Brian Jacuqes Dead at Age 71

This weekend a great man died. Brian Jacques, writer and radio actor, died at the age of 71 from a sudden heart attack. Jacques, a Liverpool native, was famous in literary circles for his Redwall series of novels – a prolific series containing 22 installments covering multiple areas of history of the beautiful and fictional Mossflower Wood and Redwall Abbey.

Jacques brought joy to millions of children and adults in over twenty countries with his books, including one particular Stranger. These books were heavily influential in my emotional development, and helped me get through a lot of hard times as a child. More importantly, though, the books were key in his work with disabled children in his home town. He wrote in a very distinctive style so that when the books were read, every dialect, sight, sound, and smell would come to life for children who were robbed of their sight.

He was an inspiration to several authors and well known in the industry, but his writing was an early developed talent. In grade school he was punished by a teacher with a cane for writing a story of a bird who cleaned a crocodile's teeth – the teacher assumed it must have been plagiarized because of the talent involved. His younger life was spent as a truck driver when he'd become inspired by blind children to write the books, as mentioned above. The man was tireless and dedicated.

The Redwall series was initially published in 1986 with the titular book. It expanded to a trilogy after that with the second installment Mossflower - technically a prequel - and Marlfox to follow after. The series itself revolves around the world of Mossflower wood and the animals that inhabit it - anthropomorphic versions of the woodland creatures one would expect to find in England living out a pleasant medieval existence.

The series has come under attack over the years for accusations of racism in the fact that the villains are universally creatures classically considered "vermin," leading many to suspect that Jacques message was a faulty Aesop teaching that certain peoples would always be evil no matter what you did. Instead Jacques and supporters of his series took the platform that they referred less to specific racial groupings but more to the overall symbolic morality play of good versus evil in the general sense.

Twenty one books have been published to date with his last book - The Rogue Crew - due to be released on May 3rd.

I was introduced to the books in middle-school with a review for the freshly-released Martin the Warrior's review in Analog magazine. I finally managed to get my hands on the book in a school book fair in the sixth grade, and was immediately immersed in the world described and the plight of the honorable young mouse Martin and his quest to avenge his father's death and retrieve his father's blade. I followed next with Mossflower to see how he come to Mossflower Wood and met the creatures that would later help him build the legendary Redwall Abbey.

These books were instrumental in carrying me through bullying, sickness, and many other horrible periods in my life. They helped teach me how to behave, and were a very strong influence on shaping my character - without them I'd hardly be who I am today.

Mr. Jacques, we're very sorry to see you go, for the life you lived helped many of us in so many ways. Rest in peace, old friend.