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Terry Brooks published the first book in the epic fantasy series Shannara in 1977. After writing dozens of bestselling titles and selling more than 25 million copies of his books, he announced at Emerald City Comic Con 2025 that he is retiring from writing.
At the Comic Con panel, Terry Brooks explained he spent a year “fiddling around with a manuscript that never went anywhere,” and that’s when he decided to hand the reins of his beloved fantasy series over to another writer. Delilah S. Dawson, who was in the audience of the panel, will take over writing the Shannara series. Dawson is the author of Kill the Farm Boy, The Violence, Bloom, and many others, including Star Wars novels. She was also born in 1977, the same year the Shannara series began.
After this announcement, Brooks said that while most handovers of series happen after an author’s death, he would like to see where it goes after he puts down the pen. He has worked well with Dawson in the past and added that she has the chutzpah to take on the challenge—to which Dawson replied, “Wait, you’re going to be troublesome with this?”