The Book Mists of Avalon retells the story of King Arthur from the perspective of the women who were a part of it. All these women are portrayed as strong, with their own spheres of influence. They aren't your traditional, let the men decide for us, quiet female characters. They make their own decisions and choices, for good and for ill. And more than one of them shows that the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. They may be women in an era where women are perceived as possessions, but they are strong willed and unwilling to have their fates decided by the men in their lives without letting their own desires made known. The first in the Mists of Avalon series, the Arthurian legend is told anew and is renewed through the women who show they are more than a mere part in the story. They help drive the story as much as the men do. Marion Zimmer Bradley Marion Zimmer was born in Albany, NY, on June 3, 1930, and married Robert Alden Bradley in 1949. She earned a B.A. in 1964 from Hardin Simmons University in Abilene, Texas, then did graduate work at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1965-67. Best known for her Darkover science fantasy series and her Arthurian masterpiece, The Mists of Avalon, she also edited anthologies for 14 years, published Marion Zimmer Bradley’s FANTASY Magazine, and wrote over 100 books in 4 decades. She died in Berkeley, California on September 25, 1999, four days after suffering a major heart attack. She was and always will be the queen of fantasy, and she will be sorely missed. Why Ladies of the Lake? I chose the title Ladies of the Lake because it is the women who speak in Mists. Bradley gave her women much more a part in the legend than any author before her, each with an influence that went beyond whatever power they had over the men in their lives. These ladies were my first contact with strong female protagonists and my own writing has not been the same since. It only seemed right to honor them in the title of the fan listing for this astounding novel.