Peter S. Beagle
Website: http://www.peterbeagle.com/
Wit, depth, intelligence, true emotion, and a gift for language that would make a silver-tongued devil trade up — what more could any reader ask of a writer? With novels as richly different as TAMSIN, THE INNKEEPER’S SONG, and A FINE AND PRIVATE PLACE, plus screenplays for the animated J.R.R. TOLKIEN’S THE LORD OF THE RINGS, the “Sarek” episode of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, and other films and television features, Peter has established a reputation for imagination and magic like no other living author. Not just in fiction, either — his memoir I SEE BY MY OUTFIT, which recounts a 1963 journey across America on motor scooter, is considered a classic of American travel writing.
Peter’s best-known book is THE LAST UNICORN, a fantasy novel with a worldwide following numbering in the tens of millions. At the after-Oscar party for THE RETURN OF THE KING, where Peter was an honored special guest, he was startled to find Oscar winners giddily shaking his hand, grown women singing to him in Elvish, and a flock of fans screaming and crying when he was announced from the stage. This outpouring of affection is no mystery to those of us who know THE LAST UNICORN as a true modern classic, a book which has been steadily in print for nearly four decades, as fresh today as when it was first published in 1968. (A brand-new deluxe hardcover edition will be coming out in September 2007.)
Meanwhile the 1982 animated version of THE LAST UNICORN (featuring the voices of Mia Farrow, Jeff Bridges, Alan Arkin, Rene Auberjenois, and Christopher Lee) is enjoying bestseller status in DVD format, with more than million copies in distribution around the world.
In 2005 Peter finally wrote a magnificent coda to THE LAST UNICORN called “Two Hearts,” and began work on a new full-length novel sequel to his classic. “Two Hearts” won the 2006 Hugo and Nebula Awards for best novelette, and was nominated for the World Fantasy Award.
2007 and 2008 are going to be banner years for Peter S. Beagle fans. Scheduled to appear are at least a dozen new short works; three new novels (the magical realist SUMMERLONG, the ‘50s baseball fantasy SWEET LIGHTNING, and the aptly-named I’M AFRAID YOU’VE GOT DRAGONS); reissues of old titles; at least five new collections and nonfiction books; and a graphic novel version of THE LAST UNICORN in manga style.
Most writers become icons only after their deaths. Peter is here with us now, a respected and self-deprecating “legend in the making” — the elder statesman of fantasy as storyteller, songwriter, and poet, with many more tales still to tell and a big bright twinkle in his eye.
Dan Robb @ October 14, 2007