Born in Pensacola, Florida, Phaedra is the eldest of four children. She began writing in notebooks with her best friend in middle school, rewriting their favorite television shows into what they believed were better endings. Or at least better plots. After leaving college for a job in the Graphic Arts industry, Phaedra continued her love of writing in her spare time and was lucky enough at a writer’s conference to meet Dean Wesley Smith, who later became her writing mentor, along with his wife, the bestselling mystery/fantasy/romance/science fiction writer, Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Phaedra lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband, daughter, cat and dog. When not writing, she and her daughter spend their time playing games, letterboxing, or watching anime as they practice drawing MANGA and Daddy sleeps on the couch. You can learn more at 
Tempest: All-New Tales of Valdemar edited by Mercedes Lackey
Tempest (2016) is the most recent in a lengthy series of light fantasy anthologies set in and around Mercedes Lackey’s well-known Valdemar, is a land where people called Heralds are “Chosen” (read: magically bonded for life) with telepathic white horse-like creatures known as Companions. Once bonded, the pair joins others in traveling and policing their kingdom against wrongdoing, threats and evils of all kinds. While I’m a relative newcomer to the world of Valdemar, I’ve read several other works by Lackey and was impressed by a couple of her short stories of the Companions.
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Pretty challenging book. Cut by half, speed up the cadence. Trying to figure out the plot, the main point of…
Thanks for the kind words, Marion! Coming as they are from a professional writer, they are much appreciated!
Wonderful review, Sandy.
The "body count" bothered me a bit less because being dead seemed more like an inconvenience than anything else... unlike…
Detailed, thoughtful review, Bill. I'm going to read it for two reasons. First, Karen Russell wrote it, and second, it…