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The Line Between
Featuring the Hugo and Nebula award-winning original novelette from the world of The Last Unicorn, "Two Hearts."
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.
Contents
"A Dance with Emilia"
"El Regalo"
"Four Fables: The Fable of the Moth, The Fable of the Octopus, The Fable of the Ostrich, The Fable of the Tyrannosaurus Rex"
"Gordon, the Self-Made Cat"
"Mr. Sigerson"
"Quarry"
"Salt Wine"
"Two Hearts"
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.
Contents
"A Dance with Emilia"
"El Regalo"
"Four Fables: The Fable of the Moth, The Fable of the Octopus, The Fable of the Ostrich, The Fable of the Tyrannosaurus Rex"
"Gordon, the Self-Made Cat"
"Mr. Sigerson"
"Quarry"
"Salt Wine"
"Two Hearts"
231 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
26 people are currently reading
1230 people want to read
About the author
Peter S. Beagle
222 books3,868 followersPeter Soyer Beagle (born April 20, 1939) is an American fantasist and author of novels, nonfiction, and screenplays. He is also a talented guitarist and folk singer. He wrote his first novel, A Fine and Private Place , when he was only 19 years old. Today he is best known as the author of The Last Unicorn, which routinely polls as one of the top ten fantasy novels of all time, and at least two of his other books (A Fine and Private Place and I See By My Outfit) are considered modern classics.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 107 reviews
December 31, 2020
There it is : that invisible boundary between conscious and not, between reality and fantasy, between here (whatever “here” is) and there (whatever “there” might be), between the seen and the seen’s true nature. A line neither one thing nor ever quite the other, but now and eternally between.
The purpose of art is not to simply reflect reality, but to reimagine it, to enhance it and to extract its truth and its beauty, from the ordinary to the extraordinary. Peter S Beagle has for me always been a byword for beautiful prose and tender exploration of the inner working of the heart. The present collection may be one of his finest offerings, in part because the author chooses to share with the reader some of his goals and his inspiration for the novellas and short stories chosen to illustrate how imagination trumps realism .
Gordon, the Self-Made Cat is proof that the best stories are most of the time the kind that authors invent for their own children, to be told at bedtime: they are pure storytelling, they are short and fun, and often they teach a valuable lesson for later. In the case of the mouse named Gordon, the moral is that the world is something we remake every day, by our actions and by our dreams of a better future.
They thought he was joking, but as soon as Gordon was old enough to go places by himself, he packed a clean shirt and some peanut butter, and started off for cat school. “I love you very much,” he said to his parents before he left, “but this business of being hunted for the rest of my life just because I happened to be born a mouse is not for me.”
Two Hearts is the long awaited sequel to “The Last Unicorn”. It may well be my favorite in the volume, but since I have already read it and review it [here] , I chose to skip it this time around.
Four Fables are shorter pieces, but similar with the earlier story of Gordon. They are fun and poignant and charming and I wish there were more than four of them here. In the introduction, the author references a collection by James Thurber that served as inspiration, so now I have added “Fables of Our Time” to my wishlist.
“Consider the moon, consider the wet grass, consider company. Consider glove linings, camel’s hair coats, fur stoles, feather boas, consider the heartbreaking, lost-innocence flavor of cashmere. Life is good, and love is all that matters. Why will we seek death, why do we truly hunger for nothing but the hateful hug of the candle, the bitter kiss of the filament? Accidents of the universe we may be, but we are beautiful accidents and we must not live as though we were ugly. The flame is a cheat, and love is the only.”
Why are moths so attracted to self-destruction? Why are ostriches so determined to ignore good advice and stick to the conservative ways of their parents ( “We are ostriches, not eagles, and we have a heritage to maintain.” )? Why were the dinosaurs so ill prepared to deal with the unexpected? And how much of these personality traits do you recognize in the way humans act today?
The answer could be just as well discovered by a philosophical octopus driven by existential angst into an unlikely yet long lasting friendship with a fisherman.
He held out the brimming bag exactly like the promise it was. “Time and Tide, my many-armed friend. Time and tide!”
In case the reader is still in doubt about so many questions raised, the moral offered at the end of these short fables is to hold on to your curiosity and to your sense of wonder:
The best answer to any question? It’s always a surprise.
El Regalo is I believe a bonus story set in the universe of the novel “People of the Air”, but even if I’m wrong about the setting, it is still a great story about family and not having to deal with adversity alone. Teenage girl Angie is mostly annoyed when her little brother develops an interest in the dark arts, claiming to be a witch. Still, he might be a source of fun at family gatherings and maybe he will even discover a love potion or two for her.
Aunt Caroline was their mother’s older sister, celebrated in the Luke family for knowing everything about everything. A pleasant, perfectly decent person, her perpetual air of placid expertise would have turned a saint into a serial killer.
As with many other stories by Beagle, there is a lot of humor at the start of the journey, but there is always a dark underside to the quest, a bittersweet reminder that magic is not all fun and games.
The title is a reference to Latin inspired voodoo practices, courtesy of the stories told to the two children by their Mexican housekeeper.
Quarry is a story born from the author’s wish to return to one of his favorite creations, the world of “Innkeeper’s Song” . A young man is hunted by relentless ninjas over a high fantasy landscape, and he makes an unlikely alliance with another fugitive, hunted by a different and more dangerous monster. Exquisite prose, a little obscure at times, making me wish to re-read the original novel.
Somehow, the refusal to accept one’s fate and the power of friendship are becoming a sort of guiding line, like mythical Ariadna’s thread, to get the heroes out of the tight spots. I can also see this line as a thread that links together the different stories in the collection and explain why they were included here.
Salt Wine I believe appears not only here, but in a couple of other short story selections from the author. It is easy to see why, as it has about everything I look for in a Peter S Beagle fable : beauty, friendship, sadness and pain but without despair.
First off, this ain’t a story about some seagoing candy-trews dandy Captain Jack, or whatever you want to call him, who falls in love with a mermaid and breaks his troth to a mortal woman to live with his fish-lady under the sea.
What is special about this story, and about the next one, is the way the author can change register and do different narrative voices and how he has fun with his creations, whether they are a couple of rough British sailors or a suave Concertmeister from the Balkans.
Merrows, some folk call them. Ugly as fried sin, the lot: not a one but’s got a runny red nose, nasty straggly hair – red, too, mostly, I don’t know why – stumpy green teeth sticking up and out every which way, skin like a crocodile’s arse. You get a look at one of those, it don’t take much to figure why your mermaid takes to hanging around sailors.
Mr Sigerson is a bit atypical for a Peter S Beagle story, as it has nothing to do with magic. It has however a lot of good natured banter about the difficulties of leading an orchestra in a small country with a mixed cultural heritage.
My name is Floresh Takesti. I am concertmaster of the Greater Bornitz Municipal Orchestra in the town of St Radomir, in the Duchy of Bornitz in the country of Selmira.
All imaginary of course, but clearly based on Belle Epoque Austro-Hungarian sources. It is particularly charming for me for its several references to Romania, to folk music, to our cuisine and to our turbulent love entanglements.
Mr. Sigerson from the title is the nom-de-plume for a world famous detective. The story was meant to be included into an anthology dedicated to mr. Holmes.
A Dance for Emilia is heartbreaking. The author left the best for last, and I tend to agree with his choice, because this story left me drained and staring at the walls, and I’m sure I couldn’t have read anything else after it.
It’s fiction, certainly, and very much a fantasy in its nature; but it’s also as autobiographical as anything I’ve ever written, and it was born out of mourning for my closest friend, who died in 1994.
Two boys meet in art school, one dreaming to become an actor, the other a dancer. Somehow, despite many disillusions, failed relationships and a continent worth of distance between New York and Berkeley (Avicenna in the Beagle universe), this friendship endures over the decades.
“We were going to be these terrible, totally irresponsible old men, so elegant and mannerly nobody would ever believe we just peed in the potted palm. We were going to learn karate, enter the Poker World series, moon our fiftieth high school reunion, sit in the sun at spring-training baseball camp – we had stuff to do! What the hell were you thinking of, walking out in the middle of the movie? You think I’m about to do all that crap alone?”
I could not even imagine how my life would be without the knowledge that my best friend is somewhere out there, always ready to hear me out, offer a shoulder to cry on, a helping hand without questions asked, and a promise of good times together. Mr Beagle was forced to deal with this, and from his pain this wonderful tribute to friendship and to the pursue of one’s passions emerges. For all the distress it has caused me, asking me to imagine this pain of losing someone dear, I am actually grateful for the dance. The show will go on, with or without us.
What Emilia was after in my memories of Sam, what she needed to live on, was no different from what I needed still: not facts, but the accuracy under and around and beyond facts. Not a recital of events – not even honesty – but truth. Resumes have their place, but there’s no nourishment in them.
>>><<<>>><<<
I am glad I have chosen to finish this terrible year 2020 in the company of one of my closest imaginary friends. For all the pain this year has caused to so many people, for all the trouble that is sure to wait around the corner in the years to come, I feel at peace and guardedly optimistic about our better nature, my sense of wonder momentarily recharged by the inspiration of this great author.
The purpose of art is not to simply reflect reality, but to reimagine it, to enhance it and to extract its truth and its beauty, from the ordinary to the extraordinary. Peter S Beagle has for me always been a byword for beautiful prose and tender exploration of the inner working of the heart. The present collection may be one of his finest offerings, in part because the author chooses to share with the reader some of his goals and his inspiration for the novellas and short stories chosen to illustrate how imagination trumps realism .
Gordon, the Self-Made Cat is proof that the best stories are most of the time the kind that authors invent for their own children, to be told at bedtime: they are pure storytelling, they are short and fun, and often they teach a valuable lesson for later. In the case of the mouse named Gordon, the moral is that the world is something we remake every day, by our actions and by our dreams of a better future.
They thought he was joking, but as soon as Gordon was old enough to go places by himself, he packed a clean shirt and some peanut butter, and started off for cat school. “I love you very much,” he said to his parents before he left, “but this business of being hunted for the rest of my life just because I happened to be born a mouse is not for me.”
Two Hearts is the long awaited sequel to “The Last Unicorn”. It may well be my favorite in the volume, but since I have already read it and review it [here] , I chose to skip it this time around.
Four Fables are shorter pieces, but similar with the earlier story of Gordon. They are fun and poignant and charming and I wish there were more than four of them here. In the introduction, the author references a collection by James Thurber that served as inspiration, so now I have added “Fables of Our Time” to my wishlist.
“Consider the moon, consider the wet grass, consider company. Consider glove linings, camel’s hair coats, fur stoles, feather boas, consider the heartbreaking, lost-innocence flavor of cashmere. Life is good, and love is all that matters. Why will we seek death, why do we truly hunger for nothing but the hateful hug of the candle, the bitter kiss of the filament? Accidents of the universe we may be, but we are beautiful accidents and we must not live as though we were ugly. The flame is a cheat, and love is the only.”
Why are moths so attracted to self-destruction? Why are ostriches so determined to ignore good advice and stick to the conservative ways of their parents ( “We are ostriches, not eagles, and we have a heritage to maintain.” )? Why were the dinosaurs so ill prepared to deal with the unexpected? And how much of these personality traits do you recognize in the way humans act today?
The answer could be just as well discovered by a philosophical octopus driven by existential angst into an unlikely yet long lasting friendship with a fisherman.
He held out the brimming bag exactly like the promise it was. “Time and Tide, my many-armed friend. Time and tide!”
In case the reader is still in doubt about so many questions raised, the moral offered at the end of these short fables is to hold on to your curiosity and to your sense of wonder:
The best answer to any question? It’s always a surprise.
El Regalo is I believe a bonus story set in the universe of the novel “People of the Air”, but even if I’m wrong about the setting, it is still a great story about family and not having to deal with adversity alone. Teenage girl Angie is mostly annoyed when her little brother develops an interest in the dark arts, claiming to be a witch. Still, he might be a source of fun at family gatherings and maybe he will even discover a love potion or two for her.
Aunt Caroline was their mother’s older sister, celebrated in the Luke family for knowing everything about everything. A pleasant, perfectly decent person, her perpetual air of placid expertise would have turned a saint into a serial killer.
As with many other stories by Beagle, there is a lot of humor at the start of the journey, but there is always a dark underside to the quest, a bittersweet reminder that magic is not all fun and games.
The title is a reference to Latin inspired voodoo practices, courtesy of the stories told to the two children by their Mexican housekeeper.
Quarry is a story born from the author’s wish to return to one of his favorite creations, the world of “Innkeeper’s Song” . A young man is hunted by relentless ninjas over a high fantasy landscape, and he makes an unlikely alliance with another fugitive, hunted by a different and more dangerous monster. Exquisite prose, a little obscure at times, making me wish to re-read the original novel.
Somehow, the refusal to accept one’s fate and the power of friendship are becoming a sort of guiding line, like mythical Ariadna’s thread, to get the heroes out of the tight spots. I can also see this line as a thread that links together the different stories in the collection and explain why they were included here.
Salt Wine I believe appears not only here, but in a couple of other short story selections from the author. It is easy to see why, as it has about everything I look for in a Peter S Beagle fable : beauty, friendship, sadness and pain but without despair.
First off, this ain’t a story about some seagoing candy-trews dandy Captain Jack, or whatever you want to call him, who falls in love with a mermaid and breaks his troth to a mortal woman to live with his fish-lady under the sea.
What is special about this story, and about the next one, is the way the author can change register and do different narrative voices and how he has fun with his creations, whether they are a couple of rough British sailors or a suave Concertmeister from the Balkans.
Merrows, some folk call them. Ugly as fried sin, the lot: not a one but’s got a runny red nose, nasty straggly hair – red, too, mostly, I don’t know why – stumpy green teeth sticking up and out every which way, skin like a crocodile’s arse. You get a look at one of those, it don’t take much to figure why your mermaid takes to hanging around sailors.
Mr Sigerson is a bit atypical for a Peter S Beagle story, as it has nothing to do with magic. It has however a lot of good natured banter about the difficulties of leading an orchestra in a small country with a mixed cultural heritage.
My name is Floresh Takesti. I am concertmaster of the Greater Bornitz Municipal Orchestra in the town of St Radomir, in the Duchy of Bornitz in the country of Selmira.
All imaginary of course, but clearly based on Belle Epoque Austro-Hungarian sources. It is particularly charming for me for its several references to Romania, to folk music, to our cuisine and to our turbulent love entanglements.
Mr. Sigerson from the title is the nom-de-plume for a world famous detective. The story was meant to be included into an anthology dedicated to mr. Holmes.
A Dance for Emilia is heartbreaking. The author left the best for last, and I tend to agree with his choice, because this story left me drained and staring at the walls, and I’m sure I couldn’t have read anything else after it.
It’s fiction, certainly, and very much a fantasy in its nature; but it’s also as autobiographical as anything I’ve ever written, and it was born out of mourning for my closest friend, who died in 1994.
Two boys meet in art school, one dreaming to become an actor, the other a dancer. Somehow, despite many disillusions, failed relationships and a continent worth of distance between New York and Berkeley (Avicenna in the Beagle universe), this friendship endures over the decades.
“We were going to be these terrible, totally irresponsible old men, so elegant and mannerly nobody would ever believe we just peed in the potted palm. We were going to learn karate, enter the Poker World series, moon our fiftieth high school reunion, sit in the sun at spring-training baseball camp – we had stuff to do! What the hell were you thinking of, walking out in the middle of the movie? You think I’m about to do all that crap alone?”
I could not even imagine how my life would be without the knowledge that my best friend is somewhere out there, always ready to hear me out, offer a shoulder to cry on, a helping hand without questions asked, and a promise of good times together. Mr Beagle was forced to deal with this, and from his pain this wonderful tribute to friendship and to the pursue of one’s passions emerges. For all the distress it has caused me, asking me to imagine this pain of losing someone dear, I am actually grateful for the dance. The show will go on, with or without us.
What Emilia was after in my memories of Sam, what she needed to live on, was no different from what I needed still: not facts, but the accuracy under and around and beyond facts. Not a recital of events – not even honesty – but truth. Resumes have their place, but there’s no nourishment in them.
>>><<<>>><<<
I am glad I have chosen to finish this terrible year 2020 in the company of one of my closest imaginary friends. For all the pain this year has caused to so many people, for all the trouble that is sure to wait around the corner in the years to come, I feel at peace and guardedly optimistic about our better nature, my sense of wonder momentarily recharged by the inspiration of this great author.
October 4, 2025
Another excellent collection. I have no clue why I've put off reading Beagle's short work for so long.
Some highlights:
https://choveshkata.net/forum/viewtop...
Some highlights:
https://choveshkata.net/forum/viewtop...
November 18, 2022
This is a very literate and quite brilliant collection of Beagle's short fiction. The most popular story is Two Hearts, a return to the world of The Last Unicorn, but there are several other pieces that are equally captivating. Gordon, the Self-Made Cat is a humorous story that will resonate with cat lovers, Mr. Sigerson is a nifty Sherlock Holmes tale, El Regalo, a contemporary urban fantasy, is another very funny one, and A Dance for Emilia, which closes the book, is a profoundly moving examination of friendship, love, and loss. The other stories, Quarry, Salt Wine, and Four Fables, more traditional fantasies, are also well worth your time. Beagle provides interesting and insightful introductions throughout the book. My only reservation is that many of the stories seem to be pieces of larger wholes and the reader should be familiar with other works in order to fully appreciate all of the stories collected here. Still, Beagle is one of the finest craftsmen the genre has produced, and his work is always enjoyable.
June 22, 2009
Peter Beagle's writing is magic put to language, his novels are spell books that enchant the reader, laying dweomers over our vision until we see the world, if not as it is, then as it should be, as a child sees it. Even his works set in another world are really reflections of the simple sorceries possible in this one, given the right mood and willingness to play along. And if that mood isn't upon you, his charm takes you along anyway until your mood cooperates with the fairy-tales he presents.
Within this collection are stories involving ghosts and unicorns and all sorts of beings drawn from those tales that most delight. He revisits the world of The Last Unicorn to show a King acting heroically one last time while a little girl just begins. He comes back to the world of the Inn Keeper's Song, relating how the main characters met. Then he visits many other new nooks, crannies and caves full of whimsical characters, at times frightening, but always wonderful. And through it all, the wonder of the cast of imaginative beasts is matched by the simple expressiveness of his prose.
No fan of fantasy should be unfamiliar with Peter Beagle, and this collection deserves a place on their bookshelves as much as any.
Within this collection are stories involving ghosts and unicorns and all sorts of beings drawn from those tales that most delight. He revisits the world of The Last Unicorn to show a King acting heroically one last time while a little girl just begins. He comes back to the world of the Inn Keeper's Song, relating how the main characters met. Then he visits many other new nooks, crannies and caves full of whimsical characters, at times frightening, but always wonderful. And through it all, the wonder of the cast of imaginative beasts is matched by the simple expressiveness of his prose.
No fan of fantasy should be unfamiliar with Peter Beagle, and this collection deserves a place on their bookshelves as much as any.
April 17, 2012
The Line Between by Peter S. Beagle, Tachyon Publications, 2006
One pattern I’ve noticed in the writers I tend to come back to again and again—their “voices” tend to be consistent but their subject matter tends to vary. Sure, writers are people—most of them—and they have interests like anyone else, and those motifs tend to repeat. But with the really good writers, they’re going to repeat in ways that make you forget or even never realize that this is what they’re doing. And the subject matter, at least in broad strokes, is going to range more from A-Z than A-B. You’ll find that range evident in The Line Between.
We start off with “Gordon the Self-Made Cat,” a charming(I know, but it is) fable about a mouse who takes a look at the world and decides that being a mouse in a world full of cats, well, kind of sucks. So he decides to become a cat. How? By going to cat school, of course. Yes, the premise is completely ridiculous, but Beagle will have you buying in to it as long as the story lasts, which is just long enough. And when the ending threatens to land hard on a “be true to your nature” platitude, Beagle does a touch-and-go in a different direction.
Next comes one of Beagle’s best known stories from the early part of his re-emergence as a powerhouse in the fantasy field, “Two Hearts.” I wouldn’t call it a sequel to The Last Unicorn, even though we do get reacquainted with Prince (now King) Lir, Schmendrick the Magician, and the indomitable Molly Grue. It’s more of a coda, from a time when the now aged Lir is called upon to fight a monstrous griffin because he’s the king and, ultimately, the welfare of the kingdom and its people depends on him. Shades of the Celtic kings of legend who, when faced with bad luck or the ill-will of the gods, were personally sacrificed in order to save their kingdoms and their people. There’s a good bit about proper roles and accepting responsibility, but I think it’s really about saying good-bye. Winner of the Nebula and Hugo awards, and it's hard to think of any story that deserved it more.
“Four Fables”: “The Fable of the Moth,” “The Fable of the Tyrannosaurus Rex,” “The Fable of the Ostrich,” and “The Fable of the Octopus.” These are strictly from Aesop, silly and fun but with a bit of a sting in the tail.
The fables bring us through what I think of as the book’s transition, at least from the explicit fairy-tale section to the contemporary fantasy section, even if the stories that follow next are not all set in the modern world, or even necessarily in this world, but there’s a tone change from the first section of the book. It’s not that now Beagle is being serious when he wasn’t before—he was being serious all along. Now that becomes just a little more obvious.
“El Regalo.” Translation-“The Gift.” A young man named Marvyn is born with magical powers, which means his older sister, Angie, has an even more troublesome younger brother than usual. I mean, how do you keep a lid on a guy who can make garbage bags dance? Though it soon turns out that Angie and Marvyn both have bigger worries. Power like Marvyn has always attracts attention, and that attention is not always friendly. Even so, a big sis is going to look out for her younger brother. Even if he is a pain in the ass.
“Quarry.” This is a story set in the universe of The Innkeeper’s Song, about how Soukyan met his shapeshifting fox companion. It’s also a tight adventure story of escapes from impossible odds and and exploration of the strictures of honor. Or possibly how to escape from the strictures of honor, since it can often be a trap as well as a guiding principle. The story is also a character study. And an illustration of a world-class imagination at play…if "play" is the right word, because the Hunters and the Goro from that universe are two of the scariest sorts of creatures you would never, ever, want to meet.
“Salt Wine.” Two sailors go into the wine business when a merrow gives one of them the secret of making the peculiar beverage of the title. I don’t think it’s giving away too much to say that the salt wine has a bit of a side-effect, since the real story is how the two different men deal with that knowledge. And how certain prices are too high, even when you think someone else is paying them.
“Mr. Sigerson.” Anyone who reads the introduction will know, even if they somehow manage to miss the clues, that the Mr. Sigerson of the title is really Sherlock Holmes, taking a position as a violinist in the orchestra of an extremely obscure European duchy during some of the time he was absent and presumed dead in England. Naturally, a mystery develops. The character of Mr. Sigerson is presented in contrast to Floresh Takesti, the concertmaster, who becomes a rather reluctant Watson to Sigerson, even though his only real interest is in preserving the struggling orchestra. We see Mr. Sigerson from Takesti’s perspective, and it’s a safe bet that he sees the Great Detective a little differently than he sees himself.
“A Dance For Emilia.” Since the fantastic element to this story doesn’t show up until relatively late, I’m not going to say much about that. What I will say is that Beagle’s world-building is on full display here and in full force. He recreates a specific time and place with great depth. You could say in this instance it is because it is a time and place from his own formative years, but you can’t really say the same thing about, say, the universe of The Innkeeper’s Song or The Last Unicorn, where he does the same thing. You never get the sense that you’re reading about a character in a Peter Beagle story. It’s always about real people, and if they’re only real on the page, they are very real there indeed. The plot, such that it is, involves two people mourning the death of a friend, and what the depth of that unrelenting mourning causes to happen. Anyone who knows their folklore won’t need a spoiler, and anyone who doesn’t…well, you’re not going to get one. It’s not about the fantastic element anyway—the story was a fantasy long before that technicality showed itself.
Fine, you ask, and how can that be so, when the reader can point to no fantastic element in the majority of its pages, and only appearing near the end? Fair enough, but let me ask you a question—do you spend your time during an entire magic trick waiting with mad fascination for the bunny to appear? No, because you know that this is only the end of the trick, not the trick itself. Likewise you don’t need taxonomy to know that Beagle is writing fantasy, you simply need recognition of what’s already there, what’s always there. At heart everything in the world is fantastic, all you have to do is know how to see it. Peter Beagle does, and in The Line Between, he shows it to us.
One pattern I’ve noticed in the writers I tend to come back to again and again—their “voices” tend to be consistent but their subject matter tends to vary. Sure, writers are people—most of them—and they have interests like anyone else, and those motifs tend to repeat. But with the really good writers, they’re going to repeat in ways that make you forget or even never realize that this is what they’re doing. And the subject matter, at least in broad strokes, is going to range more from A-Z than A-B. You’ll find that range evident in The Line Between.
We start off with “Gordon the Self-Made Cat,” a charming(I know, but it is) fable about a mouse who takes a look at the world and decides that being a mouse in a world full of cats, well, kind of sucks. So he decides to become a cat. How? By going to cat school, of course. Yes, the premise is completely ridiculous, but Beagle will have you buying in to it as long as the story lasts, which is just long enough. And when the ending threatens to land hard on a “be true to your nature” platitude, Beagle does a touch-and-go in a different direction.
Next comes one of Beagle’s best known stories from the early part of his re-emergence as a powerhouse in the fantasy field, “Two Hearts.” I wouldn’t call it a sequel to The Last Unicorn, even though we do get reacquainted with Prince (now King) Lir, Schmendrick the Magician, and the indomitable Molly Grue. It’s more of a coda, from a time when the now aged Lir is called upon to fight a monstrous griffin because he’s the king and, ultimately, the welfare of the kingdom and its people depends on him. Shades of the Celtic kings of legend who, when faced with bad luck or the ill-will of the gods, were personally sacrificed in order to save their kingdoms and their people. There’s a good bit about proper roles and accepting responsibility, but I think it’s really about saying good-bye. Winner of the Nebula and Hugo awards, and it's hard to think of any story that deserved it more.
“Four Fables”: “The Fable of the Moth,” “The Fable of the Tyrannosaurus Rex,” “The Fable of the Ostrich,” and “The Fable of the Octopus.” These are strictly from Aesop, silly and fun but with a bit of a sting in the tail.
The fables bring us through what I think of as the book’s transition, at least from the explicit fairy-tale section to the contemporary fantasy section, even if the stories that follow next are not all set in the modern world, or even necessarily in this world, but there’s a tone change from the first section of the book. It’s not that now Beagle is being serious when he wasn’t before—he was being serious all along. Now that becomes just a little more obvious.
“El Regalo.” Translation-“The Gift.” A young man named Marvyn is born with magical powers, which means his older sister, Angie, has an even more troublesome younger brother than usual. I mean, how do you keep a lid on a guy who can make garbage bags dance? Though it soon turns out that Angie and Marvyn both have bigger worries. Power like Marvyn has always attracts attention, and that attention is not always friendly. Even so, a big sis is going to look out for her younger brother. Even if he is a pain in the ass.
“Quarry.” This is a story set in the universe of The Innkeeper’s Song, about how Soukyan met his shapeshifting fox companion. It’s also a tight adventure story of escapes from impossible odds and and exploration of the strictures of honor. Or possibly how to escape from the strictures of honor, since it can often be a trap as well as a guiding principle. The story is also a character study. And an illustration of a world-class imagination at play…if "play" is the right word, because the Hunters and the Goro from that universe are two of the scariest sorts of creatures you would never, ever, want to meet.
“Salt Wine.” Two sailors go into the wine business when a merrow gives one of them the secret of making the peculiar beverage of the title. I don’t think it’s giving away too much to say that the salt wine has a bit of a side-effect, since the real story is how the two different men deal with that knowledge. And how certain prices are too high, even when you think someone else is paying them.
“Mr. Sigerson.” Anyone who reads the introduction will know, even if they somehow manage to miss the clues, that the Mr. Sigerson of the title is really Sherlock Holmes, taking a position as a violinist in the orchestra of an extremely obscure European duchy during some of the time he was absent and presumed dead in England. Naturally, a mystery develops. The character of Mr. Sigerson is presented in contrast to Floresh Takesti, the concertmaster, who becomes a rather reluctant Watson to Sigerson, even though his only real interest is in preserving the struggling orchestra. We see Mr. Sigerson from Takesti’s perspective, and it’s a safe bet that he sees the Great Detective a little differently than he sees himself.
“A Dance For Emilia.” Since the fantastic element to this story doesn’t show up until relatively late, I’m not going to say much about that. What I will say is that Beagle’s world-building is on full display here and in full force. He recreates a specific time and place with great depth. You could say in this instance it is because it is a time and place from his own formative years, but you can’t really say the same thing about, say, the universe of The Innkeeper’s Song or The Last Unicorn, where he does the same thing. You never get the sense that you’re reading about a character in a Peter Beagle story. It’s always about real people, and if they’re only real on the page, they are very real there indeed. The plot, such that it is, involves two people mourning the death of a friend, and what the depth of that unrelenting mourning causes to happen. Anyone who knows their folklore won’t need a spoiler, and anyone who doesn’t…well, you’re not going to get one. It’s not about the fantastic element anyway—the story was a fantasy long before that technicality showed itself.
Fine, you ask, and how can that be so, when the reader can point to no fantastic element in the majority of its pages, and only appearing near the end? Fair enough, but let me ask you a question—do you spend your time during an entire magic trick waiting with mad fascination for the bunny to appear? No, because you know that this is only the end of the trick, not the trick itself. Likewise you don’t need taxonomy to know that Beagle is writing fantasy, you simply need recognition of what’s already there, what’s always there. At heart everything in the world is fantastic, all you have to do is know how to see it. Peter Beagle does, and in The Line Between, he shows it to us.
March 27, 2022
“She loved him too. That's why she let him go.”
The Line Between is a collection of short stories by the author of The Last Unicorn. It is very rare for me to show any interest in short story novels. My sole purpose for reading this particular collection was the inclusion of Two Hearts - A sequel to The Last Unicorn. The short stories found in this book cover quite a large range of genres that it is hard to give this a proper rating. Overall, though, I am sad to say that most stories were rather underwhelming. I will just put down a few words for each story:
Two Hearts
Although not the first story in this book, it was the first I read – for obvious reasons. There is always a nervous feeling attached to reading a sequel to an all time favourite – especially one that was written more than three decades after the first. This sequel, however, did not disappoint. I loved meeting the old characters again as well as the new. The author points out that he might continue this story with an actual novel and actually ends this short story with quite the cliffhanger. While I was far from happy about the cliffhanger – if he does indeed write a full novel to continue this tale I will most certainly read it.
Gorden, the Self-made Cat
This story is fun in a silly way. It made me think of stories such as Stuart Little. And that is almost a problem; while I see nothing wrong with this type of story, I simply could not care for it either. Gorden is a mouse who decides to become a cat. In order of doing so, he becomes a student at the cat school where he comes out on the top of every class. It was short, it was fast and had a good message about being able to become whatever you set your mind on becoming. But still, I just could not care for it.
Four Fables
These were quite literally four fables – all unrelated to one another. They were all somewhat fun but also could not really hold my attention. Although, the last one, The Fable of the Octopus, was both beautiful and touching. There was just something special about the friendship between the octopus and the fisherman. I also loved the moral of The Fable of the Ostrich: Stupidity always wins, as long as it’s stupid enough.
El Regalo
Much like with Two Hearts, the author teases with the possibility of a full novel about these characters. Angie is a teenage girl who just cannot get along with her younger brother. One day she discovers that a lot of the mischief he’s been up to comes from the fact that he is a witch – yes, a male witch. I had to smile when the author threw in a comment about Harry Potter. Angie and her brother, Marvyn, are also likeable characters and I can see myself reading a full novel about them. But as this is more of a short teaser story, there is not much time to really get into the story and grow attached to the characters.
Quarry
I confess – I skipped this story. Mainly because it is a prequel to one of the authors other works that I just might read some day. I thought I would save this one until that day.
Salt Wine
This is where the book started to drag.
Oh my goodness – this story was so boring. A young man saves a merrow from a shark and finds himself rewarded with a recipe to brew salt wine. The salt wine soon gains immense popularity and helps the young man rise to fortune. Of course, there is a catch. In a few rare cases, the salt wine can turn a human into a merrow or a mermaid. In general, there was nothing in this tale that caught me off guard or even remotely surprised. The symptoms of the salt wine also strongly reminded me of drug consume – but hey, perhaps that was intended.
Mr Sigerson
This tale served as homage to Sherlock Holmes and was sadly equally boring to Salt Wine. Although the plot was utterly boring, the characters were rather intriguing. I have yet to read the actual Sherlock Holmes series but if Sherlock Holmes' personality is anything like shown in this tale, I am almost certain to like them.
A Dance for Emilia
As unlikely as it is for me to say so: I would have liked this story a good deal more if it would not have had any fantasy or a talking cat. These two elements, which are usually among my favourite, were so out of place. An actor reflects over his life after hearing about the death of his close friend. I quite like stories of people looking back into their childhood. They often have an air of nostalgia and melancholy around them. It took a while to grip me but I really started feeling for the characters and their losses. This realistic setting simply did not seem right for the dancing and talking cat that was introduced in the last quarter of the story. It just killed the emotional value of this story for me.
My opinion about all these short stories is as mixed as their genres. I would not have picked this up if it had not been for The Last Unicorn’s sequel. I question whether I will read them again – although none of them were bad by any means! It is certainly worth a read if you are curious enough to find out what became of Schmendrick and Molly.
August 29, 2011
Short stories old and new by a classic author who just doesn't write enough. If you young folk have only seen The Last Unicorn in its cartoon form you really need to read the book.
Beagle acknowledges he is "on the books as being a fantasist" but feels that "one of the few really nice things about growing old is that a whole lot of stuff stops mattering...categories among them."
There is a nice sequel to "The Last Unicorn." "Four Fables" are fabulously funny and the preface made me laugh. Fables..."tend to suggest a dark - even cynical - view of the human condition, but then it has always seemed to me that fables and fabulists mostly do that. Aesop was lynched, after all, according to Herodotus."
Finally this contains my favorite Beagle short story, "A Dance for Emilia." Perhaps its because I'm a cat person, but for a cat to be possessed by the spirit of a departed love, for one last dance is touching, as is the ending which appeals to my Buddhist heart.
Beagle acknowledges he is "on the books as being a fantasist" but feels that "one of the few really nice things about growing old is that a whole lot of stuff stops mattering...categories among them."
There is a nice sequel to "The Last Unicorn." "Four Fables" are fabulously funny and the preface made me laugh. Fables..."tend to suggest a dark - even cynical - view of the human condition, but then it has always seemed to me that fables and fabulists mostly do that. Aesop was lynched, after all, according to Herodotus."
Finally this contains my favorite Beagle short story, "A Dance for Emilia." Perhaps its because I'm a cat person, but for a cat to be possessed by the spirit of a departed love, for one last dance is touching, as is the ending which appeals to my Buddhist heart.
March 31, 2008
i'm so disappointed by this collection. almost all the stories seem like pitches for novels, as in, "hey, you like this story? give me some money and i'll write a whole book!" maybe i'm jaded, but beagle introduces each story and they mostly all go something like, "once i started this story, i knew i would have to make a full-length work about it at some point." a couple of good stand-alone pieces, like "Salt Wine," but the rest were rather too easy and too reliant on other, previously written works.
September 1, 2017
In this collection, we have a mouse who decides to be a cat; four fables about a moth, a T-rex, an octopus, and an ostrich; a return to the worlds of the Last Unicorn and the Inn Keeper's Song; and a young pair of siblings discovering their magical abilities.
It's hard to pinpoint what exactly makes Peter Beagle so special other than oh, everything. He's a beautiful writer, his plots are tight, his characters make perfect sense. His ideas are simple, quirky, random, hilarious, and poignant. I don't know how he combines all of those things into one but he does, almost every time. He also does first person narratives better than anyone else I've ever read. Reading a Peter Beagle story is like inhabiting a perfectly crafted little spell, and everything he writes makes me happy in my bones.
It's hard to pinpoint what exactly makes Peter Beagle so special other than oh, everything. He's a beautiful writer, his plots are tight, his characters make perfect sense. His ideas are simple, quirky, random, hilarious, and poignant. I don't know how he combines all of those things into one but he does, almost every time. He also does first person narratives better than anyone else I've ever read. Reading a Peter Beagle story is like inhabiting a perfectly crafted little spell, and everything he writes makes me happy in my bones.
November 12, 2018
I really enjoyed this book of short stories. Was there any doubt? Even the "silly" story that was included was well crafted. The man knows how to write.
July 16, 2016
This was actually the first collection of Peter S. Beagle stories published, but I'm reading it after the two that preceded it. A pretty solid collection with some clear standouts for me and some stories that I struggled with reading.
Gordon, the Self-Made Cat - An incredibly charming story that could easily be the basis for a longer children's novel or a Pixar film!
Two Hearts - The crown jewel of the collection in my opinion. This is the follow-up novella to "The Last Unicorn". Incredibly moving, well written...brought tears to my eyes. At one point he talked of writing more featuring the new main character which I would LOVE to read, but this is also enough.
Four Fables - PSB tried his hands at fables and they were well written and even thought-provoking at times. Not his strongest in the collection but I can appreciate wanting to take a chance with a different type of storytelling.
El Regalo - So this started out as kind of lame for me, but then everything changed and it may actually be one of my favorites in the collection! Very unexpectedly awesome!
Quarry - The origin story of a relationship between two friends that is more explored in "Innkeeper's Song", another collection of PSB short fiction although it is all tied to a specific location. Very much enjoyed this story although I didn't know the characters.
Salt Wine - Kind of a slog for me. Interesting to read simply because of PSB's intro notes where he talks a little bit about his process and when he is compelled to write because he hears the voice of a character telling him a story. Interesting but it felt a little too moralistic for my tastes.
Mr. Sigerson - This was PSB's Sherlock Holmes tale and I appreciate the perspective he took with telling a Sherlock tale. Enjoyable but again, a bit of a slog for me.
A Dance for Emilia - Perhaps his most personal story. I was very impressed at how grounded in real emotions he can make absurd fantasy. An incredibly moving story that you just need to read without knowing anything about it.
Gordon, the Self-Made Cat - An incredibly charming story that could easily be the basis for a longer children's novel or a Pixar film!
Two Hearts - The crown jewel of the collection in my opinion. This is the follow-up novella to "The Last Unicorn". Incredibly moving, well written...brought tears to my eyes. At one point he talked of writing more featuring the new main character which I would LOVE to read, but this is also enough.
Four Fables - PSB tried his hands at fables and they were well written and even thought-provoking at times. Not his strongest in the collection but I can appreciate wanting to take a chance with a different type of storytelling.
El Regalo - So this started out as kind of lame for me, but then everything changed and it may actually be one of my favorites in the collection! Very unexpectedly awesome!
Quarry - The origin story of a relationship between two friends that is more explored in "Innkeeper's Song", another collection of PSB short fiction although it is all tied to a specific location. Very much enjoyed this story although I didn't know the characters.
Salt Wine - Kind of a slog for me. Interesting to read simply because of PSB's intro notes where he talks a little bit about his process and when he is compelled to write because he hears the voice of a character telling him a story. Interesting but it felt a little too moralistic for my tastes.
Mr. Sigerson - This was PSB's Sherlock Holmes tale and I appreciate the perspective he took with telling a Sherlock tale. Enjoyable but again, a bit of a slog for me.
A Dance for Emilia - Perhaps his most personal story. I was very impressed at how grounded in real emotions he can make absurd fantasy. An incredibly moving story that you just need to read without knowing anything about it.
March 4, 2018
Running the gamut from traditional fantasy to Sherlock Holmes to a modern-day brujo (age eight) to the enduring -- even dangerous -- power of love and friendship, this is a superb collection of stories from a master storyteller. They're the clearest proof anyone could want of what a gifted writer can do with even the simplest of ingredients, be it a cat or a love letter, a runaway apprentice or a mermaid, a shapeshifter or a T. Rex.
July 5, 2021
Beagle has a way of revisiting his old worlds and introducing new ones but always sounding like a grand storyteller. His writing doesn’t read like today’s fantasy but like classic works. In only about 30 pages each for most, the characters of the stories in this book all feel very fleshed out with distinctly visual settings. Reading fantasy that doesn’t always include beautiful royalty or faeries or retold tales is refreshing, and I love always relying on Beagle for that.
March 24, 2017
4.5
I love El Regalo. I love stories about family and siblings. All we have now is anything but that. Garbage unreal teenage love and supernatural romance... I'm an older sister with a little brother who drives me nuts, so I could relate to the story on a spiritual level. What was between Angie and Marvyn was... real. And lovely. The beginning reminded me of "Song of the Sea". It was good.
I love El Regalo. I love stories about family and siblings. All we have now is anything but that. Garbage unreal teenage love and supernatural romance... I'm an older sister with a little brother who drives me nuts, so I could relate to the story on a spiritual level. What was between Angie and Marvyn was... real. And lovely. The beginning reminded me of "Song of the Sea". It was good.
January 4, 2012
What can I say about Peter S. Beagle? He is a writer that never fails to surprise me, because, I don't know why, but whenever I start reading one of his stories, I never expect to like it as much as I end up liking it. It happened with many of the stories in this book. He has a way with words that is only his and it's magical and that's all I'm going to say about it.
I'm going to start with Two Hearts because it was the reason I bought this book. Two Hearts is the sequel to The Last Unicorn and I plunged into it with reckless abandon, obviously wanting to return to that world. It didn't disappoint. In fact, when it was over, I didn't know what to do with myself; it touched me in ways not a lot of stories do and I was an emotional... well, not wreck, but let's just say I couldn't do anything for a while but hold the book in my arms while getting flooded by emotions that went beyond words. Two Hearts was achingly beautiful and funny and deeply sad all at the same, and how many stories can say that for themselves?
As for the rest of the stories...
Gordon, the self-made cat: incredibly fun story about a mouse who decides that he can be anything he wants and what he wants is to be a cat so he goes to Cat School to achieve his dreams. I want to read this story to my nephews so bad.
Four Fables: I can only speak highly about the last of this four fables -the first three, I didn't like-. So, The Fable of the Octopus, the fourth one, is one of the best short stories I have ever read. It's a deep, philosophical, witty, ironic, and funny story about the search of an Octopus for God. So good, I tell you.
El Regalo: great story about a an older sister and an annoying little brother who turns out to be a witch. Really funny, yet scary at the same time.
Quarry: this was the only story I didn't particularly like (besides the first 3 fables of the Four Fables). It is apparently about how two of the characters from The Innkeeper's Song met and maybe it is because I have yet to read that book, but I wasn't too engaged by the story. But, even so, the emotional depth Beagle achieves in some scenes moved me and I couldn't help but applaud him for his skill (and imagination).
Salt Wine: one of the stories that when I started reading it, for the first couple of paragraphs I wasn't too sure about it. It's written in first person and the way the narrator talked was a little annoying but then he started talking about mermaids and mermen, and I was caught up in his tale before I even realized it. And it turned out to be one of my favorite stories in this book.
Mr. Sigerson: ah, a Sherlock Holmes tale. Thoroughly entertaining and witty. I enjoyed it very much and it actually surprised me. Beagle did a good job with this one.
And the last one, A Dance for Emilia: the most autobiographical thing he was ever written, as Beagle puts it, born out of mourning for his closest friend, who died back in 1994. And as such, one of the most touching, even heart-wrenching stories of this collection. What can I say? How can a story born out of such sad and personal circumstances be anything but great in the hands of a man like Peter S. Beagle?
Something else to add: another thing I really love about his collection of stories are the little explanations he gives before each one about how it came to be. It adds a lot to the reading experience and it is always wonderful when a writer share the stories behind their stories.
All in all, amazing read, amazing stories, genius writer. Go read them, now.
I'm going to start with Two Hearts because it was the reason I bought this book. Two Hearts is the sequel to The Last Unicorn and I plunged into it with reckless abandon, obviously wanting to return to that world. It didn't disappoint. In fact, when it was over, I didn't know what to do with myself; it touched me in ways not a lot of stories do and I was an emotional... well, not wreck, but let's just say I couldn't do anything for a while but hold the book in my arms while getting flooded by emotions that went beyond words. Two Hearts was achingly beautiful and funny and deeply sad all at the same, and how many stories can say that for themselves?
As for the rest of the stories...
Gordon, the self-made cat: incredibly fun story about a mouse who decides that he can be anything he wants and what he wants is to be a cat so he goes to Cat School to achieve his dreams. I want to read this story to my nephews so bad.
Four Fables: I can only speak highly about the last of this four fables -the first three, I didn't like-. So, The Fable of the Octopus, the fourth one, is one of the best short stories I have ever read. It's a deep, philosophical, witty, ironic, and funny story about the search of an Octopus for God. So good, I tell you.
El Regalo: great story about a an older sister and an annoying little brother who turns out to be a witch. Really funny, yet scary at the same time.
Quarry: this was the only story I didn't particularly like (besides the first 3 fables of the Four Fables). It is apparently about how two of the characters from The Innkeeper's Song met and maybe it is because I have yet to read that book, but I wasn't too engaged by the story. But, even so, the emotional depth Beagle achieves in some scenes moved me and I couldn't help but applaud him for his skill (and imagination).
Salt Wine: one of the stories that when I started reading it, for the first couple of paragraphs I wasn't too sure about it. It's written in first person and the way the narrator talked was a little annoying but then he started talking about mermaids and mermen, and I was caught up in his tale before I even realized it. And it turned out to be one of my favorite stories in this book.
Mr. Sigerson: ah, a Sherlock Holmes tale. Thoroughly entertaining and witty. I enjoyed it very much and it actually surprised me. Beagle did a good job with this one.
And the last one, A Dance for Emilia: the most autobiographical thing he was ever written, as Beagle puts it, born out of mourning for his closest friend, who died back in 1994. And as such, one of the most touching, even heart-wrenching stories of this collection. What can I say? How can a story born out of such sad and personal circumstances be anything but great in the hands of a man like Peter S. Beagle?
Something else to add: another thing I really love about his collection of stories are the little explanations he gives before each one about how it came to be. It adds a lot to the reading experience and it is always wonderful when a writer share the stories behind their stories.
All in all, amazing read, amazing stories, genius writer. Go read them, now.
August 31, 2009
This is a collection of his work that contains a short story sequel to Peter S. Beagle's The Last Unicorn called Two Hearts. It takes place several years after the first book, and it is very fitting where Schmendric the Magician and his companion Molly Grue end up (no, it's not what you think! That's the beauty of Peter S. Beagle!). Another good one is "Salt Wine", which is quite tragic. One of those "I told you this was a bad idea" stories.
The stories contained within are a sweet mix of new and reprinted stories. It would be inaccurate to call the collection an emotional roller coaster, because that implies lots of dips, turns, drops, and screaming. There is none of that in The Line Between. However the emotional range the stories takes you through is wide and pleasant.
If you read this book you will smile, you might choke up with emotion, and you may even find your forehead wrinkling with a "wtf?" kind of expression. Either way, you will enjoy it!
The stories contained within are a sweet mix of new and reprinted stories. It would be inaccurate to call the collection an emotional roller coaster, because that implies lots of dips, turns, drops, and screaming. There is none of that in The Line Between. However the emotional range the stories takes you through is wide and pleasant.
If you read this book you will smile, you might choke up with emotion, and you may even find your forehead wrinkling with a "wtf?" kind of expression. Either way, you will enjoy it!
July 27, 2017
Peter S. Beagle is the best first-person narrator I have ever read. Doesn't matter what he writes about. This guy simply has it mastered. One cannot help but be drawn under the skin of his speakers. Five of the eight stories in this collection are told in the voice of their unerringly observant protagonists, and I remember each one of them as if they had read their own stories live: Sooz, the plucky waif whose courage stirs King Lir to his last adventure; Soukyan, the thief haunted by his past and the hunters he cannot shake; Ben Hazeltine, the honest sea swabbie who never minced his words; Floresh Takesti, the concertmaster and conductor of a small orchestra who finds himself playing Dr. Watson to the insufferable Mr. Holmes; and Jake Holtz, the struggling actor whose friendship helps his best friend to live his dream beyond death.
Beagle has made his mark on American literature as being the consummate fantasist on this side of the pond. He's been around too. My old mildewy copies of J.R.R. Tolkien's signature works (given sadly away to Goodwill) contained prefaces by Mr. Beagle. He also wrote the screenplay for the first Lord of the Rings movie, by Bakshi. And of course, there's his beloved novel The Last Unicorn.
Not surprisingly, the best two short stories in The Line Between take place in his most famous fantasy settings: the realms of The Last Unicorn and of The Innkeeper's Song, his personal favorite among his novels.
I won't give away much more about "Two Hearts" than I knew on leaving the library after checking it out. And all that is contained in Beagle's preface:
It won't ruin anything to reveal that Schmendrick and Molly are half of the old crew. So now you know three, and you might guess the fourth. This little story is very powerful, and I'm thinking I'll have to re-read TLU just to revisit that world all over again. But don't wait for Beagle to write the sequel novel. You'll want to read this little gem now.
I never read The Innkeeper's Song, but I'm afraid I'll have to add it to my list after having read "Quarry." A theme in Beagle's prefaces, which he tacks before each story in this collection, is that he is often compelled to revisit his characters to see where they have gone since, or to see from whence they've come. He describes them metaphysically, like they are separate entities with minds of their own, very much like John Fowles does even within his own stories. For "Quarry," Beagle tells us that he had always wanted to know how the two main characters of The Innkeeper's Song met, and so this story was born.
"Quarry" is a gripping tale of two men on the run. The characters we meet are as mysterious as they are powerful. Most intriguing are the shapeshifting fox who befriends Soukyan (he remains nameless even throughout the novel!) and the Goro warrior who must kill him for stealing his dream. The climax is one of best-scripted battles I have ever read. In it, you can particularly see Beagle's formidable talents as a screenwriter.
Not all the stories in this collection are of the same caliber, but that's not a fair criticism. An author is hardly the same person between sunrises, and much less between stories. The "Four Fables" are forgettable. "Gordon, the Self-Made Cat" is cute. "El Regalo" is awkward. But on balance, this is an excellent collection, and worthy of many a bookshelf.
Beagle has made his mark on American literature as being the consummate fantasist on this side of the pond. He's been around too. My old mildewy copies of J.R.R. Tolkien's signature works (given sadly away to Goodwill) contained prefaces by Mr. Beagle. He also wrote the screenplay for the first Lord of the Rings movie, by Bakshi. And of course, there's his beloved novel The Last Unicorn.
Not surprisingly, the best two short stories in The Line Between take place in his most famous fantasy settings: the realms of The Last Unicorn and of The Innkeeper's Song, his personal favorite among his novels.
I won't give away much more about "Two Hearts" than I knew on leaving the library after checking it out. And all that is contained in Beagle's preface:
Friends, family, and fans have all asked me, over the years, to write a sequel to The Last Unicorn. To each in turn I have responded with some variant of the following: "It can't be done. The Last Unicorn is a one-shot, meant from the beginning as a kind of spoof/tribute to the classic European fairytale, an homage to such beloved influences of mine as James Stephens, Lord Dunsany, T. H. White and James Thurber. Writing it was a nightmarish, seemingly endless labor, and when it was done I vowed never to attempt such a balancing act again. So thank you for asking, but no."
It wasn't a hard vow to keep: there were other book I wanted to write, and I have always had a real horror of repeating myself. Besides, like everyone else (and quite against my own personal wishes), I grew older. The Last Unicorn is a young man's work, and I am not quite him anymore in so many different ways.
Yet here I am, writing an introduction for a sequel to The Last Unicorn.
I blame Connor Cochran entirely for the existence of "Two Hearts." He proposed it as a bonus gift for the first 3,000 buyers of the audiobook of The Last Unicorn, and wheedled me into going along by assuring me that I needn't bring back a single one of the original cast---only the world of the novel, nothing more. So, of course, I presented him with four of the major characters, and references to a couple of others, and had an astonishingly fine time doing it. The trouble now, of course, is that I can't abandon Sooz, my young narrator. I'm going to have to bring her back and see where she wants to go... which will be, as I already know, into the real full-novel sequel to The Last Unicorn. Which I never wanted to write. Bozhe moy, as my Russian uncles used to say. Heaven help me....
It won't ruin anything to reveal that Schmendrick and Molly are half of the old crew. So now you know three, and you might guess the fourth. This little story is very powerful, and I'm thinking I'll have to re-read TLU just to revisit that world all over again. But don't wait for Beagle to write the sequel novel. You'll want to read this little gem now.
I never read The Innkeeper's Song, but I'm afraid I'll have to add it to my list after having read "Quarry." A theme in Beagle's prefaces, which he tacks before each story in this collection, is that he is often compelled to revisit his characters to see where they have gone since, or to see from whence they've come. He describes them metaphysically, like they are separate entities with minds of their own, very much like John Fowles does even within his own stories. For "Quarry," Beagle tells us that he had always wanted to know how the two main characters of The Innkeeper's Song met, and so this story was born.
"Quarry" is a gripping tale of two men on the run. The characters we meet are as mysterious as they are powerful. Most intriguing are the shapeshifting fox who befriends Soukyan (he remains nameless even throughout the novel!) and the Goro warrior who must kill him for stealing his dream. The climax is one of best-scripted battles I have ever read. In it, you can particularly see Beagle's formidable talents as a screenwriter.
Not all the stories in this collection are of the same caliber, but that's not a fair criticism. An author is hardly the same person between sunrises, and much less between stories. The "Four Fables" are forgettable. "Gordon, the Self-Made Cat" is cute. "El Regalo" is awkward. But on balance, this is an excellent collection, and worthy of many a bookshelf.
December 15, 2009
I love Beagle's elegant writing and wonderful characters, and I wasn't disappointed here. I was a little worried about "Two Hearts", which takes place after The Last Unicorn (which I love), but I thought Beagle did justice to the book and its characters, along with introducing a new and engaging character, the young girl Sooz, who narrates the story. I also especially liked "El Regalo" (which Beagle plans to follow up with a novel), about a young witch and his sister, and "Salt Wine", a haunting story of sailors, mermen, and fate.
January 17, 2013
"Two Hearts" is an incredible story - the same combination of adventure, joy, and melancholy that made The Last Unicorn the masterpiece that it is. I first read this story in Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine, and bought the book on its strength.
The book's other stories are enjoyable, although most of them aren't gems or showstoppers. The notable exception is "A Dance For Emilia," which paints a powerful portrait of a fantastic person whose life was overshadowed by his knowledge that his dancing would never be what he wanted it to be. Rich and brilliant.
The book's other stories are enjoyable, although most of them aren't gems or showstoppers. The notable exception is "A Dance For Emilia," which paints a powerful portrait of a fantastic person whose life was overshadowed by his knowledge that his dancing would never be what he wanted it to be. Rich and brilliant.
April 25, 2008
I was disappointed, not by the writing but by the content. I remembered The Last Unicorn as a breath of magic and this book just didn't transport me. Anywhere. I was still in my chair in the doctor's lobby, sadly turning pages. Big sigh.
March 22, 2016
One of those collections of short stories that I dragged out for as long as I could because I just didn't want it to end. Hilarious and brilliant, Beagle's writing dances off the page with laugh-out-loud one-liners and characterisation that is utterly captivating.
March 15, 2020
4.5 stars. A really enjoyable collection. Having only read THE LAST UNICORN and a couple of Beagle’s similarly trope-fantastical stories, I was very happily surprised by the variety of genres and voices Beagle can pull off, from fables that were satirical and quite funny (“Four Fables.” I liked the moral of “The Fable of the Moth” best, but the overall story of “The Fable of the Ostrich”) to a Sherlock Holmes story (“Mr. Sigerson,”) from a seaman who sounds enough out of TREASURE ISLAND to be instantly recognizable without seeming tired (the enthralling “Salt Wine”) to a brother and sister at home on the most realistic of modern sitcoms, save that the snot-nosed kid brother is a witch (“El Regalo,” in which the characters and their relationships are fantastic but the plot is a bit sparse for the length). The plots are for the most part wonderfully inventive, if occasionally a bit thin on things happening.
The collection includes two novellas set in the worlds of other novels of Beagle’s: “Two Hearts” is a sequel to THE LAST UNICORN (which is one of my favorite books) and “Quarry” is a prequel to THE INNKEEPER’S SONG (which I’d never heard of but which Beagle makes very clear—mentioning it multiple times both in the introduction to the whole collection and the brief note before the story—is his personal favorite of his books). I went into “Two Hearts” very skeptical, because it was written long after the original novel (to which Beagle had multiple times said he would not write a sequel) at the prompting —Beagle’s note is not clear how insistent—of someone else, which is generally not a recipe for a good story. I was pleasantly surprised, especially at how compelling of a narrative voice young Sooz is (though I found her name distractingly, eyeroll-every-time-it-was-mentioned stupid). The picture we get of old characters is compelling, though I’m still undecided about whether I find all the developments completely consonant with the original novel. I wish some things had been more fully explained, but I was left with the same overall message and wistful, sad tone of the original. I’d give the story 4.5 stars. “Quarry” was interesting, very inventive with some nice, really scary creatures, but I think The worldbuilding, plot, and characters do too much gesturing at what I gather was developed in the novel rather than actually building; it doesn’t stand on its own, which was frustrating (to be fair, “Two Hearts” is probably even worse in this regard, but I had already read its source). I’ll read THE INNKEEPER’S SONG at some point, I’m sure—what worldbuilding Beagle does is promising—but the story is so clearly only comprehensible to people who already have and Beagle talked so much about its being his favorite that I feel resentful and almost want to not read it out of spite. 2.5 stars for the story (my least favorite in the collection).
Favorites:
“Salt Wine:” By far my favorite, a wonderfully atmospheric story about sailors and “merrows” (mermen)
“Mr. Sigerson” an excellent Sherlock Holmes pastiche, unique among examples I’ve read (and I love Sherlock Holmes so I’ve read a lot) in that Beagle’s narrator (a small-town orchestra conductor) is not only not in awe of Holmes and his abilities (as are most people in most adaptations and retellings) but in fact actively dislikes him. And Beagle does this completely believably without being untrue or unfair to Holmes’ original character, which I found quite impressive. He also clearly knows much more about violin playing than Conan Doyle (who famously describes Holmes playing with the violin held on his lap in several stories). The mystery itself wasn’t much (Beagle says in his introduction that he envies mystery writers and has never really been able to write a mystery; reading this it’s pretty clear why) but all the atmosphere and other elements were great.
“Two Hearts” thoughts above
“The Fable of the Ostrich” and “The Fable of the Tyrannosaurus Rex”
The collection includes two novellas set in the worlds of other novels of Beagle’s: “Two Hearts” is a sequel to THE LAST UNICORN (which is one of my favorite books) and “Quarry” is a prequel to THE INNKEEPER’S SONG (which I’d never heard of but which Beagle makes very clear—mentioning it multiple times both in the introduction to the whole collection and the brief note before the story—is his personal favorite of his books). I went into “Two Hearts” very skeptical, because it was written long after the original novel (to which Beagle had multiple times said he would not write a sequel) at the prompting —Beagle’s note is not clear how insistent—of someone else, which is generally not a recipe for a good story. I was pleasantly surprised, especially at how compelling of a narrative voice young Sooz is (though I found her name distractingly, eyeroll-every-time-it-was-mentioned stupid). The picture we get of old characters is compelling, though I’m still undecided about whether I find all the developments completely consonant with the original novel. I wish some things had been more fully explained, but I was left with the same overall message and wistful, sad tone of the original. I’d give the story 4.5 stars. “Quarry” was interesting, very inventive with some nice, really scary creatures, but I think The worldbuilding, plot, and characters do too much gesturing at what I gather was developed in the novel rather than actually building; it doesn’t stand on its own, which was frustrating (to be fair, “Two Hearts” is probably even worse in this regard, but I had already read its source). I’ll read THE INNKEEPER’S SONG at some point, I’m sure—what worldbuilding Beagle does is promising—but the story is so clearly only comprehensible to people who already have and Beagle talked so much about its being his favorite that I feel resentful and almost want to not read it out of spite. 2.5 stars for the story (my least favorite in the collection).
Favorites:
“Salt Wine:” By far my favorite, a wonderfully atmospheric story about sailors and “merrows” (mermen)
“Mr. Sigerson” an excellent Sherlock Holmes pastiche, unique among examples I’ve read (and I love Sherlock Holmes so I’ve read a lot) in that Beagle’s narrator (a small-town orchestra conductor) is not only not in awe of Holmes and his abilities (as are most people in most adaptations and retellings) but in fact actively dislikes him. And Beagle does this completely believably without being untrue or unfair to Holmes’ original character, which I found quite impressive. He also clearly knows much more about violin playing than Conan Doyle (who famously describes Holmes playing with the violin held on his lap in several stories). The mystery itself wasn’t much (Beagle says in his introduction that he envies mystery writers and has never really been able to write a mystery; reading this it’s pretty clear why) but all the atmosphere and other elements were great.
“Two Hearts” thoughts above
“The Fable of the Ostrich” and “The Fable of the Tyrannosaurus Rex”
July 3, 2021
Peter S. Beagle is one of my favorite authors, and is probably best known for his classic fantasy novel The Last Unicorn. "The Line Between," a short story collection, will probably be most of interest to fans of that novel, as it includes a novella that serves as a long-awaited sequel... but it's also a fantastic sampling of Beagle's work, showing his ability to capture a variety of unique voices and story styles, as well as promising hints of future works.
The stories in this collection are as follows:
Gordon the Self-Made Cat -- admitted to be a pitch for an animated movie, and certainly feels like one. One of the weaker stories in the collection
Two Hearts -- a poignant and lovely sequel to "The Last Unicorn," albeit one that begs for a sequel of its own. It was wonderful getting to revisit familiar old characters and see what became of them.
Four Fables -- short fables modeled after Aesop's fables, with morals that are geared more towards modern sensibilities. The fables of the Moth, Tyrannosaurus, and Ostrich are more humorous (if darkly so) than anything, but the fable of the Octopus was surprisingly lovely.
El Regalo -- an urban fantasy story about a boy learning magic and the older sister who has to rein him in and protect him. The sibling rivalry is one of the best and most fun aspects of this story, which is a delightful mix of humor and magical menace.
Quarry -- a story set in the world of Beagle's novel The Innkeeper's Song. I might have gotten more out of this story had I read that one first...
Salt Wine -- a story of two sailors and an encounter with a merrow that brings them fortune and fame... but at a terrible price. A nicely flavored nautical story, slow-moving but well worth the read.
Mr. Sigerson -- not a fantasy story (despite taking place in an entirely fictional country), as Beagle is best known for, but a Sherlock Holmes story! Nicely done in the style of Doyle, albeit with Beagle's own flair.
A Dance for Emilia -- probably one of the best stories in the collection. A deeply emotional and even sweet ghost story, this one seems closest to the author's heart, and it shows.
In all of these stories, Beagle manages to write with a vastly different voice for each setting/narrator, and does it well. He seems capable of crawling into the skin of his characters and capturing their voice and style in every story, whether it's a fairy tale or a modern story or a pastiche of another author. And his imagination and his gift for looking at the ordinary through an extraordinary lens shines brightly in every story, even the ones that don't work quite as well.
"The Line Between" is well worth reading, even if a few of the stories are either weaker than Beagle's usual fare or require familiarity with another of his works. Of the stories in this collection, I recommend "El Regalo," "Salt Wine," "A Dance for Emilia," and "Two Hearts" (if you've read/watched "The Last Unicorn") the most.
The stories in this collection are as follows:
Gordon the Self-Made Cat -- admitted to be a pitch for an animated movie, and certainly feels like one. One of the weaker stories in the collection
Two Hearts -- a poignant and lovely sequel to "The Last Unicorn," albeit one that begs for a sequel of its own. It was wonderful getting to revisit familiar old characters and see what became of them.
Four Fables -- short fables modeled after Aesop's fables, with morals that are geared more towards modern sensibilities. The fables of the Moth, Tyrannosaurus, and Ostrich are more humorous (if darkly so) than anything, but the fable of the Octopus was surprisingly lovely.
El Regalo -- an urban fantasy story about a boy learning magic and the older sister who has to rein him in and protect him. The sibling rivalry is one of the best and most fun aspects of this story, which is a delightful mix of humor and magical menace.
Quarry -- a story set in the world of Beagle's novel The Innkeeper's Song. I might have gotten more out of this story had I read that one first...
Salt Wine -- a story of two sailors and an encounter with a merrow that brings them fortune and fame... but at a terrible price. A nicely flavored nautical story, slow-moving but well worth the read.
Mr. Sigerson -- not a fantasy story (despite taking place in an entirely fictional country), as Beagle is best known for, but a Sherlock Holmes story! Nicely done in the style of Doyle, albeit with Beagle's own flair.
A Dance for Emilia -- probably one of the best stories in the collection. A deeply emotional and even sweet ghost story, this one seems closest to the author's heart, and it shows.
In all of these stories, Beagle manages to write with a vastly different voice for each setting/narrator, and does it well. He seems capable of crawling into the skin of his characters and capturing their voice and style in every story, whether it's a fairy tale or a modern story or a pastiche of another author. And his imagination and his gift for looking at the ordinary through an extraordinary lens shines brightly in every story, even the ones that don't work quite as well.
"The Line Between" is well worth reading, even if a few of the stories are either weaker than Beagle's usual fare or require familiarity with another of his works. Of the stories in this collection, I recommend "El Regalo," "Salt Wine," "A Dance for Emilia," and "Two Hearts" (if you've read/watched "The Last Unicorn") the most.
May 22, 2021
They started out strong but tapered off. I've never read The Innkeeper's Song (it's on the list) but "Quarry" was so boring it took me a few hours to read through it; I haven't read The Last Unicorn in ages, but "Two Hearts" was wonderful, especially with its sense of movement and with Sooz's narratorial voice. I loved the tween voice in "El Regalo," too, and the fables in "Four Fables" were actually very funny, especially the Fable of the Tyrannosaurus Rex. "A Dance For Emilia" was just... not for me. I currently live with four cats and, as much as I adore them and think they are the most gorgeous creatures on God's green earth, I cannot picture a cat dancing as anything other than hilarious and the stuff of circa-2009 viral videos. Especially not as, like, beautiful in some sublimely cathartic way.
(There's an Ursula K. Le Guin blurb on the cover and, God, I would bet ANYTHING "Quarry" was her favorite story. Queen of stories with a couple really good concepts wasted on weird wordbuilding, dull writing, and nothing characters.)
(There's an Ursula K. Le Guin blurb on the cover and, God, I would bet ANYTHING "Quarry" was her favorite story. Queen of stories with a couple really good concepts wasted on weird wordbuilding, dull writing, and nothing characters.)
September 15, 2021
Once again vindicated in choosing Peter S. Beagle as one of my all time top three favourite fantasy authors, The Line Between is a collection of some glorious short stories, including a worthy epitaph for one of my all time top reads, The Last Unicorn.
Yes Peter, you made me weep again, I will always weep for your words are like a golden bell hung in my heart. I would break my body to pieces to read your writing.
(Barry Hughart, Terry Pratchett and when I was younger, Piers Anthony - yes I know that's 4, I'm a reader not a mathematician)
Yes Peter, you made me weep again, I will always weep for your words are like a golden bell hung in my heart. I would break my body to pieces to read your writing.
(Barry Hughart, Terry Pratchett and when I was younger, Piers Anthony - yes I know that's 4, I'm a reader not a mathematician)
October 22, 2022
I love Peter S. Beagle's writing. It is slow paced and gentle. His books after the Last Unicorn seem smaller, more domestic. I do have the feeling he is a bit overlooked by people besides the grand books by Tolkien and Gaiman and the likes. And alone for this I need to recommend his books.
This collection of short stories has a nice variety of his writing. And I admid some of the stories are better than others for me. But he is so good at setting up an atmosphere with a couple of words and a world with a couple of sentences.
I especially liked the story of a big sister trying to look out for her little brother, who is a witch. I do like the way he subverts the expectations in this short discription of the plot. It also showcases for me how insightful he is when writing his characters. I felt seen how he protrained the love, the annoyance and protectiveness between the siblings.
I would recommend this books for fans of high fantasy or magical realism, that are keen on slow paced storytelling.
This collection of short stories has a nice variety of his writing. And I admid some of the stories are better than others for me. But he is so good at setting up an atmosphere with a couple of words and a world with a couple of sentences.
I especially liked the story of a big sister trying to look out for her little brother, who is a witch. I do like the way he subverts the expectations in this short discription of the plot. It also showcases for me how insightful he is when writing his characters. I felt seen how he protrained the love, the annoyance and protectiveness between the siblings.
I would recommend this books for fans of high fantasy or magical realism, that are keen on slow paced storytelling.
November 16, 2017
Beagle says in the introduction that he struggles in his writing to keep the balance on that line between fantasy and reality. It is why I so love his writing. ( Aside from my lifelong unicorn addiction.) This collection provides outstanding examples of his talent. The commentaries on the stories are fascinating.
There are fables Beagle write decades ago, a sequel to The Last Unicorn, and his stated most biographical story in the set. Cat people will enjoy this; cats feature in three stories , and they walk that same line Beagle does. He does a masterful job of grounding his fantasies with practicality.
There are fables Beagle write decades ago, a sequel to The Last Unicorn, and his stated most biographical story in the set. Cat people will enjoy this; cats feature in three stories , and they walk that same line Beagle does. He does a masterful job of grounding his fantasies with practicality.
December 8, 2017
A lovely, solid anthology of stories by Peter S. Beagle. His mastery of voice is amazing; I particularly love how every first-person story has a different rhythm & cadence which really conveys the character of the storyteller. I finally also broke down and read Two Hearts, and yeah...I definitely would read more about Sooz!
January 3, 2018
Even if this is a story about witchcraft and magic in it's essence it is a very lovely story about a sister and a brother and even if you want to kill them sometimes the universal message of this story is, as Baz Luhrmann put it, "Be nice to your siblings; They are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future."
December 26, 2023
Peter Beagle has many moments of beautiful writing, especially when he shows us melancholy, doomed heroism, love in a way that stands there on the page and looks you in the eye—simple language showing it for what it is.
But this collection is hit-or-miss. Too many of the stories lack that sculpted, intentional quality that can make a short piece feel complete, leaving them unmemorable.
But this collection is hit-or-miss. Too many of the stories lack that sculpted, intentional quality that can make a short piece feel complete, leaving them unmemorable.
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