For many years the only chance a fan had of speaking to Terry was to meet him at tour events or conventions.
With the establishment of this website in 2000, Terry began accepting two questions from each fan per month. On the last day of the month, five questions are randomly drawn. Terry answers these five questions and they are posted monthly for your enjoyment.
Below are the questions selected from September 2020 and Terry’s answers! Enjoy!
Note: This section may contain spoilers!
SEPTEMBER 2020 ASK TERRY Q&A
Dear Readers, Once more, dear friends, into the . . . wall of uncertainty and confusion? Well, writing is a form of smoke and mirrors, but mostly of words and images coming alive in the minds of readers. I’ll try to remember that here.
Roger Sletten writes: Is there still a chance for a Shannara Chronicles continuation or a Shannara movie?
Terry Brooks replies: No. Okay, maybe the sort of chance there is that I will become a Hollywood star or married to Kim Kardashian. So, no. The show is over and done and it is not rising from the grave to come back. There is talk, but talk is cheap as we all know. So I don’t know about you, but I am looking ahead to new projects. Meanwhile, try viewing HIS DARK MATERIALS, Season One and Two – Three pending – by Philip Pullman, HBO, and BBC. Or any of the other great fantasy shows that are out there.
Allan Farrell writes: I notice there are soooo many versions of your books throughout the world (different countries, languages) with various branding. Do you get to give your input into the art selection on the dust jackets etc, or is that a decision the local publishers make? I like the Del Rey versions as I consider them the “originals” and the artwork on them is great!
Terry Brooks replies: I always am consulted on all the US and British editions, but never on editions published in other countries. I understand this. I am not familiar, for example, with how readers in eastern Europe respond to cover art and you are right – it really is a decision that belongs to the respective publishing houses. When they purchase a license to publish one of my books, they also purchase the right to decide how to package it. Best if I keep my nose our of a business matter I know little about.
Shane Stein writes: One thing I’ve really loved about the Shannara series is how you’ve expanded the world map beyond the Four Lands/North America, to include both the Asia-Pacific region (Morrowindl, Parkasia) and now a trip to Europe (Skaarsland). Whenever you decide to write the further prequels spanning the time between Measure of the Magic and First King, any possibility that you’ll also explore the one direction you haven’t yet gone, which is south of the Four Lands entirely and into what is today Central and South America?
Terry Brooks replies: Okay, now we have a realistic chance of something happening. My decision not to go south was very deliberate. Pristine country waiting for its own special appearance somewhere down the road. I might not end up being the one to write it, but I would strongly urge anyone who picks up the torch to bear onward to consider the potential of a new land altogether. Just saying.
Scott Gabriele writes: During these unsettling times do you have any future plans to continue the saga between the “Word & Void” and resurrect Nest Freemark and hope that the gypsy morph might bring to this world?
Terry Brooks replies: No immediate plans, but there’s hope in the form of SMALL MAGIC, my short fiction collection that’s available now. The centerpiece of that grouping is a novella in Word & Void with new characters and a new plot line. I think it might help satisfy your craving for more Word & Void to some extent, so please take a look at WARRIOR and all the other stories that are included. I am pretty high on this book.
Craig Massey writes: When, during your long writing career did you decide that the lands of Shannara were actually our world and linked through some horrible disaster?
Terry Brooks replies: Hard to remember now. It was right after writing the last of the Word & Void books and thinking about doing pre-history of Shannara. In the course of noodling about it, I decided that I had to make it clear if I wrote a prequel that involved the Great Wars and the end of the old world if that world were this one or another. I chose the former, and then began to incorporate the idea that the destruction of the old world destroyed science as the primary force of advancement of the Human Race and left a void that was filled by magic. Thus, the beginning. Details other than that are lost in time.
Whoa! Good questions from everyone all the way back five or so sets of ASK TERRY. COVID sheltering in place must have sharpened some minds. Let’s keep at it. See you next time for more insightful explanations – if I can remember how to find the computer . . .
Onward,
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