This version is published as a limited edition by Suberranean Press and entitled: The Last Unicorn: The Lost Version. The original story was set in modern times and the unicorn is accompanied by a two-headed demon named Webster and Azazel. The result was an 85 page manuscript that needed much revision and polish. Beagle also stated that a painting by artist Marcial Rodriguez about unicorns fighting bulls added to the mix. The idea for The Last Unicorn intuitively appeared in his mind, it was inspired by all the fantasy tales he had loved during his childhood and by the book The Colt by Dorothy Lathrop.

The idea came to him during an artistic retreat in Berkshire Hills after Viking Press had rejected one of his novels. The Last Unicorn took Beagle two years to write and he found it a difficult process. To support himself and his new family, Beagle wrote more short stories and novels, including his popular book The Last Unicorn. He and Enid moved in together and married. He and a friend began a cross-country motorscooter journey that he would chronicle in his memoir I See By My Outfit. When the workshop ended, he bummed around the Eastern United States until he realized he would rather be with Enid who lived in California. He graduated with a degree in creative writing, a minor in Spanish language, and retained his passion for writing.Īfter a year abroad, he returned to the States and enrolled in a writing workshop at Stanford University where he met Enid, whom he would later marry. The prize was a college scholarship that sent him to the creative writing program at the University of Pittsburgh.īeagle continued to create, prolifically turning out stories such as A Fine and Private Place and took first place at Seventeen Magazine’s short story contest with a tale called Telephone Call. Beagle entered a poem into this magazine’s Scholastic Writing Awards Contest and took first place.

He was a contributor to his high school literary magazine and his work there caught the interest of the fiction editor of Seventeen Magazine. He was a heavy reader from an early age and was encouraged by his parents to pursue his interests in becoming a writer. Beagle was born and raised in New York City.

The last unicorn the lost version