Peter: It’s a paradox, because on the one hand of course I’m immensely pleased. But on the other I’m terribly aware that some of the other people who won Hugos and Nebulas this year had been nominated nine or ten times before finally winning. I was obviously very lucky to win both awards my first time around. The thing is, though, when you’ve been writing for nearly five decades, as I have, awards don’t mean quite as much as they would have when I was younger. Now I’m thrilled and delighted, of course! But then I think okay, fun’s fun, time to get back to work. In both cases I had convinced myself that somebody else was going to win. And in the case of the Nebula, two of the people I was going up against were old friends of mine, so my head is still full of congratulatory things I want to say to them.

Connor: One of the wonderful aspects of your Hugo win was that up on the stage with you that night was Betty Ballantine, the person who chose The Last Unicorn and A Fine and Private Place as the launch titles in the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series.

Peter: That was magic. I hadn’t seen Betty, whom I once knew very well, since her husband Ian’s death. But in the old days I used to visit her and Ian whenever I could, and loved asking them questions about their history, because they essentially invented the American paperback industry. And there was Betty on stage at the Hugo Awards, 87 years old, in a gold lamé dress, as beautiful as any woman I’ve ever seen. I remember looking at her and thinking “It’s true, what they say. At 20 years old you’ve got the face God gave you; at 30 years old you’ve got the face you’ve been making for yourself; and after 40, you’ve got the face you deserve.” Which explains exactly why she was so beautiful that night, and why I was thrilled to have my picture taken with her.

Connor: Now that you are an award-winner there’s all sorts of new activity spinning up around The Last Unicorn, some of it specifically made possible by “Two Hearts.” There is a new deluxe hardcover edition. Roc is making plans for a special new 40th anniversary trade paperback. We’ve got two different graphic novel adaptations of The Last Unicorn in the works, one in American comic style and the other in Japanese Manga style. There might even be some hope of more movie action, thanks to the leverage “Two Hearts” pulls out of certain obscure clauses in your old film contract, plus the public attention that’s been brought to the way you’ve been stiffed out of your contractual share of the animated film’s earnings.

Peter: That would be nice‌—‌getting paid what you’re owed is always good‌—‌but I’ve been around the movie business too long to bank on it. My focus has to stay on the one thing that’s purely mine, which is the writing. Right now I’ve got one novel to polish and two new ones to finish, not to mention a bunch of story commitments, and then I’ll be coming back to the world of The Last Unicorn one more time.