Terry Brooks

Terry Brooks
Born January 8, 1944
Sterling, Illinois, U.S.
Occupation author, former attorney
Nationality United States
Genre epic fantasy, urban fantasy
Website
www.terrybrooks.net

Terence Dean "Terry" Brooks (born January 8, 1944) is an American writer of fantasy fiction. He writes mainly epic fantasy,[1] and has also written two movie novelizations. He has written 23 New York Times bestsellers during his writing career,[1] and has over 21 million copies of his books in print.[2] He is one of the biggest-selling living fantasy writers.[3]

Biography

Brooks was born in the rural midwestern town of Sterling, Illinois, and spent a large part of his life living there.[4] He is an alumnus of Hamilton College, earning his B.A. in English literature in 1966.[4] He later obtained a law degree (J.D.) from Washington and Lee University. He was a practicing attorney before becoming a full-time author and now resides in Seattle, Washington, with his wife, Judine.[4]

Brooks had been a writer since high school, writing mainly in the genres of science fiction, western, fiction, and non-fiction.[4] One day, in his early college life, he was given a copy of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, which inspired him to write in one genre.[4] While Tolkien inspired the genre, Brooks stated during his TEDxRainier talk "Why I Write about Elves",[5] as well as at the Charlotte Literary Festival that he credits the inspiration of his style of writing to William Faulkner's works. With this inspiration, he then made his debut in 1977 with The Sword of Shannara.[4]

After finishing two sequels to The Sword of Shannara, Brooks moved on to the series which would become known as the Landover novels.[4] Brooks then wrote a four-book series titled The Heritage of Shannara.[4] For the next fourteen years, he wrote more Landover books, then went on to write The Word and Void trilogy. Continuing the Shannara series, Brooks wrote the prequel to The Sword of Shannara, titled First King of Shannara. He then wrote two series, The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara and High Druid of Shannara and recently finished a third, Genesis of Shannara, a trilogy bridging his Word and Void and Shannara series. The sixth book in the Landover series, A Princess of Landover, was released in August 2009. Legends of Shannara, a duology taking place after the events of Genesis of Shannara, was recently completed. The first installment, entitled Bearers of the Black Staff, was released in August 2010. The second installment, The Measure of the Magic, was released in August 2011.

Novels versus short stories

After writing "Indomitable", a short story constituting an epilogue to The Wishsong of Shannara, Terry Brooks declared:

I find it much harder to write short stories than long fiction. I feel cramped by the lack of space and the dictates of the form. There is considerable difference in long and short fiction disciplines, and I am not good with the latter. I hope not to have to do many more of them, but you never know. I must have written Indomitable anywhere from four to five times, each effort different. Give me a five hundred page sprawl as an assignment any day.[6]

Bibliography

Note: The list below represents Terry Brooks' suggested reading order for new readers, which is nearly identical to their chronological order of publication in real life. [7] Shannara#Chronological list of novels lists the chronological order within the universe of Shannara, but this note from the Terry Brooks site suggests not to read it in that order:
"It is important to make a note right now for new readers. If as a new reader you read the novels in chronological order, you will be significantly spoiling your foray through Terry's work."

Shannara series

The Original Shannara Trilogy

  1. The Sword of Shannara (1977)
  2. The Elfstones of Shannara (1982)
  3. The Wishsong of Shannara (1985)

The Heritage of Shannara tetralogy

  1. The Scions of Shannara (1990)
  2. The Druid of Shannara (1991)
  3. The Elf Queen of Shannara (1992)
  4. The Talismans of Shannara (1993)

Prequel to the Original Shannara Trilogy

  1. First King of Shannara (1996)

Word & Void series

The Word & Void series precedes the action in Genesis of Shannara trilogy and serves as the very start of the Shannara saga.

  1. Running with the Demon (1997)
  2. A Knight of the Word (1998)
  3. Angel Fire East (1999)

The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara trilogy

  1. Ilse Witch (2000)
  2. Antrax (2001)
  3. Morgawr (2002)

High Druid of Shannara trilogy

  1. Jarka Ruus (2003)
  2. Tanequil (2004)
  3. Straken (2005)

Genesis of Shannara trilogy

  1. Armageddon's Children (August, 2006)
  2. The Elves of Cintra (August 28, 2007)
  3. The Gypsy Morph (August 26, 2008)[8]

Legends of Shannara duology

  1. Bearers of the Black Staff (August 2010)
  2. The Measure of the Magic (August 2011)

The Dark Legacy of Shannara trilogy

These books will take place 100 years after the events in the High Druid of Shannara trilogy.[9]

  1. Wards of Faerie (August 2012)
  2. Bloodfire Quest (March 2013)
  3. Witch Wraith (July 2013)

The Defenders of Shannara trilogy

Set 100 years after the events in The Dark Legacy of Shannara trilogy. The three novels will be loosely-connected, stand-alone novels.

  1. The High Druid's Blade (July 8, 2014)
  2. The Darkling Child (July 2015)
  3. Book Three (July 2016)

Paladins of Shannara

  1. Allanon's Quest (July 2012) (eBook short story, prequel to The Sword of Shannara) [10]
  2. The Weapon Master's Choice (January 2013) (eBook short story)
  3. The Black Irix (June 2013) (eBook short story)

Shannara related works

Magic Kingdom of Landover series

Note: This is not part of the Shannara series.
  1. Magic Kingdom for Sale — SOLD! (1986)
  2. The Black Unicorn (1987)
  3. Wizard at Large (1988)
  4. The Tangle Box (1994)
  5. Witches' Brew (1995)
  6. A Princess of Landover (August 18, 2009)[13]

Other

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Speakman, Shawn (2008). "Terry Brooks' official website". Archived from the original on 2008-04-23. Retrieved 2008-05-19.
  2. ↑ JiveMagazine Interview with Terry Brooks
  3. ↑ "Studio plans Shannara film series". BBC News. 2007-06-06. Retrieved 2008-09-07.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 Speakman, Shawn (2008). "Terry Brooks' official biography". Retrieved 2008-05-19.
  5. ↑ Brooks, Terry. "Why I Write about Elves". http://tedxtalks.ted.com''. Retrieved 14 December 2012.
  6. ↑ Brooks, Terry (1999–2008). "Ask Terry Q&A - Writing". Retrieved 2008-09-14.
  7. ↑ Speakman, Shawn (2008). "Terry's Suggested Reading Order". Retrieved 2011-09-06.
  8. ↑ "Terry Brooks' Website". Retrieved 2008-01-20.
  9. ↑ "The Dark Legacy of Shannara: Wards of Faerie". Terry Brooks - Website of author Terry Brooks.
  10. ↑ "Terry Brooks' Website". Retrieved 2012-09-11.
  11. ↑ "Terry Brooks' Website". Retrieved 2007-10-28.
  12. ↑ "Unfettered [Kindle Edition]". Amazon.com. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
  13. ↑ "Amazon".

External links