I have this poster for the movie “The Last Unicorn” in my living room. I think it’s a cheap reprint or something. In like 2009, I wanted to redecorate our apartment, and I thought it would be cool to have some posters from animated movies I loved as a kid. (I also bought posters for “The Secret of NIMH” and “The Rescuers Down Under.” And I stand by all three choices.)

I mentioned this poster to Last Unicorn author Peter S. Beagle a couple weeks ago, when he was in Seattle. He offered to come over to my house and sign it. I think his exact words were “I’ll go anywhere for a hot meal.”

What happened in between started with a tweet.

Without @petersbeagle there would have been no Marigold Heavenly Nostrils. #NoLongerTheLASTUnicorn

— Dana C. Simpson (@MizDanaClaire) January 24, 2013

It’s entirely true. In The Last Unicorn, Peter sort of…created my idea of unicorns. I mean, he was building on a long mythological tradition, but as far as anyone can tell he invented the female unicorn, a fact he mentions in the introduction he wrote for the Heavenly Nostrils book. And while I was designing Marigold, a copy of the Last Unicorn graphic novel from 2010 lived on my desk, and still does. (Peter has since signed it.) So on that particular day almost two years ago, I decided, more or less randomly, that I would declare that to the tweetoverse.   Which led to the following exchange:  

@MizDanaClaire I’m sending Peter the link to your work right now. Thanks!! — Peter S. Beagle (@petersbeagle) January 24, 2013

@petersbeagle I think my heart just briefly stopped. Thank you. 🙂

— Dana C. Simpson (@MizDanaClaire) January 24, 2013

@MizDanaClaire Peter asked me to tell you that he likes your comic and he’ll be following it! — Peter S. Beagle (@petersbeagle) January 24, 2013

@petersbeagle Please tell Peter that has made my day, week, decade and year. <3 Been a fan since I was little.

— Dana C. Simpson (@MizDanaClaire) January 24, 2013

@MizDanaClaire Will do! — Peter S. Beagle (@petersbeagle) January 24, 2013

Things only got better from there. In the next few days, Peter’s business manager, Connor Cochran, contacted me, and asked me if I’d like to have Peter write the introduction to my forthcoming book. I had been saying, for months, that my two dream choices for that task were Peter S. Beagle, and Lauren Faust. I sort of thought I was being unrealistic, but evidently not.

He also told me about the upcoming Last Unicorn Screening Tour, and invited me to the premeire, which would be the first of many appearances I would end up making with the tour, promoting my strip and my book. (It’s still going on, and I’m still appearing, when it’s convenient.)

I’ve since come to consider Peter, and Connor, and a number of the other people on the tour, good friends. Sometimes life is unexpectedly awesome.