Peter Beagle’s new novel SUMMERLONG amazed NERDS OF A FEATHER, FLOCK TOGETHER’s Zhaoyun.

A remarkably moving, indeed captivating retelling of the Persephone myth—set near Seattle.  Or, “move over, Stephenie Meyer: there’s a new paranormal group in town!”

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Beagle’s prose is undeniably brilliant, but in an unassuming, unpretentious way. His dialogue is good, but almost archaic (or simply outdated) at times, perhaps as a result of hanging the story around two such unusually aged protagonists. So it’s not as though I was blinking back tears at the poignancy of any specific description or line of dialogue. I am left grasping at straws, and must resort to saying, simply, Beagle’s “storytelling ability” allowed him to convert what to rights should be a boring tale into an emotionally riveting one. In any case, bravo, Mr. Beagle: you’ve won over a new fan!

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Nerd coefficient: 8/10 “Well worth your time and attention”

photo by Paul Todisco

WITTY LITTLE KNITTER awards the beautiful novel 5 stars.

It is hard to say much more about the book without spoiling too much. I needed to read more than half of it before I could even answer the question ‘So what is this book about?’ Before that…well things happened but I had no idea why or how those things were connected. But while in most other books, I would have yelled ‘Just come to the point already’ but Beagle has a way of writing that made me not care about the fact that I had no clue what was going on.

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It’s also not a happy book (but not one without hope either). But it’s still a very very beautiful one.

John O’Neill at BLACK GATE anticipates the forthcoming book.

A new novel by Peter
S. Beagle is a major publishing event. His last novel, I’M AFRAID
YOU’VE GOT DRAGONS (2007), mysteriously never appeared in print,
but THE LAST UNICORN (1968) was ranked the #5 All-Time Best Fantasy
Novel in the 1987 Locus Poll. THE FOLK OF THE AIR (1986) and TAMSIN
(1999) both won the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, and THE INNKEEPER’S
SONG (1993) won the Locus Award. He’s won virtually every accolade
our field has to offer, including the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy
Awards.

For more info on SUMMERLONG, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Magdalena Korzeniewska

Design by Elizabeth Story