Synopses & Reviews
Magic is back.
Peter S. Beagle returns with an inspired collection of new fantasy that showcases his incomparable mastery and range. In these tales with settings as different as an impossible reconstruction of the Berlin Wall and the kitchen of Mrs. Eunice Giant (72 Fairweather Lane, East-of-the-Bean, Sussex Overhead) warriors, monsters, and utterly ordinary people struggle with possession and forgiveness, life and love, hate and death...and the choices that come after everything else has been stripped away by Fate. Inside these pages:
The daughter of the Shark God leaves her Pacific island home, determined to find her mysterious father and hold him accountable for the curse of her own existence.
A dilapidated dragon, a frustrated cop, and an unapologetic author square off over a dangerously abandoned narrative.
An enchantress-to-be sings of power, desire, and the ultimate betrayal of her heart.
In a nothing diner, in a nowhere town, a woman lost in grief learns how to fool Death with one artful shuffle of the deck.
Featuring a brand-new Schmendrick tale set before The Last Unicorn, plus twelve other wonderful stories, Sleight of Hand is suffused with a luminous misdirection that moves the soul as much as it fools the eye. Always ready to delight his readers, Beagle proves yet again that he is a master magician.
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"Peter is one of those writers who just seems to be getting better and better." Neil Gaiman, author, The Graveyard Book
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"Peter S. Beagle is the magician we all apprenticed ourselves to." Lisa Goldstein, author, The Red Magician
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"One of my favorite writers." Madeleine L'Engle, author, A Wrinkle in Time
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"[Beagle is] not only one of our greatest fantasists, but one of our greatest writers, a magic realist worthy of consideration with such writers as Marquez, Allende, and even Borges." The American Culture
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"Each piece bridges the rich intersection of fantasy and fairy tale, reality and possibility....Short story and fantasy lovers will devour these tasty tidbits that whet the appetite for more." Library Journal Online
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"Peter S. Beagle's latest collection of short stories, also reimagines old mythologies....There’s a warmth behind most of these stories, along with a dollop of schmaltz that fortunately makes them no less satisfying." Sara Sklaroff, Washington Post
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"Few can match [Beagle] when it comes to a particular mix of the fantastic and the ordinary, with a tinge of nostalgia. As one character observes, the magic is in the telling, always." Interzone
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"He brings the fantastic into our everyday world and makes it real." Booklist
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"Wise, warm and deep." New York Times
Synopsis
Abundant with tales of quiet heroism, life-changing decisions, and determined searches for deep answers, this extraordinary collection of contemporary fantasy explores the realms between this world and the next. From the top of the Berlin Wall to the depths of the darkest seas, gods and monsters battle their enemies and innermost fears, yet mere mortals make the truly difficult choices. A slightly regretful author and a vengeful-but-dilapidated dragon square off over an abandoned narrative; the children of the Shark God demand painful truths from their chronically absent father; and a bereaved women sacrifices herself to change one terrible moment, effortlessly reversed by a shuffle of the deck. Whether melancholic, comedic, or deeply tragic, each new tale is suffused with misdirection and discovery, expressed in the rich and mesmerizing voice of a masterful storyteller.
About the Author
Peter S. Beagle is the best-selling author of The Last Unicorn, which has sold a reported five million copies since its initial publication in 1968. His other novels include A Fine and Private Place, The Innkeepers Song, and Tamsin. His short fiction has been collected in four volumes by Tachyon Publications, including The Rhinoceros Who Quoted Nietzsche, The Line Between, We Never Talk About My Brother, and Sleight of Hand. He has won the Hugo, Nebula, Mythopoeic, and Grand Prix de lImaginaire awards and the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Table of Contents
The Woman Who Married the Man in the Moon (a Schmendrick story)
Sleight of Hand
The Children of the Shark God
The Best Worst Monster
What Tune the Enchantress Plays
La Lune TAttend
Up the Down Beanstalk: A Wife Remembers
The Rock in the Park
The Rabbis Hobby
Oakland Dragon Blues
The Bridge Partner
Dirae
Vanishing