DREAMING IN THE LAND OF DRAGONS
A CONVERSATION WITH PETER S. BEAGLE
Karen D. Mitchell
Attending my first Dragon*Con was like stepping into a dream. Held in Atlanta, Georgia each Labor Day weekend, Dragon*Con is the United States’ largest fantasy and science fiction convention. Thousands of people from around the world gather to celebrate their love of everything from Star Wars to Gothic Horror. Folks attend panels on role‑playing games, young adult literature, independent films, anime and countless other genres. They can also listen to bands such as Emerald Rose, play games like Droid Hunt, attend charity auctions, get their favorite celebrity’s autograph in the Walk of Fame or browse the art show and dealers’ booths.
But the most fun part of Dragon*Con is living your own dream, whatever that may be. Most guests bring along at least one costume; the more serious costumers bring several. It’s not unusual to find a fairy and vampire chatting as they wait in line for a panel or a knight riding a dragon through the food court. This is an enchanted place where dreams grow wings and fly. My own dream took flight when I received the honor of meeting the Master Dream Maker himself, Peter S. Beagle. Peter is the author of numerous short stories, nonfiction books and novels, including one of the most beloved classic fantasy tales of all time, The Last Unicorn.
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Connor Cochran of Conlan Press, Peter’s friend and business manager, had invited me to find him and Peter in the Walk of Fame on the first day of Dragon*Con. Trembling and clutching a copy of The Last Unicorn to my chest, I walked up to their table and introduced myself. Peter signed a few books and waited patiently as my friend Gail attempted to snap a picture of me with Peter (the batteries kept falling out). We agreed to meet again at 7:00 that evening for the interview.
I soon learned that there’s no reason to be nervous around Peter S. Beagle. As we walked with Connor to their hotel room for the interview, we chatted about various things and he told me more stories than I could possibly remember. I felt strangely at ease with him, as if we had been old friends in another time and place, one more magical than this.
When we reached the hotel room, Connor showed me several pictures of Peter, from his boyhood to the present. He challenged me to pick out Peter in a junior high class photograph. I, of course, pointed to a burly‑looking boy in the top row and announced, “It can’t be him.” Well, it was. Peter leaned against the window ledge watching us, smiling that little smile of his that curls up on one side, his eyes twinkling. Sometimes he told the story behind a photograph. I fell in love with a picture of Peter holding a cat he once lived with, Gulley Jimson, a half Siamese, one‑quarter Burmese named after the main character in Joyce Cary’s The Horse’s Mouth. This cat was the inspiration for Mister Cat in Peter’s novel Tamsin.
To thank Peter for spending time with me, I gave him a copy of my poetry chapbook, Thanatology of Moths. Connor said, “Moths? How’d you like to hear a fable that Peter wrote about moths?” I listened in awe as Peter read “The Fable of the Moths.” Hearing him was a joy because it breathed life into his story in a way that words on a page never can. I could hear Peter’s love for story and language in his voice.
***
Feeling guilty that my hosts had not yet eaten dinner, I moved on to the interview. As Connor dozed in a chair, I asked Peter what it was like to have his first novel published when he was only 20 years old. “I carried it around with me for days,” he said, “but I found that nothing changed. I learned that you have to keep writing. So I moved on to the next book.” When asked what motivates him to write, he replied, “it’s a mix of everything” and “nagging by Connor.” (Connor, by the way, is the one who encouraged him to write Two Hearts, the follow‑up story to The Last Unicorn.) Peter says that “stories want to be told,” so he tells them.
Many writers say that they see a little bit of themselves in their characters. A lot of people believe that Peter modeled Schmendrick the Magician after himself, but he admits, “it’s a mixed bag, but I’d say the butterfly because he’s full of quotations, songs and facts, just like me.” After meeting Peter, I wholeheartedly agree. He also says that Joe Farrell, who appears in stories like "Lila the Werewolf," is a bit like himself. Farrell is a good musician (Peter's dream job) and also has a habit of picking women who are completely wrong for him (I didn't push for details on that one).
At a reading earlier in the day, someone had asked Peter how he knew he was a writer, to which he replied, “it never occurred to me to be anything else because I came from a family of artists.” But Peter is also a musician. He had a twelve-year gig singing French folk songs in a Santa Cruz coffee shop and loved every minute of it. “I felt I was singing for my grandpa who died when I was 10 months old.” When I asked Peter what gives him the most joy, he said, “I wish I could be a good musician. Maybe a jazz singer.” I later learned that Peter has a very good singing voice when he treated me to a delightful song as we walked to the elevators after the interview.
Some of my favorite stories by Peter feature ghosts as central characters. I asked him if there was a reason for this. “I’m not sure why,” he answered. “The main symbols that keep popping up in my writing are music, cats and old goddesses.” His novel Summerlong, due for release in February 2006, features an old goddess but, alas, no cats.
I told Peter how much I enjoy the poems in his stories and asked whether we might see any poetry books from him in the future. “I got that from reading Tolkien,” he said. (Peter, by the way, wrote the screenplay for the cartoon version of “The Lord of the Rings” and will be an interviewee in the movie, “Ringers: Lord of the Fans,” scheduled for release in November 2005.) Peter’s poems on the Unicorn Tapestries, originally written for a children’s book that never materialized, will appear in a future collection of his writing.
Since many of Jake Magazine's readers are beginning writers who dream of seeing their words in print, I asked Peter if he had any words of wisdom for them. He said, "Show up for work. Find a time that's yours when nobody can bother you." Then, quoting Hemingway, advised, "Don't pay attention to critics. If you listen to them when they say you're good, you'll also listen to them when they say you're bad."
I then asked Peter what he wants to be remembered for once he's gone from this world. He thought for a moment, then replied, "the book not written yet." This simple statement speaks volumes about who Peter S. Beagle is. A writer who continues to write and loves his work no matter what the outcome.
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The dream seemed to be over as my husband and I drove the 500 miles back home, moving from a sunny Atlanta sky into an Indiana twilight where a fading crescent moon hung in the purple horizon like a forgotten dream. But a surprise waited for me in the mailbox: the latest copy of Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine featuring Peter's novelet, "Two Hearts," which brings back the beloved main characters from The Last Unicorn, as well as some exciting new ones, such as a very brave nine‑year‑old girl named Sooz and a horrifying griffin with a taste for children. As I sat on the couch reading this new story, my eyes shining with tears, I thought, "dreams never end; they just take breaks sometimes."
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