The scary, lush, and complex stories of a seminal fantasy author are presented in this retrospective collection. In "The Unicorn Tapestry," a therapist finds herself transformed by a client who may be a vampire. A young girl discovers the pitfalls of puberty and an animal nature in "Boobs"; an unlikely shaman finds protection in an unwilling ally in "Peregrines"; and in the dark retelling of the two fairy tales "Beauty and the Opéra or The Phantom Beast," a tempestuous maestro meets his equal. Also included are two of Charnas's essays, "Art Is Long," an insightful and entertaining look at the unusual process of writing a four-book trilogy, and "The Stagestruck Vampire," an autobiographical look at the author as a playwright.