Mercedes Lackey is the author of the bestselling Valdemar series, the Obsidian Trilogy ("The Outstretched Shadow," "To Light a Candle," and "When Darkness Falls"), the Enduring Flame trilogy ("The Phoenix Unchained," "The Phoenix Endangered," and "The Phoenix Transformed"), and the Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms. She has written many other books, including "Trio 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, including "Elvenborn." 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.

Rosemary Edghill is a prolific writer in several genres, under her own name and various pseudonyms. She lives in upstate New York with several cats and Cavalier King Charles Spaniels.