Terry Brooks has been writing the Shannara books since 1968, and publishing them since 1977’s The Sword of Shannara. Now, he’s putting down his pen—mostly. This past weekend, at Seattle’s Emerald City Comic Con, Brooks announced his semi-retirement, which he then detailed in a post on his website. He’s stepping back from writing the Shannara books, and handing the reins to author Delilah S. Dawson.
Brooks writes:
I will no longer be doing the primary writing. My new co-author will take on that task. Instead, I will offer what help I can with providing storyline ideas, revisionary plot suggestions and a thorough overview that will help my co-author to continue to give you the kind of book you would expect of me. I know her well and have been friends with her for years. Both my editor and I have agreed that she is the right choice to take on the task of continuing SHANNARA. That she can provide the skills and inventiveness that is needed to accomplish this is something of which I am sure. She is every bit as professionally capable and committed as I am. What help and support I can give her, I will. That she will give you what you want and expect is something I am certain she will do.
Her name is Delilah Dawson, and she is a skilled professional writer and a delightful person. If you haven’t read any of her work to date, I encourage you to do so now.
Dawson is a prolific and bestselling author with a long list of novels to her name (and her pen name, Lila Bowen) that includes YA and middle grade work, Star Wars novels, the Tales of Pell series with Kevin Hearne, comics, and more. She’s published many of her books with Del Rey, which has long been Brooks’ publisher as well, and her Star Wars books demonstrate that she certainly knows how to work within an existing universe.
Brooks went into quite a bit of detail about his decision to step back from writing, explaining that he’s spent his 80th year “coming to terms with” the realities of aging:
I am still writing regularly, but I noticed recently that my physical and mental abilities have diminished. Not that I am derailed in any measurable way from what I was, but my endurance, concentration, attention span and memory are not what they once were. All this is a function of what aging involves and living requires of us at one point or another. I knew this was coming, but I did not expect it when it arrived and have spent my eightieth year coming to terms with its presence. Whatever happens, I do not want to be one of those writers who is remembered for going on a bit too long than his or her faculties could tolerate and thereby produce books that are less than my best work.
The most recent book, Galaphile, came out yesterday, and marks the start of a new series called The First Druids of Shannara.
