allantine Books shockingly was not Terry's first choice to publish The Sword of Shannara. Terry chose DAW Books to send his first manuscript to because Ballantine already had Tolkien. DAW Books however sent Terry to Lester Del Rey, the new Fantasy Editor at Ballantine. Lester immediately saw the value of The Sword of Shannara and signed Terry. Del Rey Books, with Terry Brooks as its major foundation, was born.

From this humble beginning Terry 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.

Note: For Terry's suggested reading order of Shannara novels, click here.

WORD & VOID

The Word/Void Trilogy

• Running with the Demon
• A Knight of the Word
• Angel Fire East

GENESIS OF SHANNARA

Genesis of Shannara Trilogy

• Armageddon's Children
• The Elves of Cintra
• The Gypsy Morph

LEGENDS OF SHANNARA

Legends of Shannara Duology

• Bearers of the Black Staff (forthcoming August 24, 2010)
• Measure of the Magic (forthcoming August 2011)

SHANNARA

The Original Shannara Trilogy

• The Sword of Shannara
  • In the Shadow of the Warlock Lord - first 1/3 of The Sword of Shannara
  • The Druids' Keep - middle 1/3 of The Sword of Shannara
  • The Secret of the Sword - last 1/3 of The Sword of Shannara
• The Elfstones of Shannara
• The Wishsong of Shannara

A Shannara Short Story

• Indomitable – An epilogue to The Wishsong of Shannara

A Shannara Graphic Novel

• Dark Wraith of Shannara

The Heritage of Shannara

• The Scions of Shannara
• The Druid of Shannara
• The Elf Queen of Shannara
• The Talismans of Shannara

A Shannara Prequel

• First King of Shannara

The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara

• Ilse Witch
• Antrax
• Morgawr

High Druid of Shannara

• Jarka Ruus
• Tanequil
• Straken

LANDOVER

• Magic Kingdom for Sale–Sold!
• The Black Unicorn
• Wizard At Large
• The Tangle Box
• Witches' Brew
• A Princess of Landover

Bearers of the Black Staff, Book One of the Legends of Shannara duology, will be published in fine bookstores on August 24, 2010.

Terry has just finished writing the sequel to Bearers of the Black Staff, to be published August 2011. He has just begun writing the first book in a post-Straken trilogy!