Terrence Brooks American science fiction writer. Date of Birth: 08.01.1944 Country: USA

Terry Brooks: Biography

Terry Brooks is an American science fiction writer who was born in Illinois in 1944. He spent his childhood and youth in Illinois and went on to attend college, eventually graduating from the University of Washington and Lee Law School. While in college, Brooks began writing and wrote several stories in the genres of science fiction, western, and realistic fiction.

In 1977, he wrote and published "The Sword of Shannara," a fantasy novel. The story revolved around the last descendant of the elven Shannara family, who is the only one capable of wielding the magical Sword and saving the Four Lands from the sorcerer Brona. In his debut, Brooks clearly emulated J.R.R. Tolkien and does not deny it. "The Sword of Shannara" became the first science fiction book to make The New York Times bestseller list, where it remained for over five months. After this success, Brooks decided to pursue writing professionally and left his legal career to dedicate all his time to writing books.

In 1982, Terry published the sequel, "The Elfstones of Shannara," and in 1985, "The Wishsong of Shannara" completed the trilogy about the Ohmsfords family. Brooks moved to Seattle and wrote "Magic Kingdom for Sale—Sold!" in 1986, an ironic tale about an ordinary person named Ben Holiday who unexpectedly becomes the ruler of a magical kingdom. This book marked the beginning of his new series of novels set in Landover, which was soon followed by "The Black Unicorn" and "Wizard at Large."

In 1990, Terry returned to the Four Lands and wrote the "Heritage of Shannara" tetralogy, which deviated from the previous fairy-tale epic canons to focus on technomagic and post-apocalyptic themes. Later, Terry did not stay long on one series, alternating between Shannara and Landover, which allowed him to explore new ideas. In 1996, he wrote "First King of Shannara," a prequel to the entire saga, and recently has been working on an even earlier period of the Four Lands' history.

In addition to his own series, Terry Brooks has also written the novelization of the film "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace" and the "Word & Void" trilogy, a dark fantasy series. He has written a foreword to Robert Salvatore's "Icewind Dale" trilogy. In the mid-1990s, there were plans to make a film adaptation of "The Sword of Shannara," but Terry withdrew the rights after reading the proposed screenplay, which deviated too far from the original by placing the story in a post-apocalyptic universe. The rights to adapt the "Shannara" series are currently owned by Warner Bros., who plan to adapt "The Elfstones of Shannara" for release in 2009-2010, with Mike Newell as the director.

An adaptation of the novel "Magic Kingdom for Sale—Sold!" was also planned for 2008, with director Stephen Sommers, but filming never began.