Peter S. Beagle is most widely known for his fantasy classic, The Last Unicorn, but he is also a talented screenwriter, guitarist, and songwriter. Even at an early age, he has received national recognition for his writing. While still in high school, Peter was surprised to find that one of his poems was submitted without his knowledge for The Scholastic Writing Award. His English teacher had apparently made the right decision because it won first place. Since then, he has received many more accolades, including the Hugo and Nebula awards for his novelette Two Hearts as well as the Inkpot Award for Outstanding Achievement in Science Fiction and Fantasy.
Peter was joined in this interview by his business manager and friend, Conner Cochran.
Diane Frkan (DF): In the last year, the animated film adaptation of The Last Unicorn had its first theater showing since 1982. From what I understand, the showing was a hit. Please talk about the experience.
Peter S. Beagle (PSB): It was a remarkable experience because I hadn’t seen it in the theater since that time: once in the screening room before it was released and once in Santa Cruz where I was living at the time. And I was really happy to see it for a number of reasons. One, the theater was packed, which I hadn’t expected, and two, I had missed certain lines that you do, watching something on the video. I had really forgotten certain elements that were off to the side, conversation not directly aimed at the listener, very small but bits of dialog and music that I missed for a long time. I was glad to hear the sound was obviously, much better than I remembered. I did find myself saying, “Oh my god, the bloody thing’s a classic,” which is not a phrase I expected to pass my lips referring to a Rankin and Bass production.
DF: How well do you think the film has withstood the passage of time?
PSB: I think it’s held up. I like it better each time I watch it. I know what’s wrong and know what I wish I could do differently, just as Arthur Rankin, the producer, told us when I saw him in New York. He wished he had a larger budget for certain elements. But all the same, it’s been a long time since I recoiled in horror at the notion of Rankin and Bass doing the film as I did at the time it was mentioned. I was glad to see it, and I think it’s probably aged better than I have. (Laughs)
DF: Some sources state that your novel, Sumerlong, is slated for release in 2010, but this novel seems to have been in works for quite some time now. Would you care to comment on its status, please?
PSB: First, it needed work. Secondly, it was first accepted by Simon & Schuster then rejected because the editor there wanted certain changes made, and I couldn’t make them. And I’m good with editors; I’m patient and I’m flexible and I’m professional. But this was simply not possible. It was a point when you have 10-seconds left before you realize you just ran up against a principle, and he wanted a completely different book. It wouldn’t do. I don’t know why we hadn’t discovered that before, but we hadn’t. Between that and needing to work on other things, it really needed to be looked at from a distance. Now, it’s simply tidying chapter by chapter. Much of it's already done. The bulk of the work really concerns the ending of the book, the last couple of chapters. But I’m still very fond of it.
DF: So a spring or summer release then?
Conner Cochran (CC): What’s going to happen is we’re trying to wrap up the text by the end of March. He’s really 99% of the way done. Most of the work is going to be in the very final chapter where time has convinced him that it’s just not quite the right way to wrap the book up. If we can pull it off by March, then the book will actually be coming out this summer in hard cover from Common Press and then next year in paperback from Tachyon.
DF: (To CC) Can you state your title and what you do for Mr. Beagle?
CC: I am Peter’s business manager and we laugh about different terms. He jokes about it, but I function as editor, agent, sometimes publisher, business manager for certain, goad, protector, and all kinds of things. Well, I try to solve his problems, and I try to keep the work moving on schedule. I push him into doing more work than he necessarily would do if he weren’t pushed.
PSB: Largely, the reason I have three collections of stories out with a fourth on its way out this month, which is not something I ever imagined.
DF: Can you share your experiences, attending ConFusion? What did you think of us folks in Michigan?
PSB: I’ve had a lovely time. The word I’ve been using all day when people ask me how I’ve felt is spoiled. Spoiled and fussed over, and I can’t recall using that phrase before in regards to conventions. I’ve had a good time in general at conventions, but maybe because this one was so small and I was one of the only two writer guests of honor, I practically felt tucked into bed.
DF: During the Opening Ceremonies, the other pro author guest of honor, Cat Valente, had revealed a closing of a circle for her on how she started her career as a writer, and it was largely due to you attending her class. What did that make you feel like, because I know you gasped, and we all had tears in our eyes.
PSB: I did. I felt absolutely blindsided because I didn’t remember at all what happened in Davis, CA. I haven’t lived there in some time. It turned out that she and her family had arrived in Davis from Seattle around the same time I arrived from the Seattle area. So it was probably inevitable that we’d run into each other, but I didn’t remember.
When I thought about it hard, I located Davis High in my head, and I remembered I have spoken there because I will speak for free at high schools, elementary schools, and middle schools. That’s where it’s important. By the time I speak at colleges, it’s too late. I’m just trying to get some money out of them. If they’re going to write, it’ll start early.
It was a delight. We had time to visit and we talked. Of course, I felt good about it because there have been other writers that had the same effect on me. Finally, that’s what you do the best you can. You pass it on because there’s no way to pay back those people that took time with you.
DF: Is there anything else you’d like to add?
PSB: Invite me back. I had a fine time, and I say this as a person who last saw this area 49 years ago.
DF: Well, you do know that you now have a lifetime membership to ConFusion.
PSB: What I need is a lifetime of airline tickets. (Laughs)
DF: Well, we’re working on that. We’ll figure out something.
CC: If all goes this year the way we hope it will, fingers crossed and plans made, we’ve been digging Peter out of a pretty enormous pit. Basically, there are lots of authors out there with Screwed stories, but Peter has been profoundly screwed by various publishers and various studios for decades. It’s been a lot of long term digging him out and solving old problems, and I think we’re going to have him in 2010, certainly in 2011, back to the point where he’s getting what he deserves. And he’s going to get to do more fun stuff with his life.