Welcome to Smitten For Fiction! My name is Amanda and this blog is all about books. I mainly share spoiler-free book reviews and sometimes other bookish things. Not every book is my cup of tea – and that’s ok. Even if I didn’t like it, I attempt to find readers that would. Thanks for visiting. Let’s get Smitten For Fiction.

This post is a review of The Essential Peter S. Beagle, Volume 1: Lila the Werewolf and Other Stories and The Essential Peter S. Beagle, Volume 2: Oakland Dragon Blues and Other Stories. Both have a release date of tomorrow, May 16, 2023. I requested these arcs from Netgalley because The Last Unicorn is one of my favourite books which is written by the same author as these collections, Peter S. Beagle.

“For over forty years, Peter S. Beagle has been the gold standard of fantasy.
—Neil Gaiman, author of The Sandman

About The Book 📚

Author: Peter S. Beagle

Publication Date: May 16, 2023

Publisher: Tachyon Publications

Genre: Literary Fiction, Science Fiction, Fantasy

Pages: 325 pages and 352 pages

Content Warnings:

PG-13 Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. May include profanity, violence, sexual situations, or drug use.

About The Author

“Peter Soyer Beagle is the internationally bestselling and much-beloved author of numerous classic fantasy novels and collections, including The Last Unicorn, Tamsin, The Line Between, Sleight of Hand, Summerlong, In Calabria, and, most recently, The Way Home. He is the editor of The Secret History of Fantasy and the co-editor of The Urban Fantasy Anthology. As one of the fantasy genre’s most-lauded authors, Beagle has received the Hugo, Nebula, Mythopoeic, and Locus Awards as well as the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire. Beagle lives in Richmond, California.” (Netgalley)

My Review

› The Last Unicorn has been one of my favourite movies and books for thirty years. The atmosphere of these stories put me into Beagle’s magical and whimsical world.

› The Essential Peter S. Beagle: Volume I Lila the Werewolf and Other Stories has an introduction by Jane Yolen, artwork by Stephanie Law, and 16 stories:

Professor Gottesman and the Indian Rhinoceros: about a professor and a talking rhinoceros who thinks he’s a unicorn.

Come Lady Death: After becoming bored of her parties Lady Neville decides to invite the best guest – Lady Death.

Lila the Werewolf: Farrell was living with Lila for three weeks when he discovers she’s a werewolf.

Gordon, The Self-Made Cat: Gordon is a mouse who wants to attend cat school.

The Fable of the Moth: “Once there was a young moth who did not believe that the proper end for all mothkind was a zish and a drizzle.”

The Fable of the Tyrannosaurus Rex: T-Rex meets a tiny animal resembling a shrew who can see the future and provides the T-Rex with a science lesson.

The Fable of the Ostrich: About a brave African ostrich who refused to put his head in the sand.

The Fable of the Octopus: is about a talking octopus who wanted to see god.

El Regalo: Angie catches her little brother doing magic.

Uncle Chaim and Aunt Rifke and The Angel: A blue angel shows up in Uncle Chaim’s studio to be his muse. One of my favourite stories in this collection.

We Never Talk About My Brother: Jacob’s brother Essau is a tv anchor who has a special ability to wish people out of existence.

King Pelles the Sure: King Herman the Peaceful makes the horrible mistake to start a war.

The Last and Only (Mr. Moscowitz Becomes French): is about a man named George Moscowitz who becomes French.

Spook: Farrell seeks help to get rid of a ghost haunting his apartment.

The Stickball Witch: This story takes place in 1950. An elderly woman living in the neighbourhood confronts the kids who leave balls on her lawn.

A Dance for Emilia: Beagle said this story means the most to him. It’s about the death of a friend who is reincarnated.

› The Essential Peter S. Beagle Volume II Oakland Dragon Blues and Other Stories has an introduction by Meg Elison, artwork by Stephanie Law and 16 stories.

› Sleight of Hand: a heartbreaking story about a woman who is lost and depressed after her husband and daughter die. She drives aimlessly and meets a magician (who reminded me of Schmendrick) at a diner who changes her life.

Oakland Dragon Blues: is about the dragon from the original version of The Last Unicorn

The Rock in the Park: is about centaurs who need a little help from two ordinary teen boys.

The Rabbi’s Hobby: is about Rabbi Tuvim helping Joseph prepare for his Bar Mitzvah and they end up working together to find a girl from an old photograph. This is my favourite story in the collection.

The Way It Works Out and All: is about a strange alternate universe called the Overneath. An awesome story.

The Best Worst Monster: “From the tips of his twisted, spiky horns all the way down to his jagged claws, the monster was without any doubt the biggest, ugliest, most horrible creature ever made.”

La Lune T’Attend: Arceneaux and Garrigue are lifelong friends and werewolves try to defend their families from a vicious villain.

The Story of Kao Yu: this is a story about a judge who lives in South China named Kao Yu who sometimes enlisted the help of a unicorn to help him determine a person’s fate. The Chinese unicorn, called Chi-li is more like a magical dragon-horse who always knows the truth and will deliver swift and brutal justice.

Trinity County, CA: You’ll Want to Come Again and We’ll be Glad to See You!: drug dealers that have dragons. Another great story!

Marty and the Messenger: is about talking jello. Funny, ridiculous, tense, heartbreaking. Beagle can do it all.

The Mantichora: the last person on earth who can speak Mantichora meets the last Mantichora.

Mr. McCaslin: a crabby old man asks a group of kids for one favour – keep the dog away from him for a few weeks so he can have enough time to get his affairs in order before he dies.

The Fifth Season: Four fifteen-year-old boys have an epic water gun battle.

Tarzan Swings by Barsoom: Tarzan wakes up on another planet.

The Bridge Partner: Mattie’s new bridge partner is dangerous.

Vanishing: a man fall’s asleep in a waiting room and wakes up back at the Berlin Wall during the war.

›There are passages from both books that made me cringe:
Comments about “Eskimos”, “whores”
a young girl eating “low-fat chocolate reward”
“which team got stuck with which fat or slow or stone-fingered kid”
“fat Stewie”
“the designated witch was always some old lady living alone, quite often foreign-born and oddly-dressed”
“unclassifiably foreign air”

My Rating I give each book ★★★★

› Final Thoughts
• Peter S. Beagle’s short stories are adventurous, lighthearted, mysterious, emotional, and funny. They have interesting themes about free will, discrimination, fear, acceptance, friendship, love, and sacrifice. Quite a few of the stories reminded me of classic stories like The Lion and the Mouse, American Tale, and Charlotte’s Web. I recommend both of these collections to fantasy readers looking for unique short stories.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending this book for review. All opinions are my own.

Connect With Me 😊

Twitter | Goodreads | Instagram