Fantasy

Pat Wrede was a regular on rec.arts.sf.composition back in the day. I can't say that I know her, exactly, but I know a little about her.

As for her writing, it's irregular in quality. She's had a long career as a mostly-midlist author, and some of her early stuff—Caught in Crystal and the other Lyra books—isn't very good. The Enchanted Forest chronicles are excellent, though, as you've already discovered. Mairelon the Magician and its sequel, Magician's Ward, are decent (was published under an adult imprint, but I don't recall it containing anything too heavy). I know I've read Sorcery and Cecelia and The Seven Towers, but I remember nothing about them. Haven't read the new book.

Her full bibliography is here.