August 22, 2007

• July Ask Terry Updated!
  Terry has answered your July questions! Click here to read them! Since Terry is going on the road in a few days to support the release of The Elves of Cintra in the US and UK, he will not be answering questions until October 2007 when he returns home. Keep asking questions—Terry will answer two or three months worth at one time when he has returned home.
• A Webdruid Update
  Shawn has maintained this website now for ten years in various forms, but he has finally gotten around to redesigning his personal website. It is located at www.shawncspeakman.com. There you will find information on writing, publishing, and the revised excerpts for his first book, Song of the Fell Hammer. Take a peek into what makes Shawn tick.

• An Interview of Note
  Eldon Thompson, author of The Legend of Asahiel trilogy and scriptwriter of The Elfstones of Shannara screenplay, has done an interview with Aidan Moher at A Dribble of Ink. There Eldon talks about the Shannara screenplay adaptation and gives insight into how Hollywood works.

• July 31st Chat Transcript Posted
  The July 31st chat transcript with Terry has been posted!

• Chat with Terry
  The chat with Terry is still taking place Tuesday, July 31st, around 3 pm PST. That's 6 pm EST. The chat will be moderated, which means it won't be a free-for-all. It will be organized so each question is screened, read, and responded to by Terry without a flurry of other questions flying at him across the screen. First, have your questions ready. To speed things up, it might be best to write your questions down in Word or Notepad so you can copy and paste them easily into the chat. Here are the commands you will need to know and how the chat will progress:
  
  
  • To ask a question, the fan will have to write /question Write the question here? That question will go into a Question Queue only the Moderators can see. This is how we will screen our questions.
  • When an authentic question is asked, a moderator will give the question asker Voice. That person will then be on a one-on-one basis with Terry and their question will automatically be asked by the chat. Terry will respond, and then another person will be given Voice for the next question to happen. This will happen for the duration of the chat. We will try very hard to let everyone ask at least one question.
  
  There. That wasn't too hard. It will make more sense when you are in the chat room. Web Druid will be in the chat room earlier than planned to put the chat into Chat Mode and test it. Fans are more than welcome to help him test it in order to learn how it will all work. If you have any questions, just write Shawn (Web Druid).

• Online Chat - July 31st
  On July 31st, Terry will be available to chat with people online on the website's forum for an hour—perhaps longer. July 31st is also the day Armageddon's Children is released in paperback! Get your questions ready. The chat will be moderated, where people send in their questions via the chat and if the question is appropriate it will be chosen to be answered. More information about this will become available next week.

• The Elves of Cintra - Letter to the Fans
  Terry has posted a letter to the fans detailing his thoughts on The Elves of Cintra and what is to come after it. To read it, click here.
• New Pictures Posted
  Terry has sent along two sets of pictures and the link to them is posted on the Druid History Vault page! Enjoy!
• The Elves of Cintra Update
  The Elves of Cintra page of the website had been updated with a summary of the book and a Starred Review from Publishers Weekly.
• The Shannara Movie Deal
  As many of you already know, Terry has been in negotiations with a major movie studio to bring a Shannara adaptation to live-action film. That deal has now finally gone through—all contracts are signed, all ink has settled into place. Warner Brothers Studio, who has brought Harry Potter, 300, Superman Returns, and Batman Begins to life recently, have decided to option the Shannara series for three years from Terry in hopes of making a great fantasy movie. To read more about this, visit the Movie page of the website! More information to come soon!

• The Elves of Cintra - Wraparound Cover
  Here is the front and back cover to the US edition of The Elves of Cintra! Click here to view it!
• Ask Terry Updated
  Terry has answered your April questions here!

• The Elves of Cintra - Cover
  Del Rey has released the cover to The Elves of Cintra! Click here to view it!

• The Elves of Cintra - Chapter One
  Terry Brooks and Del Rey have sent out Chapter One of the forthcoming book via the Brooksbooks Newsletter! Click here to read it! And the chapter Terry was reading on the road last September has now been posted for fans who cannot download the audio version of it. Click, here for Chapter Three!
• January Ask Terry Q&A Posted
  Terry has answered your January questions! February questions and answers are coming soon!

• Book Three
  Terry has currently written six chapters in the book that follows The Elves of Cintra, which is a large chunk of the book done early in the year. He began in December, which is unusual given he takes the holiday period to let his story percolate before writing it. But with Book Three, it came together in a flourish and he couldn't wait to start writing it—which is one of the reasons Ask Terry for February has been delayed. If all goes well, he will be finished writing the first draft of the third book by September before he goes on tour in the UK for The Elves of Cintra release.

• Tanequil & Straken
  The long wait is finally over. In August, Del Rey is releasing Tanequil and Straken in mass market paperback. For the last few years, these titles have only be available in hardcover and trade paperback. The covers will be posted when they become available.
• Word & Void Re-Covered
  Late last year, Del Rey decided to put new covers on Terry's Word/Void trilogy. They will be released in the late spring/early summer.

• The Elves of Cintra
  As of this morning, Terry has finished the edits on The Elves of Cintra. Del Rey will now begin work on the cover artwork, book layout, and promotional activities that will lead to the book's August/September release. Terry has already begun work on Book Three to finish the trilogy.
• December 2006 Ask Terry Posted
  Terry has answered your December 2006 questions! Click here for them! Beginning with January 2007, Terry plans on sending out books to those people whose questions are selected.
• A Late Sent Picture
  Here is a photo of a fan, Wendy, as she and Terry talk. Wendy just sent this into the website, but the event took place on September 19, 2006.
  
  
  2006 Tour - Mitchell Books - Fort Wayne, Indiana

• Terry's Holiday Gift
  In a few weeks, Del Rey Books and Terry will release the promised chapter from the new book, The Elves of Cintra. It will be sent out through the Brooksbooks newsletter. To sign up for that newsletter, visit www.shannara.com.

  In the meantime, Terry has something special to give you all as a holiday gift. It is an audio file of him reading a chapter from The Elves of Cintra. It was recorded in September while he was on tour. The file is 40 MB, a large file that will take a while to download. Click here to listen!

  Happy Holidays, and be safe! Let's hope for a more wonderful 2007!

• Chat with Terry Transcript
  Terry logged onto the Forum December 5th and participated with dozens of fans in an online, moderated chat. He is interested in having another chat in the spring. To read the chat transcript, click here!
• Book Three
  Usually Terry begins writing a book in January, but this time it is different. He turned in Elves of the Cintra several weeks ago and has already started writing Book Three. More information will be posted about it as time passes next year.

• Chat with Terry
  The chat with Terry is still taking place tomorrow on December 5th around 3 pm PST. That's 6 pm EST. The chat will be moderated, which means it won't be a free-for-all. It will be organized so each question is seend, read, and responded to by Terry without a flurry of other questions flying at him across the screen. First, have your questions ready. To speed things up, it might be best to write your questions down in Word or Notepad so you can copy and paste them easily into the chat. Here are the commands you will need to know and how the chat will progress:
  
  
  • To ask a question, the fan will have to write /question Write the question here? That question will go into a Question Queue only the Moderators can see. This is how we will screen our questions.
  • When an authentic question is asked, a moderator will give the question asker Voice. That person will then be on a one-on-one basis with Terry and the person can then ask their question. Terry will respond, and then another person will be given Voice for the next question to happen. This will happen for the duration of the chat. We will try very hard to let everyone ask at least one question.
  
  There. That wasn't too hard. It will make more sense when you are in the chat room. Web Druid will be in the chat room earlier than planned to put the chat into Chat Mode and test it. Fans are more than welcome to help him test it in order to learn how it will all work. If you have any questions, just write Shawn (Web Druid).

• Cintra Finished
  The Elves of Cintra, the sequel to Armageddon's Children, is finished! Terry will now spend the next two weeks reading the book from beginning to end making changes and corrections as necessary, and then the book will be sent to his editor at Del Rey Books. Over the next few months, Terry will make additional changes in preparation for the book's release in August 2007. As already noted, the book is longer than Armageddon's Children.
• Cintra Online Chat
  The website hasn't had a chat in a number of years, and we thought it was time to have one again. On December 5th around 3 p.m PST, Terry will enter the Forum's Chat for about an hour and answer questions posed to him live. The Chat will be moderated. More information on how the chat will be conducted will be posted after the Thanksgiving holiday. Terry will also sign the copies of the Voyage omnibus on this day.
• From the Website
  This website has been developed and maintained officially since January 1, 2000 by Shawn Speakman (Web Druid). On a personal side note, Shawn has recently submitted his first fantasy novel, titled Song of the Fell Hammer, to Del Rey Books for publication. To read more about Shawn's novel and read two chapter excerpts, visit his website at www.shawncspeakman.com.

• Voyage Omnibus Released
  The single hardcover volume The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara—containing Ilse Witch, Antrax, and Morgawr—has been released to bookstores everywhere! Read it as the story was meant to be read—in one volume!

• Terry Signing Omnibus
  Terry is signing and personalizing the copies of The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara ordered through The Signed Page when he is finished writing The Elves of Cintra, which should be around December 1st. Needless to say, those books will be shipped and arrive before December 20th.

• Cintra News
  Terry is finishing the last three chapters of The Elves of Cintra and should be finished with it by December 1st. The bad news is it won't be released to bookstores until late August 2007. The good news, however, is the initial manuscript has nine more chapters (about 100 pages longer) than Armageddon's Children. That may change over the next few months due to editing, but the sequel to Armageddon's Children will be quite a bit longer than Book One of Genesis of Shannara.

• Titles Released
  Now that Terry is coming down the final stretch of finishing the sequel of Armageddon's Children, he has decided to share the forthcoming titles of the book as well as the overall series. The Elves of Cintra is the second book in The Genesis of Shannara trilogy. The Elves of Cintra will be released in late August/early September 2007.

• New January Chapter
  Terry and Del Rey books will be sending out a new chapter of The Elves of Cintra in January 2007 to fans who have signed up for the Newsletter! To sign up for the chance to receive this chapter via email, sign up for the Newsletter at www.shannara.com.

• Dark Wraith Delayed
  Work is progressing at a great rate with the graphic novel project Dark Wraith of Shannara, but it has been slightly delayed. It now has a tentative release date of January 2008. Rather than attend the San Diego Comic Con in July 2007 as was originally planned, Terry will now take part in the New York Comic Con in February 2008! More details to come when they become available.

• October Q&A Possted
  Take a look at the Ask Terry section of the website for Terry's answers to your October questions!

• More Pictures
  Now that Terry has returned from his tour and settled back into writing, his wife Judine has had the time to send the website the pictures she took with her own camera on the road. There are fifteen new photos, and they range from Terry posing with families, Tracy Hickman, Mike Stackpole, his sister, one of the Forum's moderators, and his "biggest fan ever." Terry visited libraries, writing conferences, and various bookstores during his tour.

  Click here to view these new pictures along with the other 2006 pictures!

• Shannara Movie News
  Dozens of fans a day have been writing into the website about the possibility of a Shannara movie deal taking place. There is a deal in the works but it is not complete; there are still lines to be signed by both sides and it may still not go through. When details become available they will be posted here the moment they are allowed. In the meantime, keep your fingers crossed!

• September Ask Terry Posted
  When Terry arrived home from the last of his tour events, he was immediately under barrage from all the weeks of gathered mail. One of the first things he did, however, was answer your September Ask Terry questions! Be sure to ask your questions for October.

• More Event Pictures
  Terry visited Torrance, California on October 12th. It was the last of his 2006 events. He has had a wonderful tour around the US and Canada meeting all of you who have come out! Here are a few pictures from that final event! Thanks to everyone who sent them in!
  For the Pictures, Visit the Druid History Vault - Pictures of 2006

• The Elves of the Cintra
  Armageddon's Children has only been in bookstores for a little more than a month, but fans are already clamoring for the next book. The sequel—still untitled—will focus almost solely on the Elves of the Cintra and their quest to survive the chaos that has finally come to the Pacific Northwest. This trilogy, which will also have an overall title soon, is constructed similarly to The Heritage of Shannara, where the middle book will be mostly a stand alone novel without cliffhangers. Even though Terry still has four chapters left to write, the second book has already passed Armageddon's Children in page amount. This website will be posting video and audio files of Terry reading from Book Two some time in December!

• Another Picture
  Here are five new pictures from Terry's recent tour events! Thanks to Eli, Shane, Paul, and Lisa!
  For the Pictures, Visit the Druid History Vault - Pictures of 2006

• Armageddon's Children Signed Only Copies Available
  Terry toured for almost three weeks last month, meeting fans at various events to promote Armageddon's Children. Some fans, however, did not get a chance to meet him and get a signed book. The Signed Page at www.signedpage.com still has about 20 copies left. They are Signed Only. The Signed Page is also allowing fans to pre-order The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara signed. These will be signed in November. If you are a signed book fan, check it out!

• More Pictures
  Here are some more pictures that have been sent into the website via the Poisoned Pen event in Phoenix, Arizona and The World's Biggest Bookstore in Toronto, Canada! Thanks to Lee and Caryl for these!
  For the Pictures, Visit the Druid History Vault - Pictures of 2006

• Del Rey To Re-Release Word/Void
  Beginning in May 2007, Del Rey Books will begin releasing the Word/Void series in newly-covered trade paperback editions of Running with the Demon, A Knight of the Word, and Angel Fire East. The new cover art will be similar to that of Armageddon's Children and the icons used on the covers will be a face in a tree, the Seattle Space Needle, and a corroded angel on top of a gravestone respectively. A Knight of the Word will be released in June; Angel Fire East will be released in July. No word yet if Del Rey will release the series in an omnibus collection but they "are strongly considering it."

• Event Pictures - Indianapolis & Dayton
  Here are more event pictures, this time from Indianapolis, Indiana and Dayton, Ohio on September 20th and 21st respectively! Thank you to Ted and Tony, Early and Al! To visit the other tour pictures from this year, visit the Druid History Vault!
  For the Pictures, Visit the Druid History Vault - Pictures of 2006

• The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara Omnibus
  The Signed Page at www.signedpage.com is now accepting pre-orders for The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara single-volume, hardcover omnibus Del Rey is releasing on November 14th. Terry will be signing and personalizing a limited amount of these books for the holiday season. Extra copies of Armageddon's Children signed by Terry are also available right now.

• Event Pictures - Minneapolis
  As you can see from the amount of digital pictures the website has received in the last few days, more and more people obviously are taking digital cameras to Terry's events! That's great because the more pictures the better. Anyway, here are more event pictures, this time from Minneapolis, Minnesota on September 13th! Thank you to Jerry!
  For the Pictures, Visit the Druid History Vault - Pictures of 2006

• Event Pictures - Detroit
  More event pictures from Detroit! Thank you, Craig!
  For the Pictures, Visit the Druid History Vault - Pictures of 2006

• A New Interview
  Sci-Fi.com and Sci Fi Weekly have posted a new interview with Terry by Melissa Mia Hall. It is titled, Bestselling author Terry Brooks still finds something to smile about—even as he fears that we may all end up as Armageddon's Children Click here to read it!

• Event Pictures - Detroit
  More event pictures, this time from Detroit, Michigan! Thank you to Stacy!
  For the Pictures, Visit the Druid History Vault - Pictures of 2006

• UK Orbit Books Contest
  Armageddon's Children has been released in the United Kingdom, but that is not all Orbit Books is doing! The UK publisher has also repackaged all of the Shannara and Word/Void books in one, uniform style. To commemorate Terry's return to the publisher and the newly covered novels, Orbit Books is having a contest to win one of three complete sets of the books! To enter the contest and read more about it, visit http://www.terrybrooks.co.uk/competition.htm. Note: US residents can also enter! Good luck!

• Event Pictures
  Terry has begun his publicity tour for Armageddon's Children. He has finished his first three events in Seattle and is now heading out on the road to almost a dozen other cities for the next three weeks. To see a list of where he is going, visit the Events page!

  Fans have already begun sending in photos taken at the events. Here are two of them:

  For the Pictures, Visit the Druid History Vault - Pictures of 2006

• Armageddon Comes To The United Kingdom
  There have been several reports by fans that Terry's new book, Armageddon's Children, has been released in United Kingdom! If you are in the UK and you want to read Armageddon's Children, go to a local bookstore and find a copy!

• Armageddon Has Begun!!
  The wait is finally over! Today is the release date for Armageddon's Children in the United States! It is the first book of a trilogy set in a time of desperation where several individuals fight with waining hope against the drowning tide of despair and evil. Send an email, call, or private message your favorite Brooks fans and share the news—then visit your local bookstore and pick up your copy to start reading it today!

  The United Kingdom edition of Armageddon's Children will be released September 7th by Orbit Books!

• Terry Brooks Video Interview
  Del Rey Books and Expanded Books have put together a three minute long video interview with Terry Brooks in which he discusses the book and gives some insight into how it came about. Cick here to watch it or visit Expanded Books! Our website also hopes to produce and post podcasts of Terry answering questions and reading at several of his tour stops in September, so stay tuned!

• A Surprise!
  Look on the last few pages of Armageddon's Children for a surprise!

• Straken Paperback Release
  Straken, Book Three of the High Druid of Shannara series, has been released in trade paperback! If you are looking for mass market paperbacks, read the August 4th News section below.

• New Website Front & New Sections
  Some of you may have noticed there is a new front page for the website. It was long overdue. Now it has links to two new pages along with several links to very old pages that were not being viewed due to not being near the front of the website. There is now a Store section on the website for any of the merchandising things that may appear in the future like the Shannara maps by Russ Charpentier, and there is a section For Writers, with information this website has gleaned from Terry and other sources over the last seven years. Both of those sections are under construction. Also added are links to the four main series by Terry—with the very tentative series title of The Great Wars for the new trilogy Terry is currently writing. If you have any other suggestions for the website, please feel free to contact me at ardrhys@terrybrooks.net.

• Publishers Weekly - Another Starred Review
  Starred Review. In this exciting first of a new fantasy trilogy, bestseller Brooks effortlessly connects the Tolkien-infused magic of his Shannara books (First King of Shannara, etc.) with the urban, postapocalyptic world of his Word and the Void series (Running with the Demon, etc.). The author envisions a chilling near-future U.S., where civilization has collapsed from environmental degradation, plagues, global warfare and supernatural threats. The last surviving members of the Knights of the Word, Logan Tom and Angel Perez, seek to keep the "balance of the world's magic in check" as they battle the VoidÑembodied by demons, their leader Findo Gask and their vicious human mutant counterparts known as "once-men." The Ghosts, an endearing tribe of street teens led by the resourceful Hawk, also scrabble for survival. Meanwhile, the human-demon war threatens the coexisting Elven nation. Longtime Brooks fans and newcomers will be riveted as the fate of the human and Elven worlds hangs in the balance.

• Tanequil & Straken - Mass Market Paperbacks?
  The website has received a lot of questions and requests the last few months concerning the release of Tanequil and Straken in mass market paperback. As of now, Tanequil has only been released as a trade paperback and Straken will be released in trade paperback on August 15th. The question most received is: When will the mass market paperbacks of Tanequil and Straken be released? The answer is not a simple one and it involves other factors. Trade paperback sales the last few years have been trending strong and posting double-digit growth. This has been true of the trade paperback Tanequil as well, which is selling great. The mass market Tanequil will not be released until sales begin to drop with the trade paperback and the publisher decides to produce the mass market. There is no time table for this. For those of you who want to save money—you will have to wait. For those of you who want your Tanequil to match the same size as the mass market Jarka Ruus—Del Rey produced a trade paperback Jarka Ruus last year just for that reason. When Tanequil is scheduled to be released in mass market, the information will be posted here on the website.

• An Armageddon's Children Interview
  Usually at the release of every book, Terry does a short interview to relate his experience writing the newest book and give insight into his writing life. This year is no different. To read up on Terry's thoughts concerning Armageddon's Children, Shannara, Word/Void, and our world, click here!

• Armageddon's Children - Audio News
  For the release of the new book, Brilliance Audio has acquired the rights to produce abridged and unabridged editions of Armageddon's Children. This is great for Terry's fans who are visually impaired or who enjoy listening to audio books while they drive, work, or relax. The abridged is 5 CDs and is six hours in length for $26.95. The unabridged is 12 CDs and is fourteen hours in length for $38.95. Both editions are read by Dick Hill. To listen to audio excerpts from several different chapters of the book, click here!

• A Tour Addition
  As many of you already know, Terry is going to be touring the US beginning in early September for the release of Armageddon's Children. Del Rey has added another event on the end of Terry's tour - Los Angeles, CA on October 12th. To see the entire tour schedule as it stands right now, click here!

• Ask Terry
  The July Ask Terry Questions & Answers have been posted! There is some good stuff in there, especially a hint of things to come. Click here to begin reading it!

• Armageddon's Children - Chapter 12
  The final excerpt from the forthcoming Armageddon's Children has been posted on the website for your previewing enjoyment! It is an interesting chapter because of how it was inspired. Terry watches many Seattle Mariners games and attends them often when the team is home and playing at Safeco Field. He and I were at one such game in the middle of the season last year and we were enjoying the ambiance of the ballpark, the fans around us, the beautiful weather, and the act of America's pasttime. He then leaned over and in a conspiring tone—one which I have grown familiar with meaning he is about to share something of his current work—said, "I can't wait for baseball fans to read the chapter I just wrote." A section of Chapter Twelve is the answer to his ambiguous comment.

  And remember:
  

  Armageddon's Children
  comes out August 29th!

• Within Publishers Weekly - Galley Talk
  Publishers Weekly is a weekly magazine devoted to the book publishing world and it is mostly read by librarians, booksellers, and people who love to read reviews of upcoming books. The magazine has a section called Galley Talk, where various people in the business can send in their articles and opinions about forthcoming books that they've read in galley form (pre-release versions of the books sent out to reviewers and critics). Armageddon's Children was selected a few weeks ago as a Galley Talk focus! To the right, here is that article scanned directly from the magazine.

• UK Armageddon's Children Cover
  Here is a better look at the United Kingdom Orbit Books cover for Armageddon's Children!
  
  

• UK Atom Hardcover Releases
  The United Kingdom rights to publish Terry's Shannara novels have exchanged hands again, and he is now back with Orbit Books. Orbit has a young adult imprint called ATOM, and ATOM is publishing The Sword of Shannara (forthcoming October 2006), The Elfstones of Shannara (forthcoming November 2006), and The Wishsong of Shannara (forthcoming December 2006) in new hardcover editions that have dimensions 7.8 in. x 5 in. (198mm x 126mm). The cover art is beautiful and listed below. The covers are subject to change.
  
  Visit their website at http://www.atombooks.co.uk/terry_brooks.html

• Terry Brooks Podcast
  When Terry was at RavenCon earlier this year, he took part in an interview with Tee Morris. Tee, coauthor of Podcasting For Dummies, is currently airing that interview as a "Special Edition" for the week of July 10. The thirty-nine minute mp3 is located at http://www.teemorris.com/blog.

  To conclude the Science of Cons Series, The Survival Guide to Writing Fantasy presents an interview with New York Times bestseller and all-around good guy, Terry Brooks. Take a listen to Terry's views on...
  

  • The Fantasy Genre in 1977 and how things have changed today
  • Building the image of Terry Brooks and being true to yourself
  • The Power of Being Nice (something all authors should strive to master...)
  • Terry's first signing
  • Why Terry Brooks (and other authors like him) need to tour
  • Terry's favorite promotional tools
  • Professional ethics

• Armageddon's Children - Chapter Eight Posted
  It is July 1st, and that means another excerpt has been posted from Armageddon's Children! Terry chose to post Chapter Eight for the July 1st excerpt, and he has removed several pieces of spoiler material, so this is not the complete chapter that will be in the final book. When you buy the book in late August, be sure to not skip this chapter when you come to it. Visit the Armageddon's Children section of the website for the excerpt!

• Terry's Sign
  Nathan McHone, a fan, sent in this picture:
  
  Here is a Mapquest link.

• Armageddon's Children Information
  Be sure to check the Armageddon's Children section of the website for reviews, tour schedule, and other information. Included is a recent update with a new review by Casey Cosker. Click here to read it!

• Terry in W&L Magazine
  Before he was a writer, Terry was a lawyer. Terry's law almamater, Washington & Lee University, published a three-page article in its Alumni Magazine featuring writers who attended school there. Click here to read the article!

• Armageddon's Children - 2006 Tour Schedule
  Terry is a busy guy—and his 2006 Fall Tour Schedule is going to keep him that way! The website now has the completed listing for the cities, bookstores, and times of where Terry will be. Be sure to check the Events page for the details! Terry almost always reads from the book he is currently working on—in this case Book Two of the trilogy—and he signs all books brought to him after he answers any questions you may have!

• Dark Wraith of Shannara - Inked Sketches
  Many of you now know that Del Rey and Terry Brooks will be producing a graphic novel (a long, single-volume comic book) that will tell the story of events after The Wishsong of Shannara and Indomitable. The story is Terry's and it will be written by comic book writer Robert Place Napton. The artist, Edwin David, is already hard at work on the artwork and Del Rey has released a new set of inked sketches! Here they are:
  
  
  
  

• Armageddon's Children - Starred Review
  Booklist, the magazine devoted to bringing book information to libraries, librarians, and bibliophiles, has given Armageddon's Children a starred review. The review can be read at Amazon:

  *Starred Review* Extrapolating from current world events, Brooks projects a worst-case scenario in which the steady destruction of all humankind is a reality. Plagues have killed half a billion, weapons of mass destruction have decimated entire populations, and the few survivors have retreated into a siege mentality, turning city stadiums into walled compounds and shutting out the "freaks"--those who have mutated from breathing the polluted air and drinking the badly fouled water. A variety of principals propel the transfixing yarn Brooks spins in this setting: Logan Tom and Angel Perez, both Knights of the Word committed to keeping the magic that binds all things together in balance; Hawk, a street kid who leads a group of other young people in Seattle; Kirisin, a young elf who is one of the Chosen safeguarding the Ellcrys, a magnificent tree upon whose existence the lives of the elves depend and whose safety is now threatened; and the demons and their minions, the once-men, who have been subverted by false promises and lies. Everything and everyone moves inexorably toward a deadly confrontation in the Northwest. Characterizations are dynamic and multidimensional, the descriptions of the land as well as the ruined cities and small towns are compelling, the action and battles are mesmerizing, and, as is Brooks' wont, the ending is a cliff-hanger that leaves readers salivating for the sequel. Sally Estes - Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

• Armageddon's Children - Chapter One
  Promotion for Terry's new book has now begun in earnest as Terry has released Chapter One of Armageddon's Children! You can read it here and then post your thoughts with other fans in the Forum!

May 17th, 2006

• Dark Wraith of Shannara
  Here is a preliminary look at one of 2007's events: Dark Wraith of Shannara! Visit Newsarama for more information, including early character sketches for this original graphic novel!

  Below is the official press release.

  Del Rey Press Release - May 10th Del Rey, a division of the Random House Publishing Group, announces its first original graphic novel project: Dark Wraith of Shannara, a brand-new adventure set in the bestselling Shannara universe by Terry Brooks. Brooks is creating the story, which will be illustrated by Edwin David and adapted by Robert Place Napton, both veterans of the comics/graphic novel field. Terry Brooks is the author of 23 New York Times bestsellers, most recently High Druid of Shannara: Straken. In addition to the long-running Shannara series, he has written the Word/Void trilogy, the five-book Magic Kingdom series, and the nonfiction title Sometimes the Magic Works: Lessons from a Writing Life. There are more than 21 million copies of his books in Del Rey print. "This is an exciting new adventure for me, one that I have thought about undertaking for a long time," says Terry Brooks. "Some stories set in the Shannara world are ones that I could never find the time to write in book form, so I have been looking for an alternate venue in which to present them. Graphic novels seem the right choice, and I am delighted to be working with Robert and Edwin." Dark Wraith of Shannara is set a few years after the events of The Wishsong of Shannara. Its main characters will be siblings Jair and Brin Ohmsford, the young girl Kimber Boh, Cogline the Druid--who can speak with the spirits of the dead--and the evil and dangerous Croton Witch. In the story, Jair Ohmsford discovers that he can draw on a form of magic that allows him to transform into other living creatures, both human and other. The magic is both powerful and seductive, for Jair can feel himself wanting to remain in each new form that he tries. The dangers he faces in Dark Wraith of Shannara, however, will demand that the power be put to use. Del Rey plans to publish additional original graphic novels. "Because of our phenomenal success with the Del Rey Manga program and our widespread contacts in the licensing arena, more and more potential projects are coming to our notice," says Del Rey Editor in Chief Betsy Mitchell. "Readers, booksellers, and librarians all tell us that they're seeking more great books in this format, and we absolutely want to give them what they're asking for." About the Artist Edwin David lives in Quezon City, Philippines. His first major project for the American market was Battle of the Planets: Mark for Top Cow, under the direction of artist Alex Ross; he has pencilled several more volumes in that series as well. His current project is a self-owned comic book called ShadowChasers. About the Adaptor Robert Place Napton is the writer of the comic book series Saint Angel and Deity, published by Image Comics. He also penned a comic book adaptation of the science fiction television series Battlestar Galactica. He is currently Editor of Manga for Bandai Entertainment, Inc.

  
  More information will be posted about this when it becomes available.