Gollancz signs new novel by Beagle as well as backlist titles

Gollancz has signed two novels and a collection of two novellas by Peter S Beagle, who in 2011 won the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement as well as being named the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) in 2018.

Assistant editor Claire Ormsby-Potter acquired UK and Commonwealth physical, e-book and audio rights from Caspian Dennis at Abner Stein, on behalf of Howard Morhaim at Howard Morhaim Literary Agency.

I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons is a brand new novel from Beagle, his first in nearly a decade, and follows a young dragon exterminator who profoundly hates his job, and who finds himself wrapped up in the lives of a beautiful princess and a brave prince, against his own better judgement. Gollancz will publish alongside Saga Press (S&S) in 2024.

The Innkeeper’s Song, one of Beagle’s earlier novels, has also been acquired. It won the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel when it was first published in 1993, and follows three unusual women who are searching for a missing magician, their shifting relationships, and the lives they touch and change along the way.

The Last Unicorn was reissued by Gollancz in the UK for the first time in decades in 2022. Its sequel, The Way Home, contains the award-winning novelette Two Hearts and new novelette Sooz, was released in April 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.

Ormsby-Potter, said: “I’m delighted to be bringing more of Peter’s books to our readers. I have been a lifelong fan of his work, and the chance to publish a brand new title of his is a joy I couldn’t have imagined.”