Ask Brian Highlights

Ask Brian Jacques

After months of waiting, the fourth volume of “Ask Brian” is up at Redwall.org. There are a lot of great questions, as well as a few that have nothing to do with Redwall (hats off to whoever asked him about Mad Cow. )

There’s not much by way of ‘news’, in the sense that only one new product was revealed to be in the works (which isn’t Redwall related at all), and the existence of a few others were confirmed.

Probably the most important piece of information Brian revealed was about his health following his stroke last August.

“Since my illness I have had to change my lifestyle considerably and make time to relax. I now go to Tai Chi classes and the dog gets lots more walks!”

I’m glad to hear Mr. Jacques is doing fine and wish him the best.

As for the rest of the info:

Concerning Triss–

• “See Triss.” was his answer to whether or not we’d see a book about Brockhall.
• “See Triss.” was his answer to “Will a girl ever be the champion of Redwall and have Martin’s sword?”
• “Yes.” to whether or not Triss was a squirrel.
• “It’s in Triss.” concerning when the DAB would show up (I’d like to take this moment to say that this coincides with my original report over which book DAB would be featured in, prior to my altering it at DAB’s request. Always trust your instinct).
• “Triss!” to “Will we ever see any more female heroines?”

All of this has been common knowledge for awhile, though. Most of it’s been on the Newsline since March of last year.

Concerning Loamhedge–

• “Martha, a young hare.” was his answer to “Who is the main character of Loamhedge?” I assume Martha will be the haremaid in the wheelchair.

Concerning both Triss and Loamhedge-

• “After Taggerung.” was his response to “Where do Triss and Loamhedge take place chronologically?” And, while he didn’t say they took place in that order, I believe it’s implied.

Concerning The Angel’s Command-

• “Further adventures for Ben & Ned, in the years after they leave Louis the Shepherd and before they arrive at Chapelvale.” was his response when asked to tell us more about TAC.
• “It is not a saga, the two stories are entirely separate. Part of Angel’s Command is set on the North American continent.” when asked if he’s planning an “entire saga” of these books and whether they’d visit the US. Technically, the Caribbean would constitute North America. This could also suggest a brief stay in Florida or Mexico, however. BJ has said half the book takes place at sea, though, so read into that what you will.
• “Lookout for Angel’s Command – Further adventures of the Castaways of the Flying Dutchman.” when asked whether there would be a book whose focus is on pirates “like Mariel of Redwall.”
• “As a child I enjoyed pirate stories and tales about the Flying Dutchman.” when asked about his inspiration for Castaways.
• A simple “No.” when asked whether or not Ben has ever told anyone he was on the Flying Dutchman, has everlasting youth, and that he’s able to communicate with Ned.

Concerning plot points of Lord Brocktree and The Taggerung (skip this block if you don’t want a small plot point spoiled)-

• “No just a coincidence.” was his response to whether or not the LB “Ripfang” was the same rat from Mossflower (which doesn’t explain the LB Ripfang’s dreams of “a badger” who was neither Stonepaw nor Brocktree).
• “Such is life.” was his answer to why Madd and Fwirl were not reunited.

Concerning a variety of products-

• “Hopefully.” was his answer to a question asking whether or not we’d see a Redwall movie sometime within the next five years.
• “2003, Contact Penquin Putnam, NY for further information.” is his answer to when we can expect the Redwall Cookery Book to be released.
• “Contact Nelvana. [Update: NTSC formatted videos have been spotted at retailers!]” was the response to “when will Redwall videos be released in America?” I have no idea what retailers these NTSC tapes have been spotted at, and they are not listed as being in the catalogs of any video retailer in the US…. as of yet. I’ll try to track down where these videos were seen.
• “Penguin Putnam, my American publisher is planning a biography in the next year or so.” was his answer to a question about whether or not he planned on writing an autobiography. Note that he said Penguin Putnam is planning a biography. Not that he, himself, is planning an autobiography. Brian has said in the past that he has no interest in writing an autobiography. To be fair, he also said the same thing about Loamhedge. Still, the wording is very odd, in my opinion, and I felt the need to point it out. Either way, a biography on BJ will be interesting, whoever is writing it (I’ll be disappointed if it’s not Brian, though).
• “Unabridged audio cassettes are always great fun to make. I narrate the books and a cast of up to 20 actors play all the other characters. Up to now we have recorded Redwall, Martin the Warrior, Mossflower, Taggerung, and Castaways of the Flying Dutchman with more to follow I promise!” when asked about the Radio Plays. Redwall and MTW have already been released Stateside. Taggerung I’ve already reported on (Listening Library was trying to secure the rights, although it didn’t look good). The fact that Mossflower and Castaways have been given the Radio Play treatment, though, is news to me. I’ll see if I can track down possible US release dates for them.

Finally, I counted about sixteen questions asking whether or not he’d consider writing a book about this character, or that time period, or as a sequel to this book. All were given a “Possibly”, “Maybe,” “We’ll see,” and so forth. I half expected to see Robert Jordan’s trademark “Read And Find Out” halfway through. Given the sheer amount of “possibly’s”, though, I don’t think any of those subjects are viable candidates to be the basis of his ’04 Redwall book. It’s a bit early for that, anyway.

In any case, there you have it. Go and read the article at Redwall.org for the rest.