A short life of the author
Terry Brooks (born 1944) occupies a foundational position in the history of commercial fantasy fiction. The Sword of Shannara (1977) was the first fantasy novel to appear on The New York Times trade paperback bestseller list, and its massive commercial success — it sold over a million copies in its first year — demonstrated to publishers that Tolkien-inspired epic fantasy could be a viable, profitable genre. The Shannara series that grew from it spans more than thirty novels and four decades.
Life and Career
Terence Dean Brooks was born on 8 January 1944 in Sterling, Illinois. He earned a degree in English from Hamilton College and a law degree from Washington and Lee University. He practiced law for several years before becoming a full-time writer after the success of The Sword of Shannara.
The Sword of Shannara (1977, Random House/Del Rey) was commissioned by Lester del Rey, the legendary editor who was building the Del Rey fantasy imprint. The novel follows Shea Ohmsford on a quest to find the Sword of Shannara and defeat the Warlock Lord — a plot structure consciously modeled on Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Critics noted the derivative elements, but readers embraced the book enthusiastically, and it opened the door for the commercial fantasy boom of the 1980s and 1990s.
The Elfstones of Shannara (1982) — the sequel — was a better novel: more original, more emotionally complex, with a stronger female protagonist (Amberle) and a darker tone. It was adapted as the MTV television series The Shannara Chronicles (2016–2017).
Brooks has published over thirty Shannara novels, organized into multiple sub-series spanning thousands of years of the Four Lands’ history. He also created the Magic Kingdom of Landover series (beginning with Magic Kingdom for Sale — Sold!, 1986) — comic fantasy — and the Word and the Void trilogy (1997–1999) — urban fantasy set in the American Midwest, later connected to the Shannara timeline.
Key Works
- The Sword of Shannara (1977)
- The Elfstones of Shannara (1982)
- Running with the Demon (1997)
- Magic Kingdom for Sale — Sold! (1986)
Collecting Brooks
The Sword of Shannara first edition (Random House, 1977) — the Brothers Hildebrandt illustrated edition — is the key collectible, $50–$200 in fine condition. The illustrated hardcover is the standard collected format. Brooks signs at conventions and book events. Signed first editions of early Shannara novels bring $40–$100. Complete first-edition runs of the entire Shannara sequence are an ambitious collecting target.