2023 Locus Recommended Reading List

[STARRED REVIEW] “This [second] installment, introduced by SF and horror writer Meg Elison, draws more directly from Beagle’s past, featuring multiple stories purportedly chronicling otherworldly encounters experienced by Beagle and his friends in their youth. Two other tales attribute unearthly abilities to Beagle’s dear friend Avram Davidson, the late (and somewhat quirky) writer. Some of the stories draw from others’ literary works, including a Tarzan/John Carter crossover that also serves as a not-so-subtle criticism of creator Edgar Rice Burroughs’ bigotry and a gripping Patricia Highsmith–inspired story of a meek housewife summoning previously unknown inner strength when confronted by a new member of her bridge club who views her as prey. Two stories have something of a Twilight Zone resonance about them (which isn’t intended as a criticism of these two powerful tales): ‘Sleight of Hand,’ involving a woman mourning the recent death of her husband and child who’s granted an impossible second chance, and ‘Vanishing,’ about an unhappy man forced to confront his dark memories serving as a young American soldier monitoring the Berlin Wall. Of course, there are two tales of dragons invading California (one a work of metafiction and the other a buddy-cop story) and a chronicle of werewolf revenge that draws from an entirely different cultural tradition than the first volume’s ‘Lila the Werewolf.’ There are perhaps many readers who know Beagle only from his classic novel, The Last Unicorn (1968), unaware of his considerable body of long and short fiction; others are longtime fans already familiar with such gems as A Fine and Private Place (1960), The Folk of the Air (1986), and The Innkeeper’s Song (1993), among others. This two-volume collection is a must-have for all of them. Yes, essential, for whomever you are.”
—Kirkus

“Master enchanter Peter S. Beagle is best known for his novel The Last Unicorn, a book which has charmed generations of readers.  But the briefer enchantments collected in these two volumes also brim with the deepest and truest of his magical powers: with laughter, with wisdom, and with the ineffable pleasure of the imaginary memories he shares.  From the gradually refined focus of ‘Professor Gottesman and the Indian Rhinoceros’ to ‘Vanishing’’s crankily slipped-and-skewed perspective, these are visions of an inner world all of us need to visit again and again.  Each tale is a spell welcoming our hearts to their real home: wonder.”
—Nisi Shawl, author of Everfair

“Stepping into a Peter Beagle story is like stepping out your front door into an alternate, but entirely logical, world: your girlfriend seems to be a werewolf, the evening news is anchored by the Angel of Death, dreadful poetry is a lethal weapon, and a Berkeley traffic cop has to negotiate a depressed dragon out of an intersection. But then, what else to expect from a wizard of mischief like Beagle? Two perfect volumes that should come with a warning: When you try and go back inside your house, all its rooms will have changed.”
—Laurie R. King, author of The Beekeeper’s Apprentice

“Gleaming gold, these two volumes of glorious stories remind us of what is true, though it might not be real, and of when the world was solid as a Spalding rubber ball and shadowy soft as a cat’s fur, though that time might never have happened, and may not happen again. (But it was, his tales insist. But it will be.) We are fortunate to live in a world where his work exists; if we didn’t, we ourselves might not exist. Such is Beagle’s magic.”
—E. Lily Yu, author of On Fragile Waves

“Having all these Peter Beagle stories collected together is pure joy. His writing has amazed me my whole life. You think I’d be used to it by now, but the amazement is ongoing.”
—Carrie Vaughn, author of the Kitty Norville series

“The Essential Peter S. Beagle Volumes 1 & 2 are everything I hoped for and wanted them to be. Beagle’s clever and utterly whimsical storytelling is evident in every story, and I love jumping from tale to tale and exploring the facets of his mind. The writing is fun and explores the unique while keeping one foot in the familiar, making it perfect for readers of all ages. I highly recommend these charming volumes!”
—Charlie N. Holmberg, author of Keeper of Enchanted Rooms

“This was an amazing collection, and I cannot recommend it enough for existing fans of Mr. Beagle or fans of fantasy shorts or cozy fantasy.”
—All Booked Up

“Another superb collection of fantasy stories that richly invoke the author’s childhood streets, friends and imagination.”
—Bookshine and Readbows

“Peter S. Beagle’s short stories tap into the sweetest sap of the soul and leave their mark forever. He always makes me cry in the most wonderful and necessary way.”
—Delilah S. Dawson, author of Wicked As They Come

“Peter Beagle says it perfectly himself in one of his stories: ‘The artist isn’t the magic. The artist is the sight, the artist is someone who knows magic when he sees it.’ To our everlasting benefit, we get to see the magic that he did.”
—Girl Who Reads

“This is a wonderfully curated collection of 16 pieces, including one previously unpublished, four previously uncollected, and several which were unfamiliar to me. There wasn’t a dud in the entire lot. Mr. Beagle is a superlative writer with a sublime and consummate command of English as well as being a master of written fiction.”
—Nonstop Reader

“Another superb collection of fantasy stories that richly invoke the author’s childhood streets, friends and imagination.”
—Bookshine and Readbows

Selected praise for the short story collections of Peter S. Beagle

“Multiple Hugo and Nebula award-winning Beagle opens readers’ eyes to wonder with his latest collection of 13 short stories. Each piece bridges the rich intersection of fantasy and fairy tale, reality and possibility, exploring predestination, fate, and the power of love through characters that come to vivid, three-dimensional life within a few short pages. Beagle’s lyrical writing is set in a wide range of landscapes both familiar and fresh, with twists on Jack and the Beanstalk, monsters and dragons, a singing enchantress, ghostly photographs, and a modern werewolf tale.”
—Library Journal

“Wise, warm and deep.”
—The New York Times 

“The perfect book.”
—Strange Horizons

“Beagle’s true strength in the last few years lies with his short fiction, an area in which he’s been both prolific and brilliant. His latest collection, from Tachyon Publications, showcases the best of his recent output.”
—Omnivoracious.com

“Beagle plays the classic themes of love and death, sacrifice, and self-discovery like a master. Never clichéd, he pulls out new riffs and vamps on the expected conventions of modern fantasy, even the ones he helped create in the first place…. Pure poetry. Beagle is an American bard.”
—io9.com

“Peter S. Beagle [has] rejoined the main flow of literature with a vengeance…. His work is marvelous.”
—Green Man Review 

“Everything Beagle touches, he makes new. Every sentence he shapes encapsulates a song. This is both a delightful and moving collection.”
—Michael Bishop, author of Brittle Innings

“Before all the endless series and shared-world novels, Beagle was there to show us the amazing possibilities waiting in the worlds of fantasy, and he is still one of the masters by which the rest of the field is measured. I envy people reading these stories for the first time.”
—Lisa Goldstein, author of The Uncertain Places