Terry Brooks | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Brooks at the 2025Rose City Comic Con | |
| Born | Terence Dean Brooks (1944-01-08)January 8, 1944 (age 81) Sterling, Illinois, U.S. |
| Occupation | Author, formerattorney |
| Education | Hamilton College (BA) Washington and Lee University (JD) |
| Genre | Epic fantasy,urban fantasy |
| Notable awards | World Fantasy Award—Life Achievement,Inkpot Award (1997)[1] |
| Spouse | Judine Brooks |
| Website | |
terrybrooks | |
Terence Dean Brooks (born January 8, 1944)[2] is an American writer of fantasy fiction. He writes mainlyepic fantasy, and has also written two film novelizations. He has written 23New York Times bestsellers during his writing career,[3] and has sold over 25 million copies of his books in print.[4] He is one of the most successful living fantasy writers.[5] In March 2025, he announced his semi-retirement from writing.[6]
Brooks was born in the rural Midwestern town ofSterling, Illinois, and spent a large part of his life living there.[7] He is an alumnus ofHamilton College, earning hisB.A. in English literature in 1966.[7] He later obtained aJ.D. degree fromWashington and Lee University. He was a practicing attorney before becoming a full-time author.[7]
Brooks had been a writer since high school, writing mainly in the genres ofscience fiction, western, fiction, andnon-fiction.[7] One day, in his early college life, he was given a copy ofThe Lord of the Rings byJ. R. R. Tolkien, which inspired him to write in one genre.[7] While Tolkien inspired the genre, Brooks stated during his TEDxRainier talk "Why I Write about Elves",[8] as well as at the Charlotte Literary Festival that he credits the inspiration of his style of writing toWilliam Faulkner's works.[8] With this inspiration, he then made his debut in 1977 withThe Sword of Shannara.[7]
After finishing two sequels toThe Sword of Shannara, Brooks moved on to the series which would become known as theLandover novels.[7] Brooks then wrote a four-book series titledThe Heritage of Shannara.[7] For the next fourteen years, he wrote moreLandover books, then went on to writeThe Word and Void trilogy. Continuing theShannara series, Brooks wrote the prequel toThe Sword of Shannara, titledFirst King of Shannara. He then wrote two series,The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara andHigh Druid of Shannara and finished a third,Genesis of Shannara, a trilogy bridging hisWord and Void andShannara series. The sixth book in theLandover series,A Princess of Landover, was released in August 2009. Returning to Shannara, a duology,Legends of Shannara, taking place after the events ofGenesis of Shannara, was written next. The first book, entitledBearers of the Black Staff, was released in August 2010 and the second,The Measure of the Magic, was released in August 2011. He next completed a trilogy entitledThe Dark Legacy of Shannara. The three books are;Wards of Faerie (Feb 2013),Bloodfire Quest (June 2013), andWitch Wraith (Dec 2013). He followed this with the trilogyDefenders of Shannara, which includeThe High Druid's Blade (July 2014),The Darkling Child (June 2015), andThe Sorcerer's Daughter (May 24, 2016). He then wrote the final and concluding tetralogy of theShannara series known asThe Fall of Shannara. The first book in the tetralogy isThe Black Elfstone and was released on June 13, 2017. The second book in the series isThe Skaar Invasionreleased on June 19, 2018. The third book in the series isThe Stiehl Assassin published on May 28, 2019. The fourth and final book in the tetralogy isThe Last Druid, published on October 20, 2020.[citation needed] In March 2025, Brooks announced his semi-retirement and thatDelilah S. Dawson would be taking on the authorship of hisShannara legendarium going forward.[6][9]
A television series based on the Shannara works, entitledThe Shannara Chronicles, began showing on MTV in January 2016. The show starts with the second book of the original series,Elfstones, as there are strong female roles which did not appear in the first book.[10] The second season aired in 2017 onSpike TV.[11] On January 16, 2018, it was announced that the series had been cancelled after two seasons.[12] Producers later announced that the series is being shopped to other networks.[13]
Brooks has written a number of other books, based on movies, science fiction and his own life. Novels includeHook, based on the movie of the same name, first published November 24, 1991, and republished in 1998.Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace was published April 21, 1999, with four differing dust jacket covers. His own writing life is reflected in two stories,Sometimes the Magic Works: Lessons from a Writing Life, published February 3, 2004, andWhy I Write About Elves published in 2005. A science fiction book,Street Freaks, was released on October 2, 2018. Brooks has written a number of e-book short stories which are published in a book titledSmall Magic with his other short stories.[14]
Brooks received aWorld Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2017.[15] He won anInkpot Award in 1997. He was also nominated for sixLocus Awards.[15]
Brooks resides inSeattle,Washington, with his wife, Judine.[7]
After writing "Indomitable", a short story constituting an epilogue toThe 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.[16]
A bibliography of Terry Brooks's works broken into the different series and listed chronologically can be found at the articleTerry Brooks bibliography.
…author Terry Brooks in 1944 (age 74)
