Mercedes Lackey is the author of the bestselling Valdemar series, and the Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms, and, also with James Mallory, the Enduring Flame trilogy (The Phoenix Unchained,The Phoenix Endangered, and The Phoenix Transformed). She has written many other books, includingTrio of Sorcery, Phoenyx and Ashes, Sacred Ground, The Firebird,The Fairy Godmother, and Alta. Lackey is the co-author, with Andre Norton, of the Halfblood Chronicles, includingElvenborn. Mercedes Lackey was born in Chicago and graduated from Purdue University. She has worked as an artist’s model, a computer programmer, and for American Airlines, and has written lyrics and recorded more than fifty songs. She lives in Oklahoma.
James Mallory is author of the three-part novelization of the Hallmark Merlin miniseries:The Old Magic, The King's Wizard, and The End of Magic. He was born in San Francisco and attended schools in California and the Midwest, before moving to New York to pursue a career in writing. From an early age, he has been fascinated with the Arthurian legends, an avocation which triggered a lifelong interest in fantasy literature. He lives in California.