Interview with Mercedes Lackey

As with Brandon Sanderson, I had the opportunity to interview best-selling fantasy author, Mercedes Lackey over this past weekend at the World Fantasy Convention here in Toronto. Admittedly, this one wasn’t that great as far as interviews go, simply because I hadn’t been properly prepared for it, as it was completely unexpected. Here’s what I did ask though.

As a bit of a disclaimer, I’d like to say that while nothing written below is false, it isn’t exactly word-for-word what was said. I didn’t have an audio recorder during this interview, so this is just what I was able to write during our conversation.

M = Mercedes Lackey, and R = Rebecca (Myself)

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R: Hi Mercedes, thank you for this.. Just a few questions, will you ever be restarting the “Ask Misty” section on your website?

M: No, I can either answer questions all day, or I can write. I can’t do both.

R: Alright, and by any chance do you plan on writing about the history of the Sunsinger or Shadowdancer? Or will we just have the songs you’ve written about their story?

M: Nope, never.. There will only be the songs.

R: Okay, and earlier during your reading you read a bit of your secret project… I’ve been told that it was excellent, but not much more than that… Can you tell me a bit about it?

M: Well, there isn’t a publisher for it. The story is going to be taken to auction, and it’s a Young Adult post apocalypse novel.

R: Alright, well I look forward to hearing more about that.. And somewhat related to that, what can we look forward to seeing from you in the future?

M: Well, there’s the next book in the Elemental Masters series, Steadfast, which will be out June 2013. Other than that, there are two series that I’m currently working on with James [Mallory]. They’re both trilogies, and at the moment are untitled, but Tor has bought the first book of each. The first one is kind of like a mix between the Student Prince, Pirates of the Caribbean and a bit of magic.. So those will be out at some point.

R: I’ve never heard of The Student Prince.. but I’m sure both trilogies will be excellent.

as to how I’d never heard of the Student Prince/explained what it was.>

R: Well, I’ll have to look more into that, and I just have one last question, who is your favourite author?

M: That’s rather broad.. Depends, which genre?

R: Fair enough.. Favourite fantasy author?

M: That would have to be Charles de Lint, definitely.

R: All right, thank you.. That’s all the questions I have.

M: No problem, you’re very welcome! If you think of anything else, do feel free to ask.

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So yeah, now after the fact I have a bunch of questions I should have asked her.. But I’m glad I asked what I did. This was also my first face-to-face interview, so I was a bit nervous about it.
Any ways, she was very kind — so, thank you Mercedes for the interview!