Valdemar

Fandom
Name:	Valdemar series
Abbreviation(s):
Creator:	Mercedes Lackey
Date(s):
Medium:	books
Country of Origin:	United States
External Links:
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Valdemar is a series of books by Mercedes Lackey. The universe is also known as Velgarth (Valdemar is one country within Velgarth).

In the early 1990s, Lackey allowed fanfic within certain contraints. Amateur author Sylphslider remembers:

I and 17 other people used to write Valdemar fanfic (Mercedes Lackey) through her official fan club back in the early 1990s. Part of the rules involved sending the fanfic to Lackey in addition to each other, and we had to produce something every two months, etc. etc. We kept it up for two years and then Lackey's lawyers convinced her to have us stop doing it. She was afraid she might accidentally use one of our characters or plotlines and then someone would sue her.

In light of the difficulties experienced by Marion Zimmer Bradley regarding fan fiction in 1993, these concerns were well founded.

After that, Lackey strongly discouraged fanfic, so there is not much of it around, but there is a strong fandom with a history of RPGs (which she reckoned didn't count as fanfic) and fanart.

In 2010, Lackey amended her stance:

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!

Fanzines

Gen:

• Austral'a'in (letterzine)
• Companions' Grove
• Companion's Rest
• The Danya Winterborn Saga
• Do or Dye
• Endgame
• Fire Eyes
• Pros & Cons: An Introduction to Fandom (glossary for fanspeak)
• Riding Circuit
• Shards of Autumn
• Storyteller's Tavern
• The Sum of Duty
• Valdemarred

Slash:

• Queen's Fate

Newsletters

• Companion's Quarterly
• Herald's Companion
• Queen's Own - the official newsletter for Queen's Own, Lackey's club, often published announcements about "personas" created by individual fans. These personas were granted "Herald" status after each fan had completed a certain number of stories, drawings, or other creative endeavors.
• The Valdemaran Herald (electronic newsletter)