More Fine & Private Places

A Fine and Private Place has recently been reviewed on SF Site. Dick Lupoff talked to Peter about the book, and closes with this lovely anecdote:

"Over a cold beverage and a hot bowl of chili, Peter Beagle recently told me how he came to write A Fine and Private Place. He was just 19 years old at the time, the length of time that Mr. Rebeck spent in that cemetery. He was working as a counselor at a boys' summer camp. Once the campers were settled for the night there wasn't much for the counselors to do. Those who had sweethearts at the girls' camp across the lake would borrow canoes and paddle across to see them. Peter had no such luck, he told me, so he warmed up his rattly little portable typewriter, cracked open a ream of paper, and starting writing a book.

We are all incredibly lucky that Peter had no girlfriend that summer."

Yes, we are.

Holiday pick: A Fine and Private Place

A heartfelt compliment for A Fine & Private Place on the Amazon bookstore blog, Omnivoracious, per the intrepid - and insanely busy - Jeff VanderMeer: "I can't think of a better book to buy for someone you love this holiday season."

Turns out that A Fine and Private Place is one of Jeff's favorite books. Other reviewers have said the same. It's Peter S. Beagle's first novel, an elegiac, witty, gorgeously-written book that endures as a classic. Get a copy or three for the literary romantics in your life.

Thankfulness and giving it

I'm not going to make a huge deal about this, because I'm a touch cynical about the looming hegemony of The Holidays(tm). But it is that time of year, and my pretending otherwise is a missed opportunity to be gracious and all that. So on reflection, the two things we have most to be thankful about at Tachyon are:

1) Avoiding the catastrophic loss of our entire operation. A pox on careless construction workers and their errant cigarette butts, and all due praise to the fantastic (and yes, sexy) San Francisco Fire Department. We're all OK, the books are all OK, but we were very lucky.

2) The folks we work with. I fear that a laundry list is impersonal, so I'll simply give a heartfelt thanks to all of you. It takes a village to raise a book, especially an independent press book. Our village is simply the best; we couldn't ask for more from them.

So have a happy Thanksgiving, dammit. Remember that nothing you eat on a holiday has any calories. It's a scientific fact.

Jill