Saturday, May 14, 2011

The Future of Redwall

With the publication of The Rogue Crew earlier this month, many have been wondering if this means the end of the Redwall saga as we know it.
I have some news on that.
And the big exciting news is...we don't know yet!
That's right - it appears as if nothing is set in stone in terms of publishing any other Brian Jacques works for the time being, and I for one accept no news as good news.
I'm also inclined to believe there is at least one more Redwall novel floating around out there for two reasons. The first being that Brian tended to be have his work completed way in advance of the publishing dates, so given his writing schedule, I have to think there is something else there. Second, last year there was a contest to name a future Redwall character. We do not know the name of this character - the winner has gone AWOL as it were and cannot confirm or deny that their character appears in The Rogue Crew.
Additionally, Brian has a few shelved projects, possibly even ones we don't know about, and several years back, an autobiography was put away. Personally, I'm interested in anything and everything Brian has written, so if anyone out there reading this has input into whether or not any other works for Brian Jacques should be published, I strongly advocate for the publishing of this material, and I'm sure more than a few fans would be happy as well.
While it's up in the air in terms of new works being published, there is some news in terms of 2010's repackages.
The books will be receiving reprints with numbered spines; the number will be representative of the order in which it was published. Also, if the front cover of the paperback is opened, a list of the books will be numbered as well. Two books have already received this treatment from my observation, Mattimeo and The Sable Quean.
Next year will be the 25th anniversary of the publication of Redwall in the United States, and I hope another special edition will be released, perhaps with some nice illustrations.
So don't worry, I don't think we've seen the last of Brian.