The Rhinoceros Who Quoted Nietzsche and Other Odd Acquaintances

This overview of Peter Beagle’s extraordinary career as a fantasist contains seven short stories and three essays as well as a new preface by the author. It also features the original whimsical Chesley Award-winning cover illustration by talented Bay Area artist Michael Dashow. “The Last Unicorn, Beagle’s most beloved novel, was an underground bestseller in the late 1960s and 1970s. This collection includes two of Beagle’s popular unicorn stories, “Professor Gottesman and the Indian Rhinoceros” and “Julie’s Unicorn,” as well as “Lila the Werewolf,” which is anthologized in the “Oxford Book of Fantasy, and a tribute to J. R. R. Tolkien, “The Naga.”

Contents

Introduction: “Under the Zucchini” by Patricia A. McKillip

Fiction
“Come Lady Death”
“Julie’s Unicorn”
“Lila the Werewolf”
“My Daughter’s Name Is Sarah”
“Pittsburgh Stories (a Recollection)”
“Professor Gottesman and the Indian Rhinoceros”
“Telephone Call”
“The Naga”

Essays
“D. H. Lawrence in Taos”
“Learning a Trade”
“My Last Hero”
“The Poor People’s Campaign”