October 29, 2012

Cowboy vs. Dracula in Hong Kong & London

What the staff is reading this week:

Alan: "Back to NOS4A2 by Joe Hill after being distracted by non-fiction quack medicine."

Cary: "COWBOY FENG'S SPACE BAR AND GRILLE by Steven Brust."

Claud: "DRACULA CHA CHA CHA, by Kim Newman (reread); MRS. POLLIFAX ON THE CHINA STATION and MRS. POLLIFAX AND THE HONG KONG BUDDHA, by Dorothy Gilman (rereads)."

Heather: "BEST SERVED COLD by Joe Abercrombie."

Jude: "I'm trying to decide between LONDON FALLING by Paul Cornell and AMERICAN ELSEWHERE by Robert Jackson Bennett.  I think the UK is going to triumph for now."

October 26, 2012

Spellcrossed, Fairy-Tale Cold Hydrogen Safari

What the staff is reading this week:

Alan:"CHARLATAN: AMERICA'S MOST DANGEROUS HUCKSTER, THE MAN WHO PURSUED HIM, AND THE AGE OF FLIMFLAM by Pope Brock.  Non-fiction about the scariest quack doctor of the 20th century. Compelling and absolutely horrible."

Cary: "SPELLCROSSED by Barbara Ashford."

Claud:"SOME KIND OF FAIRY TALE, by Graham Joyce; A PALM FOR MRS. POLLIFAX and MRS. POLLIFAX ON SAFARI, by Dorothy Gilman (re-reads); and SMILLA'S SENSE OF SNOW, by Peter Hoeg (another re-read)."

Heather: "Starting BEST SERVED COLD by Joe Abercrombie. :)"

Jude: "I've come back to HYDROGEN SONATA by Iain M. Banks after having been distracted for a while."

October 18, 2012

Duplicate Elusive Spellcast Farm Cat Comedy

What the staff is reading this week:

Alan: "About to start NOS4A2 by Joe Hill.  Very much looking forward to it."

Cary:"SPELLCAST by Barbara Ashford."

Claud: "TOWARD AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL THEORY OF VALUE: THE FALSE COIN OF OUR OWN DREAMS, by David Graeber; DUPLICATE DEATH, by Georgette Heyer (reread); THE UNEXPECTED MRS. POLLIFAX, THE AMAZING MRS. POLLIFAX, and THE ELUSIVE MRS. POLLIFAX, by Dorothy Gilman (rereads); and DARK CONTINENT: EUROPE'S TWENTIETH CENTURY, by Mark Mazower."

Heather: "I bought HOW TO TELL IF YOUR CAT IS PLOTTING TO KILL YOU by The Oatmeal which I read today. Took about 15 minutes. :) "

Jude: "I just finished COMEDY AT THE EDGE: HOW STAND-UP IN THE 1970's CHANGED AMERICA by Richard Zoglin and last night started CAPOTE: A BIOGRAPHY by Gerald Clarke.  I've also got THE FARM by Emily McKay staring at me balefully from my desk, waiting to be read."

October 10, 2012

September Bestsellers

Hardcovers
1. The Blinding Knife by Brent Weeks
2. Forge of Darkness by Steven Erikson
3. Devil Said Bang by Richard Kadrey
4. The Rapture of the Nerds by Cory Doctorow and Charles Stross
5. Slow Apocalypse by John Varley
6. Adaptation by Malinda Lo
7. Midst Toil and Tribulation by David Weber
8. Zero Point by Neal Asher
9. Dragon Ship by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
10. Dirty Streets of Heaven by Tad Williams

Mass Market Paperbacks
1. Ashes of Honor by Seanan McGuire
2. Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
3. Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin
4. Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
5. Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin
6. Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin
7. Feed by Mira Grant
8. Children of the Sky by Vernor Vinge
9. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
10. Tears of the Sun by S.M. Stirling

Trade Paperbacks
1. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
2. Aloha From Hell by Richard Kadrey
3. For the Win by Cory Doctorow
4. The Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks
5. Distrust That Particular Flavor by William Gibson

September News Roundup

* Borderlands Cafe (the Cafe, NOT the bookstore) is hiring, and we'd love to hire a customer.  Please email office@borderlands-books.com for details if you're interested before sending a resume.

*The Rebound Bookstore sent us the following, which may be of interest to budding writers: "North Bay Workshop for serious Sci-fi and fantasy writers (short story, novel or film treatment,) with an interest in publication.  Small group will meet once a month on a weekday evening, read about 5-8 minutes of a piece.  Group will fill out professional editors’ style crit. sheet and then discuss the piece. Writer will then revise piece based on critiques that she/he accepts and read it for the group again.  General discussion will follow including talking about getting an agent, getting publication, self publishing, etc.  7:00 -9:30 one week night a month.  Contact Rebound Bookstore at reboundbookstore@aol.com or call 415-482-0550 for questions or sign ups. As soon as we have 5-6 committed members we will begin."

* Michael Swanwick is serializing a story, one sentence at a time, until Halloween at his blog: http://www.floggingbabel.blogspot.com/2012/09/from-ghoulies-and-ghosties-long.html

* Author Junot Diaz talks about why genre fiction gets so little respect: http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/culture/2012/09/6537008/junot-diaz-imperfect-perfection-novel-and-why-genre-fiction-gets-so-

* We're very sorry to report the death of author Adam Niswander on August 12th.  Gary A. Braunbeck wrote this moving tribute for Locus Magazine: http://www.locusmag.com/Roundtable/2012/09/appreciation-for-adam-niswander-1946-2012/

October Upcoming Events

SF in SF LitQuake event at The Variety Preview Room in the Hobart Building (582 Market St.): Epic! Legends of Fantasy with Ken Scholes, Andrew Mayer and Tad Williams, Friday, October 12th at 7:00 pm

LitQuake Litcrawl at Borderlands Books and Borderlands Cafe, Saturday, October 13th at 7:15 pm, with authors Cassie Alexander, S.G. Browne, Seth Harwood, and Seanan McGuire in the bookstore, and Saturday, October 13th at 8:30 pm authors Terry Bisson, Claire Light, Madeleine Robins, and Naamen Tilahun in the Cafe

Gregory Benford and Larry Niven, BOWL OF HEAVEN (Tor, Hardcover, $25.99) Monday, October 22nd at 7:00 pm

Borderlands' Fifteenth Anniversary Party and Sale, Saturday, November 3rd from noon to 7:00 pm.

S.G. Browne, I SAW ZOMBIES EATING SANTA CLAUS: A BREATHERS CHRISTMAS CAROL (Gallery Books, Hardcover, $14.99) Saturday, November 10th at 3:00 pm

SF in SF at the Variety Preview Room in the Hobart Building (582 Market Street) with authors Cecelia Holland and Kim Stanley Robinson, Saturday, November 10th at 7:00 pm

Max Gladstone, THREE PARTS DEAD (Tor, Hardcover, $24.99) and Ben Macallan, PANDAEMONIUM (Solaris, Mass Market, $8.99), Saturday, November 17th at 3:00 pm

An Evening with Patrick Rothfuss: A Reading, Q&A and Signing, Monday, November 19th at 7:00 pm

Details after the break

October 08, 2012

Thousands of Golden Kingdoms, Zero Homelands for Infidels

What the staff is reading this week:

Alan: "Deeply engrossed in ZERO POINT, Neal Asher's sequel to THE DEPARTURE.  I'm liking it, especially the characterization of the villain.  She's a very nasty piece of work but there are real, believable motivations and reasons for her actions."

Cary: "An advance copy of HOMELAND by Cory Doctorow."

Claud: "THE HUNDRED THOUSAND KINGDOMS, THE BROKEN KINGDOMS, and THE KINGDOM OF GODS, by N.K. Jemisin, and THEY FOUND HIM DEAD, by Georgette Heyer (reread)."

Jude: "I just blew through an uncorrected manuscript copy of Joe Hill's next book NOS4A2.  This is a brilliant book about a very bad man and his very bad car, and one very unconventional & persistent heroine."

Naamen: "Just finished a reread of THE GOLDEN COMPASS by Phillip Pullman. I really love the world he builds in this book and Lyra is probably one of my favorite YA heroines. Currently almost finished with MIDNIGHT RIOT by Ben Aaronovitch: a really interesting and fun Urban Fantasy. I love it even though I get the feeling that at least half of the hilarity of the book is going over my head because of a lack of familiarity with British culture. Can't wait to read the sequels. About to start a reread of the first two books in Kameron Hurley's the Bel Dame Apocrypha series - GOD'S WAR & INFIDEL- since the third one, RAPTURE, is about to come out."