I Love The Dappling, This Is Wonderful!

I love the dappling, this is wonderful!

Martin the Warrior.

The the sequel to my Rose drawing. I’m not as sure as this one as I was about that one, but oh well, I tried.

Reblogs are welcome, reposts are not.

Redwallers would love Christmas. All the good food and community they already have, but accented with twinkling lights and gift giving.

And because it's Redwall, I imagine all the gifts would be handmade. Some creatures have natural creative skills, others don't, but that doesn't matter--because everything made would be done with love and intention for the recipient.

Imagine, if you will--

Little Matti makes a replica of Martin's sword with little sticks. No one can tell what it is, but when Matthias opens it he tears up.

And little Matti is concerned over making his father's eyes water, so he climbs into his lap and tries to comfort him. Matthias just wraps his arms around his son, his big warm habit sleeves all but hiding little Matti from sight. The fireplace is warm and crackling, the candles are in the windows, frost melting around the light of the flame while snow falls outside. The room is filled with the scent of evergreen trees. Cornflower watches her husband and son embrace and has never felt such happiness. In her hands are some dried cornflowers Matti found earlier that year with Constance, which Mr. Churchmouse helped him press in an old volume from his library.

All the warlords who tried to take the Abbey in its history and who will try in the future will not find the hoards of treasure they desire, but every single creature in the Abbey knows they live with more riches than money could ever buy, and they feel it with extra poignancy in that moment.

nanowrimo.org

NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo

"...I’m not standing on line at a bookstore, waiting for you to sign my copy of your book. Come on, all it takes is you, and determination, self belief, and of course, the flame, which came from that first tiny spark.

Your pal,

Brian Jacques"

So if you don’t know, there’s this thing called NaNoWriMo, or national novel writing month. It’s a program that anyone can join where people try and write 50,000 words in a month, 1667 words per day. This can get quite exhausting so the website has a bunch of motivational resources, such as pep talks writen by a bunch of famous authors.

I was scrolling through these pep talks and I found one by Brian Jacques, written in 2008. Now the whole thing was really beautiful, it was about 5 paragraphs, but the last one...

“ You know, you’ll disappoint me, if in a few years time, I’m not standing in line at a bookstore, waiting for you to sign my copy of your book. Come on, all it take is you, and determination, self belief, and of course, the flame, which came from that first tiny spark.”

And now I’m depressed because what’s the point if he’s never going to come to my non existent book signing???

I am in perpetual need of Redwall queer stories and you all are feeding my hunger.

See tags for my favorite bits hehe ->

Reading all the Redwall books in publication order: Mossflower

I FINALLY finished Mossflower, after about three months of chewing through it. Not a mark against the book, just my adhd acting up. I finished most of the book in one day actually. (not a critical review, just all the thoughts dumped into a post)

Blurb: The thrilling prequel to "Redwall". The clever and greedy wildcat Tsarmina becomes ruler of all Mossflower Woods and is determined to govern the peaceful woodlanders with an iron paw. The brave mouse Martin and quick-talking mouse thief Gonff meet in the depths of Kotir Castle's dungeon. The two escape and resolve to end Tsarmina's tyrannical rule. Joined by Dinny the mole, Martin and Gonff set off on a dangerous quest for Salamandastron, where they are convinced that their only hope, Boar the Fighter, still lives.

Sidenote, the Goodreads blurb for some reason put Dinny as Kinny, and in my edition its Dinny, therefore Goodreads is wrong and can eat my dick. Also Kinny would be a hilarious name.

Death count of named characters: 21 (the exact same as Redwall. dunno if that's intentional)

Death count of unnamed characters: Dunno! But it was actually a lot less than in Redwall for sure, because they let most of Tsarmina's army go instead of SLAUGHTER.

(Spoilers ahead for a 30 year old novel, proceed with caution <3)

This was a fun one! I honestly liked Martin's quest to go to Salamandastron a lot more than Matthias's quest. Idk, it just felt more action packed. Matthias had a Lot of sitting and pondering riddles, while Martin had Gonff and Dinny who were fun on their own, plus encounters with enemies to fight and outsmart. Getting to see all the backstory for Redwall was cool. We got to see a bunch of elements and characters that would eventually become Redwall. I also enjoyed Columbine as a character, especially since she got some agency in the story and we got to hear her perspective, unlike with Cornflower in Redwall. I like that Gonff was the one with a love interest instead of Martin since it fleshes him out and lets Martin do all the revenge he could want.

God, the strategy in this? Chef's kiss. It really felt like watching a chess game unfold except a lot more chaotic and occasionally they'd find new pieces to use. That's what I've really been enjoying about these books so far, is the military strategy on both sides. Them flooding Kotir was such a cool move, and the fact that it was a double fake out with it failing at first and then succeeding with the arrival of the Wuddship? Fantastic! Amazing! Beautiful!

Tsarmina was a fun villain! She was just campy and evil as hell, plus watching her slowly descend into madness over the sounds of dripping water that no one else could hear? Chef's kiss. Watching her snap Martin's father's sword is just such a good personal moment to build tension and animosity between the two. I really wish there could've been a moment like that with Cluny and Matthias, because their struggle felt far more impersonal, but idk if that would've worked in the story.

I like how it built throughout the story how little the soldiers of Kotir are loyal to her, really helps set up their desertion and surrender at the end. I liked that most of the infantry got to live and move on to a new place instead of dying. Like in Redwall its explicitly stated in text that most of Cluny's soldiers were recruited completely unwillingly from the surrounding forest, and then they were all killed. I just find that really sad.

Some character thoughts:

Gonff: Funky! Love him. If there's an audiobook of this I hope they gave all of his songs tunes and if they didn't thats a crime

Dinny: so hard to understand but still cool, just want to give him a pat on the head

Martin: mmmmm, warrior mouse. wish he was a Touch more feral

Columbine: Better than cornflower and you can fight me on it

Lady Amber and Skipper: mlm and wlw solidarity. I won't be taking criticism at this time

Bella: butch lesbian. friend shaped, would trust her with my life

Gingivere: he fucks

Abbess Germaine: she definitely also fucks. GILF

Tsarmina: Queen of a Thousand Eyes, if humanized has the potential to be the Second Tumblr Sexywoman

Gloomer: I know he's a wordless swimming flesh eating monster rat... but I could fix him

Brogg: so stupid and so trusting. too bad he got crushed by that flying rock, he would've made a good malewife

Bane: greedler with a knife

Fortunata: fox. too clever to be smart

Ashleg: he gone

List of named character deaths (in chronological order):

*=death either from that character’s point of view or in disturbing detail

-Verdauga

-Luke the Warrior

-Barkstripe

-Gloomer*

-Thicktail*

-Scratch*

-Blacktooth*

-Splitnose*

-Fortunata*

-Mask*

-Cludd

-Squint*

-Badtail*

-Boar the Fighter

-Bane*

-Argulor*

-Ratflank

-Bentbrush

-Foulwhisker*

-Brogg*

-Tsarmina*

Next on the list:

Mattimeo

Mariel of Redwall

Salamandastron

(BONUS! Some bits from my notes app:

Tsarmina Fortunata lesbian moment? (Fortunata died almost immediately after this)

BATS ARE CANON!!!!

MARTIN TIMBALLISTO GAY MOMENT! pg 307)

This is so fun to consider! Wow!

Not Rat, Not Weasel, and Nothing In-Between

My own headcanon for what Razzid Wearat really was. I know he's called a "Wearat"--and rumored to be this hideous rat-weasel hybrid crime-against-nature... but uh no! I prefer the idea he was simply an animal from a bit outside the usual Euro-centric cast of species which the locals were terrified of since they simply didn't have any kind of idea what it was. Similar to how human beings "chimerize" their descriptions of unknown animals (example--describing a binturong as a "bear-cat", believing it to have a bear body and a cat face, or some mix of features despite the binturong being neither of these), the "Wearat" would be more accurately called a Moonrat--or a Gymnure. The Moonrat/Gymnure is actually a close relative of the Hedgehog! Physically it has a clearly carnivorous face and dental structure much like a hedgehog or a shrew (the "weasel" aspect) but form-wise is a bit more rat or really opossum like. The intense "ugliness" is really a matter of subjectivity--they're really not much different looking than moles and shrews, so... XD

Pictured is how Mossflower residents typically only see the Moonrat--in the form of a long Corsair, ranging far and wide from their homelands as part of a pirate crew--likely driven out of their own community for their willingness to pillage and exploit, much like how I envision most Corsairs, Sea Raiders, Searat crews and the like are.

I gave her Baby Rollo's clothes :))

Little siblings watching Wild Kratts and it’s an episode on Voles.

And they named the VOLE, ROLLO.

Anyways.