Sunday Squee: Mercedes Lackey's 500 Kingdoms Series

The Sunday Squee is when I can talk about things that make me happy and excited. The main focus will be on different things people created, from books to movies to television shows to podcasts, and my effort will be to highlight less commonly known things as a way to share what I love. If you want to join in the Sunday Squee, please link back to me so I can enjoy what you love!

I have been a fan of Mercedes Lackey literally since I was a teenager, picking up one of her first series out of order and on a whim in the halcyon days of a hazy past. In the last ten years or so she's started two new series, both inspired by and a critique of fairy tales. The one I'm focusing on today, the stories of the 500 Kingdoms, starts with The Fairy Godmother and wends its way through fairytale and myth both (the second book, One Good Knight, revolves mainly around the story of Andromeda) building up a complicated, interwoven series of stories. My two favorite stories are the third and fifth, Fortune's Fool and The Sleeping Beauty.

It's from the Russian-inspired Fortune's Fool that the inspiration for my dress came today - drawing in figures like Baba Yaga, the tales of poor Ivan, and even the Koschey the Deathless (who first appeared many books earlier) and combining in the slightest touch of further climes - Japan and the Arabian Deserts in particular - Fortune's Fool is a romp form beginning to end and includes one of my favorite romantic relationships of all time. If you love fairytales and mythologies, I cannot recommend this series enough. If you love adventure, magic, and happy endings, these will bring a lot of light to your life. I return to these books time and again when life seemed dark and difficult, and they never fail to brighten my day and my spirits.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: Izzie's, Irene
Sparkles: Folly, Rainbow Sheen
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Amber
Ears: .:Soul:., High Elf
Eyes: .:Soul:., RooMee
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Brows: Izzie's, Snow eyebrows
Lips: Izzie's, Frosty Lips 1
Face: Izzie's, Redness Tattoo
Wings: Epic, Cosmic Candy Chibi Wings
Hands: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands
Nails: Nine Inch Nails, Butterfly
Outfit: Melon Bunny, Shaman Dress
Stockings: G Field, Button Socks
Socks: Boom, Eloise
Boots: katat0nik, Comfy Boots

Pose: Don't Freak Out

Location: Neva Sky Villi
Light Settings: Phototools, Absinthe Light
Water Settings: Pond

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping