This story collection from fantasy legend Beagle offers a sublime mix of reprints and original works. "Two Hearts," the coda to his masterwork, The Last Unicorn
, is a sweet, slight story sure to leave fans hungry for the novel's promised sequel. Yet even Beagle's lesser efforts contain delicate shadings and subtle prose. The brief selections grouped as "Four Fables" pay tribute to George Ade and James Thurber, while the tantalizing "El Regalo," a bittersweet tale of two Korean-American children with strange powers, deserves to be expanded to novel length. The volume closes with "A Dance for Emilia," which Beagle in his introduction calls "as autobiographical as anything I've ever written" (quite a statement from the author of the autobiographical I See by My Outfit
). It is a tapestry woven of love, friendship, art and a very special cat. This book is a fitting tribute to a beloved author who one hopes has several more novels left in him. (Aug.)
