Terry Brooks biography

Terry Brooks was born in Illinois in 1944, where he spent a great deal of his childhood and early adulthood dreaming up stories in and around Sinnissippi Park, the very same park that would eventually become the setting for his bestselling Word & Void trilogy. He went to college and received his undergraduate degree from Hamilton College, where he majored in English Literature, and he received his graduate degree from the School of Law at Washington & Lee University.

A writer since high school, he wrote many stories within the genres of science fiction, western, fiction, and non-fiction, until one semester early in his college years he was given The Lord of the Rings to read. That moment changed Terry's life forever, because in Tolkien's great work he found all the elements needed to fully explore his writing combined in one genre. He then wrote The Sword of Shannara, the seven year grand result retaining sanity while studying at Washington & Lee University and practicing law. It became the first work of fiction ever to appear on the New York Times trade paperback bestseller list, where it remained for over five months.

Terry Brooks has written more than 20 New York Times bestselling novels. But what is more marvelous about this fact is that those novels vary greatly in the type of fantasy they present to the reader. The novels of Shannara are epic fantasy, grand and serious in scope. The Landover novels are light-hearted fantasy. Nearly the exact opposite from the Landover novels is the Word & Void series�a dark, contemporary fantasy. Terry is now writing a pre-Shannara trilogy titled the Genesis of Shannara that focuses on the events leading into the Great Wars.

"A marvellous fantasy trip" Frank Herbert

"If Harry Potter has given you a thirst for fantasy and you have not discovered the magic of Terry Brooks, you are in for a treat" Rocky Mountain News

"Confirms Terry's place at the head of the fantasy world" Phi

All Terry Brooks Reviews