October Bestsellers

Hardcovers
1) Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
2) Woken Furies by Richard Morgan
3) Children of the Company by Kage Baker
4) Thud! by Terry Pratchett
5) Snake Agent by Liz Williams (Nightshade Books)
6) Judas Unchained by Peter F. Hamilton (UK Edition)
7) Fledgling by Octavia Butler
8) Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan
9) Fifty Degrees Below by Kim Stanley Robinson
10) Ghost by John Ringo

Paperbacks
1) Going Postal by Terry Pratchett
2) Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman
3) Blood of Angels by Michael Marshall
4) Last Call by Tim Powers
5) Dread Empires Fall: Conventions of War by Walter Jon Williams
6) Midnight Tides by Steven Erikson (UK Edition)
7) Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
8) Tamsin by Peter S. Beagle
9) The World Before by Karen Traviss
10) Windfall by Rachel Caine

Trade Paperbacks
1) Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan
2) Complete Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
3) Looking for Jake by China Mieville
4) The Dark Tower by Stephen King
5) Storyteller: Writing Lessons & More From 27 Years of the Clarion Writers' Workshop by Kate Wilhelm (Small Beer Press)

September Bestsellers

Hardcover
1)  Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins)
2)  Thud! by Terry Pratchett (HarperCollins)
3)  Shaman's Crossing by Robin Hobb (Eos)
4)  Creepers by David Morrell (CDS Books)
5)  Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Scholastic and Bloomsbury)
6)  Conference With the Dead by Terry Lamsley (Nightshade)
7)  Wetwork by Phil Nutman (Overlook Connection Press)
8)  Olympos by Dan Simmons (HarperCollins)
9)  Snake Agent by Liz Williams (Nightshade)
10)  Eldest by Christopher Paolini (Knopf)

Paperbacks
1)  Ilium by Dan Simmons (HarperTorch)
2)  Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin (Bantam)
3)  Midnight Tides by Steven Erikson (Bantam UK)
4)  Dune: Battle of Corrin by Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert (Tor)
5)  Marque and Reprisal by Elizabeth Moon (Del Rey)
6)  The Knight by Gene Wolfe (Tor)
7)  Every Which Way But Dead by Kim Harrison (Eos)
8)  Going Postal by Terry Pratchett (HarperTorch)
9)  Hex and the City by Simon R. Green (Ace)
10)  Paths Not Taken by Simon R. Green (Ace)

Trade Paperbacks
1)  Looking for Jake by China Mieville (Del Rey)
2)  Market Forces by Richard Morgan (Ballantine)
3)  Strange Itineraries by Tim Powers (Tachyon Publications)
4)  Iron Council by China Mieville (Ballantine)
5)  Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis (HarperCollins)

World Science Fiction Convention Roundup (plus trivia)

by Alan Beatts

It's nice to have time to write this column again.  The last few months have been even more hectic than usual and getting this newsletter out has been a very late night project.  As kind as all our customers are, I didn't want to inflict the kind of writing that I do at three in the morning on you.  Hence, no column.

But right now it's five in the evening and my desk is completely lacking piles of papers that have to be dealt with RIGHT NOW.  So, I'm going to write a nice column for this issue.  It's a bit of a grab bag of topics that have been on my mind in recent months.

Overheard at the Con

This is a new feature that will appear 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, when a staff member overheard someone she couldn't see scolding, "Shelby, it's not okay to touch your sister's breast with the back of your hand, either!".  Trying (or trying not to) fill in the blanks on other overheard conversations made us laugh so much that we thought we'd share some highlights from this years World Science Fiction Convention:

The Code of the Comic (plus some trivia)

by Alan Beatts

There is a change you may notice at the end of the book listings in this issue.  One of the suggestions made in the recent survey was that it would be nice to have a list of upcoming titles so that one could place pre-orders.  At the end of the book listings you'll find a short list of upcoming titles.  For now we've kept to small presses but in the future we may expand it to include more mainstream publishers.  If you have time, let me know what you think of the addition.

Recently I've been thinking about comics, in part because of going to WonderCon for the first time last month and in part due to two comics I've read recently: (GRIMJACK, which is reviewed later in this newsletter, and Y: THE LAST MAN, which I'll review next month).  It's really fascinating how they have changed in my lifetime.  I started reading comics in the 70s and continued, off and on, until the mid 90s.  I still read them occasionally, usually when prompted by my 12-year-old daughter, but it's an infrequent thing.  But, during the time that I was reading them, there were some profound changes in the style, content, and quality.

The 2004 Gift Guide

Here are some gift ideas from the Borderlands staff.  Each suggestion starts with the type of reader and is followed by one (or more) titles that they might like.  If these don't do it for you, we're happy to make more suggestions - just tell us about the person you're shopping for.  Can't decide?  We have gift certificates available in any amount.  Gift wrapping is available, and we can ship almost anywhere in the world.  Enjoy!

Fantasy reader who's waiting for the next George R.R. Martin book - GARDENS OF THE MOON by Steven Erickson (Tor, Hardcover, $24.95)

Cutting edge SF geek - SINGULARITY SKY (Ace, Mass Market, $7.99) and / or the stand alone sequel IRON SUNRISE (Ace, Hardcover, $23.95) by Charley Stross

Literary fantasy reader - THE KNIGHT (Tor, Hardcover, $25.95) and THE WIZARD (Tor, Hardcover, $25.95) by Gene Wolfe

High-brow horror reader - IN THE NIGHT ROOM (Random House, Hardcover, $21.95) by Peter Straub

Low-brow horror reader - THE RISING (Leisure, Mass Market, $6.99) by Brian Keene

Lover of classic fantasy - THE COMING OF CONAN THE CIMMERIAN (Del Rey, Trade Paperback, $14.95) and THE BLOODY CROWN OF CONAN by Robert E. Howard (Del Rey, Trade Paperback, $15.95)

Lover of classic SF - THE SCIENCE FICTION HALL OF FAME VOLUME TWO A (Tor, Hardcover, $29.95) edited by Ben Bova

Ghost Story fan - GREAT GHOST STORIES - TALES OF MYSTERY AND MADNESS either in softcover (Carroll & Graf, Trade Paperback, $12.95) or hardcover (Cemetery Dance, Hardcover, $40.00)

Anyone who needs a great book - HAWKES HARBOR (Tor, Hardcover, $21.95)

Plus we have lots of lovely journals and blank books, wooden boxes, DVDs, and other gifts.

Print on Demand or Why Does This Book Cost So Much and Have Such a Bad Cover?

by Alan Beatts

Several years ago a company called Lightning Source started printing books.  A new printing company wouldn't normally be worth much comment but Lightning Source (which was originally called Lightning Print) isn't a normal printer.  They're in the business of what's called Print on Demand publishing, (or POD) and that's not anything like normal printing.

Unlike traditional printing, POD works like this -- a publisher produces an electronic file that is a representation of a complete book; cover, table of contents, layout, the whole deal.  This file is sent to Lightning Source where, for a modest fee (as low as $300 in the early days), they store it and make it ready for the next stage.

Caring for Your Library

by Alan Beatts

We're frequently asked by our customers how to store and protect their hardcover books.  Though most avid readers (myself included) don't really think of our books as an investment, a good hardcover SF and Fantasy library that covers the past ten or twenty years is worth a respectable amount of money (i.e. thousands if not tens of thousand of dollars) if sold to a specialty bookseller.  This is even more true if you have been collecting works from various small presses or avidly collect horror fiction.  However, the value of a book drops sharply when it is damaged.  Even damage that seems perfectly acceptable to a reader will reduce the value by as much as twenty-five to fifty percent.  So, I have written the following suggestions that, if followed, will help preserve the value of a collection without interfering with the enjoyment of reading one's books.  

In general, there are five things that damage books -- damp, heat, sunlight, pests and abuse.  Here's how to prevent a good portion of each type of damage along with a few do's and don'ts.

End the YA Ghetto

by Jude Feldman

When a customer comes to Borderlands and buys a young adult book, there's a good chance that book will never make it to a young adult.  I can't remember the last time that I sold a copy of THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH (intended for readers aged 9 - 12) to someone under the age of 25.  There is a reason for this hoarding of teen books -- many of the best books I've read lately have been young adult titles.  TITHE by Holly Black, FIREBIRDS edited by Sharyn November, A STIR OF BONES by Nina Kiriki Hoffman, GREEN ANGEL by Alice Hoffman, BLUE MIRROR by Kathy Koja, and most recently the soon-to-be-released PREDATOR'S GOLD by Philip Reeve, the follow-up to MORTAL ENGINES.  Fiction written for young adults seems to me more dynamic, more risky, and, on the whole, better written than its adult counterpart.  I believe that teens (to their credit) are less forgiving readers;  less willing to put up with meandering plots, less tolerant of unbelievable characters and dialogue, and less likely to stick with an author who has "phoned in" a book.   In addition, since teens are assumed to have less disposable income, YA books are usually several dollars cheaper than "regular" books.  What does this mean for you as a savvy adult reader of teen-aimed books?  Better books, at a lower price!

The point of this missive is simply to request, rail, and (if necessary) beg for the dissolution of the "Young Adult Novel Ghetto".   As a bookseller, I have previously found myself in the slightly bizarre position of recommending a fantastic book to a customer and simultaneously trying to downplay the fact that it's a young adult book, for fear that the YA label might dissuade the potential reader.  No more!  I will proudly state that some of the best books are young adult books, and frequently the distinction is irrelevant, the decision of someone in a marketing department who may or may not have read the book.  ENDER'S GAME, an undisputed genre classic, was recently re-released under Tor's young adult imprint Starscape.  It would be a travesty if ENDER'S GAME were to lose adult readers because of its YA cover.  Besides, the attitude that makes a reader say "Oh, no, I won't read that -- it's for teens" is exactly the same type of snobbishness that relegated genre fiction to disreputability for so long.  Even now science fiction, fantasy and horror is struggling with the stigma of being something that readers "outgrow".  So we -- the intelligent, literate, and unrepentant champions of great genre fiction -- must defend good literature, regardless of the marketing designation under which it may lurk.

More YA authors to explore: Robin McKinley, Diana Wynne Jones, Darren Shan, Pamela Dean, Lloyd Alexander, Garth Nix, Philip Pullman.

World Horror Convention Roundup

by Alan Beatts

Though they are terribly tiring, one of my favorite things about the genre book business are the yearly conventions that I get to attend.  At the least, each year I go to the three "world" conventions.  Each convention is different, from the casual and enthusiastic World Horror Convention in the spring to the huge and bustling World Science Fiction Convention in the summer to the World Fantasy Convention in fall with its consummate professionalism, but they all have one strong common quality -- it's a chance to visit and catch up with many, many old friends and a chance to meet new ones.  Oh, yes, and along the way we'll sell a few books, too.

This year's World Horror Convention in Phoenix, Arizona was no exception.  Though smaller than usual this year (perhaps due to being over Easter weekend), WHC was as pleasant as always and convention chairman Mike Wilmoth did a wonderful job.  Surprisingly, given the smaller attendance, sales in the dealer's room were very brisk and, at least for Borderlands, new sales records were set.