May Upcoming Events

Valencia Corridor Sidewalk Sale Private Preview,  Saturday, May 11th from 9:00 am - 11:30 am

Valencia Corridor Sidewalk Sale, Saturday, May 11th from 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm

SF in SF with authors Austin Grossman and Robin Sloan (in the Variety Preview Room at the Hobart Building, 582 Market Street, San Francisco), Saturday, May 11th at 7:00 pm

The Pub From Another World Preview, Sunday, May 12th at 3:00 pm

John Scalzi, THE HUMAN DIVISION (Tor, Hardcover, $25.99), Wednesday, May 15th at 7:00 pm

SF in SF featuring Connie Willis and Gene Wolfe (in the Market Room at the Hilton San Jose, 300 Almaden Blvd. San Jose, CA 95110), Thursday, May 16th at 7:00 pm

Mass Autographing Session at the Nebula Awards, (in the Winchester Room at the Hilton San Jose, 300 Almaden Blvd. San Jose, CA), Friday, May 17th from 5:30 - 7:30 pm

Mary Robinette Kowal, WITHOUT A SUMMER (Tor, Hardcover, $24.99 ) and Susan Palwick, MENDING THE MOON (Tor, Hardcover, $24.99), Monday, May 20th at 7:00 pm

Annalee Newitz, SCATTER, ADAPT, AND REMEMBER: HOW HUMANS WILL SURVIVE A MASS EXTINCTION (Doubleday, Hardcover, $26.95), Saturday, June 1st at 3:00 pm

Lauren Beukes, THE SHINING GIRLS (Mullholland Books, Hardcover, $26.00), Friday, June 7th at 7:00 pm

Hannu Rajaniemi, THE FRACTAL PRINCE (Tor Books, Hardcover, $25.99), Friday, June 14th at 7:00 pm

Details after the break

Valencia Corridor Sidewalk Sale Private Preview, Saturday, May 11th from 9:00 am - 11:30 am - Many merchants along Valencia Street are offering special deals as part of the Sidewalk Sale, and we're no exception!  We'll have tons of books at super-low sale prices.  However, we want you, our customers, to get the first crack at our sale items, so we're hosting a private sale in the bookstore before the Sidewalk Sale officially starts. In addition a crazy deal on clearance books (a price lower than they'll be offered to the general public), we'll also be giving a 20% discount on all the books in our new mystery section along with a 10% discount on everything else in the store.

How crazy is the deal on clearance books?  How about this: clearance hardcovers -- $1, clearance trade paperbacks -- two for $1, clearance mass markets -- just ten cents each or a dozen for $1.  Plus, you'll get a free chapbook with every purchase.  And, just in case that wasn't enough, they'll be no sales tax on clearance items!  If you want to come to the sale, please enter through the cafe, come to the connecting doorway and give the password - "Tunafish".  We'll let you in and you can shop before we put all the remaining sale titles out for the Unwashed Masses!

Valencia Corridor Sidewalk Sale, Saturday, May 11th from 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm - The Valencia Corridor Sidewalk Sale is a relatively new event, where dozens of Valencia Street merchants offer special sales and discounts for one day.  We'll be doing a big clearance sale of the stock we removed to make room for the mystery section.  These are not "bad" books . . . well, some of them are . . . but many of them are books that, for whatever reason, just didn't sell quickly enough.  There are quite a few titles from small presses like Ash-Tree, Delirium, Cemetery Dance and Subterranean as well as a huge assortment of SF and fantasy paperbacks.  In addition to our sale, you'll find great deals and special events all up and down Valencia St, especially from some of our favorite neighbors: Back to the Picture, Glama-Rama Salon, Lost Weekend Video, Mission Comics & Art, and many, many others!  More info here: http://www.valenciastreetsf.com/

SF in SF with authors Austin Grossman and Robin Sloan (in the Variety Preview Room at the Hobart Building, 582 Market Street, San Francisco),  Saturday, May 11th at 7:00 pm - We are happy to help SF in SF welcome these authors!  Each author will read a selection from their work, followed by Q&A from the audience moderated by author Terry Bisson.  Authors will schmooze & sign books after in the lounge. Books available for sale courtesy of Borderlands Books.  Seating is limited, so first come, first seated.  Bar proceeds benefit Variety Children's Charity - learn more at <http://www.varietync.org/>.  We REALLY encourage you to take BART into the City, or use MUNI to get here - parking can be problematic in San Francisco, to say the least.  We are less than one block away from the Montgomery St. station.  Trust us - you don't want to be looking for parking and be late for the event!  Phone (night of (night of event) 415-572-1015.  Questions? Email sfinsfevents@gmail.com.

The Pub From Another World Preview, Sunday, May 12th at 3:00 pm -  San Francisco Theater Pub presents a special preview reading of a selection of plays from The Pub from Another World, a night of short sci-fi/fantasy/horror plays about everything from superheroes to unicorns, time travelers to mad scientists, and everything in between.  Get a taste of these original plays by local writers, and don’t miss the main event <https://sftheaterpub.wordpress.com/2013/04/22/announcing-our-next-night-of-theater-pub-on-may-20th/> on Monday, May 20, at 8:00 PM at Cafe Royale (800 Post Street), featuring the world premiere of a four-year-old girl’s first play, as seen on Boing Boing <http://boingboing.net/2013/03/02/horrorsf-play-by-a-four-year.html>!

John Scalzi, THE HUMAN DIVISION (Tor, Hardcover, $25.99) Wednesday, May 15th at 7:00 pm -  We couldn't be more excited to welcome the fabulous John Scalzi back to Borderlands!  "Following the events of THE LAST COLONY, John Scalzi tells the story of the fight to maintain the unity of the human race.  The people of Earth now know that the human Colonial Union has kept them ignorant of the dangerous universe around them. For generations the CU had defended humanity against hostile aliens, deliberately keeping Earth an ignorant backwater and a source of military recruits. Now the CU’s secrets are known to all. Other alien races have come on the scene and formed a new alliance -- an alliance against the Colonial Union. And they’ve invited the people of Earth to join them. For a shaken and betrayed Earth, the choice isn't obvious or easy.  Against such possibilities, managing the survival of the Colonial Union won’t be easy, either. It will take diplomatic finesse, political cunning. . . and a brilliant “B Team,” centered on the resourceful Lieutenant Harry Wilson, that can be deployed to deal with the unpredictable and unexpected things the universe throws at you when you’re struggling to preserve the unity of the human race.  Being published online from January to April 2013 as a three-month digital serial, THE HUMAN DIVISION will appear as a full-length novel of the Old Man’s War universe, plus -- for the first time in print -- the first tale of Lieutenant Harry Wilson, and a coda that wasn’t part of the digital serialization."

SF in SF featuring Connie Willis and Gene Wolfe (in the Market Room at the Hilton San Jose, 300 Almaden Blvd. San Jose, CA 95110), Thursday, May 16th at 7:00 pm - SF in SF - Science Fiction, San Francisco - A Perfect Fit - comes to San Jose!  In conjunction with the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and the 48th Annual Nebula Awards Weekend, SF in SF presents:
GENE WOLFE and CONNIE WILLIS!  Each author will read a selection from their work, followed by Q&A with the audience, moderated by author Terry Bisson.  Booksigning will follow, with the authors' books for sale courtesy of Borderlands Books.  This event will be podcasted, courtesy of Rick Kleffel of The Agony Column.  This event takes place at the Hilton San Jose, (300 Almaden Boulevard, San Jose, CA,) in the Market Room.  Doors open at 6PM for general seating, and the event begins at 7PM.  This is event is FREE to Nebula Award Weekend registrants, $10 at the door for the general public (cash only).  All proceeds will be split between the SFWA Emergency Medical Fund and Variety Children's Charity of Northern California.  There will be a cash bar just outside the room.  (Please note that we had incorrectly stated the location of this event in the last newsletter.  The Market Room at the Hilton San Jose, 300 Almaden Boulevard, San Jose, is the correct location.)

Mass Autographing Session at the Nebula Awards, (in the Winchester Room at the Hilton San Jose, 300 Almaden Blvd. San Jose, CA), Friday, May 17th from 5:30 - 7:30 pm - Borderlands hosts the Mass Autographing Session at the Nebula Awards!  The autographing portion of the event is free and open to the public, and Borderlands will be on hand to provide books by the attending authors for sale. This is your chance to have your books signed by legends like Joe Haldeman, William Nolan, Robert Silverberg and Connie Willis, and also to meet the superstars of tomorrow, including Saladin Ahmed, Tina Connolly and Mary Robinette Kowal! Dozens of authors will take part, so don't miss this incredible opportunity

Mary Robinette Kowal, WITHOUT A SUMMER (Tor, Hardcover, $24.99 ) and Susan Palwick, MENDING THE MOON (Tor, Hardcover, $24.99 ) Monday, May 20th at 7:00 pm - We're delighted to welcome these two distinguished authors to Borderlands!  Join us to meet Mary and Susan and check out their very different but equally impressive new novels.

Annalee Newitz, SCATTER, ADAPT, AND REMEMBER: HOW HUMANS WILL SURVIVE A MASS EXTINCTION (Doubleday, Hardcover, $26.95) Saturday, June 1st at 3:00 pm - We're happy to welcome Annalee Newitz to the store!  "Climate change.  Pandemics.  Catastrophic volcanoes.  Should we just give up and accept our doom?  Absolutely not.  Homo sapiens will survive the next mass extinction.  Annalee Newitz's brilliantly speculative and hopeful work of popular science focuses our attention on humanity's long history of dodging the bullet of extinction -- and suggests practical ways to keep doing it.  From bacteria labs in St. Louis to ancient underground cities in central Turkey, we discover the keys to long-term survival.  SCATTER, ADAPT, AND REMEMBER leads us away from apocalyptic thinking, into a future where we live to build a better world. It is an argument for human ingenuity in devising solutions to global warming, etc. - NOT an argument against those threats."

Lauren Beukes, THE SHINING GIRLS (Mullholland Books, Hardcover, $26.00) Friday, June 7th at 7:00 pm - We're so excited to welcome Lauren Buekes back to Borderlands!  We thought her novels MOXYLAND and ZOO CITY were awesome, but this new book sounds even better.  From the publisher: "THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE meets THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, THE SHINING GIRLS by Lauren Beukes is the riveting, creepy story about a time-traveling serial killer being chased through decades past and present by his only surviving victim. The Huffington Post named it as one of their most anticipated reads of 2013, and it's received praise from Tana French, Matt Haig, and more. Beukes's previous work has been categorized as hardboiled thriller, cyberpunk, and supernatural and has won her fans in cult favorites like William Gibson and Neil Gaiman, but THE SHINING GIRLS represents a major work of crossover fiction that is sure to excite fiction fans everywhere.  Lauren Beukes is a recipient of the Arthur C. Clarke Award, was runner-up to Lev Grossman for the John W Campbell Award, was shortlisted for a plethora of other awards and received rave reviews from around the world including The New York Times and The Guardian. She lives in Cape Town, South Africa."

Hannu Rajaniemi, THE FRACTAL PRINCE (Tor Books, Hardcover, $25.99) Friday, June 14th at 7:00 pm - Join us to meet Hannu Rajaniemi and get a sneak preview of the third QUANTUM THIEF novel!  We were all very impressed with the first two books and are anxiously looking forward to the next one. Mr. Rajaniemi will read a bit, answer questions and sign books.  We're delighted to have him at Borderlands and hope you'll help provide a warm welcome!

Borderlands event policy - all events are free of charge unless otherwise stated.  You are welcome to bring copies of an author's books purchased elsewhere to be autographed (but we do appreciate it if you purchase something while at the event).  For most events you are welcome to bring as many books as you wish for autographs.  If you are unable to attend the event we will be happy to have a copy of any of the author's available books signed or inscribed for you.  We can then either hold the book(s) until you can come in to pick them up or we can ship to you.  Just give us a call or drop us an email.  If you live out of town, you can also ship us books from your collection to be signed for a nominal fee.  Call or email for details.