"Great heroes need great sorrows and burdens, or half their greatness goes unnoticed." -- Peter S. Beagle
Peter Soyer Beagle (born April 20, 1939) is an American fantasist and author of novels, nonfiction, and screenplays. His most notable works include the novels The Last Unicorn, A Fine and Private Place and Tamsin, the award-winning story "Two Hearts", and "Sarek", an episode of the TV series The Next Generation.
Beagle won early recognition from The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards as a high school senior for a poem in the form of an award and a scholarship to the University of Pittsburgh, where he graduated with a degree in creative writing.
Beagle 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, A Fine and Private Place and I See By My Outfit.
Beagle wrote the teleplay for episode 71 of the television series The Next Generation, titled "Sarek."
Beagle also wrote the screenplay for the 1978 Ralph Bakshi-animated version of The Lord of the Rings and an introduction to the American edition of The Lord of the Rings in the early 1970s.
Beagle's work as a screenwriter interrupted his early career direction as a novelist, magazine nonfiction author, and short-story writer. But in the mid-'90s he returned to prose fiction of all lengths, and has produced new works at a steady pace since.
In addition to his own body of work, Beagle is heir to the literary estates of science fiction author Edgar Pangborn, Edgar's sister and sometime collaborator Mary, and their mother Georgia Wood Pangborn. Since 2003 he has been working to bring the best of these three authors' fiction back into print.
In 2005 Beagle published a coda to The Last Unicorn, a novelette entitled "Two Hearts," and began work on a full-novel sequel. In 2006, "Two Hearts" won the prestigious Hugo Award for Best Novelette and in 2007 it won the Nebula Award in the same category. The story was also nominated as a short fiction finalist for the World Fantasy Award. In 2006, Beagle won the Inkpot Award for Outstanding Achievement in Science Fiction and Fantasy. In 2007, Beagle won the inaugural WSFA Small Press Award for "El Regalo," published in The Line Between (Tachyon Publications).
IDW Publishing released a six-issue comic book adaptation of The Last Unicorn beginning in April 2010. It will be followed by an adaptation of A Fine and Private Place.
Beagle's 2009 collection of short fiction, We Never Talk About My Brother, was nominated for a World Fantasy Award.
Peter S. Beagle's book The Last Unicorn was made into an animated film in 1982, based on a screenplay written by Beagle himself. In 1979 Beagle had a contract with ITC Entertainment which entitled Beagle to 5% of the net profits in the animated property, and 5% of the gross revenues from any film-related merchandising. Since 1999 this film has been controlled by a British company, Granada Media International (a subsidiary of ITV plc). Beagle is now involved in a financial dispute with Granada over nonpayment of contractually due profit and merchandising shares. The amount due might total as much as several million dollars.
I See By My Outfit: Cross-Country by Scooter, an Adventure, 1965 (nonfiction)
The Last Unicorn, 1968 (novel)
The California Feeling, 1969 (with photographer Michael Bry, nonfiction)
Lila the Werewolf, 1974 (chapbook edition of previously-published novelette)
American Denim, 1975 (nonfiction art book)
The Lady and Her Tiger, 1976 (with Pat Derby, nonfiction)
The Fantasy Worlds of Peter S. Beagle, 1978 (omnibus collection including A Fine and Private Place, The Last Unicorn, "Come Lady Death," and "Lila the Werewolf")
The Garden of Earthly Delights, 1982 (nonfiction art book)
The Folk of the Air, 1986 (novel, currently being rewritten and expanded for new release)
The Innkeeper's Song, 1993 (novel)
In the Presence of the Elephants, 1995 (nonfiction photo book)
The Unicorn Sonata, 1996 (young adult novel, currently being rewritten and expanded into a 4-book series)
Giant Bones, 1997 (collection of original stories set in the world of The Innkeeper's Song)
The Rhinoceros Who Quoted Nietzsche and Other Odd Acquaintances, 1997 (collection of fiction and nonfiction essays)
The Magician of Karakosk and Other Stories, 1999 (foreign edition title for Giant Bones collection)
Tamsin, 1999 (novel)
A Dance for Emilia, 2000 (hardcover giftbook edition of novella)
The Line Between, 2006 (story collection)
Your Friendly Neighborhood Magician: Songs and Early Poems, 2006 (limited edition chapbook collection of song lyrics and poetry)
The Lost Version, 2007 (original novella length draft, from Subterranean Press)
Strange Roads 2008 (3-story chapbook collaboration with Lisa Snellings-Clark for Dreamhaven Books)
We Never Talk About My Brother, 2009 (short fiction collection for Tachyon Publications)
Mirror Kingdoms: The Best of Peter S. Beagle, 2010 (Subterranean Press, edited by Jonathan Strahan)
As editor
Peter S. Beagle's Immortal Unicorn, 1995 (co-editor, original story anthology, split into two volumes when reprinted in paperback: Peter S. Beagle's Immortal Unicorn in 1998 and Peter S. Beagle's Immortal Unicorn 2 in 1999)
The Secret History of Fantasy, (forthcoming 2010 from Tachyon Publications, anthology)
