June ASK TERRY Posted

Bob writes: Hey Terry just got done with the last Defenders book. I was just hoping the next might follow up a bit with Leah. Cause his girl left him at the end and… well rough ending for the hero, bud. Please let me know if I’m off base here?

Terry Brooks replies: Sorry Bob, but we are done with Paxon and Leofur and that time period and moving ahead to another era and new characters. This will be the four book set that will finish off the Shannara series chronologically. Am rewriting parts of number one and working on number two. Very excited about this series for obvious reasons. I think the first book will publish next May 2017.

Anonymous writes: Unlike the Shannara series, the Word and the Void series seems less escapism but rather an allegory on our own society. While the Shannara series could be purely a joy of creation through writing, is the Word and the Void series something more profound to you? Something more personal to you; an expression of your own concerns? Not necessarily a warning; but perhaps to try and give the reader reason to pause and reflect on our society and how we engage with it? Sorry, a rather personal question I know.

Terry Brooks replies: Word & Void represents many things, so it is hard to explain all of it. It is definitely a mirror held up to our world and to the world of Hopewell, Illinois, when I wrote the books, but also the world I remember from back in my twenties and thirties. Yes, it is allegorical, as well. It is also about my growing up in the fifites and what life was like when magic seemed real, and you hadn’t been beaten down yet by the “truth.” Possibilities were more varied and real then. Like I said, complicated. But I did love writing it.

Cristiano writes: Much has been said about your martial discipline when it comes to writing schedules. Still, have you ever faced problems like prolonged writer’s block or, even worse, editing fatigue? If so, how did you overcome them?

Terry Brooks replies: Power through, baby! Or maybe take a few days off. Certainly, I have burned out a time or two and been stymied in some aspect of my storytelling. I think experience has taught me to be patient and not to press. Most things work themselves out on their own after a few days. Or in the alternative, write your way out of it. That works pretty well, too. As a last resort, take a vacation and leave it all behind. It will look different when you return.

Jane Baldock writes: I wondered whether you are planning to write more to fill in the gaps between the Measure of the Magic and First King of Shannara to knit them together more closely?

Terry Brooks replies: I do intend to write more books after Measure of the Magic but I am not sure how many. Enough to reach the convening of the First Council of Druids at Paranor, for sure. But I have to wait on all that until I am closer to writing the books.

Adam G. writes: Your post-apocalyptic created world spans thousands of years since the nuclear apocalypse, yet other than the creation of the airships you seem to have not taken into account what would seem to be an otherwise natural progression in the development of technology and weapons. Thoughts?

Terry Brooks replies: Well, the weapons have developed, spurred by the same discovery that led to airships – diapson crystal mining and faceting. But the development has been slow for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that the preference among the more advanced races, save the Southland Federation, has been for magic. Now all that is beginning to change, as we will discover in the new books, and we have new forms of transportation and communication, new weapons, and a shift in preference for the new science on many fronts. Hang in there a bit and you will see.