He's so soft-spoken that I had to lean in to hear him
I met Peter S. Beagle!
Twice!
Okay, so I meant to post this a few weeks ago, but that didn't happen. Anyway, over the first weekend of July, toriem had a booth at the Anime Expo in L.A. that I agreed to help her out with. She was selling these crochet stuffed creatures she likes to make. Aside from Ranma 1/2, I'm not really into Anime. I've had a whole mess of housemates and friends in college who love it, and I tried to get into it, but Ranma's the only I've had success with. But, I figured it was a good experience, and I might even be able to sell a few of my things (which I did), and I could keep toriem company. As I was already planning on attending, when I got the latest Raven newsletter, I knew I'd have to stop by!
toriem and I were parked in Artists' Alley. I didn't make it over to his booth the first day of AX. But on the second day, July 4th, I donned my purple Last Unicorn shirt and tracked down Mr. Beagle with a friend of mine and toriem's who was keeping us company at our booth.
Mr. Beagle pretty much looks exactly like his pictures. He was sitting at a table behind stacks of his books, artwork based on The Last Unicorn and a display case piled high with Last Unicorn DVDs. I had to keep myself from drooling over the piles of books, because many of them are impossible to find in stores. I just wanted to take the whole lot, but I managed to restrain myself. Connor was there as well, but as I'd never seen pictures of him before, I didn't immediately realize that was him though I wasn't at all surprised that he was there, too. He has a round, friendly face and fine, feathery brown hair.
I introduced myself, saying I was a huge Last Unicorn fan. They both greeted me, and as soon as I realized it was Connor, I told him that I'm missy42 on lj. He seemed to recognize the screenname, and I explained to Mr. Beagle that I run a community that makes graphics based around The Last Unicorn. Connor actually helped me describe the purpose of dreamoftomarrow. This got me very excited, as I wasn't sure if he knew about dreamoftomarrow.
Connor asked if I was on the email list. I assured him that I was, otherwise I wouldn't have known that they were there. I commented to Mr. Beagle that Connor's great about keeping all us fans up-to-date on the world of Peter Beagle. We talked about how all the fans (myself included) are anxiously awaiting their special edition copies of Two Hearts and the Last Unicorn audio book. And then, Connor opened up about some very exciting news!
Evidently, there's some guy (I can't remember the name) who really loves Mr. Beagle's stories. When he heard that many of Mr. Beagle's older work is out of print, he decided that this just couldn't go on and agreed to fund new editions! With the profits from these, they're planning on putting the money into finally getting those copies of Two Hearts and good-quality audio books out to everyone who ordered them way back when. Connor acknowledged that it's a weird situation, but once they start getting money from the new book orders, they can start fulfilling the old book orders. A new Raven newsletter is due to come out sometime soon explaining all this (surely much better than I have) soon, but you heard it here first!
Mr. Beagle was pretty quiet - Connor did most of the talking. It was pretty clear Connor was the PR/Sales person and Mr. Beagle was the "face." Both of them were really nice. Mr. Beagle said that he had never seen the Last Unicorn shirt I was wearing and asked where I got it. It's from Hot Topic, and Connor told us it was some of the Granada licensing, which I hadn't known, so I started to feel a little guilty. Connor reassured me that it was okay, and encouraged me to keep wearing it. I also displayed my blue unicorns socks I was wearing (not Last Unicorn socks, just a generic unicorn, but also from Hot Topic).
I had Mr. Beagle sign my brother's copy of The Last Unicorn as well as mine. I also got the DVD, which he also signed - in three places. My friend snapped a few photos. I told them a little about the booth I was at and invited them to stop by if they had a break. They said they might. Connor again asked me if I was on the Raven mailing list, and I reminded him that I was. Then I went back to my booth, feeling very pleased. I kept squeeing sporadically for the rest of the day that I had met Peter S. Beagle!
I stopped by again on the last day of AX. toriem wanted to get me a little "thank you" for helping her out with the booth. The plan was that we'd walk around AX and she'd treat me to something in the $20 range. As I still wasn't much more into Anime than when I had gotten there, most of the stuff for sale held no interest for me. So immediately I knew I wanted something else from Mr. Beagle's collection.
By the last day, though, toriem was rushing to finish some commissions she had committed to before the expo ended, so we didn't get to stroll around together. Instead, she gave me the $20 and made it straight over to Mr. Beagle's table.
Connor was going over the controversy regarding Mr. Beagle's payments (or rather lack thereof) to some other people there, so I didn't talk to him quite this time around, but Mr. Beagle was much more talkative. I don't know if it was because I had been by before, or if it was because it was a little comfortable in those surroundings by the last day or what. Still, he's so soft-spoken that I had to lean in to hear him. I told him how I'd come across a little bit more money, and asked him which of his other books he'd recommend. The first one he pointed to was Tamsin.
"I've always been very fond of it," he told me. Someone at the Expo had mentioned earlier that The Unicorn Sonata was really good, so I asked him about it. He said it wasn't one of his favourites, so we moved on. He also pointed out a few others which were collections of short stories. (I think they might have been The Line Between and Strange Roads, but I could be wrong about that. Or maybe it was The Rhinoceros Who Quoted Nietzsche, I don't remember. Anyway....) I decided I was in the mood for a novel - though I was severely tempted by the prettyful The Last Unicorn deluxe edition.
Tamsin was $25, but I was more than willing to spare an extra $5. Mr. Beagle told me a little about the cats that inspired him for the cat characters in Tamsin, including one that "wanted nothing to do with other cats" and was one of the dogs, instead!
Connor did pause in his conversations with other fans to say that they were sorry they didn't have a chance to get over to the booth I was at, and asked me if I'd be around next year. As my friend raked in quite a bit of cash with her little crochet dolls, and we both enjoyed it, I told him we probably would be. So, we said we'd see each other next year, and maybe then they'd get a chance to see my booth.
If anyone's interested, I made Skyy the Bear, Kiwi and Cornflake kitties, another Kiwi kittie (not pictured) and a Super Mario Brothers Mushroom. I actually really surprised myself with the last one. Also check out toriem's Amigurumi MySpace page.
♥
x-posted to dreamoftomarrow, last_unicorn_, peterbeaglefans teambeagle the_last & missy42
Twice!
Okay, so I meant to post this a few weeks ago, but that didn't happen. Anyway, over the first weekend of July, toriem had a booth at the Anime Expo in L.A. that I agreed to help her out with. She was selling these crochet stuffed creatures she likes to make. Aside from Ranma 1/2, I'm not really into Anime. I've had a whole mess of housemates and friends in college who love it, and I tried to get into it, but Ranma's the only I've had success with. But, I figured it was a good experience, and I might even be able to sell a few of my things (which I did), and I could keep toriem company. As I was already planning on attending, when I got the latest Raven newsletter, I knew I'd have to stop by!
toriem and I were parked in Artists' Alley. I didn't make it over to his booth the first day of AX. But on the second day, July 4th, I donned my purple Last Unicorn shirt and tracked down Mr. Beagle with a friend of mine and toriem's who was keeping us company at our booth.
Mr. Beagle pretty much looks exactly like his pictures. He was sitting at a table behind stacks of his books, artwork based on The Last Unicorn and a display case piled high with Last Unicorn DVDs. I had to keep myself from drooling over the piles of books, because many of them are impossible to find in stores. I just wanted to take the whole lot, but I managed to restrain myself. Connor was there as well, but as I'd never seen pictures of him before, I didn't immediately realize that was him though I wasn't at all surprised that he was there, too. He has a round, friendly face and fine, feathery brown hair.
I introduced myself, saying I was a huge Last Unicorn fan. They both greeted me, and as soon as I realized it was Connor, I told him that I'm missy42 on lj. He seemed to recognize the screenname, and I explained to Mr. Beagle that I run a community that makes graphics based around The Last Unicorn. Connor actually helped me describe the purpose of dreamoftomarrow. This got me very excited, as I wasn't sure if he knew about dreamoftomarrow.
Connor asked if I was on the email list. I assured him that I was, otherwise I wouldn't have known that they were there. I commented to Mr. Beagle that Connor's great about keeping all us fans up-to-date on the world of Peter Beagle. We talked about how all the fans (myself included) are anxiously awaiting their special edition copies of Two Hearts and the Last Unicorn audio book. And then, Connor opened up about some very exciting news!
Evidently, there's some guy (I can't remember the name) who really loves Mr. Beagle's stories. When he heard that many of Mr. Beagle's older work is out of print, he decided that this just couldn't go on and agreed to fund new editions! With the profits from these, they're planning on putting the money into finally getting those copies of Two Hearts and good-quality audio books out to everyone who ordered them way back when. Connor acknowledged that it's a weird situation, but once they start getting money from the new book orders, they can start fulfilling the old book orders. A new Raven newsletter is due to come out sometime soon explaining all this (surely much better than I have) soon, but you heard it here first!
Mr. Beagle was pretty quiet - Connor did most of the talking. It was pretty clear Connor was the PR/Sales person and Mr. Beagle was the "face." Both of them were really nice. Mr. Beagle said that he had never seen the Last Unicorn shirt I was wearing and asked where I got it. It's from Hot Topic, and Connor told us it was some of the Granada licensing, which I hadn't known, so I started to feel a little guilty. Connor reassured me that it was okay, and encouraged me to keep wearing it. I also displayed my blue unicorns socks I was wearing (not Last Unicorn socks, just a generic unicorn, but also from Hot Topic).
I had Mr. Beagle sign my brother's copy of The Last Unicorn as well as mine. I also got the DVD, which he also signed - in three places. My friend snapped a few photos. I told them a little about the booth I was at and invited them to stop by if they had a break. They said they might. Connor again asked me if I was on the Raven mailing list, and I reminded him that I was. Then I went back to my booth, feeling very pleased. I kept squeeing sporadically for the rest of the day that I had met Peter S. Beagle!
I stopped by again on the last day of AX. toriem wanted to get me a little "thank you" for helping her out with the booth. The plan was that we'd walk around AX and she'd treat me to something in the $20 range. As I still wasn't much more into Anime than when I had gotten there, most of the stuff for sale held no interest for me. So immediately I knew I wanted something else from Mr. Beagle's collection.
By the last day, though, toriem was rushing to finish some commissions she had committed to before the expo ended, so we didn't get to stroll around together. Instead, she gave me the $20 and made it straight over to Mr. Beagle's table.
Connor was going over the controversy regarding Mr. Beagle's payments (or rather lack thereof) to some other people there, so I didn't talk to him quite this time around, but Mr. Beagle was much more talkative. I don't know if it was because I had been by before, or if it was because it was a little comfortable in those surroundings by the last day or what. Still, he's so soft-spoken that I had to lean in to hear him. I told him how I'd come across a little bit more money, and asked him which of his other books he'd recommend. The first one he pointed to was Tamsin.
"I've always been very fond of it," he told me. Someone at the Expo had mentioned earlier that The Unicorn Sonata was really good, so I asked him about it. He said it wasn't one of his favourites, so we moved on. He also pointed out a few others which were collections of short stories. (I think they might have been The Line Between and Strange Roads, but I could be wrong about that. Or maybe it was The Rhinoceros Who Quoted Nietzsche, I don't remember. Anyway....) I decided I was in the mood for a novel - though I was severely tempted by the prettyful The Last Unicorn deluxe edition.
Tamsin was $25, but I was more than willing to spare an extra $5. Mr. Beagle told me a little about the cats that inspired him for the cat characters in Tamsin, including one that "wanted nothing to do with other cats" and was one of the dogs, instead!
Connor did pause in his conversations with other fans to say that they were sorry they didn't have a chance to get over to the booth I was at, and asked me if I'd be around next year. As my friend raked in quite a bit of cash with her little crochet dolls, and we both enjoyed it, I told him we probably would be. So, we said we'd see each other next year, and maybe then they'd get a chance to see my booth.
If anyone's interested, I made Skyy the Bear, Kiwi and Cornflake kitties, another Kiwi kittie (not pictured) and a Super Mario Brothers Mushroom. I actually really surprised myself with the last one. Also check out toriem's Amigurumi MySpace page.
♥
x-posted to dreamoftomarrow, last_unicorn_, peterbeaglefans teambeagle the_last & missy42