Arrows Trilogy

The first published trilogy set entirely in Valdemar! Innocent farmgirl Talia is rescued from an arranged marriage by a mysterious, otherworldly equine Companion, and with her empathic powers becomes the Queen’s Own Herald - just as an old ally of the kingdom turns traitor and starts a deadly war. Also known as the "Queen's Own" or "Heralds of Valdemar" collection.

Novels

Full-length novels

Fantasy

Stories featuring magic, mythical creatures, and/or adventures in fantastical settings

Valdemar

Stories within the fantasy realm of Valdemar, which cover roughly 3,000 years of history, all told. Written mostly in the form of trilogies that focus on a particular character, although there are a handful of independent novels as well. The majority of the series revolves around the Kingdom of Valdemar and its protectors, the Heralds of Valdemar.

Book

A book by Misty, containing her work, or about one of her Universes

Vows and Honor

A duology plus an anthology of short stories, based on Mercedes Lackey’s first published short stories, covering the adventures of Tarma and Kethry, mercenary warrior and mage, and their geased spellsword Need. Noteworthy for Tarma being Asexual and even referred to as such.

Short Fiction

Short stories, novellas, chapbooks, etc.

The Last Herald-Mage

A trilogy that details the tragic life and ultimate Heroic Sacrifice of Vanyel Ashkevron, the most powerful Herald-Mage Valdemar has ever known. Features one of the first, if not the first, openly gay yet unambiguously heroic protagonists in fantasy literature.

Mage Wars

The prehistory of the Valdemar ‘verse, including the eponymous war between Great Mages Urtho and Ma’ar that resulted in the Cataclysm and its aftermath, and the exile of the Kaled’a’in. Features the mighty Black Gryphon, Skandranon.

Mage Winds

Elspeth, the Royal Brat a decade earlier, has come of age and is foretold to become Valdemar’s first Herald-Mage in six hundred years. But she’s not about to be controlled by destiny and ends up unexpectedly making allies of the magical Hawkbrothers, just as an ancient enemy returns and threatens to destroy both the Tayledras and Valdemar.

Mage Storms

In the aftermath of Hardorn’s defeat, Valdemar has an uneasy assembly of newfound allies, including their historical enemy, Karse. Karal, a young Karsite priest and aide to the ambassador, must navigate the resulting political intrigue while a new threat arises from the Eastern Empire. But even this struggle may be moot in the face of the return of the three-thousand year old Cataclysm.

Owl Mage

Also known as Darian's Tale. In the aftermath of the Mage Storms, young Darian Firkin, reluctant apprentice wizard, finds his life altered when his village is attacked by barbarians and he is forced to flee, finding sanctuary and tutelage with the Hawkbrothers. As he grows into his responsibilities, he finds himself an ambassador to the northern tribes.

Anthologies

Anthologies of stories about or including Misty's universes

The Herald Spy

A sequel series to the Collegium Chronicles, featuring an adult Herald Mags

Collegium Chronicles

Follows roughly fifty years after The Last Herald-Mage and features a young orphan named Mags, detailing the founding of the Heralds’ Collegium and associated traditions.

Exiles of Valdemar

Tells the story of Alberich the Weaponmaster, who came from Karse, historical enemy of Valdemar. Also includes Take a Thief which can be read as a standalone, and tells the story of the young thief Skif, his Choosing and life as a Trainee, and his role in breaking up a slaver ring.

Family Spies

A sequel to The Herald Spy trilogy, focusing on the children of Herald Mags and his wife, King’s Own Herald Amily.

Founding of Valdemar

Delves into the story of the flight of Baron Valdemar and his people from the despotic Eastern Empire and their eventual settlement in the northwest of the continent, where they founded a new Kingdom and named it after him.

Kelvren's Saga

First introduced in the Owl Mage series, the gryphon Kelvren is the main character of a new trilogy.

Bedlam's Bard

Eric Banyon was a talented music whose lady had left him singing the blues and playing his flute in a deserted corner of the Renaissance Faire. He couldn’t have known that the desperate sadness of his music would free Korendil, a young elven noble, from the magical prison he had been languishing in for centuries. Suddenly, Eric had no time to be in the dumps, as he had to help his new acquaintance fight against the evil elf lord who had first imprisoned Korendil and now seeks to conquer all of California. And that was only the beginning...

Elves on the Road

A tapestry of modern life and mythical wonder, blending gritty realism and magical escapism. From the streets of contemporary cities to the courts of Elizabethan England, this sprawling franchise invites you to explore a universe where the supernatural lurks just out of sight. Each sub-series offers a unique flavor: Diana Tregarde’s occult detective vibe, Bedlam’s Bard’s musical magic, SERRAted Edge’s gritty car culture, and Doubled Edge’s historical depth.

Urban Fantasy

Stories featuring modern settings with fantastical elements

Diana Tregarde

Diana Tregarde is a romance novelist who is also a magical defender called a Guardian.

Sacred Ground

Stories featuring Indigenous protagonist Jennifer Talldeer

Historical Fantasy

Stories set in historical periods, with fantastical elements or divergences from historical fact

Doubled Edge

In the time of Henry the Eighth, sinister forces have their eye on Princess Elizabeth. But so do the Elves of Great Britain, who are determined to allow no harm to come to their shining hope for the realm.

SERRAted Edge

Hot cars, fast elves, and rock’n’roll! The elves of old have integrated themselves into society, hiding in plain sight as they insinuate themselves into the world of exotic sports car racing. But the elves and their human allies have enemies—and so do the human children in trouble that they seek to help.

Heirs of Alexandria

A series of novels by writers Mercedes Lackey, Eric Flint, and David Freer. They are Historical Fantasy novels set in an alternate Venice in the 1530s. The point of divergence from our history (other than the addition of Functional Magic), was Hypatia being converted to Christianity and stopping the mob from destroying the Library of Alexandria, eventually splitting the Church into the Petrines, under her own and St. Peter’s doctrine, and the Paulines, under St. Augustine and Paul’s doctrine.

Secret World Chronicles

A series of super-hero novels, plus a collection of short stories, that begins with the invasion of the world by a power from the past. A medic, a Communist, and a thief; an angel, a magician and a fugitive. They have to save the world. But first, they have to save each other.

Science Fiction

Stories featuring futuristic settings and technology

Young Adult

Books aimed at adolescent and teen readers

Fairytale

Stories inspired by folktales, fairytales, and myths

Halfblood Chronicles

The Halfblood Chronicles, sometimes called the Elvenbane Trilogy, is a series of Fantasy novels by Mercedes Lackey and Andre Norton. They take place on a world in which humans are slaves to the cruel and sadistic elven race, and a race of shapeshifting dragons watch warily from the remote deserts.

The Bard's Tale

Using the lore of the videogame of the same name, these three epic fantasy adventures take no prisoners…nor do they take themselves terribly seriously.

The Five Hundred Kingdoms

A series of fantasy books with shades of romance. The books are set in a realm (the Five Hundred Kingdoms) which operates according to the laws of a Background Magic Field known as the Tradition. When circumstances begin to resemble a plotline from a fairy tale, fable, fireside tale, morality play, or even a bawdy bar song, the Tradition tries to make that narrative play out… no matter how it ends or how the participants might feel about that.

The Free Bards

The adventures of the Free Bards, a group of musicians who work to help each other and make music. Their main rivals are the Bardic Guild, who have strict rules and are more concerned with their own individual power and wealth than anything else. Includes the four Bardic Voices books, and one Bardic Choices.

Shadow Grail

In this young adult fantasy series, losing her family is only the start of Spirit White's problems. Wracked by grief after the accident that killed her family, Spirit is spirited away to Oakhurst Academy. But Oakhurst isn’t an ordinary school and orphanage: all the students have magical powers. Spirit’s power hasn’t manifested itself yet, but the administrators insist she has one. But that isn’t all: the school has some sinister secrets, and if she doesn’t solve its mysteries, she won’t survive until graduation.

Dragon Jousters

A four-book series by Mercedes Lackey that could be described as “Ancient Egypt with Dragons”. The countries Tia and Alta (Fantasy Counterpart Cultures for Upper and Lower Egypt, respectively) have been at war for centuries. The elite soldiers on both sides are the Jousters; men who ride trained dragons into battle.

Bardic Voices

The books mostly follow the adventures of the Free Bards, a group of musicians who work to help each other and make music. Their main rivals are the Bardic Guild, who have strict rules and are more concerned with their own individual power and wealth than anything else.

The Obsidian Universe

An Epic High Fantasy series coauthored by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory, the trilogies within this universe tell the story of a war between a coalition of races and evil Demons known as the Endarkened.

The Obsidian Mountain

An Epic High Fantasy series coauthored by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory, The Obsidian Mountain Trilogy tells the story of a war between a coalition of races and evil Demons known as the Endarkened.

Enduring Flame

A second trilogy written by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory, set a thousand years after the events of The Obsidian Trilogy. Kellen and Idalia are worshiped as religious figures, and High Magic is long gone. However, Tiercel Rolfot and his friend Harrier Gillain embark on the adventure of their lives when Tiercel discovers he is a High Mage. Meanwhile, in a far-off desert, a Wildmage named Bisochim comes to believe that the world is out of balance without darkness. He formulates plans to bring back the dark, against the wishes of his bonded dragon, Saravasse.

Albums

Elemental Masters

The novels in the Elemental Masters series, by Mercedes Lackey, are a mix of historical fiction and fantasy, with a big scoop of fairy tales stirred in. Most of them are set in the late 1800s-early 1900s.

Dragon Prophecy

Here, readers will learn the truth about the Elven Queen Vielissiar Faricarnon, who was the first to face the Endarkened in battle and the first to bond with a dragon. She worked some of the greatest magics her world has ever known, and paid the greatest price.