Ever Bethany

Nobody told me Brian Jacques was gone.

It must have been one of the library trips I missed, working. And I was kind of waiting for news on Diana Wynne Jones, but I didn't know anything of him, to keep an ear to the ground. The NYTimes on it...

So this is all old-news, and maybe it will seem like not-very-big news, but we're dealing with my scale of importance here.

I feel a little sad about it.



Everyone has an author like this--you grow up and laugh at how awesome you thought those books were when you were small.
It becomes a memory of growing up, the time you realized that you were getting tired of the books being the same.

I'm very loyal, and it felt like I was betraying something, to no longer have that same fire of love for it. It was a little painful.

Brian Jacques' books were the ones that I adored around the same time I  started writing novels of my own, at 11, 12, 13. The first I collected for myself with my own money.

Now I'm much older, I'm not  dismayed about my love for them, or the fact that I outgrew them, anymore.



Redwall was my first epic fantasy. You may argue the descriptor here, but with these books I first met the concept of valorous death, the fascination of warrior-lore--about sacred swords, and brotherhood in battle. I've since lost a little of my taste for a lot of these tropes without really masterful handling and more subtlety, but the bright shining images of these scenes are part of my literary heritage now.

I also probably encountered for the first time in the series a book that did not end the way I expected, so much that I revolted against it--only to later learn why it worked.

Characters that you wanted to see more of died. People were changed by their experiences, so they couldn't go back to how they were. But good always got the better of it, and no matter how bad things got, with enough friends different from themselves, the heroes and heroines always found their way through.

Plus, there were some really cool, tough warrior girls. I wished I had half their sass...

Redwall Squirrel by Skyelar

So here's to Brian Jacques! I know for a fact he'd rather we drank to him than anything else.
Thank you for helping raise me as a bitty writer, and I hope someday to do you proud.

***


...n'aw man, now I'm going to cry. WHY DO YOU PLAY ME THE SAD THEMES FROM GHIBLI FILMS RIGHT NOW, SHUFFLE MODE

Went to the newspaper museum in Collinsville yesterday--my second time. But I learned everything over again.
I hope I'm not the only one who can hold information better the second time...

One of the crazier things is the 1916 arrival: a keyboard type creator--you could type in a row of text, which would then be made into a mold for hot lead to set in. It was a great invention, cutting labor hours of picking out each letter and setting it.

I'd forgotten seeing that.

Hopefully this time I'll put it in my brain in a way that I can access it when The Cool is needed for either historical detail or a punch of wild stuff that takes on a fantastic life of its own.

I need to go back and photograph a bunch more about it. It's a dark, messy little corner of the world, but that makes a lot of sense.