Welcome
In our imaginations we can go anywhere. Travel with me to Redwall in Mossflower country.
|
Welcome
In our imaginations we can go anywhere. Travel with me to Redwall in Mossflower country. |
Hi everybody
I'm pleased to announce that our new shop is now up and running - this is part of a process that will see the whole redwall.org getting updated in the near future.
Thanks for your patience
All at Redwall
Hi all
We're currently experiencing some problems with the Redwall shop. We're working hard to fix this over the weekend so please bear with us while we get it sorted out.
Thanks for your patience
Redwall
THE ROGUE CREW - Hardback release date 3rd May 2011
Yeeharr and Eulalia, Blood Vinegar an' Hellgates! The Rogue Crew are coming!
From Salamandastrons Western Shores, to the High North Coast, here they come. Captain Rake Nightfur, and his Long Patrol Hares, with Skor Axehound and The Rogue Crew Sea Otters. Marching boldly into a thrilling saga, singing, feasting, swashbuckling, and battling. Questing for the infamous ship Greenshroud, crewed by Searats and Corsairs, Captained by the murderous Razzid Wearat, terror of both sea and land. His aim, the conquest of an Abbey!
Only available in the UK from our online shop at Redwall La Dita. All books supplied with a copy of Brian's signature printed on a bookplate.
THE SABLE QUEAN - Paperback release date 26th April 2011
Guard the Dibbuns, protect your babes! Vilaya the Sable Quean has Zwilt, the Shade and her Ravagers stealing young uns!
Only available in the UK from our online shop at Redwall La Dita.
You can PRE-ORDER both books now from the Redwall La Dita Shop.
READERS CLUB INFORMATION - With regret the Readers Club will be suspended with immediate effect. Current members and new members up to 11th April 2011 will receive mailings as usual. If you are due to renew the Spring/Summer mailing will be your last one.
THE ROGUE CREW - Hardback release date 3rd May 2011
Yeeharr and Eulalia, Blood Vinegar an' Hellgates! The Rogue Crew are coming!
From Salamandastrons Western Shores, to the High North Coast, here they come. Captain Rake Nightfur, and his Long Patrol Hares, with Skor Axehound and The Rogue Crew Sea Otters. Marching boldly into a thrilling saga, singing, feasting, swashbuckling, and battling. Questing for the infamous ship Greenshroud, crewed by Searats and Corsairs, Captained by the murderous Razzid Wearat, terror of both sea and land. His aim, the conquest of an Abbey!
Only available in the UK from our online shop at Redwall La Dita. All books supplied with a copy of Brian's signature printed on a bookplate.
THE SABLE QUEAN - Paperback release date 26th April 2011
Guard the Dibbuns, protect your babes! Vilaya the Sable Quean has Zwilt, the Shade and her Ravagers stealing young uns!
Only available in the UK from our online shop at Redwall La Dita.
You can PRE-ORDER both books now from the Redwall La Dita Shop.
Thanks once again for your kind thoughts and condolences. Here are some obituaries for Brian that we would like to share...
Brian Jacques, author of Redwall (1987) and some 20 sequels, died at the age of 71 on Sat., Feb. 5, 2011. His books have sold in the tens of millions and have touched adventure-loving kids all over the world. His formula—a quasi-medieval fantasy setting in which peace-loving mice and other small animals seek adventure and fend off endless attacks by evil foxes, rats and weasels—grabbed generations of readers. I have known many of them.
For the sake of one in particular, though, I am especially saddened to hear of Mr. Jacques’ passing.
Andy (not his real name) was the quintessential wrong-side-of-the-tracks kid. Always in trouble at school, frequently in trouble at the library where I worked, he had a knack for doing the wrong thing. But even though we spoke to him sternly on many, many occasions, he kept coming back to the library. On the face of it, it was hard to see why. He’d be the first to tell you he hated reading.
Except for Brian Jacques and the Redwall books. Andy had long ago lost borrowing privileges because of unreturned books, but that didn’t stop him from coming into the children’s room long after his peers felt they’d outgrown it, taking a Redwall book (any one of them, after a while) off the shelf and sitting and reading it for hours before slouching off when the library closed. Whenever we got a new one in, I’d hold it aside and hand it to him. “Thanks!” he’d say. “I really love these books. I’ve never read anything else. I hate reading.”
I don’t know what specifically appealed to him about the Redwall books. They were awfully thick for a kid who didn’t like reading, and the print is pretty small, too. But they were chock-full of action, and those little mice always carried the day in the end. Maybe they gave him a chance to win a few battles in his own head, if not in his real life. Maybe it was the clear lines between good and evil in a world where everything was confusing.
As Andy got bigger, he got into bigger trouble. In and out of juvie and then prison, whenever he was at liberty, he’d come in and read a Redwall book. I started collecting advance reader’s copies when I went to American Library Association conferences so he’d be able to take them home.
Eventually he didn’t have a home. I don’t know what he did all night, but during the day he’d come into the library, grab a Redwall book off the shelf and find a couch, where he’d do more sleeping than reading.
I moved on, and I don’t know where Andy is now. He probably has no idea the author of his beloved Redwall books has died. I’m pretty sure if he does know, he’s feeling the loss.
Thank you, Brian Jacques. For being there for Andy and all the other kids like him for all those years. Eeulaliaaaaaaa!
Source: http://www.kirkusreviews.com/blog/childrens/brian-jacques-andy-me/
Brian Jacques, the beloved British author of the Redwall series, died of a heart attack over the weekend at age 71.
Hailed as one of “the best children’s authors in the world,” Jacques’ 21 Redwall books were translated into 29 languages and sold 20 million copies worldwide. His novels — despite centering on anthropomorphic woodland critters, such as mice, otters, moles, and squirrels — told epic tales of good triumphing over evil and never spoke down to their young audiences. When I was nine years old I finished Martin the Warrior, the third installment of the series, and remained in a daze for an entire afternoon. The characters had grown dear to me, and when a few of the most lovable ones died in the final battle scene, I felt genuine loss but also a sense that I was better for having known them. It was the book that cemented me as a reader for the rest of my life — I’d discovered what it was like to have such connection to a story, and I wanted to have it again and again.
With the news of Jacques’ death, I want to go through my closet and dig up those dusty childhood books I haven’t read in more than a decade. I know I’ll find them — Jacques’ novels aren’t ones you ever throw out.
Source: http://shelf-life.ew.com/2011/02/07/brian-jacques-redwall-dies-71/
Brian Jacques, who has died after a heart attack aged 71, was the author of the bestselling Redwall series. Hugely popular with children from the publication in 1986 of Redwall, the first in the lengthy sequence, Jacques's books were among those that they needed no adult guidance to find; they latched on to them hungrily and then shared them with friends. Written in a flowing, flowery prose, the simply structured stories tell of the epic struggles between the good inhabitants of Redwall Abbey and its surrounding Mossflower countryside, and the bad invaders who must be kept at bay.
Jacques's vividly created imaginary world is entirely anthropomorphic; mice supported by voles, badgers, hares and other peaceable creatures live in a world of harmony within the confines of the abbey and the nearby countryside. Led by the good Abbot Mortimer, the abbey's mission is to keep the world peaceful and ordered. However, their calm is constantly disrupted by waves of violent invaders led by desperadoes such as the rat Cluny the Scourge, a rascally creature with only one eye, a whipping tail which he uses freely, a foul temper and a black heart, who leads a rough band of "bad" creatures, such as weasels, stoats and ferrets.
In the opening title, Matthias, a young mouse who dreams of heroism, draws on the mythic stories of previous warrior mice and leads Redwall's inhabitants into a fierce and bloody battle. It is a story pattern that is repeated throughout the books.
A passionate Liverpudlian, Brian Jacques revelled in being recognised within his hometown.
The combination of a completely imagined world full of domestic detail – especially the kind of institutional feasts later made familiar at Hogwarts – with a strongly created mythology to underpin them, big-scale plots and Jacques's rolling prose quickly turned Redwall into a leading international brand in children's books. Worldwide sales exceeded 20m copies, and spin-offs included maps and family trees to increase the sense of reality.
The almost annual flow of titles, including Martin the Warrior (1993), Lord Brocktree (2000) and the upcoming The Rogue Crew dotted about chronologically, mining the past history of Redwall Abbey for mythic characters from earlier generations. As the chronology of publication was different from the chronology of Redwall, the books can be read in any order.
Jacques tried other kinds of stories, including The Castaways of the Flying Dutchman (2001) and its sequels, before returning to the Redwall world.
Jacques was born in Liverpool and grew up in the dockland area of the city. He remained a passionate Liverpudlian for the rest of his life and told stories of the poverty of the city of his childhood, from the vantage point of its recent extensive redevelopment, as well as his own later acquired wealth. He always claimed he drew much from the city for his novels, in terms of place and character, as well as drawing on his memories of the bombing of the city in the second world war for his set-piece battles. Above all, he drew on his early experiences as an altar boy in the Catholic church, and particularly the Latin in which the services were conducted, for the rich language and imagery of his writing.
Jacques went to St John's school, Kirkdale, until he was 15. He then joined the merchant navy before returning to Liverpool. He had a variety of jobs, including driving a milk truck, while beginning a creative career as a playwright and host of his own radio show, Jakestown, on BBC Radio Merseyside.
Delivering milk to the Royal school for the blind in Wavertree, Liverpool, brought Jacques into contact with the pupils, and it was for them that he first told the Redwall stories. The needs of this first audience encouraged Jacques to describe his newly created world as vividly as possible; wisely, he retained the same detail and drama when the stories were written down. Their quality was recognised by a former English teacher, Alan Durband, who sent them to a publisher without telling Jacques and secured him a contract.
Jacques was a natural storyteller. He told touching stories of the responses he got from young readers, with tears springing to his eyes. He revelled in being recognised within Liverpool. He was generous to his readers and his city, including becoming a patron of the Royal school, a role which he valued highly. He was intensely proud of his success and worked tirelessly to maintain it.
He is survived by his wife, Maureen, and two sons, Marc and David.
• James Brian Jacques, writer and broadcaster, born 15 June 1939; died 5 February 2011
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/08/brian-jacques-obituary?INTCMP=SRCH
Dear Redwall Readers,
The family of Brian Jacques would like to thank everyone who has sent a message of condolence regarding Brian's passing. We have been overwhelmed by the tributes paid to him from every form of media worldwide - too many to be answered personally. Please accept this acknowledgement as a personal thank you from all his family.
In response a Memorial Service will be held at Liverpool Anglican Cathedral on the 4th March 2011 at 11.00am. This will be a celebration of his life and his achievements, supported by his family, friends and members of the public who wish to pay their respects.
We are sorry to relay the news to all of Brian's friends and readers
of his passing on the evening of February 5th 2011. His family wish
to convey their thanks for the many messages of condolence they have
received. More information will appear here in due course.
The Redwall La Dita Book shop will close for the Christmas Holidays on 23rd December 2010 and re-open on 4th January 2011. Any emails that are sent or orders that are placed during the closed period will not be seen or shipped until week commencing 4th January 2011.
Happy holidays!!
Christmas is fast approaching and the last dates to place your orders in
Redwall La Dita Book Shop to guarantee your packages in time for Christmas
2010 are as follows:
Surface Mail (USA) - Monday 18th October
Surface Mail (Europe) - Monday 22nd November
Air Mail (USA) Thursday - 9th December
Air Mail (Europe) Monday - 13th December
United Kingdom Thursday - 16th December
All the best
