Mercedes Lackey

Mercedes Lackey is one of the most prolific authors in modern fantasy, best known for her Valdemar novels, an interlocking mega-series that has run since 1987 across dozens of trilogies and standalones set in a single shared kingdom. A former computer programmer and radio DJ, Lackey broke through with Arrows of the Queen, introducing Valdemar's telepathically bonded Companions and its Heraldic order, and has continued expanding that world's history and casts ever since, alongside entirely separate series such as the SERRAted Edge urban-fantasy books (elves in professional auto racing) and the Elemental Masters series, which reworks classic fairy tales into an alternate Edwardian England powered by elemental magic. Lackey is notable for the sheer scale of her collaborative output: she has co-written extensively with partners including Larry Dixon (her husband), James Mallory, Rosemary Edghill, and others, often building entire sub-series around a shared universe rather than writing every book solo. Her fiction is known for strong-willed, often queer or disabled protagonists, richly worked-out magic systems, and a career-long commitment to depicting animal companionship (particularly horses and birds of prey, reflecting her own falconry and equestrian interests) as central to her characters' emotional lives. Still actively publishing, Lackey remains one of fantasy's most consistently working authors, with new Valdemar installments continuing to appear.