An intriguing mix of short stories that deal with very different topics. I did enjoy the several stories and their vastly different variations when compared to the typical white western univotm ( )

So far, I've been enjoying Beagle's works and this is my first real taste of his short fiction. I'm sure that there will be a ton of fans going ga-ga over the fact that there are two Schmendrick shorts here!

Even so, I think I enjoyed a number of the other stories a bit more. I'm particularly fond of his Steampunk story: Music, When Soft Voices Die which had a particularly awesome horror feel. Indeed, I think I prefer all the stories that had that taste, such as these three: The Very Nasty Aquarium, Great Grandmother in the Cellar, and Underbridge.

Even better are timeless stories like: The Queen Who Could Not Walk. There was something about this one that really got to me.

Even so, there's a little something for everyone in this collection, especially if you like unicorn tales that don't fit in Beagle's Last Unicorn universe. There's even a delightful SF about a lonely guy with an awesome computer who has a penpal across the universe. :)

I admit to liking but not loving most of these, but I can't complain about the quality of any of it! I am quite pleased with the quality of the research and the depth of the myths inside some of the tales. Magic is everywhere. :)

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC! ( )

'The Overneath' is another fantastic collection of stories from Peter S Beagle, most famous for The Last Unicorn. There are a couple of stories here featuring Schmendrick, the big nosed clumsy magician from that tale. There's also a sober judge in old China who falls in love with a beautiful young thief, more than one unicorn, Avram Davidson, a troll, a nasty pirate in an aquarium and many other wonders. Full review at https://www.sfcrowsnest.info/the-overneath-by-peter-s-beagle-ebook-review/
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Another excellent collection, and no easy endings here. ( )

The Overneath by author Peter S. Beagle contains thirteen tales, some of which have never been published before. I should say right at the beginning that I am not usually a fan of short stories – they never seem to have enough to make me feel invested in the plot or characters– but I am a huge fan of Beagle whose prose never fails to pull me in. His writing is always lyrical, always engaging, always magical and that is true throughout this collection. But what makes The Overneath stand out, at least for me, is the diversity of the tales. There are tales about a concrete troll (Underbridge), drug dealers who have a very unusual security system ((Trinity County, Ca), portals to other worlds (The Overneath) and, of course, unicorns.

Now, if you’re like me, you probably thought that there was only one kind of unicorn- pure, shining, beautiful, willing to approach and be approached by only virgins and saints. And there is at least one of these here. But, as Beagle, shows there are many different types of unicorns and not all of them are friendly. In fact, some are downright dangerous as in My Son Heydari and the Karkadann in which a young Persian man nurses a dangerous beast back to health despite the risk. If you have never heard of the Karkadann, it is a mythological creature similar to a unicorn found on the grassy plains of India and Persia (I had to look it up).

As in any collection, I liked some more than others. There are, for example, two tales about one of my favourite characters from The Last Unicorn, Schmendrick, that are great fun. I found The Queen Who Could not Walk about a kingdom in which rulers must eventually trade their crowns for a life of poverty both poignant and hopeful. And I really enjoyed the horror story The Very Nasty Aquarium for its creepiness and humour.

Overall, though, I really enjoyed this entire collection. As a story-teller of traditional fantasy, Peter S Beagle has no peer. With this collection, he proves that he is just as adept at different forms from urban fantasy to science fiction to horror.

Thanks to Edelweiss Plus and Tachyon Publications for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review ( )