Finally!

Yes, it took us long enough, but we're finally on Facebook!

Tis the Season

Happiest of holidays and best wishes for a healthy and safe New Year!

Gaming News!

From Misty's Facebook:

The Secret World Chronicle gang are working on a very special Mission Architect story arc for the City of Heroes MMORPG Mission Architect system. "Enter The Secret World!" will feature missions where you fight alongside signature characters from the stories during the Thulian Invasion. We will have this arc in place in time for the premier of the first book in March from Baen Books

Dragon*Con 2010

I have to preface this post by saying that I attended Dragon*Con in '06, and I had a terrible time (the traffic was awful, I was utterly overwhelmed, and got lost (both in Atlanta itself and in the hotels) several times). I swore that I would never go back, baring brain damage and hell freezing over.

Apparently both happened. On Friday evening, I found myself (GPS and a new sense of insanity optimism in hand) traveling back to Hotlanta for D*C 2010. This year, I had one “mission"- to meet Mercedes Lackey and get her autograph in my favorite of her books- The Black Swan.

The drive was not bad. I encountered relatively very little traffic and made good time to Atlanta itself, which was as welcoming and charming as ever. (Atlanta was some amazing architecture and gorgeous suburbs.) The weather was perfect- bright blue skies, and temperatures in the low-to-mid 80s.

I stayed at the Hampton Inn Atlanta Airport. While the hotel itself was great, I do NOT recommend staying at that particular location unless you are flying into the airport, AND are familiar with the area. Sullivan Road is not easily accessible from downtown Atlanta, and if you are solely reliant on your GPS (like I was,) you might find yourself circling downtown a few times before actually getting to the hotel itself (which was frustrating beyond belief.)

I love staying at Hampton Inns- they have the fluffiest pillows anywhere. (Really, they’re like sleeping on clouds.) I did find the breakfast a little disappointing (no scrambled eggs?), but the coffee was amazing. The room was a little on the pricey side, but I’d made my reservations only a week or so before I arrived.

I didn’t pre-register at D*C this year, and took my chances on waiting in the “credit card” line to buy my badge. Huge mistake. On Saturday, I waited in line for almost THREE HOURS, only to be shuffled from one line to another- one that collected payment, one that I actually registered at, and one that printed the badge. (Apparently the cash-only line moved much faster.)

I was so burned out by that time, I could only shuffle around from one hotel to the next, and left early.

The signing I attended was on at the Marriott Sunday morning at 10:00. I made it over around 9:30, and found a long, winding line threading through the bottom lobby. At 10:00, the line moved (rather quickly) but was capped about 15 people ahead of me. One of the D*C people came out and said that it wasn’t up to him OR Mercedes Lackey about where the line was capped, but that they might need the room for the next signing author. He also said that Ms Lackey wanted to sign for everyone, and that they were trying to work something about, but that nothing could be guaranteed.

There was some back and forth, and in the end we were allowed to get our autographs. Ms Lackey and Mr Dixon were absolute dears- not only did they sign everything that brought to them (some people brought multiple items), but they talked to every single person, asking their names, answering their questions. I asked Ms Lackey about publishing fanfiction online, and she said (emphatically) “yes.” Confirmation from the horse’s mouth! ^_^

I was struck by their graciousness, and their desire to meet every fan that lined up to see them. Ms Lackey put all kinds of little goodies in my book- stickers of Mr Dixon’s art (signed!), little trading card-like things. I was blown away. If I hadn’t been a fan before, I would have been one after.

D*C Countdown

Nine days until Dragon*Con! Nor only will Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon be there, but so will Leslie Fish!

Submissions Needed!

The Southern Arrow is currently accepting submissions for our first newsletter! Fan art, fanficiton, poetry, lyrics, book reviews,ads, and more will all be accepted for as-of-yet unnamed PDF publication! Send inquiries to SouthernArrow@gmail.com for more information!

Invasion: Book One of the Secret World Chronicle is available for pre-order from Amazon!

Invasion: Book One of the Secret World Chronicle is available for pre-order from Amazon!

The world had become used to the metahumans—people sometimes perfectly ordinary,but sometimes quite extraordinary in appearance—who mostly worked with their governments as high-powered peace officers, fighting crime, and sometimes fighting rogue metahumans who had become super-criminals. Then that comfortable world ended in just one terrifying day.

Suddenly, all world governments were simultaneously attacked by soldiers in giant mecha robotic suits with the swastika symbol of the Third Reich on their metal arms. If these were Nazis, where had they been hiding since the end of World War II? And where had they gotten armor and weapons far in advance of anything on the planet? Weapons against which even the metahuman heroes seemed to be helpless . . .

Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon at Dragon*Con!

Great news from Ms Lackey!

With Secret Worlds nominated for a Parsec Award, it looks like we'll be making a showing at Dragon*Con this year. If we don't get lost in the crowd, look out for me and Larry in Atlanta this September.

So who's going?

Quick Bits

Secret World Chronicle is a finalist in the 2010 Parsec Awards! Congratulations to Ms Lackey and friends!

Ms Lackey also posts on her Facebook that she's "turned in the second Shadow Grail book", and that Facebook and Twitter feeds have been added to her Web site, http://mercedeslackey.com!

Mercedes Lackey's Twitter

Ms Lackey's twitter is up and running!

twitter.com/mercedeslackey

Bookmark and follow! ^_^

Heraldic Whites- Polyvore Style

Rori- Modern Herald by octogirli featuring Monsoon pants

My take on modern Herald's Whites. ^_^

Book News!

From Mercedes Lackey's Facebook:

Ever wonder how far ahead of publication authors sometimes run? I just turned in the second book for the Shadow Grail series.... and I bet you guys don't have the first one yet :-)

Many were asking about Diana Tregarde - that's going to be in Trio of Sorcery, with Ellen and Jenny. Now working on the next Elemental Masters book Unnatural Issue.

Ms Lackey's bibliography (by publish year) is here. As always, you can purchase her books via Firebird Arts and Music.

Limited edition ebook available!

Smashwords.com writes:

Secret World War: White Bird: A limited edition ebook version of some of the most popular stories from the Secret World Chronicle podcast, Secret World War: White Bird describes how the World War II pilot Jeanne Blanchette became Le Faucon Blanc. One of four official Secret World War short stories from the authors of the Secret World Chronicle.

The cost is 99 cents, and it comes in many formats including HTML, Kindle, and plain text.

Happy reading!

Announcement: Fanfiction and Creative Commons

The Creative Commons FAQ on how to properly attribute a CC licensed work. Read up if you want to write QO fanfic online. Don’t go all Lori Jareo, 'kay?

News: Valdemar D6 Role Playing Game

A bit of old news, but better late than never!

From Mercedes Lackey.Com : The Official Valdemar RPG

Final Sword Productions will be working with Mercedes Lackey to produce a D6 tabletop roleplaying game and sourcebooks based on the Valdemar books. More information is available in their press release and FAQ page.

Link Exchange

Interested in a link exchange? Leave a comment with the name of the site, URL, and what kind of content is published.

Good news for fanfic writers! Mercedes Lackey.Com reports:

News: Concerning Fanfiction:

As you folks already know, my agent, Russel Galen, has in the past been opposed to fanfiction. However, he is also Cory Doctorow's agent now, and Cory is a persuasive little gnome.

As a result of this, I am happy to announce that we are officially permitting fanfiction to be licensed as derivative fiction under the Creative Commons umbrella.

What this means is: NO, you cannot make money on it. NO, you cannot self-publish a fanfiction novel of Valdemar (or any of my other stuff) and try and sell it on Amazon. And NO, I still am not going to read it, because I am already so far behind on my research reading I barely have time to read that.

But YES, you may write and post away, folks, so long as you license it as derivative and under Creative Commons. If it is anything other than PG-13, please take all the proper precautions to stick it somewhere that innocent souls won't be corrupted. Do not scare the children or the horses. Have fun!

Welcome!

We are still very much under construction, but welcome to Southern Arrow, the Southern Chapter of Queen's Own, the official Mercedes Lackey fan club!

Our geographic area covers Florida, Alabama, and Georgia. We hope to bring you news of Mercedes Lackey's newest works, convention reports, fan art, fan fic, costuming information, and much, much more. Please bookmark this site and feel free to leave comments and suggestions!