Mercedes Lackey, actually, and her Heralds of Valdemar series. I have, sadly, never read any Xanth, though Veronica swears by them.

That's a good thing to wonder. It's pretty clear M.L. influenced everything from my painful "cannot fail, cannot 'let people down'" additude to my somewhat loose morals about sex (Not for me, but hell, go have fun, don't hurt anyone. :p) This needs to become a more coherent thoughtstream sometime.

~Sor