james brian jacques (pronounced "jakes") (15 june 1939 - 5 february 2011) was an english author. he is best known for his "redwall" series of books, as well as the "tribes of redwall" and "castaways of the flying dutchman" series. he also wrote two books of short stories called, "the ribbajack &amp; other curious yarns" and "seven strange and ghostly tales".