The complete Arrows trilogy in one deluxe leatherbound omnibus, including silver and blue foil, six ribs, full-color interior art plates, painted edges, a ribbon marker, and a new Valdemar album by S. J. Tucker.
With over 40,000 ratings and 1,600 reviews on Goodreads, Mercedes Lackey's 1987 novel Arrows of the Queen tells the story of Talia, a daughter of the repressive Holderkin, who is Chosen by the Companion Rolan to become one of the legendary Heralds of Valdemar.
Companions like Rolan are mystical horse-like beings with powers beyond imagining—including the power to sense an awakening potential for special talents of the mind in certain young men and women, like Talia.
With Rolan’s help, Talia will learn to master her uniquely strong Gift of empathy, and will grow from a shy and uncertain Herald trainee to become the most important Herald of all: the Queen’s Own.
As the story continues in Arrow's Flight and Arrow's Fall, Talia and Rolan will fight to protect the queen, the heir to the throne, and the entire kingdom—from dangerous conspiracies, looming unrest, vicious treachery, and even an evil and ancient sorcery beyond the magic of the Heralds themselves.
The Deluxe Edition
This deluxe limited edition of the trilogy that launched Lackey's bestselling career as a fantasy novelist, The Heralds of Valdemar, includes the complete, re-edited text of Arrows of the Queen, Arrow's Flight, and Arrow's Fall, lovingly bound in premium leather and stamped with blue and silver foil. The second volume in the Mercedes Lackey Library, following Grandmaster, this exclusive collectible is crowdfunded by the author on BackerKit in partnership with Zombie Orpheus Entertainment.
Deluxe Edition Features
This definitive edition features eight original paintings by masters of fantasy art, including Nene Thomas and Rob Carlos, as well as sprayed edges, "arrow-code" endpapers, a translucent vellum digital signature page, supplemental interviews and essays, a complete collection of Valdemar lyrics from the original trilogy, new sheet music, and much more.
Deluxe Edition Rotating Gif
In addition to the book, the campaign features a new album of Valdemar music with lyrics by Mercedes Lackey and songs performed by mythpunk singer S. J. Tucker, as well as digital rewards to satisfy any budget level. Fan-funded scholarships are available for fans in need.
Featuring eight paintings set in the world of Heralds (expandable up to 14 art pieces with stretch goals!) this book brings so many memorable moments from the story to vivid life in full color.
As an accomplished lyricist and filker before the publication of Arrows of the Queen, Mercedes Lackey first entered the world of Valdemar through song. "Threes" tells the story of a bandit raid that is thwarted by daring heroes, which became a thrilling moment in Velgarth history.
With the publication of dozens of song lyrics in the original Heralds trilogy, it was inevitable that Misty's songs would find their way to music. Unfortunately, over the decades the rights to many of the original songs have since expired. Therefore, several years ago Misty approached composer Ben Dobyns to write new musical settings for her lyrics. Ben partnered with mythpunk singer-songwriter S.J. Tucker (Sooj) and the "Music of Valdemar" album was born!
"Music of Valdemar" Album Cover
Following a week-long marathon composing session in the fall of 2024, Sooj set to work alongside producer Ginger Doss in a series of recording sessions. Now, with this campaign we're thrilled to finish funding and launch the "Music of Valdemar" album. These new settings of Misty's classic lyrics have been researched and written within the musical landscape of Valdemar itself, played as patrons at an inn or the queen herself would hear them at court.
"The Music of Valdemar" album is included in every pledge level as a DRM-free digital MP3 download compatible with any modern device.
We've kept the rewards simple so that we can get them into your hands as quickly as possible.
NOTE: The "Heralds of Valdemar" e-book is not offered in this campaign, but remains available at online retailers.
$25 – "MUSIC OF VALDEMAR" & DIGITAL ART PACK A DRM-free digital download of S. J. Tucker's new Valdemar album, along with a print-ready PDF that includes all of the art, maps, and supplemental material unlocked for the campaign.
$125 – DELUXE HERALDS OF VALDEMAR The complete leatherbound "Heralds of Valdemar" trilogy, including any unlocked stretch goals, plus the "Songs of Valdemar" digital album and the Digital Art Pack.
ADD-ONS
In addition to these pledge levels and fan scholarships, we're offering a limited number of add-ons for backers who missed the Grandmaster campaign, while supplies last.
$10 – FAN SCHOLARSHIP Make the gift of Deluxe Heralds for a fan in need. Every $30 raised unlocks another Deluxe Heralds scholarship! You may add as many scholarships as you wish.
$25 – "THE ART OF GRANDMASTER" 9x12 ART BOOK This 9x12 art book contains eight color prints on special archival paper, suitable for framing, as well as eight coloring pages on a matte stock designed for crayons and colored pencils. It features the original art from Grandmaster. This book is in limited supply. Once it's gone, it's gone forever.
$100 – DELUXE GRANDMASTER LEATHERBOUND BOOK The first volume in the Mercedes Lackey Library, Deluxe Grandmaster collects all of Misty's Valdemar short stories and novellas in a single volume. Featuring original paintings, a digital signature vellum page, and much more, this book is in limited supply. Once it's gone, it's gone forever.
We funded the book... now we can start on everything that we imagined that could go with it, starting with more color art and ending with a complete package of goodies for everyone who backs at a Deluxe Heralds pledge level.
Fund six more pieces of color art (and yes, the art is already in progress!)
Fund Art of Deluxe Heralds, a 9"x12" companion volume that includes all of the color art, a black & white interior designed for coloring, sheet music from "The Music of Valdemar", and a foil cover
Fund a second mystery book. More about that later.
Solve the biggest problem we had on Grandmaster fulfillment with a custom-designed shipping box that contains all three books and maybe a few more goodies.
As with any crowdfunding campaign, a timeline is always an estimate. For example, uncertainty around US tariffs and their effects on global trade and shipping had a significant impact on the Grandmaster fulfillment timeline. We'll keep backers updated frequently and transparently as we navigate fulfillment in a world where war, oil shortages, political unrest, and environmental unpredictability can all affect the best-laid plans. It can take 3-4 weeks just to ship this many books!
2026
June 26 - Campaign Ends
July 10 - We receive the campaign funds from BackerKit
August - Surveys sent to backers
September - Manufacturing order placed
2027
January - Freight from factory to fulfillment warehouse (6-8 weeks, dependent on global container ship schedules/availability)
May - Fulfillment begins
June - Primary fulfillment ends
July - Secondary fulfillment begins (late surveys, edge cases, lost packages)
We charge actual costs for shipping and handling after the campaign ends, during BackerKit surveys. We'll do our best to find the lowest prices, but backers should expect the cost of moving physical products around the world to continue to increase. For Grandmaster, domestic shipping cost around $15 and international shipping ranged from $20-40.
If we reach our major stretch goals, all physical products will arrive at the fulfillment center pre-packaged for shipment, which should save money and speed up the process considerably, as well as protecting your books as well as we can.
We are able to ship with duties pre-paid for most countries around the world, allowing backers to receive your packages easily and with no hassle from your local carriers. Duties will be included in shipping costs in your surveys (or, if the campaign does well enough, we will cover those costs ourselves, as we did for international Grandmaster backers.)
As with any large fulfillment, a small percentage of packages may be damaged or lost in transit. We are committed to replacing lost or damaged rewards.
LATE SURVEY POLICY
Sometimes life happens and backers forget to complete their surveys. Our policy is to hold your rewards for one year past the date the primary fulfillment commences. After that year has elapsed we close the campaign. Please commit to filling out your surveys in a timely manner!
Thanks to the generous support of backers who contributed to the fan scholarship fund on the Grandmaster campaign we were able to gift more than 600 books to fans in need. Let's see if we can break that record on this campaign!
For every $30 raised in Fan Scholarship add-ons, we add another book to the Fan Scholarship pool.
Fans experiencing financial hardship can apply here. Once a week we will upload email addresses from scholarships to BackerKit. Once your email address is added to the system, the pledge level will unlock. Make sure you're logged into BackerKit with that email address and you will be able to make your pledge.
HOW TO ACCESS YOUR SCHOLARSHIP
We've created a special web page to help Pre-Launch Reservations and Scholarship recipients access your discounted pledge levels.
tl;dr - Log into BackerKit to see your exclusive pricing
DISCLAIMER
This program relies on good-faith participation from everyone. Let's treat the fan generosity that funds this program with care and consideration.
For this campaign 99% of our risks and challenges are due to external factors: political unrest, economic uncertainty, supply chain disruptions, environmental disasters, and energy shortages.
Having successfully fulfilled campaigns during COVID, tariff wars, and significant economic uncertainty, our commitment to you is that we will continue to do our best to navigate a changing world in order to get your rewards into your hands. We believe that our record speaks for itself.
As always, we will share frequent progress updates, including our successes, failures, challenges, and pivots.
The good news on this campaign is that we completed almost all of our deliverables prior to the campaign launch, putting us many months ahead of where we were for Grandmaster. Most art is delivered, the book interior is complete, the album is more than half done, and our manufacturing and fulfillment partners are standing by.
