BARDIC VOICES SERIES. FIRST FOUR BOOKS. 1. THE LARK AND THE WREN. 2. THE ROBIN & THE KESTREL. 2.5. A CAST OF CORBIES (BARDIC CHOICES). 3. THE EAGLE & THE NIGHTINGALES. by Lackey, Mercedes (with Josepha Sherman on "A Cast of Corbies".)

Riverdale, NY: Baen First four books of the 'Bardic Voices' series, 6 3/4" H. 1. The Lark and the Wren - 488 pp, 1992, ISBN 0671720996. "With the proper schooling young Rune would be one of the greatest bards her world has ever seen. Even if only she knows it. Unfortunately, the daughter of a tavern wench at the Hungry Bear, no matter how talented, doesn't get much in the way of formal training. One night, to back up a brag she probably wouldn't have made if she weren't so mad, she went up to play her fiddle for the Ghost of Skull Hill. Everyone knows that no one who has ever gone up Skull Hill at night has come down again. Not alive, anway. But when the ghost appears Rune strikes a bargain: if the ghost tires of her playing before morning her life is his; if he is still listening when the sun glints over yonder hill she will have earned both life and a sack of silver. Let the music begin - ." 2. The Robin and the Kestrel - 373 pp, 1994, ISBN 0671876287. "After the affairs recounted in (Book I), Robin, a gypsy lass and bard, and Kestrel, semi-fugitive heir to a throne he does not want, have married their fortunes together and travel the open road, seeking their happiness where they may find it. This is their story. But it is also the story of the Ghost of Skull Hill, the very ghost who gave Rune a bag of silver and her start in life rather than her death when she played the night away. Together, the Robin, the Kestrel, and the Ghost will foil a plot to drive all music from the land - but first, the Robin and the Kestrel must tame the killer Ghost." 2.5. A Cast of Corbies (Bardic Choices) - 311 pp, 1994, ISBN 0671722077. "A strange pall has settled over Alanda. Everywhere representatives of the Church seek to ferret out unauthorized magic - and music, because it is magic at its roots, has come under suspicion. And that which is suspect, if it cannot be crushed altogether, must be stripped of its mystery, made tame and answerable to the power of the priests. Throughout the lands the Free Bards, those who will not or cannot join the priest-condoned Guild, are being driven away. But all who are Free are free to choose: to flee or to fight." 3. The Eagle & the Nightingales - 410 pp, 1996, ISBN 0671877062. "Why is the High King of the Human kingdoms not doing his job - and thereby allowing the Church to fill the power vacuum in the human lands of Alanda? This is a matter of some concern to Nightingale and her friends: the Church is becoming ever more overtly hostile to non-human sentients (of which there are several species in Alanda) as well as to anything that it does not at least indirectly control, such as gypsies and Free Bards. To discover just what is going on, she will join forces with T'fyrr, a birdman with the visage of a raptor and the voice of an angelic choir. And before the King - and through him the gypsies, Free Bards and non-humans of the twenty kingdoms - is saved they, the Eagle and the Nightingale, will have become if not quite lovers, then far more than friends - ." Interiors - light to moderate browning to inside of covers, very light to light browning to page margins, otherwise clean and tight with no other ownership marks. Exteriors - one book with light twist/lean to spine - also spine is concave, one with very light twist/lean to spine, one book with two faint spine creases, edges of text blocks have very light to moderate browning, very light to light edge wear on covers/spines.. First Printiings. Mass Market Paperbacks. Very Good. Illus. by Darrell K. Sweet, cover art..