The Avid Reader
617 Second Street
Davis, CA 95616
Tel: (530)758-4040
Fax: (530)758-4084
Open Mon-Sun 10am - 10pm
avidreaderdavis@aol.com
The Avid Reader at the Tower
1600 Broadway
Sacramento, CA 95818
Tel: (916) 441-4400
Fax: (916) 443-1345
Open Sunday-Thursday 9am - 9pm
Friday-Saturday 9am - 10pm
avidreadersac@aol.com
Abundant with tales of quiet heroism, life-changing decisions, and determined searches for deep answers, this extraordinary collection of contemporary fantasy explores the realms between this world and the next. From the top of the Berlin Wall to the depths of the darkest seas, gods and monsters battle their enemies and innermost fears, yet mere mortals make the truly difficult choices. A slightly regretful author and a vengeful-but-dilapidated dragon square off over an abandoned narrative; the children of the Shark God demand painful truths from their chronically absent father; and a bereaved women sacrifices herself to change one terrible moment, effortlessly reversed by a shuffle of the deck. Whether melancholic, comedic, or deeply tragic, each new tale is suffused with misdirection and discovery, expressed in the rich and mesmerizing voice of a masterful storyteller.
Peter S. Beagle is the author of A Fine and Private Place, The Innkeeper’s Song, The Last Unicorn, The Rhinoceros Who Quoted Nietzsche, Tamsin, and We Never Talk About My Brother. He wrote the screenplays for the animated feature-film versions of The Last Unicorn and The Lord of the Rings and is the recipient of the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, a Hugo Award, and a Nebula Award. He lives in Oakland, California.
"Peter is one of those writers who just seems to be getting better and better." —Neil Gaiman, author, The Graveyard Book
"Few can match [Beagle] when it comes to a particular mix of the fantastic and the ordinary, with a tinge of nostalgia. As one character observes, the magic is in the telling, always." —Interzone
"One of my favorite writers." —Madeleine L'Engle, author, A Wrinkle in Time
"[Beagle is] not only one of our greatest fantasists, but one of our greatest writers, a magic realist worthy of consideration with such writers as Marquez, Allende, and even Borges." —The American Culture (March 2011)
