Growing up, I loved the animated version of The Last Unicorn, but I never read anything written by Beagle until I was an adult. This collection of short stories is the first time since I was a kid where I was able to immerse myself in his storytelling.There's a wide variety of topics here, but each story has the same feeling of truth and realness. Only a few of the author's notes call out an autobiographical aspect to the stories, but you get the sense that Beagle put a little bit of himself in each piece. Even the completely fictional pieces feel somehow real.

Contents:
“Professor Gottesman and the Indian Rhinoceros”
Very sweet and touching story, and I love Beagle's writing style as shown here. I think this is a perfect opener for this collection.

“Come Lady Death”
I liked reading this story, though few of the characters were likable. (But I think that was the point of the story, and it worked. I liked Death a lot; Death was a fun character.)

“Lila the Werewolf”
Bittersweet werewolf story that didn’t go the way I expected it to at all. Still not sure what I think of it.

“Gordon, the Self-Made Cat”
This is a really cute story. I think it’s one of those stories that could be enjoyed equally by kids and adults, though each will get something different out of it.

Four Fables
“The Fable of the Moth”
“The Fable of the Tyrannosaurus Rex”
“The Fable of the Ostrich”
“The Fable of the Octopus”
These short fables are amusing, though (like most of Aesop) I don’t think they’ll stick with me long. Fun reads, though.

“El Regalo”
I’m very curious to see what else Beagle ends up writing in this universe, if anything. It feels like this world is very well developed and I’m interested in reading more.

“Uncle Chaim and Aunt Rifke and the Angel”
I enjoyed reading the author's background notes on this story. I also enjoyed the story itself, which was as much about the way we see things differently as kids and adults as it was about the religious themes.

“We Never Talk about My Brother”
Oooh, I liked this story. It didn't go anywhere near the direction I had expected it to go, but I liked it a lot. The way it was told (aka you hear one side of an interview and have to assume the questions and interruptions) worked really well for me.

“King Pelles the Sure”
This one's very bittersweet. I found it a very interesting story to read, but it wasn't always a "comfortable" one.

“The Last and Only; or, Mr. Moscowitz Becomes French”
This is a bit of an odd story. Neat concept, and yet it didn't really do anything for me. I was more interested in Mrs. Moscowitz than her husband, personally.

“Spook”
I loved the concept on this one, but I think it would be much better listened to instead of read in print.

“The Stickball Witch”
I didn't expect to like this one based on the first few paragraphs, but it turned into something magical once our narrator actually met The Stickball Witch. I liked it a ton more than I had hoped.

“A Dance for Emilia”
This story is lovely and sad and touching and real. It is hard to describe the feeling that it evokes in words—and I'm certainly not going to give any spoilers about the plot—but it is worth the price of the book all on its own. This is the perfect way to close out the collection. ( )

I received an advance copy of this book (and its companion) from the publisher via NetGalley.

Peter Beagle really needs no introduction. He's one of the greats of the fantasy genre, and this book is a clear demonstration of way. I expected this collection to be good, mind you, but I didn't expect it to be such an emotional journey. Every single story is fantastic (not something I can say about many collections or anthologies) but some of them--wow. "Uncle Chaim and Aunt Rifke and the Angel" is up there among my favorite stories of all time with its gentle yet harsh story of an artist, an angel, and sheer goodness. Also profound were "Come Lady Death," "The Stickball Witch," and the astonishing finale, "A Dance for Emilia." I think it's fair to say that, based on Beagle's introductory notes, his stories that tended to touch me the most were the ones that were semiautobiographical for him--drawn from his own life, with a magical twist.

Superb. Just superb. ( )