From Publishers Weekly
This story collection from fantasy legend Beagle offers a sublime mix of reprints and original works. "Two Hearts," the coda to his masterwork, The Last Unicorn, is a sweet, slight story sure to leave fans hungry for the novel's promised sequel. Yet even Beagle's lesser efforts contain delicate shadings and subtle prose. The brief selections grouped as "Four Fables" pay tribute to George Ade and James Thurber, while the tantalizing "El Regalo," a bittersweet tale of two Korean-American children with strange powers, deserves to be expanded to novel length. The volume closes with "A Dance for Emilia," which Beagle in his introduction calls "as autobiographical as anything I've ever written" (quite a statement from the author of the autobiographical I See by My Outfit). It is a tapestry woven of love, friendship, art and a very special cat. This book is a fitting tribute to a beloved author who one hopes has several more novels left in him. (Aug.)
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Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
*Starred Review* When Beagle's A Fine and Private Place (1960), a story of two ghosts in love, emerged virtually simultaneously with other brilliant debuts by Philip Roth, Reynolds Price, and Wendell Berry, he was hailed as one of their cohort of promising American novelists. The Last Unicorn (1968), however, disclosed him delving more deeply into fantasy (the unicorn is the protagonist, not a metaphor), and he was critically drummed out of the troop. He hardly lost his talent, though, and ever since Last Unicorn, one of the most beloved fantasies ever written, fantasy critics and readers have treasured his work, all the more so because he isn't prolific. For all their variety--four fables, a children's story for all ages, a Sherlock Holmes pastiche, an old tar's tall tale, a sequel to one novel (Last Unicorn) and a prequel to another (The Innkeeper's Song, 1993), and the germ of a prospective witch novel--all 10 stories in this book are lucid and refreshing as spring water, full of amusement, humanity, and wisdom. Perhaps Beagle is incapable of writing genuinely dark fantasy, but his tall tale "Salt Wine" touches the tonalities of R. L. Stevenson in "The Bottle Imp" and W. W. Jacobs in "The Monkey's Paw," while on the other end of the spectrum, the Last Unicorn follow-up "Two Hearts" is like Kenneth Grahame's "Reluctant Dragon" with greater gravitas. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
"One of my favorite writers." —Madeleine L'Engle, author, A Wrinkle in Time and A Swiftly Tilting Planet
"Peter S. Beagle illuminates with his own particular magic such commonplace matters as ghosts, unicorns, and werewolves." —Ursula K. LeGuin, author, A Wizard of Earthsea and The Left Hand of Darkness
"A cornucopia of delights; mark this as a major contender for Collection of the Year." —Locus Magazine
"A wonderful collection...Each story is a gem...Read it for any reason you can find, but read it." —SFRevu
"A collection of his recent stories shows Beagle is still a fresh and charming author." —The Denver Post
"Each one of the stories gathered here is aimed directly at the heart." —SF Site
"At his best, Peter S. Beagle outshines the moon, the sun, the stars, the entire galaxy." —The Seattle Times
"Everything here is quite wonderful. You will certainly discover your own favorites in The Line Between." —Green Man Review
Book Description
The long-awaited sequel to the popular classic The Last Unicorn is the centerpiece of this powerful collection of new tales from a fantasy master. As longtime fans have come to expect, the stories are written with a grace and style similar to fantasy's most original voices, such as J. R. R. Tolkien, Fritz Leiber, and Kurt Vonnegut. Traditional themes are typically infused with modern sensibilities—reincarnated lovers and waning kings rub shoulders with heroic waifs; Schmendrick the Magician returns to adventure, as does the ghost of an off-Broadway actor and a dream-stealing shapeshifter; and Gordon, the delightfully charming "self-made cat," appears for the first time in print, taking his place alongside Stuart Little as a new favorite of the young at heart. This wide-ranging compilation contains sly humor and a resounding depth that will charm fans of literary fantasy.
About the Author
Peter S. Beagle is the author of A Fine and Private Place, The Innkeeper’s Song, The Last Unicorn, The Rhinoceros Who Quoted Nietzsche, and Tamsin. He wrote the screenplays for the animated feature-film versions of The Lord of the Rings and The Last Unicorn, and is the recipient of the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award and Locus Awards. He lives in Oakland, California.
