Sleight of Hand [Paperback]

The lead-off story in this new collection is 'The Rock In The Park', one of a series of stories that Mr. Beagle wrote and narrated for the Green Man Review podcasts (They're all still online so go over and take a listen!). Each podcast relates a fantasy tale set in the 1940s-1950s revolving around a young Jewish lad (someone we know?) and his friends. This one is one of the best, dealing with the boys meeting up with a family of lost centaurs in a Bronx park.

The title tale, 'Sleight Of Hand', is a semi-autobiographical story that deals with wish fulfillment and a unique form of time travel. This is the type of story that has a way of sneaking up on you.

'The Children Of The Shark God' is a crackerjack story set in the Hawaiian isles before the coming of the white man. A brother and sister discover their father is the legendary Shark God and embark on a quest to find him and ask why he left their mother and them to fend for themselves.

'The Best Worst Monster' is a short and previously unpublished tale originally intended for a children's book. It relates the story of a mad scientist, a la Victor Frankenstein, who creates a monster to avenge the petty slights he's endured throughout the years. However, his monster has a bit more conscience in him than his creator intended.

'What Tune The Enchantress Plays' is a classic fairy tale, set in the world of 'The Innkeeper's Song' and deals with the conflict between a sorceress mother and her enchantress daughter. The differences between the two women's brands of magic are crucial.

'La Lune T'attend' is a werewolf tale set in bayou country. The heroes are two elderly men (one white, one black) who are both tight friends and werewolves and who face a menace they thought they'd eliminated decades earlier. The evil is back, however, and hot on their, and their human families, trail.

'Up The Down Beanstalk' is a tale written for a YA anthology that deals with someone who isn't quite as happy with Jack the Giantkiller as he is himself.

'The Rabbi's Hobby' is the best story here and one of Beagle's best ever. A boy and his Rabbi discover a mysterious woman who keeps popping up in a series of old photos from magazines decades old. The two embark on a search for the alluring woman which leads them to a new friend and an old tragedy. Simply haunting.

'Oakland Dragon Blues' is a fast paced and funny tale involving an Oakland cop and Mr. Beagle himself dealing with a dragon created by a slightly too vivid and somewhat pre-occupied imagination.

'The Bridge Partner' is previously unpublished and a change of pace for Beagle as it is a straight crime story with no hint of fantasy. Still and all, it's one of the strongest stories in this collection, bringing to mind the dark crime stylings of Ray Bradbury, Stephen King and John D. MacDonald while remaining resolutely a Peter Beagle tale.

'Dirae' is a warrior woman story, although the woman in question is bed-ridden and in a coma. The prose is a little tricky at the beginning but stick with it and this strong story's rewards will also stick with you.

'Vanishing' is another strong entry, dealing with a man who has let incidents occurring in his youth at the Berlin Wall color, stain and largely destroy his family and his life. One day, sitting in a hospital waiting room, he gets a chance to revisit those memories at an eerie Ellisonian version of the Wall. What he encounters there may just show him the path to redemption.

The final entry is a never before published solo story featuring Schmendrick (this tale takes place before the events in The Last Unicorn). It's called 'The Woman Who Married The Man In The Moon'. A wandering Schmendrick meets a young girl and boy and their mother, who tells him the story of the children's missing father. This is a warm, poetic, and meaningful story to end this volume with and it's one of Beagle's best tales to boot.

All in all, this is an excellent collection--a worthy successor to the previous collections which include The Rhinoceros Who Quoted Nietzsche, The Line Between and We Never Talk About My Brother (all still in print--look for them!). Beagle has been conjuring a whirlwind of beautifully rendered short stories in the last seven years. It's also some of the best work of his career. This collection is an stunning example of his talent and sense of wonder. Highly recommended!!!

This anthology contains thirteen fascinating "family" fantasies in which three have not been published before; one was released as a podcast; and the remaining released in the last four years. The collection is terrific though my personal favorite is "The Rock In The Park" from (the Green Man Review podcast) as Montefiore, Gun Hill Road, Jerome Avenue (with the el) and Van Cortland remind me of growing up in a more mundane household in the 1950s and 1960s in the Bronx. I suggest reading back to back the whimsical title tale in which nurturing love is the strongest magical bond and its counterweight of smothering magical love is its only equal in "What Tune the Enchantress Plays". Other super strong entries include the dark crime thriller "The Bridge Partner", the aftermath of Jack's homicide in "Up The Down Beanstalk" and "The Rabbi's Hobby" as a child and his Rabbi notice a woman appearing magazine photos from decades ago. Whether it is New York, Hawaii ("The Children Of The Shark God") or "Oakland Dagon Blues (in which Mr. Beagle co-stars), these are all winners; topped off by the opening act of Schmendrick prior to The Last Unicorn in "The Woman Who Married The Man In The Moon".

Harriet Klausner

I'm not much of a fan of short stories because I always want more story. This compilation though was truly fantastic. I liked each and every story in this collection. Not only did I like them, I found each one to be thought-provoking although there were a couple which stood out as the best.

The magic in each story is different and some of it is more subtle than in other stories, but all of them have the feel of a master storyteller behind them. There is a foreword for each story with some background about how the story came to be written, and even the stories where Messir Beagle says he didn't feel was in his zone of comfort for writing were artfully spun.

If you're looking for a collection of short stories which will touch you emotionally as well as intellectually, you should definitely pick up Sleight of Hand.

Copy Courtesy of Tachyon Publications