News - Friends of Shannara

Friends of Shannara bids you adieu!

November 21, 2000

Goodbye for now! Yes, Friends of Shannara is undergoing a "freeze" as of today. I hate it when good things have to end...so I'll keep this simple and cut to the chase: Friends of Shannara will no longer be an actively maintained site for an indefinite period of time...maybe forever. Why? Well, for several reasons. Three actually.

The first is that there is really no reason or point in keeping this site active. When this site first opened (about two years ago) there were maybe two good Shannara fan sites out there amongst the dozen or so fan sites by loyal Terry Brooks fans (There wasn't a single one that was dedicated exclusively to Terry Brooks Shannara series. Still isn't I don't think.), and I felt I could make a corner of the net that offered Shannara fans something that wasn't at the other sites. I think I succeeded...the people who have visited this site have had nothing but good things to say about the content, and I hope these people felt truly like they were all "friends" of Shannara together. It's been a positive experience for me. I had so much fun making the site and putting up the content I did, and hearing from different folks and seeing folks talk about Shannara. But ever since the Official Terry Brooks site, "The Wondrous Worlds of Terry Brooks" opened up over a year ago, most Shannara internet traffic has flocked to that Terry Brooks/Shannara community and made a lasting home there for Shannara fans. The site has been a huge success. This logically reduced interest AND the need for Friends of Shannara. Why go to a third party information source when you can get it from the real deal itself? That's what I'd do. Don't get me wrong, we had all been screaming for an official site and I'm glad it's around to give us the goods...heck, 75% of the traffic to FOS was from the links page at the official site. But it's hard getting the copyright permissions for putting up pictures, text, and other copyright stuff that make a fan site spiffy. I must've emailed Del Rey publishers and the Brothers Hildebrandt DOZENS of times before I gave up trying to get permission to post images and other things. Never got a reply.

On the other hand, Keith Parkinson has been nothing but cool to the Shannara community. I got a reply to my email a day after sending it giving me permission to post his wonderful art on FOS provided I follow certain rules (which I did). I think his pictures on this site are the best section of FOS... nothing I did... but they sure are nice to look at! Forget David Cherry's artwork; I didn't bother since I was still trying to hear from Del Rey and the other Powers That Be. Daryl K. Sweet is a hard man to reach for his Elfstone and Wishsong artwork. Might have gotten a hold of him if *cough* Del Rey *cough* had given me some info. But basically reason #1 in a nutshell: Official site pre-empted need for FOS, no cooperation from the Powers That Be to make FOS a complimentary site.

Reason #2: I made promises of site updates, new sections of interest (Shannara game, Brothers Hildebrandt pic gallery which was never done [See reason #1 above], and other art sections by all the other artists) and other additions to FOS which never materialized. This is my fault. I'd get some great ideas in my head, think up a layout for a new section and post a news post saying a new section was up and coming and months would pass before my next news flash with no new material to show for it. I developed a life, and a lot of responsibility over the past two years that I didn't have while enjoying the "quality-time" one enjoys in college life. But basically, I wasn't motivated either after never hearing from any of the aforementioned Big Wigs as stated above. I even recently promised the addition of a section for the new Voyage of the Jerle Shannara series in the continuing Shannara saga... I don't see one here, do you?

Reason #3: I've become heavily involved with other online activities that take up most of my free time, and I'm really enjoying it. I started playing 3D shooter games (Half-Life, Team Fortress Classic, Unreal Tournament) around the same time FOS was realized. I'll give you an example: I've spent more time in the past month doing gaming-related stuff then I have in one year on this site! So there ya go... you can't serve two masters *grin* and I'm having better success with the corner of the gaming community I'm involved in.

All in all, it's been real fun. I've enjoyed the people I've met, the comments I've seen that have let me look at Shannara through other people's eyes, and the whole thing has been a great experience for me. I sincerely hope FOS did something for it's visitors too. Maybe sometime in the next year something will change; maybe I'll have more time... maybe I'll have a fresh face on things, or maybe I'll win the lottery and can BRIBE Del Rey to respond to my emails :p. Maybe I'll get bored with gaming (naaaaw) and come back to FOS and actually update it. There ARE more Shannara novels to come. Maybe FOS will unfreeze someday (if Geocities doesn't delete it)...

...or maybe this is the end.

Aaron Dodson aka "Pierce"

P.S. Thanks to all of you who visited and smiled, and thanks to all you old school PBK'ers (you know who you are), those were some good times that inspired FOS, and thanks to all Shannara fans everywhere... you are the dreamers, inventors, writers, and story tellers of tomorrow.

If you wish to see the archived News (mostly all the promises I made that I didn't keep *tee hee!*) then go here.

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