she was losing her mind—times she seemed to see faces in the hearth fire. Reginald Fenyx was a pilot. He lived to fly, and whenever he returned home on break from Oxford, the youngsters of the town would turn out to see him lift his aeroplane—a frail ship of canvas and sticks—into the sky and soar through the clouds. During the war, Reggie had become an acclaimed air ace, for he was an Elemental Master of Air. His Air Elementals had protected him until the fateful day when he had met another of his kind aloft, and nearly died. When he returned home, Reggie was a broken man plagued by shell shock, his Elemental powers vanished. Eleanor and Reginald were two souls scourged by war and evil magic. Could they find the strength to help one another rise from the ashes of their destruction?