April 01, 2011

March Bestsellers

Hardcovers
1) Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss
2) The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
3) Boilerplate: History's Mechanical Marvel by Paul Guinan and Anina Bennett
4) The Crippled God by Steven Erikson
5) Hellhole by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson
6) The Adventures of the Princess and Mr. Whiffle by Pat Rothfuss
7) Scratch Monkey by Charles Stross
8) The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie
9) Daybreak Zero by John Barnes
10) Pale Demon by Kim Harrison

Paperbacks
1) Late Eclipses by Seanan McGuire
2) Soulless by Gail Carriger
3) Blameless by Gail Carriger
4) Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire
5) Feed by Mira Grant
6) Changeless by Gail Carriger
7) An Artificial Night by Seanan McGuire
8) Dead Waters by Anton Strout
9) Zoo City by Lauren Beukes
10) Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie tie with License to Ensorcell by Katharine Kerr

Trade Paperbacks
1) The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
2) Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
3) Dreadnought by Cherie Priest
4) The Crippled God by Steven Erikson
5) Kraken by China Mievielle tie with Soft Apocalypse by Will McIntosh

Overheard at Potlatch

This is a feature that appears periodically, as we attend conventions and overhear things.  The tradition of keeping track of anonymous overheard bits and bobs started for us at the 2002 ConJose in San Jose, where trying (or trying not to) fill in the blanks on overheard conversations made us laugh so much that we made it a tradition. Since we attended three conventions in March, we're going to spread out the "overheards" over a couple of months so we don't overwhelm you.  These are the things we overheard at Potlatch, the first weekend of March.

"So he's sitting there, tremendously urbane, and there's this...wombat!"

"You head for the sign that says 'Sporty's Bikini Bar' & you'll find the cheese paratha."

"I am a writer; I like to lie!"

"Check out this masive steampunk breastpump we had at the hospital!"

"Can that be their war cry? 'Greek Fire, Yo!'?"

April News Roundup

*You may have noticed a silence from Borderlands over the last few months.  Don't worry, we're still here!  We were in the process of doing some major computer and service provider changes, and now everything is (cross fingers!) running smoothly again.

*It is also possible that you're getting this newsletter for the first time in a long time.  Some of the changes we've made should allow folks to get this newsletter who have been blocked by their service providers in the past.  As it always has been, this is an opt-in list.  If you would like to be removed from the list, please reply to this email and put "remove" in the subject line.  We'll take you off the list immediatly.

*March was really crazy, with three conventions, two gigantic author events, lots of other events, and a partridge in a pear tree -- okay, not really.  April and May are chock-full of authors too, and the summer promises even more fun, with the likes of Jaqueline Carey and Steve Englehart.

* This is mostly of interest to writers and publishers, but regular folks might be curious, too -- this website lets you see Amazon sales numbers for books: <http://www.novelrank.com/>

* Thanks to Pat Murphy of the Tiptree Motherboard for alerting us: "The James Tiptree, Jr. Literary Award Council is pleased to announce that the 2010 Tiptree Award is being given to BABA YAGA LAID AN EGG, by Dubravka Ugresic."  What is the Tiptree Award, you ask? See here for more info <http://tiptree.org/>.

* We are very sorry to report the death of author Diana Wynne Jones at the age of 76.  She was a tremendous talent and the genre is poorer for her loss.

* We are also very sorry to report the death of April Derleth, daughter of August Derleth and co-owner of Arkham House publishers, at the age of 56.  We all liked April very much and she will be greatly missed.