‘Doomwyte’ Details Revealed

Brian JacquesFollowing up on the revelation that Brian’s next Redwall book will be entitled Doomwyte, we have a few new pieces of information for you.

First, a bit of bad news: U.K. cover artist David Wyatt is unlikely to contribute cover art this time around. When asked about Doomwyte, Wyatt told The Newsline that:

I haven’t heard of any future books, but it’s unlikely I’ll be involved as I have a couple of big projects on the go which will keep me busy until August, so I’m not working on any covers for the foreseeable future.

While we’re deeply saddened to hear that Mr. Wyatt won’t be able to draw the new cover, we wish him the best of luck with his projects and will definitely be checking them out!

We’ll keep you posted on the U.K. cover artist situation as it develops.

On a brighter note, we asked interior illustrator David Elliot about the book and he’s given us the first real hint of what we can expect.

I can confirm that I’m working on [Doomwyte] currently…. As to teases, I’d better leave that to Brian. Perhaps I could say that one of the main animal characters also features in a poem that begins “Once upon a midnight dreary……..”

That, of course, is the first line of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven. So, does that mean one of the main characters in Doomwyte will be a raven? Looks that way.

The Long Patrol has forthcoming interviews with both Wyatt and Elliot, where you can hear more of their thoughts on various Redwall related subjects. The first of them should be up within the next few days, so be sure to check back.

It’s expected that Doomwyte will hit shelves in September 2008, Brian’s standard release window.

Stay tuned to the Newsline for more details.

About Martin the Warrior

Martin has been active in Redwall fandom for many years, founding The Long Patrol in 1996, The Redwall Newsline in 1997, and RWTV: Redwall on TV in 2001. He will be covering Redwall news as long as there is Redwall news to cover.