Questions by Fans. Answers by Terry Brooks

Anonymous writes: I was just wondering in The Elfstones of Shannara, if the Ellcrys can talk to the Chosen using images could not Amberle contact Wil? She is the Ellcrys after all? Just a thought it's been bugging me for some time.

Terry Brooks replies: Let it bug you no more. The answer is Yes. The Ellcrys can speak with anyone, if she chooses. But she normally only speaks with the Chosen and only in times of great need or stress. Also, she is no longer human, and her memories of the past are dimmed and her place in the world changed. She no longer thinks of her old life or of the people who were in it. She thinks only of her duty as a protector of the Elven nation and keeper of the demon hordes.

Mike Gayle writes: I used to get this creepy feeling whenever Grey's Anatomy came on, but that was just because of the show. Now, the creepy feeling is because of the night shots of Seattle. Since reading the Word/Void books, Seattle is now a haunted place. Was it difficult to turn Seattle into a post-apocolyptic horror? It is more vivid for me than anything else you have written.

Terry Brooks replies: That creepy feeling was due to the fact that you were watching TV instead of reading a good book. Okay, okay, I'll stop. I am pleased you liked what I did with Seattle in the post-apocalyptic setting of Armageddon's Children and its sequels. There is a certain creepiness about a lot of places at night, so writing about them only requires that you observe what creeps you out and that you use your imagination. I've been downtown late when nothing is moving. It's not a long leap from there to visualizing Seattle after a disaster has emptied her out.

Mark Lebow writes: Is there a point in the Genesis of Shannara when the belief in God disappears? Helen Rice and Angel Perez believe in God, so it seems, but is there some point when that belief utterly disappears from the world, never to return?

Terry Brooks replies: Well, if there is one, Mark, I don't know where it is. I would guess it is an individual thing with each character, pretty much the way things work in real life. Some probably never believed to begin with. Some just don't talk about it. Some think that all that matters is how they act. Anyway, the street kids, in particular, wouldn't know much about religion of any sort, having not been exposed to it. Logan Tom knows about religion; we see that from his encounter with the small community on the east side of the Rockies. But the large question of religion disappearing isn't something I've given much thought to. My concern is more with when any sort of moral code disappears. When do people stop behaving in a reasonable, compassionate way towards one another. That's more of what's happened in the current books.

Corey Barnhart writes: I just finished reading Dark Wraith and i was wondering if the graphic novel does as well as all your fans are hoping it does, and you do decide to do another, do you think you are going to continue the story line that you had set up with Jair, or are you thinking about starting a whole new one based around another character? If the case is the latter of the two, would it be a character that has already been previously used and developed, like with Jair?

Terry Brooks replies: Good question, Corey, but I don't have a good answer to give you. I've thought about in a general sort of way, but I haven't settled on anything. Once the publisher decides it is ready to go ahead with another graphic novel, I'll start thinking about it seriously. What do you think? Maybe we should take an online pole of the readers and see how they feel. Do we stick with Jair, change to something else, use established characters or what?

Anonymous writes: Why would Allanon bother recruiting Jair to stop the Mwellrets and Croton Witch from trying to gain access to Paranor as if it were the potential end of the world? From the way it ended it looks like Paranor would have taken care of the situation without his intervention.

Terry Brooks replies: Maybe it looked that way, but it wasn't. So maybe I need to do a better job of making it clear what's going on with the next effort. Allanon's shade recruited Jair to stop Cogline from being used to open the locks on Paranor set in place by Druid magic. While the creature in the well wards the keep, this doesn't mean there isn't a way to get inside, particularly if you are a Druid. The idea was that Cogline might have the ability to break down the locks and open the Keep. Jair's appearance and distraction of both Cogline and the Croton witch disrupted things enough that the magic warding the keep was able to recover and respond the unauthorized invasion. Hope that helps.

Eric Montgomery writes: Mr. Brooks, first off I loved Dark Wraith—was glad to see Garet Jax back in action. My question is why no colored illustations? I would gladly have paid extra for that. Also will you have more upcoming stories as graphic novels or adapt curent ones to this format?

Terry Brooks replies: The publisher decided to go with black and white rather than color for two main reasons. First, as you have guessed, it cut the cost of the book way back. Color is expensive. Second, it seemed to all of us that black and white captured the mood of the story much better than color. This is a dark sort of story with a lot of introspection involved on both the part of the characters and, hopefully, the readers. So a darker tone seemed appropriate. I might add that a lot of color comics and graphic novels strike me as garish, and I really wanted to avoid that. As for future graphic novels, we're still discussing the possibility of that. The main consideration has to do with time and effort. I am pretty well strapped with writing my books, so I don't have a lot of time to give over to other projects. We'll see.

Harsh Varia writes: The Word and the Void have been at war since the beginning of time and there have always been Knights and demons. Why have the Word and the Void not created any more Knights or demons after the Great Wars?

Terry Brooks replies: Ho, ho, Harsh Varia! Another clever attempt at getting me to reveal what is going to happen in future books! Well, it won't work, do you hear me! I won't be tricked! Okay, let me settle down here. If you are talking about the fact that in the later books in Shannara there are no Knights of the Word, you are correct. You will learn why as Genesis of Shannara continues. As for demons, they are still there, mutated into other forms. What are the Shadowen, the Mord Wraiths, the Skull Bearers and the like if not offspring of the demons? Or at least legitimate successors. We will learn more about this, too, as the writing continues.

Lesley Hutchings writes: I was also wondering why the Leahs didn't carry any part of the wishsong as they inter-married with Brin and Rone and in Indomitable it was mentioned they were having their first child?

Terry Brooks replies: Wait a second? Who says they didn't? We don't know yet about Brin and Rone's child, do we? Or have I forgotten something? We know that the wishsong gene crops up only now and then from one generation to the next, carrying through to future centuries in later books. But I don't think I have written anything about this particular child, as yet. We have to wait and see, Lesley. Don't we? Maybe someone has a better handle on this than I do. Web Druid? What do you remember?

Rick Smith writes: Ever since reading The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara trilogy I have wondered, will you go back and write any "in between" novels of Walker Boh's time as a Druid, chronicling his attempts to establish the Third Druid Council or the adventures he had with Truls Rohk that are hinted at in the trilogy? Walker has always been my favorite character from your novels with Allanon and John Ross as close seconds. Thank you.

Terry Brooks replies: I'm afraid you are in the same boat as Matthew (see above). I don't have any plans to do any of the things you are asking for. Not now, anyway. I don't usually go back to characters I have already written about in depth. The only exception to this so far is writing about Jair and Brin Ohmsford in the graphic novel Dark Wraith and the preceding short story Indomitable. But mostly I like moving ahead to new time periods and new characters. That's still my plan.

Gareth Fortein writes: I'd like to know if there will be any drastic change in the wishsong over the generations to come or will it simply be thinned out of the Ohmsford bloodline. There have been signs of it manifesting in new ways as with Pen in Jarka Ruus. Any thoughts on where you are taking this wonderful magic.

Terry Brooks replies: Good question Gareth. Unfortunately, I can't answer them. I do have plans for the wishsong, but I'm keeping them to myself. What? You thought I might actually reveal something before a book is written? Come on!

Jake Humphrey writes: Now that we know (mostly) how the world of Shannara was created, is Shannara sci-fi or fantasy? It has aspects of both. It has magic but the world and races came from a nuclear war. It might just be a mixture but what do you think it is Terry?

Terry Brooks replies: Beats the heck out of me, Jake. The Shannara tales have always been primarily fantasy adventure, even though the old world was one of science that failed to hold together. Nothing much has changed on that front save that I am now writing about that earlier world, which necessitates bringing in some of the failed science. Also, I have always had my eye on the conflict between magic and science as the better vehicle for a civilization's advancement. There are elements of science cropping up again in the new Shannara world, and the Druids, for one, are not certain this is a good thing. But the conflict over which should prevail is likely to go on for a few more books or maybe right to the end.

Christopher Scharf writes: When promoting Dark Wraith of Shannara at Comic Con in NYC this year, will you personally be there all three days or is there a specific day or time you will be there?

Terry Brooks replies: I don't have a schedule yet, but I expect I will be there at least two days and possibly three. I hope to be in New York for the duration of the conference in any case, and I will probably hang out at the Del Rey booth for some of that time. See you there.

Aaron Plettl writes: In The Elves of Cintra, when it was shown that there were multiple Knights of of the Word in the world, I was curious to know if that meant that when John Ross was a Knight, there were several Knights working all over the world and not just one person to carry the burden?

Terry Brooks replies: That would be correct, Aaron. But we don't know where they were or how many there were. In my own mind, Ross was the best because he had gone through the most to become a Knight of the Word. He was toughened by his initiation and his own determination. Anyway, he is the only one we ever got to know, so the rest remains one of those mysteries that will have to be decided by each reader. At least, until I decided to write some more about it.

Michael Knight writes: Just one question. In most fantasy books that I have read, Elves are usually immortal. Why did you not make them immortal in the Shannara books?

Terry Brooks replies: Tell you what, Michael. Immortality is boring. If you can't die, what's the risk? If you live forever, what's there to say? So I stay away from that sort of thing for the most part. Other than the Word and a few of his followers out of Faerie, such as the King of the Silver River, everyone lives a finite life. I just can't believe in immortality as a real thing. What we know is that we have so many years and we need to do the best we can with them. That's how I approach my characters and their stories.

Tyler Marler writes: I've read all of the books in the series, and something has been continually nagging at me. What truly lies within the depths of the druid's well?

Terry Brooks replies: I've never really answered that one in a definitive way. All you know is that it is a dark Druid magic put there in the beginning of things, when Paranor was first constructed, to ward against unwanted intrusions. Wake the magic and you are in for big trouble. We've seen it manifest itself in Wishsong, Heritage and now again in Dark Wraith, when it comes out in March. Guess I'll have to define it some day, but I kind of like the mystery of it, too.

Vincent Lopez writes: Is there any connection between Antrax and the Oronyx Experimental Robotics Systems facility?

Terry Brooks replies: No direct connection because they exist in what turn out to be different parts of the world. But the latter is the direct descendant of the former, a computer and machine operated complex that doesn't require the presence of humans. Mutated variations of these places will probably crop up again before I am done.

Lauren Fisher writes: I own a book, The World of Shannara, that yourself and Teresa Patterson wrote. I was wondering if there was going to be another one like it in the future that includes the Armeggedon's Children series as well as the Voyage and the High Druid series?

Terry Brooks replies: The answer is yes. A revised and reworked edition will appear sometime after the publication of the last of the three books in the first part of the Genesis series. So look for it around 2009 or 2010. But don't hold me to that.

Ben Pew writes: Would you be willing to tell us what's east of the Eastland? Thank you!

Terry Brooks replies: I would be willing, if I knew. But I don't know because my map reading of the Four Lands hasn't gotten me beyond the boundaries of Graymark and environs. I knew there was something I was meaning to do. Darn, guess I'll have to get out the old map and take a look. Wait, what did I do with that elusive map? It was right here in the drawer a while back. Sorry, Ben. You might have to wait for the book, somewhere down the road. Ha!

Dave Ketchledge writes: I have a question about The Elves of Cintra. Why was the Rogue Knight allowed to continue using the Word's power to kill other Knights of the Word? After he killed the first Knight, shouldn't the Lady have sent Two Bears to collect the staff and take his power? When John Ross gave up the life of a Knight, he kept the staff, but lost his power. Shouldn't something like that have happened to the Rogue?

Terry Brooks replies: Well, Dave, it doesn't work like that. A dying Knight relinquishes the staff through death. Two Bears comes to collect. When John Ross gave up his life as a Knight of the Word, the Lady let him be for awhile, undoubtedly thinking that he would change his mind. Two Bears was dispatched when it seemed he might cross over to the dark side. Fortunately, he didn't. This was during the sane period of the world, when civilization was still functioning and the Knights of the Word were still a power. But by the time of Logan Tom and Krilka Koos, things were too far gone to be worried about one rogue Knight. Almost all the Knights were dead, and all that mattered was allowing the Gypsy Morph to try to save some remnant of the world's human inhabitants. So Koos was left alone with his madness until Logan stumbled on him.

Nick Petrino writes: Considering that you have gone back into the world of Shannara's past to the Great Wars, ever think you might go all the way back to the time of Faerie. I'm interested in seeing how the Elves went into hiding, creation of the Ellcrys, sealing the demons in the Forbidding, etc.

Terry Brooks replies: Jeez, you guys are never satisfied. I suppose if I go back to the time of Faerie, you'll want me to go back to the beginning of things and the origins of the Word. Well, I won't do it! You hear me! Okay, Nick, let me calm down. No, I don't think I will go back any further in time. Getting from the time of the Great Wars to the First Council of Druids will probably eat up what's left of my writing life anyway. Plus, now and then, I might want to write something else. Like a new Magic Kingdom book, which I will begin writing in January.

Erika Longhi writes: The Ohmsfords have always accomplished the tasks they had been given and always had a happy ending, but Walker and Grianne had a different fate from the rest of their family. Will we hear from them again in your next trilogy?

Terry Brooks replies: Don't know about that happy ending stuff. Brin and Jair are still struggling with the Wishsong. See the new Dark Wraith of Shannara graphic novel. But as for Walker, I think we are done with him except as a shade come back to speak to the living. Haven't made up my mind yet about Grianne. I still need to finish up my story outline on that one.

Eric Song writes: With the upcoming release of the graphic novel Dark Wraith of Shannara, have you already started outlining another story to put in art form? Would it be another original story or have you considered a possible retelling of something already written like Stephen King did with The Gunslinger Born?

Terry Brooks replies: I haven't begun a new story yet. For one thing, I have been too busy working on the third book in the current series and for another I am working on the outline for the new Magic Kingdom book. Not to mention the fact that Del Rey wants to see how the first graphic novel does before deciding on doing more. It could be a one time thing if it doesn't sell. Actually, I haven't made up my mind about where to go with a new graphic novel, should it come to pass. But I don't think it would be a retelling of something already in print.

Troy Cafferky writes: During the Word/Void series, the Lady represents the Word. Why hasn't she appeared in the Shannara series? Do you plan to explain her absence or to introduce her into the Shannara series?

Terry Brooks replies: The Lady is the Voice of the Word. But if you have been reading Armageddon's Children and The Elves of Cintra, you know that the Lady is indeed represented in the Shannara world as the two series are connected. The question you should ask is, "What happened to her?" Because if she's there in the early books, when the old world is ending and the new beginning, where did she go? The answer will have to wait for the appropriate book.

Joshua W. Reynolds writes: Will you describe in your future books how the Four Lands continents are so geographically changed from what we know to be true today and just what continent was the Four Lands orginally?.

Terry Brooks replies: No, Josh, I don't think so. I kind of like it that the change in geography isn't set in stone, that it's up to each reader to interpret what's happened. There will be some discussion of geographical changes in the earth during the books in Genesis of Shannara. But I don't think I will get too specific about what's what.

Sean Pritchard writes: The Shannara series is collectively the best fantasy series I have ever read. Thanks so much for bringing such great entertainment to my life. I wondered if you have any plans to include a heroic Gnome character in any of your future books. Slanter was a fantastic character, but other than him, your Gnomes seem to have been kind of stuffed into a 'purely evil' box, and I just can't envision you leaving them that way after all you did to flesh out the Trolls.

Terry Brooks replies: I think I have been asked this question before, and I still don't have an answer. To a certain extent, the story dictates who the characters will be and how good or bad they will appear. So at this point, I don't know about another Gnome character with character. Maybe when I get back into writing Shannara that takes place after Straken, I will see what I can come up with. Your concern is duly noted.

Lynn Anderson writes: Hello Terry. I'm so excited to hear that there may finally be a Shannara movie. Is there a way we fans can express our longing to start with The Sword of Shannara? With the success of movies such as Lord of the Rings & Harry Potter, I have no doubt your Shannara series will be as successful.

Terry Brooks replies: You are welcome to express your longing anytime, Lynn. Or any other emotions that trouble you about the books. What I hear at this point, at least, is that studio interest is on the second book, The Elfstones of Shannara. Why would that be? Well, here are a few thoughts. Elfstones has stronger female characters, a better mix of men and women roles for actors and actresses. That will help with finding names to come aboard. It will also have some impact on the target audience. A mix of male and female characters has a better chance at attracting a larger spread of interest. You might remember that Peter Jackson enhanced the female roles in LotR enormously, probably for that very reason.

Brian Twilley writes: When will the High Druid of Shannara trilogy omnibus be released? Or a Word/Void omnibus? Started reading your books after it was too late to get the new hardcover copies of all the books so had to settle for the trilogy hardcover editions.

Terry Brooks replies: Word & Void books have just been reprinted with new cover art in mass market form, so I think we are a year or so away from seeing anything in the way of an omnibus in that area. I would guess not until the current set of three, beginning with Armageddon's Children, are all out in hardcover and paper, both. But I think there are plans for an omnibus edition of High Druid sometime soon. We'll try to remember to post something about a release date on the web site when we hear more.

John Castillo writes: Hi Mr. Brooks. So mankind has failed in many ways and destroyed their world with science. In the world of Shannara, with magic as the new source of power, are they doing any better or is the cycle destined to repeat itself?

Terry Brooks replies: Good question. I've been exploring it in the High Druid series and will be doing so again in the next set of books that follows sometime soon. When I know the answer, so will you.

Sean Snyder writes: Hello, Terry. I was just wondering if you were going to write any books about Galaphile and the First Druid Council. I was also wanting to know if you were going to write a story about the First War of the Races. I was very interested in that when I read The Sword of Shannara and First King of Shannara. Thanks a million, Terry.

Terry Brooks replies: All that depends on how long I live, I imagine. My initial intention with the Armageddon's Children set was to write a series of books that would chronicle the events surrounding the Great Wars and end a thousand years later (skipping vast periods of time, of course) with the formation of the First Druid Council. So that may take awhile. But I do intend to cover that formation, if not the First War of the Races. Have to see about that one.

Dustin Bertschman writes: Mr. Brooks, my question is what were your feelings about the negotiations on a Shannara movie being The Elfstones of Shannara and not The Sword of Shannara? I believe they should start with the first book and then work from there.

Terry Brooks replies: Well, I haven't gotten around to writing a letter to all the readers yet about this negotiation, so I guess I might as well start here. I optioned the entire Shannara series to Warner Brothers Studios, not any single book. They can make a movie of any book or combination of books they want. Their initial plan is to make the first movie from Elfstones, which I don't think is a bad idea. But they can change their mind, so we just have to wait and see. Personally, I would like to see someone make a movie of something while I'm still alive to see it. With Magic Kingdom at Universal and Shannara at Warner, maybe that will happen.

Anonymous writes: Hi Terry! A while back I discovered an old computer game based on Shannara in a bargain bin. Is this game cannonical? If so, how come that story is never mentioned in any of the books?

Terry Brooks replies: This was an effort by Legend Games from the early 1990s. It was invented by the makers of the game and approved by me. It is not a story from one of my books, but from a space between books one and two. I think at this point, with the evolution of gaming, the game belongs in the bargain bin. Maybe we'll do another one day, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Brandon Harshe writes: You mentioned recently that the Shannara movie that's in negotiations might be The Elfstones of Shannara. Do you have confidence that the producers can do the story and the characters justice?

Terry Brooks replies: Oh, Brandon, you poor, sweet guy. Do I have faith in anything Hollywood? Get real. What I am hoping is that somehow, through some small miracle, whoever ends up starring or directing or writing or maybe all three will think that the original story was pretty decent and try to hold it together. So I am hopeful, having listened to the people who are trying to buy the property and having measured the extent of their commitment (read, dollars and cents). So, yeah, at this moment I feel pretty good about the chances of things working out. But I know going in that the main positive is the chance to introduce the series to a whole bunch of new readers who will find their way to the books.

Wendy M. Burke writes: You have stated that it was Lester Del Rey who suggested that the Sword of Shannara's power should be described as revealing truth. How did you define the sword's power in your original manuscript? Was your original ending significantly different in any way?

Terry Brooks replies: Wait, you mean I didn't think of that ending? Darn! Another blow to the old ego. Okay, Lester thought up the ending. I think I was doing something with opening a dimensional door or some such. By that time I had been working on the book for seven years and was a little too close to the material. Lester left it to me to figure out how to write the change into the story, which did indeed require a substantial rewrite of the entire ending. But he liked it well enough that he left it alone. Mostly. That was the last time he left anything alone for the next three books.

Chris Sandner writes: Do you think it's a little premature to start putting Shannara in the title of your prequels? Or is that something the editor wants to do and you have no say in the matter?

Terry Brooks replies: Good question Chris. I thought that everyone would figure it out by the end of Armageddon's Children. They didn't. Even worse, some readers didn't buy the book because they didn't think it was a Shannara book. So, on the advice of Del Rey, we decided to go ahead and put the word Shannara in the subtitle. That way, there can't be any confusion. By now, everyone who is going to figure it out has done so anyway. I have trouble with all this because I think readers ought to buy all my books and not just one series. If you like what I do in one book, you ought to like what I do in the others. This is just me, of course. But it turns out readers are persnickety. They'll buy one series, but not necessarily the others. Who knew?

Jared Feehan writes: I just finished the High Druid of Shannara series and really loved the character of Weka Dart for some reason. I've read your responses hinting at the Straken Lord potentially coming back in the future. Could you give me some hope that I may not have seen the last of Weka Dart too?

Terry Brooks replies: I would be happy to give you hope that you have not seen the last of either the Straken Lord or Weka Dart. So I will. The details are a bit fuzzy in my mind at present, since I am working my way through the pre-Shannara years at the moment. But, as I think I might have said once or twice before, I didn't end the High Druid series as I did without expectation of resolving some things down the road. You'll see.

Jeff Baggs writes: I was so pleased to hear that there is a movie studio interested in creating a Shannara series for the silver screen. I am wondering where will they start? As of late, you have created some intersting twists and long lost related stories that were under our noses the whole time. Will they start in our world now and work forward or would they start with Sword and then work forward from there? Which would you prefer Mr. Brooks—a past or future begining?

Terry Brooks replies: First let me advise everyone that no written agreement has been reached yet on a Shannara movie. So until that happens, nothing is certain. The interest from the studio is there, but they have to secure funding, and it goes on and on. But we live in hope. As for where to start, that's a tough one. The studio will make that choice, and as of this writing they are leaning towards The Elfstones of Shannara for their first movie. But they have the right to combine stories, as well. So you never know. When I know, you'll know. I promise.

Thomas Brown writes: I've been a major fan of yours for a while now and I just started reading the Voyage trilogy. The main antagonist in the second book was of course, Antrax. Most of the villians before this have been living things, so what gave you the idea to have this enemy be (more or less) a computer program?

Terry Brooks replies: Hey, maybe it was computer experience, Thomas. I don't know about you, but my computers all seem to have a life of their own, and frequently they do evil things. You think you have them under your control, but they go off on their own just enough to make you wonder. Actually, getting serious for a moment—or maybe I already was, come to think of it—the use of Antrax as a villain offered insight into why the shift from science in the old world to magic in the new was so readily embraced. Science betrayed mankind, as we know now from Armageddon's Children, and that betrayal will be carried forward through subsequent books to the time of the First Council of Druids.

Neeka Cannon writes: Hello, I started reading your books when I was 14 and I still look forward to every release. I am curious to know about your conception of magic. Your characters always have a great fear of magic—both those who have magic and those who do not. Where does this fear come from?

Terry Brooks replies: Hi, Neeka. I have written about this extensively before in interviews and the like. My take on magic is that it functions exactly like science. Sometimes it serves a great good, sometimes a great evil. It is not bad or good per se. Our perception of it comes from the usage to which it is put, which ultimately rests with the user. But it is also often unpredictable. We can't always know for sure that a particular use will produce a guaranteed result. Sometimes it does unexpected things and give unexpected results. So the Shannara characters know this from experience and teaching and are rightly wary. As with science in our present day world, there is a deep mistrust of magic on the world of Shannara.

Terry Replies:
You might take note that the magic present in Word & Void is all in the hands of a few people or creatures, most of them Faerie based. The vast majority of humans don't know a thing about magic being present. By the time we get to Wishsong, magic is a given. So you could argue that I am splitting hairs, but really there was always some sort of magic; it just wasn't visible to the average person. Science was the norm, magic was the exception. That changed, and Allanon envisions it changing back again at the end of Wishsong. He turns out to be wrong.

Terry Replies:
I do get approached about this, Eric. It is flattering to think that other writers admire your writing enough to want to work in your world. But I routinely tell them no. The reason for this is that I can't think how we could make that work. I am very possessive of my creations, and I just don't think I could even accept another writer trying to fit his style and ideas into mine. After I am dead, someone will probably write more Shannara books under the "As Created By" label. But I won't be here to see it.

Terry Replies:
You have hit the proverbial nail on the head, Mauuel. The one thing we know about the way the world works is that things will change, no matter what. The Shannara world was created in part to look at what would happen if science was replaced by magic. The evolution, now being explored in the books starting with Armageddon's Children, began with the destruction of the old world and its science and the rise of the new and its magic. But I decided awhile back to reintroduce science in some small forms, as I think would happen, so that we could see the effect on a magic-infused world that distrusts it. I haven't finished with this, and I will take a fresh look with the storyline that begins after Straken, sometime down the road.

Terry Replies:
What's with all these Anonymous people, Shawn? Is it dangerous for readers to post their names on the website? Is Big Brother watching? Okay, I'll try to be serious. Yes, I intend to write about the construction of Paranor. That will come later in the current series when Druids surface and the unification of the Races begins. I should get around to that sometime, say, oh, 2012? Depends on how long the series goes, I expect, and I don't know the length of it yet.

Terry Replies:
This is a good question to start with because it is one that has been weighing on my mind for some months. Lots of readers have asked about this business of writing books in groups. I don't blame them. As the writer, I like doing it this way. It allows me to sprawl all over the place and develop complex story lines. I don't like slapping it all together in one big book, but that's just me. At any rate, I am getting a little weary of the long multi-year commitments. So I think after the next book I write, the third in the new series, I will go to a string of single—or possibly sets of two—books for the immediate future. My plans are a little uncertain at this point, and I don't like to box myself in. But if you pressed me to give you an answer, I would tell you I will write a new Magic Kingdom of Landover first and then something back in Shannara. But don't hold me to it. I do think I will get away from the group approach to writing books for awhile, though. I am ready for something new.

Terry Replies:
Maybe later on in my life, but not at present. I am not really comfortable writing short stories in any event. My preference has always been for long fiction, and right at the moment I have a full plate given the commitments I have made to Magic Kingdom, Shannara and now the pre-Shannara world of Armageddon's Children. The closest I will come is probably the graphic novel, Dark Wraith of Shannara and it sequels. Those probably qualify for long short stories.

Terry Replies:
In some instances, yes. But not everywhere. For one thing, the geography changes dramatically between the time of the Great Wars and the First Council of Druids. So it won't be possible to know for sure exactly where things are in the new world as opposed to the old, say with Arborlon or the Druid's Keep. I think it works better if I let each reader work that out individually.

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Jeez, Leo, cut me some slack here. I write cliff hanger endings all the time. I've done it in the Shannara books for years. It is mostly the result of my enjoyment of after-school television serials when I was a kid in the fifties. They always left you hanging at the end of a show, so you anticipated what was coming the next day or week. I know a year is a long time to wait, but I think the anticipation about what is going to happen is what makes it all fun. Aside from that, I will say that closing the book that way was necessary for more reasons than you can know right now. There is a major shift in Book Two that couldn't be moved into Book One without lengthening it more than I wanted to. Just be patient.

But in Armageddon's Children you did something which I had never noticed in your previous work: you revealed without much room for interpretation your political views relating to current events.

That is your right, of course. But aren't you (or for that matter your publisher) concerned about unnecessarily alienating some of your fans?

The issue for me isn't your particular views, rather it's that I was clobbered over the head with them in a way that ended up distracting me from complete enjoyment of this work of fiction. After all, the reason I read fantasy is to escape from reality!

So why did you have to Dixie-Chick the thing? Do you have any regrets, or do you plan on allowing that to happen again?

Respectfully, Dale W. Neumann

Terry Replies:
Whoa, Dale! Dixie-Chick thing? Clobbered over the head? That's strong language.

Let's start with the fact that you've enjoyed my books over the years. I appreciate it, and it shows that you care and are not simply in attack mode. But I have to point out that my approach to Armageddon's Children is not much different than my approach to any other Shannara or Word/Void book. I am always addressing the world the way I see it. That's my job. Writers of epic fantasy are supposed to do more than tell a good story - even if they are committed by unwritten contract with their readers to doing that first. But writers of epic fantasy are also supposed to examine the world in which they live. They do this by holding up a mirror to the world as they see it and asking readers to make up their own minds about how they feel. From Homer to Tolkien and on down to the present, that's what good fantasy has been doing.

Now I can't accurately measure what set you off about this latest book, but I can assure you that my intent was not to judge in the specific ala the Chicks, but to imagine the general consequences of what I believe to be a consistent policy of poor stewardship towards the land and the environment and a failure to step back from positions on issues that we - all of us - have set in concrete and refuse to adjust. There is a remarkable unwillingness to see the other guy's point of view these days, to accept differences, to understand that debate does not require a scorched earth approach, and to take the long view that we are trying to find ways to keep civilization from imploding.

This isn't a red/blue or right/left problem. It is a human race problem. As an author who has written before of destruction of the environment, I'm thinking like most people. What happens if we fail to protect our geographical home? What happens if terrorism continues unchecked? What happens if biological warfare leads to killer plagues? What happens if the earth revolts and natural disasters cripple everything? And so on and so forth.

But you need to remember something else, too. None of this serves as more than backdrop for the story I am trying to tell, a story about how a world disintegrates and the survivors have to rebuild it. I am interested in the aftermath of a catastrophe, in looking at how the survivors find a way to start over. What will it take? What will that world look like? What will be the price of making it all happen?

You might think you know where I am going with this, but as I have been telling audiences during my book tour this September, you might be very surprised to see what this is really all about.

Just give me the benefit of the doubt for the next two books. Then write me again.

Terry Replies:
Geez, Mark, we'll have to wait and see!

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Geez, Harrison, we'll have to wait and see!

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Now I do have to say, wait and see. I am working on the plotline in the books I am currently writing. The whole evolution of things will unfold book by book. Patience.

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Eldwist is not based on any specific city nor is Tiderace supposed to be the Atlantic Ocean. Although it could be. I cobbled bits and pieces of city parts together to create Eldwist. I didn't really think it important to make it a specific city, only a city out of the past before the Great Wars changed everything. Now, in the new series, which begins with Armageddon's Children, you will begin to see how the destruction of an old world can morph into a new. You might also get an inkling as to what sort of geography I am dealing with in Shannara.

Terry Replies:
There aren't any plans for the future, period, at this point, Noah. The magic was inherited genetically through Wil Ohmsford's use of the Elfstones back in The Elfstones of Shannara. It was passed down through various generations of Ohmsfords, but only surfaces sporatically. The Leah's have the use of the Sword of Leah, but that was all the magic they ever possessed. The Elves had lost most of their magic. But it could resurface in some form down the road. Just at the moment, I am all caught up in the magic of Armageddon's Children and the books that will follow. But you give me something to consider, and I will. Maybe something will come of it.

Terry Replies:
In general, yes. First King was particularly hard to write because so much about the history that followed had already been written about, and it was necessary to come up with some fresh material and present it in an exciting and interesting way. But this new series really does stand alone. First, it is so removed in time and place that it is just like starting a new book. Second, the destruction of the Old World provides the initial setting, and we really don't see anything specific about the new until several books later. There are suggestions of what is to come and some recognizable references, but nothing much that would hamper efforts at later development. So far, so good.

Terry Replies:
Here's another of those difficult to answer questions. Giving you the full answer gives away a key plot point to the new book. Let me leave it at this, Michael. The demons in Armageddon's Children are not the demons shut away behind the wall of the Forbidding. Those demons came out of the World of Faerie before the World of Men. Those demons were created out of Faerie creatures. These new demons . . . Well, you'll see.

Terry Replies:
I have written almost everything in saga form, with generations left open between story sections. The exception to this is Magic Kingdom, where the readers follow the story of Ben Holiday and his companions with one story leading right into the next. But for Shannara, that means you can start at the beginning of any segment. That holds true for Word & Void, too. I am writing the new series in the same way. Each set of books will chronicle a piece of history covering a long span of time. More about this in my letter to readers coming in the next few weeks.

Terry Replies:
Geez, David. Matter of fact, I will answer all your questions in the new series, but not all at once. For now, think about this. The First Council of Druids, summoned by Galaphile, takes place a thousand years after the Great Wars destroy the Old Word and magic begins to replace science as the dominant power. That is a long, long time and lots can and will happen. So you can expect to see some changes along the way. That includes the future of the Knights of the Word. You will get some strong hints of this in Armageddon's Children.

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Many people don't know this, but I'm not the person responsible for making movies. I write books and that's what I enjoy. It takes a movie studio with interest to get a movie off the ground and onto the silver screen. That movie studio must purchase the rights from me to make a movie based on one of my novels and although there are always several studios interested in the Shannara series, they never complete the effort. Usually money is reflection of how serious a studio is, and no one has offered the correct amount to buy the rights from me. I'm sure, as with many things, that this is one of those things that will happen when I am gone.

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Ryer's prediction was flawed. She believed because she wanted to believe. But she had already foreseen her own death, and she was no longer working at the level that would allow her to project accurately what would happen to Ahren. She was protective of him, and wanted to save his life. What she told him was what she thought he needed to hear and what she wanted to think was true. But, as we know, not all predictions work out. Not in my books, at least.

Terry Replies:
Good question, Manuel. The short answer is that she cannot be summoned as a Shade if she is not dead. Of course, she's still alive, though in a different form. Eventually, she will die. But until then, she cannot be summoned through the Hadeshorn. But, here's the thing. I am not yet done with her. When I get back to the future (Where have I heard that before?) I will be resolving her fate more definitively.

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I can see why you think there is an inconsistency, Dario. But maybe there really isn't. The Elfstones are a defense against magic, as you say. They cannot be used against humans and cannot be used to attack where there is no threat to the user. But if you think back to the premise of Voyage, and in particular to the city below Castledown and the nature of the Antrax, you will remember that it started as a machine and evolved into a separate consciousness. Antrax infused all the operating systems of the city with its own life force, which was a form of dark magic. That sort of threat is something that the Elfstones can respond to. So the robots, the Creepers, while essentially machines, are fueled by the same power that gives life to the Antrax. The Elfstones can respond to that.

Terry Replies:
Yes. But you will have to be patient about this, Andrew. I am at least four books away from writing that story.

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I would bet my last dollar that you can answer your own question, Emma. But I'll help give you a running start. I was taught by my first editor that your first obligation to your readers as an author is to tell a good story. So that is always the first and foremost consideration. But I do like stories that have something to say about the way the world works. So you will find familiar themes running all through my books. Does it matter if the reader finds all of them? Not really, as long as the story works. But I talk about disfunctional families, about responsibility and the making of hard decisions, about loyalty and loss, about power and its uses and how it destroys the user even under the best of circumstances, and about the value of doing what's right even when it's hard. I have written about the environment, drugs and homelessness, and mostly about the way in which secrets destroy relationships. As for those who don't think fantasy is relevant to the modern world, they just aren't paying attention.

My question (if it can be answered at all) is about the potential to catch glimpses of some of the Faerie/Immortal(ish) creatures in the Great War books. My first thought when hearing about the new books was that I'd love to catch glimpses of beings like the Stone King, the Grimpond Shade, or Morag and Mallenroh. Will they appear in the new books, or have their stories already been told?

Terry Replies:
There will indeed be glimpses - and in some cases more than glimpses - of Faerie creatures in the new series. Not just the ones with which you are familiar, but with some new ones, too. One of the exciting prospects of what I am doing is being able to recreate something I have only alluded to during the course of my writing Shannara. But there is more to this than what you might think, so be patient and stay tuned. You won't be disappointed.

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Tolkien was right to worry, in my opinion. Much of what makes fantasy work is in the imagination of the individual reader. Give the reader too much information and you take away the fun. So I spend a lot of time trying to figure out what is too little or too much. One thing working in my favor in this situation is that the Great Wars took place a thousand years before the First Council of the Druids convened at Paranor. So chances are I can't get it all done before I'm all done. I will pick and choose within that time frame to provide a sense of how things got to where they are in the current series. Two sets of three books each is a minimum requirement. But I will know better as I go along. The first book is done, and everyone seems more than satisfied with how it worked out.

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When I wrote Sword, I was just thankful that I finished it. At that point, I had no idea if it would ever see the light of day. I didn't know a soul in publishing and wasn't even sure who to send it to. So, it came as something of a surprise when it got picked up and my editor asked, "So what else have you written?" When I said "Nothing worth talking about," and he said, "Well, then, you must be at work on the next Shannara book." I was smart enough to say, "You bet!" Even now, I'm not sure how long the series will go on. I suppose it will go on as long as people buy enough books and I don't run out of ideas or enthusiasm. We'll see.

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Not really. I made those decisions with an eye towards what it would mean down the road. Some things were taboo right from the first - hard language, overt sex and certain kinds of gratuitous violence. I just didn't think they belonged and didn't feel comfortable writing them. Decisions about moving ahead by generation, for instance, were made because I felt the stories would be more real that way. I mean, how many adventures can one person have in a lifetime? Also, I wanted to keep my enthusiasm peaked, and that meant not doing the same characters to death. I might add that one of the exciting parts of writing is figuring out where the story is going to go next. That requires and invites me to challenge myself with the storyline. So sometimes I like it that I have written myself into what appears to be a corner. I know by now that there is always a secret door, if I can just find it.

Terry Replies:
Gee, Patrick, I hate to do this to you, but I can't answer your question. I never talk about a book I am in the process of writing. I find it is bad luck. Talking about something you are creating leaches the magic out of it. Once it is written - say, something late this year - I might be willing to say what's in it. But don't count on it. You'll just have to wait and see.

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This is a question I have been dodging for years, Kari. I have always said that it is up to the reader to decide. But now I have decided for them, I guess. The answer to your question is forthcoming in a new set of books on the pre-history of Shannara. Those books will reveal that you are right. Shannara takes place in this world in the future.

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What I thought at the time I wrote Elfstones was that the Ellcrys never talked to anyone but the Chosen. That was her form of communication with humans. Even though Amberle loved Wil, she ceased to be human when she took on her Ellcrys form. So it never seemed right that Wil would go back and try to speak with her. He knew the rules. He just accepted what had happened.

Terry Replies:
Good question, Paul. But, wait. Didn't Grianne leave Khyber Elessedil and a handful of others in charge of the Keep? So maybe the secret of the next Druid lies with them. Stay tuned.

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Well, I don't know Michael. That seems like a whole bunch of work to put down all that. I haven't even figured out yet what's in the Druid Histories. I can tell you that they will resurface in the near future, so that you will get a chance to learn something more about our hard-working Four Lands historians. Right now, I am at work on the pre-history of Shannara, among other things, so you will get a close-up on the Great Wars quite soon.

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I think I've said just about all I have to say about Allanon. Or that entire time period, matter of fact. Although, I have been approached about a project that would require me to go back into it. If I did, I guess Allanon would have to be present and involved. So I should never say never.

Terry Replies:
I don't have any specific plans about using the Hall of Kings, but you never know. I will be taking on several new Shannara projects during the next decade, and there is every chance that one of them will involve the Hall of Kings in some way. Certainly, you are going to learn a whole lot about the past world and its untimely end, whether the Hall of Kings comes into play in the telling or not.

Terry Replies:
Good questions, Rob. The similarity arises from the mode of creation. The Forbidding was created by magic to mirror the Old World. But its geography was subject to change in two ways. First, by nature, in the normal way time and weather sometimes cataclysmic events alter a world, and second, by Man's interference with the natural ordering of things. Remember, the Forbidding mirrors geographically what has happened in the world on which it is founded. There is a symbiotic relationship that requires it. Mostly, the creatures in either world alter what is happening to the lands of their respective worlds, but the original can shape by alteration what is happening in the copy. Hope that works for you.

Terry Replies:
Cut me some slack here, Evan. The reason for the lack of a confrontation between Grianne Ohmsford and the Straken Lord is that I intend to use him again down the road and can't do that if he is dead. Putting him in a confrontation with Grianne wouldn't have worked. One or the other would not have survived. So she just slipped away. Do you think she would have won that confrontation? I'm not so sure.

As for the title, it doesn't refer to Tael Riverine. It refers to Grianne. She is the Straken of the title - not because she wishes it or even deserves it, but because she cannot escape it. She is who she is. Just like the rest of us.

Terry Replies:
Haven't decided, Juan. I keep thinking about a story centered around the other Elfstones, but haven't come up with a plot I like well enough to pursue. I do plan to write it one day. Meanwhile, I'll see if I can't work something into these next few books.

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Good one, Jimmy. I don't think there are any 5th Amendment rights in the Druid Order, but the Sword wouldn't work for this anyway. The sword only uncovers a certain form of evil, and it doesn't reveal all the myriad forms of badness that exist in the Four Lands. Mostly, it opens the eyes of the wielder to personal self-deception in situations where that alone is clouding the user's perceptions. Don't forget that there is always a price to be paid for using the magic of the Sword, and it isn't a cheap one.

Terry Replies:
Just a simple question, huh? And I already know the answer, huh? You have an over-inflated opinion of my talent. It is a difficult issue to deal with, and I haven't got the answer firmly in place yet. I don't think I will until I tackle the set of books that come after High Druid, which is still somewhere down the road. For now, we will all have to be content knowing that the wishsong is fading in the Ohmsford bloodline and eventually things will be back to the way they were with Shea.

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Choosing a woman for the lead role in the Voyage and High Druid series was a function of several things. There had been Druids in the order before, but none had played central roles in the stories I wrote. Also, there had never been a woman who was High Druid (Ard Rhys). Also, I wanted an Ohmsford to become a Druid and I wanted a brother and sister conflict. Also, I wanted a bad Ohmsford who became a good Ohmsford so that I could explore the issue of redemption. Anyway, when all was said and done, it worked best storywise for Grianne to be the character who was bad to begin with, but became the High Druid of a new order. Hope you are sufficiently confused, Claire, because I sure am.

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Truls Rohk is one of my favorite characters. He is not a character I have had in mind for any length of time; he came about as a result of thinking through the Voyage series. What makes him interesting is that he really doesn't have a recognizable identity in his own world. He doesn't belong anywhere, isn't really one thing or the other, but is an outsider in the truest sense of the word. I think we all identify with that on some level. I wanted to explore how we feel about loss of identity and what it might mean to gain that identity back in an unexpected way.

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Theoretically, I guess he could. It never occurred to me. Walker Boh wouldn't bother with that, though. His talents lie else where and he detests his past and his ordained future. I think he would find his connection to the Sword of Leah just another chain he would like to shed.

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You know what? I don't know for sure. I wrote that book in 1979-1980, and most of what I knew then I don't know now. See, I warned you that my store of knowledge was limited. I think the concept of the human changing into the tree goes at least as far back as Greek mythology, but I think that Merlin was imprisoned in a tree at the end of Morte d'Arthur, as well. Anyway, the challenge was in finding a way to make the change the dramatic high point of the book and to give you a good sense of what sort of soul would reside in the tree once the transformation was complete. I also wanted the reader to feel the same sense of loss that Wil experienced.

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The change in the cover art on my books, particularly Shannara, was the result of both myself and the publisher thinking that everyone else had started doing the same covers and wanting to be different. I had lived with the old covers for more than twenty years. I wanted something more classic in its look, less specific and more generally evocative of the world and story. So Steve Stone gave us what we wanted. Next up, Magic Kingdom, when I write the next book.

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Truth is, when I wrote Elfstones and introduced the Forbidding, I didn't have much reason to think about the details of the geography. So I didn't spend much time on it. I had to do better when I came to High Druid, so now you get the concept of the Forbidding being a mirror image of the Four Lands, but evolved in a different way and reflective of the demon population. Too bad we can't see ahead far enough to avoid having to reinvent, but sometimes that is the way it is.

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Work begins in June on a revised edition of The World of Shannara, with updates which take into account the Voyage and High Druid trilogies and a few other things. I don't know what the pub date for this revised edition is, but Teresa Patterson will again be doing the writing, so the language and feel should be consistent with the old book.

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I really don't know how much longer I can keep writing Shannara. A long time, if I am lucky. The trick is to keep changing things around. After High Druid is complete, I am taking the series in a completely new direction that I cannot talk about. But there you are. Refer to the answer to question number one directly above. I am only thinking about the Magic Kingdom book, which I start in July. Stay tuned.

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Well, Jason, it does. It starts to do this in Tanequil, as you will see come September, then goes further in the last book. I can't tell you more than that or it would spoil the story. But if you want a hint of what to expect, check up on previous Ohmsfords and their experiences with the magic of the wishsong and you will get the general idea.

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No, the Shannara books were never written specifically for a young adult audience. But much fantasy writing is read by a wide audience of all ages and both sexes, so I did have that much in mind. I always thought the Shannara books would be read by all ages. It didn't start out that way, but it has pretty much ended up so. My problem with writing to a specific age group is that I don't know how to do it, other than to include or exclude specific themes. I just write what I like to read and hope for the best.

Terry Replies:
Good question. Wish I had an answer. No, wait, I do! You have to start by remembering that the circumstances surrounding the possession of the Elfstones were different in Allanon's time. He gave the Elfstones to Shea, who in turn passed them down to his grandson, Wil. Wil had them in the family in the time of Brin and Jair. But what happened after that? Well, the Elfstones were eventually returned by a member of the family to the Elven people and the Elessedils, specifically. This is where we find them at the current time, the Stones having been recovered by Ahren on the voyage of the Jerle Shannara. So, Khyber, as sister to the King, and a member of the ruling family currently in possession of the Elfstones, can use them as readily as any other. That whole business of the Stones having to be given freely to be used really applies to the idea that an enemy can't take them away forcibly and use them against the bearer. Hope that explanation works, because it's all I have.

Terry Replies:
Sorry, Matt, I wore myself out on the last question, so I can't do yours. Okay, maybe I can. I took our own world and morphed it to suit my needs. The Four Lands isn't recognizable as the US or any part of our world, but it is a variation on the same with some major differences. What is important for achieving a realistic feel is to have gone to places that are different than what we know so that you can write about them. I do this every year, often more than once. I take pictures and write down my impressions and I use that material in my settings. You have to be able to give the reader a real feeling for what a place is like. That means description of the physical attributes, but also it means using the other sense, too. I work on a setting until I think I've gotten it right. Readers can tell.

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The Dagda Mor was from a different era than the Straken Lord. Neither one would play well with others, so we have to assume that each was dominant in his own time period. The demons tend to do one another in very much the same way the bad guys in the Four Lands do. I don't think we've seen the last of this, either.

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Thanks for the kind words, Joshua. There is some debate about the title and sub-titles of the new series. We have been back and forth on this and as yet the matter is up in the air. I am not entirely decided myself about how this should go. My best guess at this point is that the series will have a new title altogether. But I can't envision the word "Shannara" not appearing in it somewhere. There will probably be an announcement on this sometime late this year. Probably right here.

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What, are you reading my mind? In Tanequil, book two of High Druid, you will get a close look at the troll culture for the first time and learn some things you didn't expect. I have been looking for a way to do this for some time, but it required a story that supported the inquiry. Now, I think, we have it.

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There are no plans that I know of to release First King in a new hardback form. That book was a stand-alone, so it doesn't really fit with any of the shorter series. I would be surprised if they do anything with soon. You never know, but I would doubt it.

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Well, Mike, what I do differently from one set of Shannara books to the next doesn't have anything to do with format. So up until now, I have chosen not to follow the same characters from one set of books to the next - except for the Druids, who are the link between generations and changes in history. Okay, so now you are about to get six books that follow two generations of Ohmsfords and a cast of thousands. The link, again, is a Druid - or two - but really it is the effort to recreate the Druid Council at Paranor. I often say that the writing of one book tells me what needs to be in the next, and that has been very true here. Originally, this six book set started out as two. Then it evolved to three plus one. Then three plus two. But it takes what it takes, once you get started. Maybe you will have a better read on all this once the set is completed.

I would say one more thing. I don't like wrapping up all the loose ends in the lives of my characters. I usually come in at the middle of something and leave without everything resolved. That's pretty much how we experience life. So you won't see me telling you what happened to all the characters afterwards. You decide for yourself.

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No, Warren, the conclusion of Morgawr has nothing to do with the next set of books. I just liked the cohesiveness of bringing the story full circle. There was something that felt right about having Hunter Predd back on patrol, doing what he has always done, and seeing something else floating in the water, and remembering back. The real jumping off point for the next set of books comes with the break-up of the survivors of the Jerle Shannara, each going off to a new life. You'll see some of them in the next book, twenty years down the road.

Terry Replies:
A good chunk of your answer awaits in High Druid of Shannara. I am examining the place of science in the world of the Shannara, a world that is essentially one of magic. When does it become right for one to replace the other? Is either a better, safer choice? Can the two coexist in a way that makes both usable? The Four Lands are in flux, and the direction in which they will go will reveal itself in the next three books of the series.

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Druids have differing degrees of power, as we know from seeing the various Druids in First King. It depends on their training. It depends on their strengths. It is not altogether different from the way the Elfstones work, which is through a combination of heart, mind and body. If any of those is weak, then the power available to the Elfstones is lessened. It works something like this for the Druids, as well. Although, much of their power comes from training and the acquisition of various skills. But don't forget the lesson of Brona, who embraced power with such recklessness that it destroyed him. We will indeed see something more of this in High Druid of Shannara.

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Rumor was left behind for the time that Walker was gone and Grianne returned, but then twenty years passed after that until the start of Jarka Ruus. Moor Cats, like other big cats, don't live all that long. Rumor was an anomaly, of course due to the events in the Heritage series, but once Walker was gone that was it. So he was gone by the time we got back into the story with Grianne as Ard Rhys, and she would not think to mention him since he was never her cat and she had more important problems to deal with.

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Gee, Ashlee, now that you mention it, I see you are right. There hasn't been a female lead from the Leah family. I will give it some thought for the next series. I tell you, it is hard to keep the scales balanced on using both sexes for the series. Hard to remember the series, for that matter.

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I might have a favorite scene if I could remember them all. But that would mean choosing amongst my children yet again, as you know I am fond of saying when asked to pick favorites. I better pass.

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I don't think about a final, Final end to the series. When I do a set of books, I always know the ending, though not always how I will get to it. But I don't see the purpose in trying to decide where the entire series will end. Sort of self-defeating. Do I fall on my pen as the last word is written? I think I will let it end as it started - midway.

Terry Replies:
I wish I could give you a simple answer, but there isn't one. In the beginning, I was writing one book at a time without any idea of how long my writing career or these books would last. Then, after Wishsong, I set about working out the storyline for Heritage. But the story was larger and a single book wouldn't work. It started as two, went to three and finished at four. Then First King was a stand alone prequel. Then Voyage and High Druid were back to back trilogies, separate but connected. The point is, I don't have a firm plan, other than to let the stories play out in whatever way seems best. I don't like to leave a story unfinished from one book to the next, but I can't combine them and achieve the same impact. Maybe as I get older, the stories will get shorter and go back to being one book each.

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After The Sword of Shannara was published - or maybe even before, I can't remember any more - I made a decision about the books that would follow. I have never much liked epic stories where life-altering adventures happen to the same people over and over. It doesn't square with what we know to be true about life. Besides, it is stagnant. If you don't change the cast and the times, you are stuck writing about much the same things over and over. So I made a conscious decision that I would write further Shannara books in the manner of historical sagas - different members of the same families crossing paths in different times. That would allow me to show how the world changes as well as the people. I will admit, though, that every so often I think about writing one more story about Shea and Flick and the rest.

Terry Replies:
Tell you what, Ian. I know it would be helpful, but I have never liked plot summaries in books. There is something artificial and off-putting about them. So I try to summarize in the new book a little of what has gone before and hope that you will take the time to ferret out the rest. It isn't a perfect system, but it is the one I have chosen to go with. Bear with me.

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That is happening right now, Mikkel, though maybe those books haven't reached you yet, wherever you are. In High Druid, much of the action takes place on the plains of the Prekkendorran and in the Southland city of Arishaig. Especially in books two and three, which are not out yet, of course. So stay tuned.

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Shannara was an invented name. I came up with it back in the sixties, when I first started writing the book, so the answer to that question is a little vague. Best I can remember, I was just experimenting with words, searching for one that would serve as the surname for the Elven family that would be at the center of the story. Eventually, I came up with Shannara.

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To be honest, it was actually the idea of my editor, Lester del Rey. I had tried several different endings and none of them quite worked. We went back and forth on this until he suggested that what the sword really manifested was truth. So I tried that ending on for size and it worked. Thanks again, Lester.

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It remains unclear whether Rone and Brin married after the events of Wishsong. That's one of those things I have left open. There are hints that they might have, but nothing definite. Wren, in the Heritage series, is an Elessedil related to the Ohmsford line, but her blood is essentially Elessedil. I assume that you are trying to figure out what is happening to the magic that was in the Ohmsford bloodline after Wil Ohmsford was changed genetically by using the Elfstones. That issue is being looked at rather closely in the next set of Shannara books, beginning in 2003. What is happening, of course, is that the magic is being bred out with the thinning of the bloodline over generations of Ohmsfords. The consequences of that are rather serious.

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A complicated answer is required, but let me keep it short. There is a very good reason for using Ilse Witch for Grianne, but I can't tell you yet what it is because the series is still not done and the answer would give away key plot points. So ask me again after Morgawr is out.

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The Ohmsfords might have been more famous in today's world, with its instant communications and up-to-the-minute news reports. But in the world of the Shannara, news travels slowly. More to the point, the Ohmsfords play an important role in protecting the races, but their participation is not a matter of common knowledge. The Druids and the Kings and Princes are more visible participants, and they are the ones who tend to get all the credit. Sort of like today. We don't know the names of the foot soldiers, only the generals. So while Shea and Flick and all the rest have played an important role in each book, they are the average, everyday foot soldiers who don't have faces or names.

Terry Replies:
Jackie, this question gets put to me all the time. My answer is always the same. I allow any artists working on my books the freedom to interpret as they choose. No one sees the characters in exactly the same way. That's why books are so personal and so different than visual media. Do I see the characters as David saw them? Some, but not all. Same with everyone else who has done any art work on the books. But that's all right. No one has a singular vision that captures it all. Not even me.

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I have two rules about killing off characters. One, never be afraid to kill off anyone. Two, don't ever kill off anyone without a good reason. It was decided going in that First King of Shannara would end with Bremen as the last of the Druids, tutoring a young Allanon to take his place. There would be no Druid Council for hundreds of years afterwards. Tay died in the right way, giving up his life to save his friends. I thought that was the best end for him. I'm glad you liked the character, though.

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The maps in the books are drawn by a professional artist based on crude maps I provide which give the basic details of the landscape. They are as accurate as we can make them, given the space with which we have to work. Sometimes, the distances are not exactly right, because we would need about four pages to get sufficient space. That was true of Voyage. The next trilogy will have new maps, as you have heard. We will be going to some different places, one of which will be familiar to some of you.

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Shannara began as a confused concept of adventure storytelling, mostly without a definable shape. I knew the effect I wanted to achieve, but not the form it needed to take. I spent a lot of years searching for that form, writing all sorts of other things along the way, all them not so good, but necessary to the learning process. Even when I began writing The Sword of Shannara, I was not certain I had found what I was looking for. It took all six of the years spent writing it to determine that it worked. But if you want something bad enough, that's what happens.

Good bye and thanks. I'm from Sweden and that is the reason why my English is not so perfect but I hope you didn't have any problems reading my text.

Terry Replies:
Samad, your English is better than some who are English, so don't worry. I am pleased that my books brought you to reading and maybe writing as well. This is the best compliment you can pay to an author. As for your question, I guess it depends on how long I stay alive. I think I will be writing Shannara books right up to the end, so there isn't any definitive number planned. At present, I am in the middle of a six book set. That will give me a total of fourteen in print when I am done. Shall we go for fifteen?

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I have been working on a way to bring a different set of Elfstones into a Shannara story, but as of now, I haven't come up with anything I like. In the new book, the blue Elfstones are back, but they have less of an influence on the outcome than in other books.

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One hopes.

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Pe Ell was one of those characters who evolve during the course of the story. At first, he was more one-dimensional, an assassin sent to destroy Quickening, pure and simple. But the more I thought about him, and especially after I began writing that first scene, it seemed to me he needed to be a more complex character. What did he think about what he had been asked to do, especially after he realized what she was? How did he view himself in the role of assassin? Also, I wanted to play off the triangle of Pe Ell, Quickening and Morgan Leah. There was a lot of love/hate stuff going on that seemed interesting to me as a writer. Glad you found it interesting, too.

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I have a number of friends who are in non-traditional relationships, and I am constantly reminded that we don't have to be locked into our parents' way of thinking. All that matters in a relationship is that the two people love and respect each other. We forget that sometimes, and I don't think we accept it when we are young. Detailing the Bek/Rue relationship allowed me to take a closer look and what makes two people connect.

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Now here's a question. I don't see myself as a negative person, so I don't think I've ever thought we would destroy ourselves. But it does worry me that not only are we capable of it, but flirt with the idea periodically. One mistake, after all . . . Anyway, I used the background in Sword of Shannara more in a cautionary vein than as a prophecy. Also, it was necessary to destroy civilization in order to take a look at what it would mean to have to build it back up again using magic. A civilization once destroyed by misuse of power is a bit wary the second time out about what new power can do.

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It works just the opposite for me. Once I've finished a story, I'm ready to move on. I've said for years that when a book is done and ready for sale, it no longer belongs to me. It belongs to you. So I detach to a great extent from that book and its characters. You have to remember that by the time you buy the book, I am usually two books ahead. Anyway, I do write about the same character in the Magic Kingdom series, and that satisfies my need to revisit familiar faces.

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Okay, I can't pretend the Dwarves haven't had a tough time of it in my books. Most of them have come to a bad end. Not all, though. How about Browork in Elfstones? But they are a tough, physical bunch, and they don't hesitate to put themselves in harm's way. So the cost in lives in disproportionately high. I guess I should cut them a little slack, though. So far, Panax, in Voyage of the Jerle Shannara, is still around. So far.

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I did not conceive of the storyline for the PC Shannara game, but I did have approval over the contents and characters. My approach was to go with a company and people that were respected and for whom I had high regard. Legend Entertainment was captained by two long time fantasy readers, which helped persuade me. They did all the work and I just looked over their collective shoulders now and then and made a few changes.

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I do not trust movies. Like all of you, I am excited about The Lord of the Rings. But I know better than to get my hopes up too high. When it comes out, then we can all celebrate. If it works, maybe someone will figure out how epic fantasy needs to be filmed and will take an interest in Shannara. If not, I have said it before. The book is always better. I am satisfied with that.

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Dear Anonymous, What do you think? :)

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Thanks for your support for my work. I live and die on word of mouth, particularly within families. As for cliffhangers, sometimes they are necessary to the work. The earlier Shannara books were long, but self-contained. Of late, I am writing longer books that can't be published as a single work, so I am breaking them down into trilogies and the like. Some people like the cliffhanger endings because they like the anticipation of the next book. The real trick for an author, I think, is to publish these books in a timely fashion so you don't leave your readers hanging for too long. They need to know they can find the next book out on schedule.

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Daniel, I don't. I think I may have written all I have to write about Cogline, unless I bring him back in a separate story when I start work on Shannara Tales, somewhere down the road.

"Walker threw white Druid light from his hands..." -- Page 433, P 4

I pushed this aside as a typo but is it? Did Walker have one hand while he held the First Seeker, or two?

Terry Replies:
Geez, I hate it when you guys find those kinds of mistakes! Yeah, it was a typo, or worse, something I missed. Walker has only one hand, and he doesn't grow the other back anywhere along the way. I thought I got all those out, but you can see how hard it is.

Each books is read by me, Judine, and Owen Lock, my editor. The total number of reads is somewhere around six to eight, so you'd think we would catch everything. But we always miss something. Thanks for the heads up.

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Who or what is the Word? What do you think? (My standard response to that and a few other questions, like, "Who won, Garet Jax or the Jachyra?")

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I think the Shannara books should be read in the order written, or at least Sword should be read before First King. I think it is more satisfying that way. Then again, leaving it until after the Heritage series would be good too because that series contains a few spoilers for First King. It's all up to you. First King is really a stand alone book and doesn't contain any of the Ohmsfords as characters, so it doesn't fit directly with any of the others in which an Ohmsford is always the central character.