BrooksBlog: This Once and Future Writer

Hi Everyone,

I want to take this opportunity to provide a quick look at what lies ahead with my writing and publishing plans. In March 2021, I will publish Small Magic. This book is a collection of all my short fiction written over the years since about 1991. Some of these stories have appeared in print in other collections. Some have appeared only as e-books. About half, including the long piece from Word & Void, are new for this collection. I have held off putting this together until I had enough stories to justify asking you to have a look at this book. I don’t know which of the stories you will end up preferring, but I am pretty sure you will find more than a few that will satisfy your appetite.

I have written the fantasy book that will follow The Last Druid, and it will publish sometime summer 2021, if things go according to plan. I wrote Child of Light in a white hot-fever of impassioned belief that I was onto something.  Those who have read it – Judine, Anne Groell, Anne Sibbald and Shawn Speakman – will tell you it is a worthy successor to the conclusion of Shannara. I have already begun the second book in this new world, pleased with the direction the story is going. I am excited about Child of Light, and I will be talking about it at some length in the months ahead. You know I wouldn’t feed you something at the conclusion of a 43 year-long journey if I didn’t think it could stand up to the comparison. I think this book does that and more.

Finally, Shawn and I have a surprise for you coming in January. I cannot talk about the details, but I can tell you there has been substantial demand for it over the years. An announcement on all my social media will be forthcoming. Please just be patient until we finish up with 2020, a year that for me has been filled with upheavals and stress, but also with changes that I think will turn out for the best.

Among these, of course, is that conclusion of 43 years of writing the Shannara world. My feelings are mixed, as you might expect. It is difficult to give up something you have loved so deeply and to which you have given so much time and effort. But at some point you need to end things or time and the inevitable conclusion to all our lives will do it for you. I wrote what I wanted in Shannara and I leave nothing behind that I had wanted to do. I may go back – I am not saying I won’t.  But I won’t be going forward; everything from here on in will be written to fill in the gaps. Nor will I be going back any time soon. I have other projects in mind and other artistic ambitions to realize. I can promise I will be writing the same sorts of stories as always. Fantasy and adventure have dominated my life. I don’t see any way that will change.

So stay tuned and don’t expect me to crawl off into some form of retirement. Such a choice would likely drive me crazy. I have to write. I have harbored that conviction since I was ten and nothing has changed me. I will be writing right up to the end, and I hope you will continue with me on my journey.

All Good Holiday Magic,