Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Brian Jacques 1939-2011

Noted children's author Brian Jacuqes died at the age of 71 this past weekend from a heart attack. Author of the famed Redwall series, he was also a former merchant marine and a noted radio broadcaster.

Personally, I think I can credit the Redwall series with making me a devoted reader of books of all kinds as well as plugging me into the world of fantasy and to some degree science fiction- and I'm not the only one. There was a point in elementary school where the Redwall books were wildly popular with just about everyone. Everyone and I mean everyone seemed to be reading them- especially the first core trilogy of Mossflower, Redwall and Mattimeo- of course, me being me, I went onwards and upwards from there. Redwall lead me to stalwarts like Eddings and Tolkein and then to McCaffery and beyond. No other author, I think has spurred my love of fantasy more and given the fact that I was the prototypical non-conformist, geeky kid, the escapism offered by his richly detailed world and the other worlds I eventually found (including Elfquest! Can't forget that) proved to be very comforting to me at several points growing up.

He came to Iowa City when I was in 5th Grade and starstruck, gathered in the gymnasium at Hoover Elementary School, I had the opportunity to ask him what would have been a really intelligent question, prompted by, of course, my Mom. She had noticed- and with reason, that descriptions of sumptuous feasts and good food were quite common in all the Redwall books and wanted to know if perhaps he had a culinary background. Offered a chance to ask such a profound question, the fifth grade me, starstruck and probably more than a little shy managed to blurt out: 'Do you like to eat?'

Not quite what I was hoping to do. He replied graciously that he did and I sat down, still slightly awestruck. I'd always secretly hoped I'd have a chance to ask that question again, only this time in a slightly more intelligible manner, but it looks like, unfortunately, I won't get too.

This guy helped to shape my development as a reader and to some degree a writer as well, (though how far I'll develop on the writing side of it has yet to be determined)- and hopefully, somewhere in Mom and Dad's basement, those Redwall books are still around. Someday, I'm going to have kids of my own- and I'd like to introduce them to wonderful world of Redwall.

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