He'd be the guy who turned fantasy from dusty academic tomes into something millions of teenagers would devour. Brooks wrote "The Sword of Shannara" in stolen moments between law school classes, essentially birthing modern commercial fantasy when most writers treated the genre like an obscure academic footnote. And his breakthrough novel would sell over 3 million copies, proving that elves and magic could be more than Tolkien's scholarly playground. A lawyer who'd rather tell stories about mythical kingdoms? Classic.
January 8, 1944
82 years ago
What Else Happened on January 8
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