Peter Beagle

[stoutfellow]

Peter S. Beagle is my current binge author. I've just reread A Fine and Private Place; I'm near to finishing (re-finishing?) The Last Unicorn; and I intend to go on to the rest of his works that I have - The Folk of the Air, The Innkeeper's Song, Giant Bones, and Tamsin.

I've come to the conclusion that the following is a defensible proposition: Peter Beagle writes horror.

I offer for your consideration the following scenes.

• From The Last Unicorn: several scenes at the circus - Mammy Fortuna as Elli, and everything to do with the harpy; the first appearance of the Red Bull; and the lead-up to his second appearance (and much of that appearance as well).
• From The Folk of the Air: what Aiffe did to the cat, and to "Mansa Musa" "Prester John"; the appearance of her champions at the War; and the final confrontation between Aiffe and Sia.
• From The Innkeeper's Song: the torment the old man suffered at Arshadin's hands; the assassins who came after Nyateneri; and, of course, the coming of the griga'ath. (The whole situation with Lukassa has its own creepiness.)

I don't recall Giant Bones or Tamsin well enough to say, but I get something of the same feel from those books as well.

(Of course, it is also defensible to say that Beagle writes quite a number of things - farce, fantasy high and low, etc. - but this element of his writing just struck me.)

Comments

[connorfc.livejournal.com]

I agree completely. Peter can be extremely scary when he's trying to be. For another taste, you might want to try his story "Quarry," which can be found in his most recent collection, THE LINE BETWEEN. The assassins from INNKEEPER''S SONG figure in this one, too, because it is the story of what happened to Soukyan when he first escaped, and how he met the Fox; but there's more.

-- Connor Cochran
Business Manager for Peter S. Beagle