16 old and new classics by acclaimed fantasy icon Peter S. Beagle, 10 of which are collected for the first time. The reprints in this book were originally gathered together in Beagle’s 1997 fiction/nonfiction set, THE RHINOCEROS WHO QUOTED NIETZSCHE. That book is never going to be reissued in any format, so the stories were given a new home here. They include the title piece, which very nearly invented the entire subgenre of urban fantasy; “Professor Gottesman and the Indian Rhinoceros” (Beagle’s personal favorite among all his short fiction); the exquisite “Come Lady Death,” which inspired Neil Gaiman to make Death a young woman in his SANDMAN comic series; and the deceptively simple, heartbreaking/heartwarming truth of “My Daughter’s Name is Sarah.” The 10 new pieces are all from 2009 through 2012, part of Beagle’s astonishing 21st century outpouring of short fiction, during which he has written five times as many stories in just 10 years as he wrote in the previous 40. More amazing still is the diversity of the work, even for an artist long-recognized as hating to repeat himself. In “Music, When Soft Voices Die” Beagle moves beyond the surface trappings of steampunk to reach the dark heart of the world; in “Trinity County, CA” he offers an alternate modern-day California where illegal backwoods meth labs use dragons as fiery watch dogs; and in “Underbridge” he reveals the horrific truth behind a popular Seattle tourist attraction. The seven other new tales in this set are equally wide-ranging, leaping from 17th-century Maine to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Africa and Barsoom. There’s never any guessing where a Beagle story will start, or where it will go—but adventurous readers can be assured they are in the hands of a master. CONTENTS Professor Gottesman and the Indian Rhinoceros My Daughter's Name is Sarah Come Lady Death Lila the Werewolf The Naga Julie's Unicorn Music, When Soft Voices Die The Mantichora Olfert Dapper's Day Underbridge Kaskia The Way It Works Out and All Trinity County, CA: You'll Want To Come Again, and We'll Be Glad To See You! Tarzan and the Virginian [aka The Ape-Man of Mars] Great-Grandmother in the Cellar (an Innkeeper’s World story) The Queen Who Could Not Walk