Gollancz scoops two novels and novellas by award-winning fantasy writer Beagle

Gollancz has acquired two novels and novellas by Peter S Beagle, recipient of a World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement as well as the Hugo, Nebula, Locus and Mythopoeic prizes.

Editor Marcus Gipps acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to the works from Caspian Dennis at Abner Stein on behalf of Howard Morhaim at Howard Morhaim Literary Agency. 

First published in 1969 by Ballantine Books in the US, The Last Unicorn will be reissued by Gollancz in August with a new introduction by Patrick Rothfuss. It is described by the publisher as a “groundbreaking novel regularly cited as one of the greatest fantasy books ever written”.

The animated film, starring Christopher Lee, Mia Farrow, Jeff Bridges, Angela Lansbury, Tammy Grimes and Alan Arkin was released in 1982. The novel has been out of print in the UK since the early 1970s.

Gipps said: “We are very excited to be working with Peter to bring this book back into circulation. Many members of the team have loved this story for a long time, and are all passionate about seeing it available in the UK again.”

Gollancz will publish alongside Ace Books and the unabridged audiobook will be available in the UK for the first time. This will also be the first time the novel has been available as an e-book.

Gollancz will also be releasing The Way Home, which will contain the Hugo Award-winning novella sequel to The Last Unicorn, Two Hearts, and another novella, Sooz, a direct sequel to Two Hearts. It will publish in hardback in February 2023.

In autumn 2023, Gollancz will reissue A Fine and Private Place, first published in 1960, and will include an introduction by Neil Gaiman. It tells the story of Jonathan Rebeck, a man who has been living secretly in his local cemetery and has the ability to speak to the spirits resting there. Described as wistfully melancholy and tartly humorous in reviews at the time, this book contains all of Beagle’s trademark wit and philosophy, the publisher says. 

Born in 1939, Peter S Beagle has written a number of novels, short stories and screenplays. In 2011, he won the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement, and he was named the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master by the SFWA in 2018.