Support Peter S. Beagle

A Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America 2018 Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master, Beagle’s best-known work is “The Last Unicorn”, a fantasy novel, which Locus Magazine subscribers voted the number five “All-Time Best Fantasy Novel” in 1987. A prolific and multi-award winning author, the 81-year old’s “The Last Unicorn” was included in TIME’s list of “100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time,” published in October 2020. TIME describes these books as “the most engaging, inventive and influential works of fantasy fiction, in chronological order beginning in the 9th century.” The IP spans the entire breadth of the acclaimed author’s decades-long career and includes newer works that have never been seen by the public.

In 2015 Peter Beagle sued his ex-manager. After four difficult years, in July 2019 the Superior Court of California issued a judgement in Beagle’s favor. According to the decision, Beagle won on four out of six causes that went to trial: “financial elder abuse (which Plaintiff also characterized as “elder abuse – constructive fraud”); Fraud; Breach of Fiduciary Duty; and Defamation (Slander).” Kathleen Hunt, Beagle’s attorney in the case said, “We sued because Peter had suffered from a host of injuries including fraud and breach of fiduciary duty. When the trial was about to begin – actually hours before we were scheduled to be in Court – his ex-manager filed for bankruptcy.” Hunt, Beagle’s estate planning lawyer, stepped up and took on the case pro bono after it became increasingly clear that Beagle was being abused. The Court decided to bifurcate some of the bankruptcy matters from the claims made in the original case. “First we won the trial, and then Peter and I followed his ex-manager right to the Bankruptcy Court. Peter wanted his reputation and his life’s work back. I couldn’t be happier” added Hunt.

James “Jamie” Null, a partner at Loeb & Loeb’s Capital Markets and Corporate practice in New York City, coordinated Beagle’s representation in the bankruptcy matter. Null said, “While it is a sad commentary that it took Peter so many years to get back what he already had, we are delighted to be looking forward to advising on the wonderful possibilities that come with reintroducing millions of new readers and viewers to the amazing world that Peter created.” Loeb & Loeb’s strong and deep core competencies in a variety of areas, including Bankruptcy (particularly with respect to publishing and media assets,) library acquisitions, copyright and artist estate planning allowed the case to get to the finish line. Null began the multi-year bankruptcy process with his Eversheds Sutherland colleague at the time, William Dudzinksy. “There was a significant and dedicated years-long group effort — including attorneys and other fellow travelers like Lauren Sands –– to give back to Peter some measure of control and the economics to the vast majority of his life’s work,” added Null. “It is somewhat unique in the media space to have such a complete body of an author’s work, where the author has real creative input and a dedicated and experienced group of partners and advisors that are respectful of the works and author while also being practical business minded professionals,” continued Null. The bankruptcy case has allowed Beagle indirectly to retain a significant part of his IP, and to reacquire certain rights with respect to The Last Unicorn, including author-driven sequels.

For Peter Beagle, his journey over the past several years has reinforced the dangers of elder abuse and the urgent need to shine a spotlight on this far too common and sinister crime. Older people, and often older writers, can be easy targets, particularly individuals whose age might make them more susceptible to claims that they’re in cognitive decline. These types of insidious suggestions and claims – notions that someone has dementia or looks like “they’re losing it” — serve to reinforce typical fears, creating and heightening self-doubt even when it is not warranted. The result can be terrifying for any vulnerable older person. The risk for the elderly is great when confronted by someone like Beagle’s former manager who, as described by the Superior Court of California in Beagle’s case, “…presents as an extremely intelligent, articulate, overly-aggressive hustler and pitchman…[with]…a flair for the dramatic that is at best loosely based in truth.”

“I’ve known older people who were seriously abused,” said Beagle. “So I can understand, on a bad day, the self-doubt, the terror. Writers don’t know how we do what we do. We don’t know what it was that came and then left us. That makes it awfully easy for us to believe the doubt even when it shouldn’t be there.”

One of Beagle’s future projects will be to advocate and raise awareness about elder abuse, with plans for the creation of a non-profit to address this issue in the works. But Beagle’s focus right now is on getting down to business, working in partnership with SHP to explore new projects based upon his extensive library of works, now back within his creative control, and continuing to write new material. “I’m going to be working. For me, that’s perfect. There are so many possibilities. This feels like a rebirth. I’m not only still here, I’m more still here.”

You can find out more at his new website here.

Sixty years ago, Peter S. Beagle’s A Fine and Private Place was first published in hardcover by Viking Press which simply says “First published in 1960” on the copyright page. (ISFDB doesn’t list an exact date either. However, it was mentioned twice in the New York Times in May 1960.) Clute at the Encyclopaedia of Fantasy calls it “a Supernatural Fiction in chamber-opera form“.

Published before he turned twenty one, it’s been in print since, along with The Last Unicorn. It is a very well written novel for a first time author. Though it won no Awards itself, it certainly contributed towards his World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement and Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master awards.

Charles de Lint says of it that, “A Fine and Private Place is just as wonderful as I remembered it to be: beautifully written, the characters warmly drawn, the pages filled with conversations that range the gamut of the human condition. In these days of everything coming in quick sound bites, at a faster and faster pace, Beagleís novel might seem quaint as it takes its time to tell its story. But you know, thereís a reason that people still read Dickens and Austin, and there’s a reason they’ll appreciate this book: quality counts.“

I was not at all surprised to learn that Connor Cochran and his Ariosto companies filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on January 4, just one day before trial was scheduled to begin in Peter‘s lawsuit against his former manager.

As you likely knew by know, Peter’s sued Cochran in 2015 for $52 million in damages, disgorgement of illegal gains and restitution, and to dissolve the two corporations he co-owns with Cochran, Avicenna Development Corporation, and Conlan Press.

Cochran filed with United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California. The details are public record. Needless to say the trial against he who I call the Rat Bastard (a term he told me in an email he thinks is unfair) is delayed.

As Peter’s lawsuit against his former manager gets closer to its January court date, look for the public filings to start coming closer together. This latest filing is detailed and really illuminating read.

You can read the filing here.