The Line Between

Short stories are a tricky thing to write - many authors open their own collections with a note about how silly they were to attempt the form. Not surprising, since a short story is not simply a novel with the details cut out. Short story writing requires a precise sense of pacing and an almost directoral view of the subject matter. There are not hundreds of pages to develop characters and create mood; the best the short story writer can do is point out to you the defining moments of a character or a scene and hope you can keep up. Short fiction is most often effective to offer a setup leading to a quick plot twist or a startling ending, not for world-building or profound observations on the human psyche. That said, the depth of feeling contained in the latest Peter Beagle book is astounding. Twice as much when you consider that this is a short story collection, not a novel. No story spans more than forty pages - a few run no more that five, but many have their own emotional resonance most novelists dream of. There are plenty of funny, quick reads throughout the collection too. In Gordon, the Self-Made Cat a mouse with no desire to play the traditional role of bait earns his cat card and the respect of his fellow felines. A set of four fables, while feeling a little rushed in execution, have deliciously cynical morals. Salt Wine puts some grand old seagoing-myths on their heads, and Quarry fills in yet another piece of the world of Innkeeper's Song and the short story collection from the same world. There's also A Dance For Emilia - a beautiful story of friendship and love printed here for every fan who missed the much overlooked gift book edition from several years ago. There is always a strong musical theme running through Beagle's work - and of course there is one musical story here: Mr. Sigerson. Mr. Siegerson is a brilliant violinist and also a persona of the great Sherlock Holmes. In this mystery, Holmes and the conductor of a Norwegian orchestra uncover underhanded dealings and an illicit affair and any musician will recognize one of their own in the narrator and characters of the story. The real jewels in this book are El Regalo and Two Hearts. El Regalo introduces two new characters, Marvyn and Angie. With promises to tell their whole story in a novel, Beagle introduces two kids growing up in Avicenna and growing into some magical powers. Marvyn, like any well-balanced kid, uses his abilities to take out the garbage and wash the dishes, but Angie is still concerned that his powers might get them into trouble. When Angie makes an embarrassing choice to confess her love to a boy at school, Marvyn rushes in to save the day and lands both of them in last Thursday, possibly permanently. Two Hearts is quite simply a gift to any fan of The Last Unicorn. In Beagle's earlier days he created each book in its own world, and the short stories that he wrote never went back to those places. After more than thirty years, t

I hereby nominate Peter S. Beagle as a Living National Treasure. How many of us have laughed and wept and felt goose flesh while reading his stories? And for decades!! The Line Between contains the novella for which Peter won (finally, finally) a Hugo Award. What a treat to see Schmendrick, Molly and King Lir again. Rather than seem like an epilogue to The Last Unicorn, this reads more like a prologue to a new epic story of love and adventure. I can't wait to find out what happens to Sooz when she turns seventeen and gets to use her gift of magic. If I were a king I'd build a special wing at the castle for Sir Peter and give him all the food, wine and song (okay, and women too) his heart desires so he could happily and contentedly write me tales until I'm an old man. (UPDATE: Since first writing this review Peter won the Nebula award for Two Hearts, the coda to the Last Unicorn included in this collection.)

Peter S. Beagle has had a long career and is already a legend for such novels as The Last Unicorn and such short fiction as "Farrell and Lila the Werewolf". But just in the past few years he has produced a string of wonderful shorter works that rank with the best work of his career. This collection includes most of those recent stories, including a few new to 2006, as well as one or two older pieces. Beagle's characters are the heart of his works - thoroughly believable, often a bit battered, often somewhat worldy wise. Though he also depicts much younger characters very well. The very moving closing story, "A Dance for Emilia", tells of a late-middle-aged actor mourning the death of his childhood friend, a critic, in the company of that friend's young lover, and of his strangely possessed cat. "Two Hearts" is a lovely sequel to The Last Unicorn. "Quarry" is first rate adventure fantasy, with a young man fleeing scary monsters meeting an older man and joining with him, only to face another monster. "Salt Wine", one of my favorites here (though the stories are wonderful throughout - hard to name a favorite) is an absorbing sea story about a sailor and the formula for a special drink he gets from a merman (or merrow), with a sharply pointed moral dimension. "Mr. Sigerson" is a satisfyingly different Sherlock Holmes story, featuring Holmes under the title alias spending time playing violin for a backwoods Central European orchestra - only mysteries to solve find him there as well. "El Regalo" and "Gordon, the Self-Made Cat" are both focused a bit on younger readers - but quite fine for adults - the first about a young Korean-American boy who is a witch, and his long-suffering sister, the second about a mouse who wants to be a cat. We also get "Four Fables", three of them brand new, mostly cynical (though with heart) short pieces about such subjects as a Tyrannosaurus told of the coming asteroid. What more can I say? There are simply delightful stories - a lovely lovely collection from one of the best contemporary fantasists.

The short and sweet: Get this book. If it helps, know that "Two Hearts" won the Hugo award for Best Novelette. If you loved The Last Unicorn (how could you not?), then you must read "Two Hearts." It's also got the story "Quarry," starring my favorite character from The Inkeeper's Song: the fox.

Peter Beagle belongs to that vanishing type of writer whose strengths are in strong characterization rather than plot, although their plots are often quite strong. Writers like the late Theodore Sturgeon, Edgar Pangborn, Mary Pangborn & Avram Davidson. Writers like the still living Algis Budrys, Ed Gorman or, on his better days, Stephen King. He also doesn't write (or at least, publish) nearly enough. Yet here is a collection of short stories, all fairly recent, and many with their first publication herein. The lead-off tale is a little charmer about a mouse who decides it's a whole lot better to live as a cat than a mouse, so he goes off to cat school, with some humorous and ironic results. Beagle's note to the story mentions that he hopes to turn this into a children's book in the manner of 'Charlotte's Web'. If so, this is a pretty good start. The next story, 'Two Hearts' is a sequel to Beagle's best known novel 'The Last Unicorn'. I'm always leary when a writer returns to the world of a major work, years after that work's publication. In this case, it's been 38 years but Beagle pulls it off, returning many of the major characters from that novel and developing a new character that will lead into a new novel. Brillant, warm and hearttouching. Next up are four fables, dealing with moths, a Tyrannosaurus Rex, ostriches and octopi. Funny stuff. In fact, Beagle is so good at this type of writing that one could easily see a complete book of such fables. Listen up, Mr. Beagle!! The world needs more bluejay stories. Next is 'El Regalo, which deals with two Korean-American kids and their witchy abilities. Another good story that one can easily see expanded into a complete novel. 'Quarry' is a tasty prequel to Beagle's novel 'The Innkeeper's Song', which tells an early tale of one of that novel's major characters. 'Salt Wine' is the best story in the book (and that's saying something, considering that 'Two Hearts' is here too). An old sailor relates the horrific tale of his shipmate who saves a merman and is granted the merman's most cherished secret, the ability to make salt wine. The gift comes with a horrible price, however, that makes itself known in a quiet, understated fashion. This story ought to be in the running for a number of major awards next year. Very disturbing. 'Mr. Sigerson' is a Sherlock Holmes tale, related by a narrator who doesn't appear to like Mr. Holmes at all. There are tons of Sherlock Holmes knockoff stories out there but this is a good one. The closer is 'A Dance For Emilia', a warm story of a dead man possessing his own cat so that he can leave one last message for the love of his life. Warm, tender and haunting, in the best sense of the word. You're gonna love this book. Buy one for yourself and one for your best friend. You'll both be happy you did.