The Official Web Site of Author Robert Stanek

Remembering My Long-Time Friend Brian Jacques on His 80th Birthday

As I write this, today June 15, 2019, my friend, Brian Jacques, creator of Redwall, would have been 80. Of all the writers I’ve corresponded with over the years—from Raymond Feist to CJ Cherryh to Mercedes Lackey in the heyday of CompuServe—Brian was the wittiest and most fun. It was the highest of honors to host Brian when his fall 2005 book tour of the Western USA brought him to my adopted hometown of Olympia, Washington. At the time, I wrote about Brian’s visit on a tribute page to him and his books, which I posted to share with my readers at http://themagiclands.com/brianjacques.htm. The page is still there, unchanged in 15 years.

One of the best things about Brian’s visit was that my son, Will, who was 13 at the time, got to meet Brian and have all of his Redwall books signed. Will was—and remains—a Redwall fan, having read all of Brian’s books multiple times. My two youngest were also at the signing and they enjoyed getting their pictures taken with my friend Brian.

As I had promised Brian, I also gave him copies of the children's editions of my books, The Kingdoms & the Elves of the Reaches, which are set in my fantasy world of Ruin Mist. Brian and I enjoyed swapping stories of our created worlds, bonding over our similar experiences—like being playfully disciplined by Catholic school teachers with rulers.

Brian was a hoot to listen to at author events and book signings. He loved his characters and fully embraced the role of his persona when speaking. And of course, Brian loved a good feast—as any devoted Redwall fan knows.

Brian also challenged me to give back to readers and the writing community—to share my personal skills and experiences with others. He always spoke fondly of his days working with blind children and how he got his start. Early conversations with Brian were key in inspiring me to dedicate many hours and years to giving away one million books to schools, libraries, community centers, and especially to teachers whose students otherwise would have no books at all. I even supported schools for the blind, like the one in rural Scotland where students had access to my entire catalog of books—including many educational and learning titles in the Bugville Critters series—at no cost.

To say Brian Jacques loved the written word is an understatement. He lived for it—and perhaps loved bringing his stories to life through spoken word even more. Brian and I often discussed digital audio and, in particular, Audible, where my books were runaway bestsellers (#1 Fiction, #1 Fantasy, #1 YA/Children's for many weeks in spring and summer 2005). While Brian was more familiar with traditional tape audio and a bit hesitant about the digital world (ebooks, Kindle, Audible, etc.), I like to think my enthusiasm helped him see its potential.

In the fall of 2005, none of us could have foreseen that Brian would be taken from the world just a few years later. I was, in fact, looking forward to his next West Coast tour and another visit with my long-time friend. For me, Brian Jacques will forever remain one of the few true wordsmiths who could paint vivid pictures with language.

We all miss you, Brian, though it is perhaps fitting that the final Redwall book is about rogues. As a rogue scoundrel who worked many odd jobs in his life, this was perhaps Brian’s final wink and nod to the world.

Goodnight, Brian. Goodnight, Redwall.

Thanks for reading, I’m William Robert Stanek, Microsoft’s #1 author for nearly 20 years, and author of over 250 topselling books.

Close-up With Robert Stanek & RA Salvatore

In Fall 2003, I created this tribute page to support RA Salvatore's work. RA Salvatore was a favorite author of my son and it was thrilling for him to get to meet Bob. This feature—along with extensive discussion in the Robert Stanek forums—introduced tens of thousands of Ruin Mist fans to Bob's work and to Drizzt Do'Urden for the first time. A fact I am proud of, as I am proud to have supported dozens and dozens of authors through the FOUR decades I've been a writer.

When I met RA Salvatore during his book tour, I was an international bestselling author with over 75 books to my credit, having sold many millions of books. Not only was I a columnist for PC Magazine and Dr. Dobbs at the time, but my work was also featured worldwide on Microsoft websites, training courses, and other outlets—reaching tens of millions (now hundreds of millions) of readers.

Thus, it is extremely disconcerting and perplexing to me that one or several online trolls have latched onto this tribute page to Bob and twisted its meaning into something supposedly nefarious.

Fall 2003

RA Salvatore's Fall 2003 book tour took him across the West—through Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, California, and Washington. The tour was widely discussed on the Robert Stanek forums as RS and RAS fans exchanged their favorite stories and characters. RA Salvatore quickly became a favorite in the Other Authors section of the boards.

   As Salvatore's tour was winding down, the two Roberts—Robert Stanek and RA Salvatore—met at a book event where RAS spoke at length about how he started writing and how his many books and characters were developed. RAS also talked about playing Baldur's Gate and even mentioned how he discovered his own character, Drizzt Do'Urden. Apparently, when RAS tried to get Drizzt Do'Urden's scimitars, Drizzt attacked and killed his entire party. Later, a friend told him how to defeat Drizzt (by using wands of monster summoning and filling the screen with monsters as decoys while you shower poor Drizzt with arrows). With Drizzt dead, you could take his scimitars and armor—and then, as legend has it, whoop butt. (Watch out if you kill Drizzt and try to import his gear into Baldur's Gate 2—he'll hunt your party down and kill you.)

     But if you really want to play as Drizzt, you need Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance for PS2 or XBOX. Beat the Labyrinth at the end of the game in extreme mode and you can play as Drizzt Do'Urden—with dual scimitars and all.

The final book in the Hunters Blades Trilogy is Two Swords, which will be published in October 2004. For those who haven't read the series yet, start with The Thousand Orcs, featured on the left. (Get The Thousand Orcs at Amazon.)

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