Loteria Game Night and Poster Signing with artist John Picacio! Thursday, March 15th at 7:00 pm
Mishell Baker, IMPOSTOR SYNDROME (Saga Press, Hardcover $29.99 and Trade Paperback, $15.99) and Seanan McGuire, TRICKS FOR FREE (DAW, Mass Market, $7.99) Saturday, March 17th at 6:00 pm
Come Visit Borderlands West, Saturday, March 24th from 12:00 to 6:00 pm - Alan will be showing off our favorite construction site at 1377 Haight St. (at Masonic Ave.)
SF in SF with authors Nancy Kress, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and Jack Skillingstead (at the American Bookbinders Museum, 355 Clementina Street, San Francisco) Sunday, March 25th at 6:30 pm
Ilana C. Myer, FIRE DANCE (Tor, Hardcover, $26.99) Saturday, April 14th at 3:00 pm
March 07, 2018
March 06, 2018
March Building News
by Alan Beatts
Frustratingly, I don't have very much news this month. We're in that miserable stage of construction wherein we mostly wait. We wait for the engineer to get drawings back to us and we wait for PG&E to answer basic questions. Until those things happen, I've been keeping busy closing up the wall that we can close (i.e. putting up sheetrock and patching), but even that process has had some waiting because the next step, "Tape and Mud", has to wait 'til it gets a bit warmer, since there's no heat hooked up yet.
(An aside: "tape and mud" is the process in which we use paper tape to close the seams where pieces of sheetrock meet. That tape in held in place and covered by joint compound, ("mud"), which is mostly gypsum dust mixed with water. Since water is the solvent, it takes time to dry and contracts when it does. If the temperature is too low, it takes forever to dry and, worse, cracks more. So, we need some days that are mostly over 55 degrees, and we haven't had many of those. There are other compounds that I could use, but they are a pain in the butt to work with compared to regular mud.)
On the bright side, the volunteers that I'm working with are great, and they've been learning a lot. Last Sunday I realized that I'm basically training a framing crew from the ground up. It's taking a little time (and some mis-cut lumber), but they're smart folks, willing to work hard, and are learning really fast. I expect that, by the time we're building walls in earnest, they'll be pretty darn good. So it's a great investment for the future. Most of the hard-core are already getting up to speed with nailguns and compound miter saws. All that aside, everyone who's come to help has been lovely and has worked their asses off. It's been heartwarming to see that kind of support and I'm grateful to every one of them.
If the current weather holds, I hope to start the tape and mud this weekend along with doing the framing for the supply closet. And, based on some email exchanges today, we might have the engineering drawings by the end of this week. Which would be a very, very fine thing.
If you're curious about how the place looks, you'll have a chance this month to come check it out. I'll be holding the place open for visits on Saturday, the 24th, from noon until six pm. Feel free to stop by anytime in that window and I'll give you the ten-cent tour.
Frustratingly, I don't have very much news this month. We're in that miserable stage of construction wherein we mostly wait. We wait for the engineer to get drawings back to us and we wait for PG&E to answer basic questions. Until those things happen, I've been keeping busy closing up the wall that we can close (i.e. putting up sheetrock and patching), but even that process has had some waiting because the next step, "Tape and Mud", has to wait 'til it gets a bit warmer, since there's no heat hooked up yet.
(An aside: "tape and mud" is the process in which we use paper tape to close the seams where pieces of sheetrock meet. That tape in held in place and covered by joint compound, ("mud"), which is mostly gypsum dust mixed with water. Since water is the solvent, it takes time to dry and contracts when it does. If the temperature is too low, it takes forever to dry and, worse, cracks more. So, we need some days that are mostly over 55 degrees, and we haven't had many of those. There are other compounds that I could use, but they are a pain in the butt to work with compared to regular mud.)
On the bright side, the volunteers that I'm working with are great, and they've been learning a lot. Last Sunday I realized that I'm basically training a framing crew from the ground up. It's taking a little time (and some mis-cut lumber), but they're smart folks, willing to work hard, and are learning really fast. I expect that, by the time we're building walls in earnest, they'll be pretty darn good. So it's a great investment for the future. Most of the hard-core are already getting up to speed with nailguns and compound miter saws. All that aside, everyone who's come to help has been lovely and has worked their asses off. It's been heartwarming to see that kind of support and I'm grateful to every one of them.
If the current weather holds, I hope to start the tape and mud this weekend along with doing the framing for the supply closet. And, based on some email exchanges today, we might have the engineering drawings by the end of this week. Which would be a very, very fine thing.
If you're curious about how the place looks, you'll have a chance this month to come check it out. I'll be holding the place open for visits on Saturday, the 24th, from noon until six pm. Feel free to stop by anytime in that window and I'll give you the ten-cent tour.
February Bestsellers
Hardcovers
1. The Power by Naomi Alderman
2. Tempests and Slaughter by Tamora Pierce
3. The Will to Battle by Ada Palmer
4. Provenance by Ann Leckie
5. Autonomous by Annalee Newitz
6. Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire
7. Artemis by Andy Weir
8. Black Wolves of Boston by Wen Spencer
9. Dark State by Charles Stross
10. Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire
Trade Paperbacks
1. The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu, edited by Ken Liu
2. The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
3. Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
4. Binti: The Night Masquerade by Nnedi Okorafor
5. Robots vs. Fairies edited by Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe
6. Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer
7. Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy
8. Universal Harvester by John Darnielle
9. All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders
10. Amberlough by Lara Ellen Donnelly
Mass Market Paperbacks
1. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
2. Who Fears Death? by Nnedi Okorafor
3. The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi
4. Changing Planes by Ursula K. LeGuin
5. Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin
6. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rotthfuss
7. His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik
8. Old Man's War by John Scalzi
9. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin
10. The Wrong Stars by Tim Pratt
1. The Power by Naomi Alderman
2. Tempests and Slaughter by Tamora Pierce
3. The Will to Battle by Ada Palmer
4. Provenance by Ann Leckie
5. Autonomous by Annalee Newitz
6. Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire
7. Artemis by Andy Weir
8. Black Wolves of Boston by Wen Spencer
9. Dark State by Charles Stross
10. Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire
Trade Paperbacks
1. The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu, edited by Ken Liu
2. The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
3. Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
4. Binti: The Night Masquerade by Nnedi Okorafor
5. Robots vs. Fairies edited by Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe
6. Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer
7. Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy
8. Universal Harvester by John Darnielle
9. All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders
10. Amberlough by Lara Ellen Donnelly
Mass Market Paperbacks
1. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
2. Who Fears Death? by Nnedi Okorafor
3. The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi
4. Changing Planes by Ursula K. LeGuin
5. Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin
6. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rotthfuss
7. His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik
8. Old Man's War by John Scalzi
9. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin
10. The Wrong Stars by Tim Pratt
March News
* Overheard in the Store:
"I told them, 'Several people this morning are really lucky that it's impossible to get punched in the face through a telephone.'"
* As much as spending a stupid amount of money to make a TV series based on The Lord Of The Rings was, well . . . stupid (http://deadline.com/2017/11/amazon-the-lord-of-the-rings-tv-series-multi-season-commitment-1202207065/), Amazon's most recent move is brilliant. They're making a TV series based on Iain M. Bank's Culture novels, starting with Consider Phlebas. We cannot wait. https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/21/17035618/amazon-culture-series-iain-m-banks-television-show
* R.I.P prolific speculative author Victor Milan. To read more about the series he contributed to, the writers he helped and the impact he had, read this wonderful obituary in Albuquerque Journal. https://www.abqjournal.com/1141374/prolific-author-victor-milaacuten-leaves-science-fiction-legacy.html
* Popular Bangladeshi science fiction Muhammad Zafar Iqbal was recently stabbed in the head. He survived, and is currently undergoing treatment, but please keep him in your thoughts. http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/popular-science-fiction-writer-zafar-iqbal-stabbed-in-bangladesh/article22920210.ece
"I told them, 'Several people this morning are really lucky that it's impossible to get punched in the face through a telephone.'"
* As much as spending a stupid amount of money to make a TV series based on The Lord Of The Rings was, well . . . stupid (http://deadline.com/2017/11/amazon-the-lord-of-the-rings-tv-series-multi-season-commitment-1202207065/), Amazon's most recent move is brilliant. They're making a TV series based on Iain M. Bank's Culture novels, starting with Consider Phlebas. We cannot wait. https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/21/17035618/amazon-culture-series-iain-m-banks-television-show
* R.I.P prolific speculative author Victor Milan. To read more about the series he contributed to, the writers he helped and the impact he had, read this wonderful obituary in Albuquerque Journal. https://www.abqjournal.com/1141374/prolific-author-victor-milaacuten-leaves-science-fiction-legacy.html
* Popular Bangladeshi science fiction Muhammad Zafar Iqbal was recently stabbed in the head. He survived, and is currently undergoing treatment, but please keep him in your thoughts. http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/popular-science-fiction-writer-zafar-iqbal-stabbed-in-bangladesh/article22920210.ece
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