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Were Exile's Song, The Shadow Matrix, and Traitor's Sun written by Marion Zimmer Bradley alone? I do not see that they are published with a co-author mentioned.

Rediscovery was previously co-authored, and Mercedes Lackey is credited.

All the books after the three I am asking about, are co-authored with Deborah J. Ross, and published after Marion's death.

Exile's Song, The Shadow Matrix, and Traitor's Sun were published toward the end of Marion's life; I do not believe she was in very good health at the time.

Also, the style of the writing is extremely different from her other novels, the characterization is different, and some of the preexisting characters seem to have developed different personalities than they had in the previous books. This has made me curious.

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According to the wikipedia articles (Exile's Song, The Shadow Matrix, and Traitor's Sun) the books were co-written with the American author Adrienne Martine-Barnes. Wikipedia claims should always be treated with care, but this information is also confirmed by the isfdb, which notes for Exile's Song:

The publications and copyright only credit Marion Zimmer Bradley as the author. However, the Marion Zimmer Bradley Literary Works Trust web site credits Adrienne Martine-Barnes as co-author.

while The Shadow Matrix and Traitor's Sun have similar but slightly different entries, noting that for these novels Martine-Barnes was credited in in the copyright (though not on the cover or title pages), probably indicating a greater role in their creation. The isfdb entry for Traitor's Sun additionally includes the comment: "The book was published in January-1999 and MZB's death was not until September-1999 meaning they may have worked together in some form."

The Marion Zimmer Bradley Literary Works Trust web site can currently be found at this web address (the link provided by the isfdb is now defunct). The page, presumably the most official statement that can be obtained, confirms the authorship:

author list for some works of Marion Zimmer Bradley

REDISCOVERY, 1993 (with Mercedes Lackey)
EXILE'S SONG, 1996 (with Adrienne Martine-Barnes)
SHADOW MATRIX, 1998 (by Adrienne Martine-Barnes)
TRAITOR'S SUN, 1999 (by Adrienne Martine-Barnes)

and moreover indicates that while Exile's Song was written with Martine-Barnes, the other two novels appear as being written by Martine-Barnes alone.

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    Yes. Also, with the tip about the Literary works trust - I found their website, and it sent me to mzbworks.com here: mzbworks.com/works.htm#darkover, which confirms this. Should I edit it into your answer? Commented 19 hours ago
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    @Basya It looks like the Literary works trust changed their web address, but the isfdb did not update their link. That's why I had to link to the Wayback Machine's previous record. I'll just change the address to the current version - thanks for finding it! Commented 19 hours ago
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My copy of Exile's Song has only Marion Zimmer Bradley's name on the cover, and the copyright page says:

Copyright © 1996 by Marion Zimmer Bradley All Rights Reserved
Cover art by Romas Kukalis
...
For Arienne Martine-Barnes,
who created the character Margaret Alton,
and worked on this book with me.

In my copy of The Shadow Matrix the copyright says:

Copyright © 1997 by Marion Zimmer Bradley and Adrienne Marline-Barnes.

I don't have a copy of Traitor's Sun so I cannot check it.

I guess after the original publication of Exile's Song it was judged that Martine-Barnes' contribution was large enough to merit co-authorship.

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  • Reading the book, I can't imagine how it would take until after publication to realize that her contribution was large enough. The book does not read at all like a book written by MZB; the style is different. Interesting. Commented 3 hours ago

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