Terry Brooks announces semi-retirement from writing

Fantasy author Terry Brooks has announced that he is "semi-retiring" from writing at the age of 81. His Shannara setting will continue to be explored through new books by Delilah Dawson, with him providing advice, editing and feedback. Brooks noted that his recent writing had become more difficult mentally and physically for him, and he wanted to bow out before his skills degraded further.

Terry Brooks began his career as a lawyer, and started writing as a spare-time hobby. A fan of Tolkien, he began writing his first Shannara novel in 1968 and completed it in 1974. He submitted it for publication, and Judy-Lynn Del Rey at Ballantine Books picked it up. She worked with Brooks on a thorough revision of the novel for over two years, because she had a firm belief it would be a commercial smash if handled right. Towards the end of the editing period, Ballantine gave Del Rey and her husband Lester their own imprint, Del Rey Books, and they selected Brooks' novel to be one of their first titles.

The Sword of Shannara was published in early 1977 and was an immediate smash hit, despite derisive critical reviews for its alleged similarities to Lord of the Rings. Alongside Stephen Donaldson's Lord Foul's Bane, the first book in The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the novel was credited for kickstarting the post-Tolkien epic fantasy boom.

Brooks took a while to capitalise on the success. His planned sequel novel did not work out well, and he eventually junked the book to start over with a new title called The Elfstones of Shannara. Finally published in 1982, the book was more warmly critically-received (and is still often cited as his best novel) for taking the series in a different direction. The Wishsong of Shannara concluded the initial Shannara Trilogy in 1985.

Brooks did not immediately plan to over-exploit the series and instead wrote a new series of comedic fantasies called the Magic Kingdom of Landover series, which saw a person from our world inherit ownership of a fantasy kingdom, with resulting hijinks. The first book was titled Magic Kingdom for Sale - SOLD! (1986) and was succeeded by five more books, published irregularly until 2009. The series never matched Shannara's profile.

He returned to the world of Shannara in with the four-volume Heritage of Shannara series (1990-93) and prequel novel First King of Shannara (1996). His apocalyptic urban fantasy series The Word & Void (1997-99) initially appeared unconnected but was later revealed to be a prequel to the Shannara series, revealing how our world becomes the one seen in the books.

After this point he wrote the Voyage of the Jerle Shannara series (2000-2002), the High Druid of Shannara trilogy (2003-05), Genesis of Shannara trilogy (2006-08), Legends of Shannara duology (2010-11), Paladins of Shannara short story trilogy (2012-13), Dark Legacy of Shannara trilogy (2012-13), Defenders of Shannara series (2014-16) and the Fall of Shannara quartet (2017-20).

Galaphile, due for publication tomorrow (!), is the first novel in the First Druids of Shannara series and will now be the last novel written by Brooks alone. Delilah Dawson will complete the series with Brooks' input.

Brooks has also written or co-written several Shannara spin-off books. The series spawned both a 1995 computer game and a TV show that ran for two seasons on MTV in 2016-17.

Brooks has written other works, including the Viridian Deep trilogy (2021-23), Street Freaks (2018), and a writing memoir, Sometimes the Magic Works (2003). He also wrote the novelisations for the films Hook (1991) and Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999).

Delilah Dawson is best-known for her Star Wars work, including the novels Phasma and Black Spire. She also worked on the Rick & Morty, Star Pig and Sparrowhawk comic series. Her original fiction includes the Blud series, Shadow sequence and, alongside Kevin Hearne, the Tales of Pell trilogy.

It's very unusual for an author to end their career gracefully and on their own terms. In a 48-year career, Brooks has published 45 novels in total, 33 of them in the Shannara universe, and sold over 50 million books, making him one of the biggest-selling living epic fantasy authors (possibly the biggest-selling, only behind George R.R. Martin). He was rarely a critical darling, but gained an enthusiastic fanbase by writing energetic, pulp fantasy and by being widely-regarded as one of the nicest guys in the business. Here's to an enjoyable retirement.