by Jeremy Lassen
Hello movie fans. This month I wanted to touch on a range of things.
First up is the latest K-Horror epic, "Arang," which hit Korean theaters last year. This better-than-average Asian horror film mixes elements of detective drama, ghost story, and Korean folk tale, with some very stylish setups and direction by first-time feature film director Ahn Sang-hoon. This one is just what the doctor ordered if you need some creepy ghosts, serial killers and desperate detectives on said killer’s trail.
Moving over to Japan, cult classic, and Tarantino inspiration “Female Prisoner #701” hits DVD in a collection gathering all three influential 70’s Japanese cult exploitation films. These films feature the wrongly-convicted-but-out-for-vengeance Lady Snowbird. With names like "Scorpion," "Beast Stable," and "Grudge Song," how could you not want to own these films on DVD?
May 01, 2007
April Bestsellers
Hardcovers
1.The Last Colony by John Scalzi
2. The Lees of Laughter's End by Steven Erikson
3. The Children of Hurin by J.R.R. Tolkien
4. Softspoken by Lucius Shepard
5. Sixty Days and Counting by Kim Stanley Robinson
6. You're Not Fooling Anyone When You Take Your Latop to a Coffee Shop: Scalzi on Writing by John Scalzi
7 The Android's Dream by John Scalzi
8. Into a Dark Realm by Raymond Feist
9. 1634: The Baltic War by David Weber and Eric Flint
10. You Suck! A Love Story by Christopher Moore
Mass Market Paperbacks
1. Rainbow's End by Vernor Vinge
2. Old Man's War by John Scalzi
3. Judas Unchained by Peter F. Hamilton
4. Armies of Memory by John Barnes
5. Accidents Waiting to Happen by Simon Wood
6. Flight of the Nighthawks by Raymond Feist
7. Night Life by Ray Garton
8. Ally by Karen Traviss
9. Beguilement: The Sharing Knife by Lois McMaster Bujold
10. Light by M. John Harrison
Trade Paperbacks
1. Ancestor by Scott Silger
2. Portable Childhoods by Ellen Klages
3. September Snow by Robert Balmanno
4. Hardwired by Walter John Williams
5. A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore
1.The Last Colony by John Scalzi
2. The Lees of Laughter's End by Steven Erikson
3. The Children of Hurin by J.R.R. Tolkien
4. Softspoken by Lucius Shepard
5. Sixty Days and Counting by Kim Stanley Robinson
6. You're Not Fooling Anyone When You Take Your Latop to a Coffee Shop: Scalzi on Writing by John Scalzi
7 The Android's Dream by John Scalzi
8. Into a Dark Realm by Raymond Feist
9. 1634: The Baltic War by David Weber and Eric Flint
10. You Suck! A Love Story by Christopher Moore
Mass Market Paperbacks
1. Rainbow's End by Vernor Vinge
2. Old Man's War by John Scalzi
3. Judas Unchained by Peter F. Hamilton
4. Armies of Memory by John Barnes
5. Accidents Waiting to Happen by Simon Wood
6. Flight of the Nighthawks by Raymond Feist
7. Night Life by Ray Garton
8. Ally by Karen Traviss
9. Beguilement: The Sharing Knife by Lois McMaster Bujold
10. Light by M. John Harrison
Trade Paperbacks
1. Ancestor by Scott Silger
2. Portable Childhoods by Ellen Klages
3. September Snow by Robert Balmanno
4. Hardwired by Walter John Williams
5. A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore
Origin of the Bookstore, Part the Seventh - 10 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Borderlands Books
For the next six months we'll be doing a special feature each month in honor of Borderlands' upcoming 10th Anniversary (November 3rd, 2007). We'll share some stories about what Borderlands is and how it got that way.
The origin of the store piece this month is shorter than usual, because I've been so terribly busy building ornate little castles with my writer's blocks!
10 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Borderlands Books:
1. Borderlands has a dress code, and it consists of a single rule. You can email office@borderlands-books.com if you want to know what the rule is.
2. The combined age of all six Borderlands employees is 226, and between us we have approximately 43 years of book selling experience, 21 piercings and 14 tattoos.
3. The Borderlands staff includes people who have been: a nightclub DJ, a go-go dancer, a bike messenger, a high school teacher, an accountant, a beef-jerky salesperson, a microelectronics assembly engineer, an Emergency Medical Technician, a Dead-Head, a floppy-disk assembly line operator, an Information Technology professional, a stage manager, voice-over/television/movie actors (2), and hotel maids (2).
4. There are currently 1,177 books in the store that cost $1.75 or less.
5. Ripley has been filmed for 2 documentaries, 1 independent film and a cable-access show.
6. The store backs up to the Mission Playground, and an average of once a day someone on the staff has to toss a soccer ball back over the 18 foot high fence.
7. More than half the staff have been homeless at some point in their lives, and more than half the staff have worked at higher-education institutions.
8. In three years, Borderlands has donated over 4000 books to the guests at Martin de Poores House of Hospitality, a free restaurant that serves meals to those in need. You can find out more about the good work that Martin's is doing here: <http://www.martindeporres.org/>.
9. Borderlands does an average of 50 in-store author events a year.
10. We have had author and/or artist guests in the store who: accidentally broke chairs, smoked marijuana before their readings, left what they were going to read at home and had to improvise, praised the store for "not having s**t all over it," incorporated employees into their novels or artwork, drew Ripley with Ren and Stimpy, and had such a good time they promised they'd be back "until forcibly prevented".
by Jude Feldman
The origin of the store piece this month is shorter than usual, because I've been so terribly busy building ornate little castles with my writer's blocks!
10 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Borderlands Books:
1. Borderlands has a dress code, and it consists of a single rule. You can email office@borderlands-books.com if you want to know what the rule is.
2. The combined age of all six Borderlands employees is 226, and between us we have approximately 43 years of book selling experience, 21 piercings and 14 tattoos.
3. The Borderlands staff includes people who have been: a nightclub DJ, a go-go dancer, a bike messenger, a high school teacher, an accountant, a beef-jerky salesperson, a microelectronics assembly engineer, an Emergency Medical Technician, a Dead-Head, a floppy-disk assembly line operator, an Information Technology professional, a stage manager, voice-over/television/movie actors (2), and hotel maids (2).
4. There are currently 1,177 books in the store that cost $1.75 or less.
5. Ripley has been filmed for 2 documentaries, 1 independent film and a cable-access show.
6. The store backs up to the Mission Playground, and an average of once a day someone on the staff has to toss a soccer ball back over the 18 foot high fence.
7. More than half the staff have been homeless at some point in their lives, and more than half the staff have worked at higher-education institutions.
8. In three years, Borderlands has donated over 4000 books to the guests at Martin de Poores House of Hospitality, a free restaurant that serves meals to those in need. You can find out more about the good work that Martin's is doing here: <http://www.martindeporres.org/>.
9. Borderlands does an average of 50 in-store author events a year.
10. We have had author and/or artist guests in the store who: accidentally broke chairs, smoked marijuana before their readings, left what they were going to read at home and had to improvise, praised the store for "not having s**t all over it," incorporated employees into their novels or artwork, drew Ripley with Ren and Stimpy, and had such a good time they promised they'd be back "until forcibly prevented".
What I'm Reading
by Alan Beatts
Happy May everyone! Weather's getting lovely and this is my favorite time of the year so I'm just in a hell of a good mood. And you wanna' know something else that's making me so happy? Two great books. Just finished one and I'm halfway through the other.
Thirteen by Richard K. Morgan - I got an advance copy of this and pretty much jumped right into it. I've really enjoyed Richard's other novels (Altered Carbon, Broken Angels, Market Forces, and Woken Furies) and, after an unexpected meeting at the shop that turned into a two-hour chat followed by dinner and several other too-short meetings, I consider him a friend. Though many of his other readers prefer the Takeshi Kovacs novels, Market Forces is my personal favorite. Richard once commented that people tell him that they don't like Market Forces because it's so grim. He went on to say with a wry smile, "Did they really read Altered Carbon?"
It's true, Richard's novels are grim . . . but they have to be. It's just my opinion but, of all the writers currently working in the SF field, I think that Richard's work is the best example of SF at its finest. One of the pinnacles of SF achievement (please note that I say, "one" not "the only") is to write a compelling, readable and entertaining story that causes readers to ask themselves where our current path, be it social, technological, or scientific, is taking us and whether we're going to like the final destination. This is one of the most notable of Richard's achievements and in it he's the best in the business. And these days that makes for a grim story.
I think that's why I like Market Forces so much. Unlike the Kovacs books, it lacks much of the Science Fiction set dressing that allows readers to put a comfortable distance between themselves and the ugly situations and choices that our future could bring. That's the same thing that makes lots of other readers think that Market Forces is grimmer and darker than the Kovacs books -- it's not darker, it's just closer.
And then there was Thirteen, or Black Man (to give its original title, which Richard's British publisher wasn't afraid to keep). Though Market Forces takes on the ethics and economics of world wide finance and investment banking in a hell-bent, kill-the-competition-before-they-get-to-the-meeting, nightmare style there is a certain genteel British reserve to it (bloody baseball bats aside). But Thirteen . . . Thirteen is ready to _really_ get in your face. Especially if you live in the good ole' U.S. of A.
Carl Marsalis is a product of genetic engineering called a "variant thirteen". He was bred to be a throw-back to the pre-civilized human that existed before cooperation was a pro-survival trait. Thirteens in general are violent, borderline sociopathic, and were almost all killed, deported, or interred years ago. In the early years of the 22nd century Carl has managed to carve out a niche for himself as a bounty hunter specializing in tracking and apprehending other Thirteens who have escaped the interment camps. Until one evening, while staying overnight in the Southern Republic of a balkanized United States, a small act of kindness lands him in prison. Held without charges and facing the possibility of spending the rest of his life as a convict in this poor, backward, Christian-dominated fragment of a nation, he's offered release in exchange for helping representatives of the most powerful corporation in the world catch a serial murderer who is also a Thirteen.
The plot sounds like a great action-adventure thriller with elements of a police procedural. And it is. But it's also a very complex investigation of bigotry, fundamentalist religious intolerance (both Christian and Muslim), the power of corporations, and the price of violence. It's not often that I read a novel that both makes me think about where the world and my country are going and at the same time engages and entertains me completely. Thus far this year, it's only happened once. And this was the book that did it.
Thirteen will be published in July of this year and I highly recommend that you get a copy.
Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman - I'm only half-way though this one and so it might not live up to its promise, but in that case I'll be damn surprised. First off, despite the title, this is not a funny book. Granted, there are some bits that are amusing and even worth a laugh but it's not a funny book. In both meanings of the term.
You see, it's about super-heroes and super-villains.
When I was a kid I loved comics. Not to the obsessive, completist degree that many of my friends did, but I liked them. And then they got a bit too simple for me and I stopped reading them. Later I discovered a series of shared-world anthologies edited by George R. R. Martin (of A Game of Thrones fame) called Wild Cards. They were about super-heroes but with a large dose of the real world thrown in. The characters had ended up in real-world situations and had to deal with real-world problems. It was good. Not great but really very good. Later I would run across a comic called The Watchmen written by Alan Moore. It also took on the gritty reality of what it might be like for super-heroes. It was also good. Very good. It seems that, over the years, the image of costumed heroes with super-powers has steadily grown richer and more complex -- keeping step with the aging of the generations who were strongly affected by them.
Perhaps it's a function not only of aging of the original readers but some alchemy rising from maturity -- not of the people who were first touched by Superman but the children of those people. Children who were never told that comic books were crap and not to be read by any serious adult but children who were instead _given_ comics by serious adults (their parents) and told, "This is great. You'll love it. I know I did."
But, whatever the reason, comics have grown up a very great deal but that maturity has only rarely made it outside of comics or "illustrated narratives" and into prose fiction. In Soon I Will Be Invincible it has done so and in spades. It's a very mature novel with profoundly complex and motivated characters that retains the awe and wonder of comic books. From the very first two chapters I was hooked and, at the half-way mark, I'm still hooked. The writing is stylish without being self-conscious and very tight. As I mentioned, the characters are believable and complex with motivations that you can not only believe but feel. It's great. Not good but great.
And you don't have to wait 'till July to get it. It's be out in June! And it's looking like we'll be able to host the author for a signing sometime in July.
I hope you enjoyed these two sneak peeks at books that are on their way. I'm sorry that we don't have them for you yet but now you've seen one of the great truisms about booksellers -- we're usually either reading something that isn't out yet or we're reading something that's been out for a while. Late or early but never on time, it's story of my life.
Have a great spring!
Happy May everyone! Weather's getting lovely and this is my favorite time of the year so I'm just in a hell of a good mood. And you wanna' know something else that's making me so happy? Two great books. Just finished one and I'm halfway through the other.
Thirteen by Richard K. Morgan - I got an advance copy of this and pretty much jumped right into it. I've really enjoyed Richard's other novels (Altered Carbon, Broken Angels, Market Forces, and Woken Furies) and, after an unexpected meeting at the shop that turned into a two-hour chat followed by dinner and several other too-short meetings, I consider him a friend. Though many of his other readers prefer the Takeshi Kovacs novels, Market Forces is my personal favorite. Richard once commented that people tell him that they don't like Market Forces because it's so grim. He went on to say with a wry smile, "Did they really read Altered Carbon?"
It's true, Richard's novels are grim . . . but they have to be. It's just my opinion but, of all the writers currently working in the SF field, I think that Richard's work is the best example of SF at its finest. One of the pinnacles of SF achievement (please note that I say, "one" not "the only") is to write a compelling, readable and entertaining story that causes readers to ask themselves where our current path, be it social, technological, or scientific, is taking us and whether we're going to like the final destination. This is one of the most notable of Richard's achievements and in it he's the best in the business. And these days that makes for a grim story.
I think that's why I like Market Forces so much. Unlike the Kovacs books, it lacks much of the Science Fiction set dressing that allows readers to put a comfortable distance between themselves and the ugly situations and choices that our future could bring. That's the same thing that makes lots of other readers think that Market Forces is grimmer and darker than the Kovacs books -- it's not darker, it's just closer.
And then there was Thirteen, or Black Man (to give its original title, which Richard's British publisher wasn't afraid to keep). Though Market Forces takes on the ethics and economics of world wide finance and investment banking in a hell-bent, kill-the-competition-before-they-get-to-the-meeting, nightmare style there is a certain genteel British reserve to it (bloody baseball bats aside). But Thirteen . . . Thirteen is ready to _really_ get in your face. Especially if you live in the good ole' U.S. of A.
Carl Marsalis is a product of genetic engineering called a "variant thirteen". He was bred to be a throw-back to the pre-civilized human that existed before cooperation was a pro-survival trait. Thirteens in general are violent, borderline sociopathic, and were almost all killed, deported, or interred years ago. In the early years of the 22nd century Carl has managed to carve out a niche for himself as a bounty hunter specializing in tracking and apprehending other Thirteens who have escaped the interment camps. Until one evening, while staying overnight in the Southern Republic of a balkanized United States, a small act of kindness lands him in prison. Held without charges and facing the possibility of spending the rest of his life as a convict in this poor, backward, Christian-dominated fragment of a nation, he's offered release in exchange for helping representatives of the most powerful corporation in the world catch a serial murderer who is also a Thirteen.
The plot sounds like a great action-adventure thriller with elements of a police procedural. And it is. But it's also a very complex investigation of bigotry, fundamentalist religious intolerance (both Christian and Muslim), the power of corporations, and the price of violence. It's not often that I read a novel that both makes me think about where the world and my country are going and at the same time engages and entertains me completely. Thus far this year, it's only happened once. And this was the book that did it.
Thirteen will be published in July of this year and I highly recommend that you get a copy.
Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman - I'm only half-way though this one and so it might not live up to its promise, but in that case I'll be damn surprised. First off, despite the title, this is not a funny book. Granted, there are some bits that are amusing and even worth a laugh but it's not a funny book. In both meanings of the term.
You see, it's about super-heroes and super-villains.
When I was a kid I loved comics. Not to the obsessive, completist degree that many of my friends did, but I liked them. And then they got a bit too simple for me and I stopped reading them. Later I discovered a series of shared-world anthologies edited by George R. R. Martin (of A Game of Thrones fame) called Wild Cards. They were about super-heroes but with a large dose of the real world thrown in. The characters had ended up in real-world situations and had to deal with real-world problems. It was good. Not great but really very good. Later I would run across a comic called The Watchmen written by Alan Moore. It also took on the gritty reality of what it might be like for super-heroes. It was also good. Very good. It seems that, over the years, the image of costumed heroes with super-powers has steadily grown richer and more complex -- keeping step with the aging of the generations who were strongly affected by them.
Perhaps it's a function not only of aging of the original readers but some alchemy rising from maturity -- not of the people who were first touched by Superman but the children of those people. Children who were never told that comic books were crap and not to be read by any serious adult but children who were instead _given_ comics by serious adults (their parents) and told, "This is great. You'll love it. I know I did."
But, whatever the reason, comics have grown up a very great deal but that maturity has only rarely made it outside of comics or "illustrated narratives" and into prose fiction. In Soon I Will Be Invincible it has done so and in spades. It's a very mature novel with profoundly complex and motivated characters that retains the awe and wonder of comic books. From the very first two chapters I was hooked and, at the half-way mark, I'm still hooked. The writing is stylish without being self-conscious and very tight. As I mentioned, the characters are believable and complex with motivations that you can not only believe but feel. It's great. Not good but great.
And you don't have to wait 'till July to get it. It's be out in June! And it's looking like we'll be able to host the author for a signing sometime in July.
I hope you enjoyed these two sneak peeks at books that are on their way. I'm sorry that we don't have them for you yet but now you've seen one of the great truisms about booksellers -- we're usually either reading something that isn't out yet or we're reading something that's been out for a while. Late or early but never on time, it's story of my life.
Have a great spring!
April 01, 2007
Notes from a DVD Geek
by Jeremy Lassen
I've got something for everyone this month. Science fiction, horror, zombies . . . A-list Oscar-winning films . . .Direct-to-video . . .Austrian cult films . . . Giant monsters . . . You name it, I'm covering it.
The big title of the month is the Academy-Award winning science fiction dystopia, "Children of Men". This one was simply awesome. I was impressed by the remarkable performances, gritty near-future world view, and the wry and insightfully "science fictional" look at government oppression and revolutionary movements -- all carefully shepherded by the sure hand of its director, Alfonso Cuaron. Cuaron previously brought us "Y Tu Mama Tambien," and the third Harry Potter movie, but this film catapults him into the realm of the most exciting young directors around. If you haven't seen this one yet, you are in for a treat.
Speaking of exciting young filmmakers on the fringe of science fiction, Darron Arronofski's time traveling science fiction mess/masterpiece "The Fountain" won't be out on DVD until May, but as a warm-up, his first two films, "Pi" and "Requiem for a Dream" are getting a double feature DVD release this month, so if you haven't added them to your collection yet, now is your chance.
I've got something for everyone this month. Science fiction, horror, zombies . . . A-list Oscar-winning films . . .Direct-to-video . . .Austrian cult films . . . Giant monsters . . . You name it, I'm covering it.
The big title of the month is the Academy-Award winning science fiction dystopia, "Children of Men". This one was simply awesome. I was impressed by the remarkable performances, gritty near-future world view, and the wry and insightfully "science fictional" look at government oppression and revolutionary movements -- all carefully shepherded by the sure hand of its director, Alfonso Cuaron. Cuaron previously brought us "Y Tu Mama Tambien," and the third Harry Potter movie, but this film catapults him into the realm of the most exciting young directors around. If you haven't seen this one yet, you are in for a treat.
Speaking of exciting young filmmakers on the fringe of science fiction, Darron Arronofski's time traveling science fiction mess/masterpiece "The Fountain" won't be out on DVD until May, but as a warm-up, his first two films, "Pi" and "Requiem for a Dream" are getting a double feature DVD release this month, so if you haven't added them to your collection yet, now is your chance.
March Bestsellers
Hardcovers
1. YOU SUCK! - A LOVE STORY by Christopher Moore
2. FOR A FEW DEMONS MORE by Kim Harrison
3. SHADOWPLAY by Tad Williams
4. HEART-SHAPED BOX by Joe Hill
5. COMMAND DECISION by Elizabeth Moon
6. UN LUN DUN by China Mieville
7. THE TERROR by Dan Simmons
8. LORD OF THE SILENT KINGDOM by Glen Cook
9. SIXTY DAYS AND COUNTING by Kim Stanley Robinson
10. MATHEMATICIANS IN LOVE by Rudy Rucker
Mass Market Paperbacks
1. THE SCENT OF SHADOWS by Vicki Pettersson
2. ALTERED CARBON by Richard Morgan
3. PATTERN RECOGNITION by William Gibson tied with THE SCAR by China Mieville
4. THE CITY, NOT LONG AFTER by Pat Murphy
5. ACCELERANDO by Charles Stross
6. WAR OF THE FLOWERS by Tad Williams
7. OLYMPOS by Dan Simmons
8. SWORDSPOINT by Ellen Kushner
9. LEGENDS 2: DRAGON, SWORD AND KING edited by Robert Silverberg
10. OLD MAN'S WAR by John Scalzi
Trade Paperbacks
1. SNAKE AGENT by Liz Williams
2. BEST SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY OF THE YEAR edited by Johnathan Strahan (Night Shade Books) tied with X-RATED BLOODSUCKERS by Mario Acevedo
3. NIGHTWATCH by Sergei Lukyanenko
4. OVERCLOCKED by Cory Doctorow
5. A DIRTY JOB by Christopher Moore tied with HARDWIRED by Walter John Williams
1. YOU SUCK! - A LOVE STORY by Christopher Moore
2. FOR A FEW DEMONS MORE by Kim Harrison
3. SHADOWPLAY by Tad Williams
4. HEART-SHAPED BOX by Joe Hill
5. COMMAND DECISION by Elizabeth Moon
6. UN LUN DUN by China Mieville
7. THE TERROR by Dan Simmons
8. LORD OF THE SILENT KINGDOM by Glen Cook
9. SIXTY DAYS AND COUNTING by Kim Stanley Robinson
10. MATHEMATICIANS IN LOVE by Rudy Rucker
Mass Market Paperbacks
1. THE SCENT OF SHADOWS by Vicki Pettersson
2. ALTERED CARBON by Richard Morgan
3. PATTERN RECOGNITION by William Gibson tied with THE SCAR by China Mieville
4. THE CITY, NOT LONG AFTER by Pat Murphy
5. ACCELERANDO by Charles Stross
6. WAR OF THE FLOWERS by Tad Williams
7. OLYMPOS by Dan Simmons
8. SWORDSPOINT by Ellen Kushner
9. LEGENDS 2: DRAGON, SWORD AND KING edited by Robert Silverberg
10. OLD MAN'S WAR by John Scalzi
Trade Paperbacks
1. SNAKE AGENT by Liz Williams
2. BEST SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY OF THE YEAR edited by Johnathan Strahan (Night Shade Books) tied with X-RATED BLOODSUCKERS by Mario Acevedo
3. NIGHTWATCH by Sergei Lukyanenko
4. OVERCLOCKED by Cory Doctorow
5. A DIRTY JOB by Christopher Moore tied with HARDWIRED by Walter John Williams
Origin of the Bookstore, Part the Sixth - Off-Site Bookselling, or "Are You a Band?"
For the next seven months we'll be doing a special feature each month in honor of Borderlands' upcoming 10th Anniversary (November 3rd, 2007). We'll share some stories about what Borderlands is and how it got that way.
by Jude Feldman
Borderlands has done (and continues to do) many off-site events, including our well-loved Movie Nights at the Variety Preview Room, the Sonoma County Book Fair in Santa Rosa, and the World Science Fiction Convention in Glasgow two years ago, just to name a few. This installment of "Origin" focuses on a few aspects of what it is like to create a miniature version of the store, someplace else entirely.
When the staff travels to a convention or other off-site event that involves airplane transport, we frequently pack the books that we will be selling in large gray trunks. Think of a heavy-duty plastic version of a surplus Army trunk and you've got the idea. Years and years ago, Alan painstakingly modified these trunks with foam and cardboard padding, to make anything packed inside one neigh on indestructible, even in the hands of baggage handlers. An amusing side effect of traveling with these "road cases" is that the traveling staff is continually and repeatedly mistaken for a band. In airports from Seattle to Wisconsin to Kansas City, perfect strangers have approached us and asked "What band are you in?!" Several of these people flatly refused to believe that we were booksellers, and what a surreal situation that was: Them: "C'mon, just tell me!" Us: "We're actually booksellers. There are books in these trunks." Them: "No, seriously -- I won't tell anyone if you want it kept secret! What is the name of the band?" Us: "No, really, we run a bookstore! None of us plays an instrument at all." Them: "Aw, I wouldn'ta told anyone. You SUCK!" Us: <helpless shrugs>.
by Jude Feldman
Borderlands has done (and continues to do) many off-site events, including our well-loved Movie Nights at the Variety Preview Room, the Sonoma County Book Fair in Santa Rosa, and the World Science Fiction Convention in Glasgow two years ago, just to name a few. This installment of "Origin" focuses on a few aspects of what it is like to create a miniature version of the store, someplace else entirely.
When the staff travels to a convention or other off-site event that involves airplane transport, we frequently pack the books that we will be selling in large gray trunks. Think of a heavy-duty plastic version of a surplus Army trunk and you've got the idea. Years and years ago, Alan painstakingly modified these trunks with foam and cardboard padding, to make anything packed inside one neigh on indestructible, even in the hands of baggage handlers. An amusing side effect of traveling with these "road cases" is that the traveling staff is continually and repeatedly mistaken for a band. In airports from Seattle to Wisconsin to Kansas City, perfect strangers have approached us and asked "What band are you in?!" Several of these people flatly refused to believe that we were booksellers, and what a surreal situation that was: Them: "C'mon, just tell me!" Us: "We're actually booksellers. There are books in these trunks." Them: "No, seriously -- I won't tell anyone if you want it kept secret! What is the name of the band?" Us: "No, really, we run a bookstore! None of us plays an instrument at all." Them: "Aw, I wouldn'ta told anyone. You SUCK!" Us: <helpless shrugs>.
Borders and B&N Followup
by Alan Beatts
Two months ago I made some comments in this column about holiday sales at Borders Books and Barnes & Noble. Two readers wrote very thoughtful emails to me regarding what I'd said. I've been meaning to address their thoughts here for the past two months but for one reason and another I haven't had the chance.
However, first a brief recap is probably in order -- I noted in the January issue that sales at both Borders and B&N were down compared to last year and I went on to note that our sales were up. I was obviously pleased by this news because both companies engage in business practices that I think are distasteful (though to be fair, B&N is a worse offender than Borders). Another reason for my pleasure was the way that those two companies have provided the economic pressure that has driven may non-chain stores out of business. In retrospect I can see that my tone was a bit gloating, despite my attempt to make it otherwise.
In response one reader, who had been a partner at a bookshop that had to close, wrote -
". . . I sadly went to work as a manager at Barnes & Noble. It's true B&N is like the evil empire, they are the Starbucks of Bookstores. But still it is a living, and albeit sometimes a stressful and scablike one . . . it is a living.
Two months ago I made some comments in this column about holiday sales at Borders Books and Barnes & Noble. Two readers wrote very thoughtful emails to me regarding what I'd said. I've been meaning to address their thoughts here for the past two months but for one reason and another I haven't had the chance.
However, first a brief recap is probably in order -- I noted in the January issue that sales at both Borders and B&N were down compared to last year and I went on to note that our sales were up. I was obviously pleased by this news because both companies engage in business practices that I think are distasteful (though to be fair, B&N is a worse offender than Borders). Another reason for my pleasure was the way that those two companies have provided the economic pressure that has driven may non-chain stores out of business. In retrospect I can see that my tone was a bit gloating, despite my attempt to make it otherwise.
In response one reader, who had been a partner at a bookshop that had to close, wrote -
". . . I sadly went to work as a manager at Barnes & Noble. It's true B&N is like the evil empire, they are the Starbucks of Bookstores. But still it is a living, and albeit sometimes a stressful and scablike one . . . it is a living.
March 01, 2007
Origin of the Bookstore, Part the Fifth - The Decor, or "Is this a library or do you sell books?"
For the next eight months we'll be doing a special feature each month in honor of Borderlands' upcoming 10th Anniversary (November 3rd, 2007). We'll share some stories about what Borderlands is and how it got that way.
by Alan Beatts
People frequently comment on how nice Borderlands looks. Sometimes they seem a little surprised that the shop looks so good and their surprise often seems to be strangely amplified when they consider our specialty. It was probably best put by Terry Pratchett the first time he visited. He walked in, looked around and declared, "This can't be a Science Fiction shop, it hasn't sh*t all over the floor!"
Though I don't agree with Mr. Pratchett's assessment of Science Fiction shops in general, I do think Borderlands looks good. I'll even go so far as to say it looks better to me than most bookstores. But however nice it looks, the paint scheme, wooden fixtures and floors, oriental carpets, and "old fashioned" touches (like the lock on the bathroom door -- which I think is doing very well for its age, despite the occasional customer who worries about getting trapped in there. What's so complicated about "wiggle the key in, turn counter clockwise to unlock, now turn knob clockwise to open"? I should be so lucky as to be doing that well when I'm 100 years old!) Ummm, what was I saying? Right . . . .
by Alan Beatts
People frequently comment on how nice Borderlands looks. Sometimes they seem a little surprised that the shop looks so good and their surprise often seems to be strangely amplified when they consider our specialty. It was probably best put by Terry Pratchett the first time he visited. He walked in, looked around and declared, "This can't be a Science Fiction shop, it hasn't sh*t all over the floor!"
Though I don't agree with Mr. Pratchett's assessment of Science Fiction shops in general, I do think Borderlands looks good. I'll even go so far as to say it looks better to me than most bookstores. But however nice it looks, the paint scheme, wooden fixtures and floors, oriental carpets, and "old fashioned" touches (like the lock on the bathroom door -- which I think is doing very well for its age, despite the occasional customer who worries about getting trapped in there. What's so complicated about "wiggle the key in, turn counter clockwise to unlock, now turn knob clockwise to open"? I should be so lucky as to be doing that well when I'm 100 years old!) Ummm, what was I saying? Right . . . .
Zombie Film
by Jeremy Lassen
In celebration of the release of "The Night of the Comet," March is All Zombie Month. I know next month would be a better fit, with the Easter Holiday, but I'm trying to avoid the ire of the Catholic-Anti-Defamation league.
"Night of the Comet" is a much-talked-about silly 80's comedy zombie film that has never been on DVD. It is a total artifact of its era, but is definitely worth seeing if you've never had the pleasure of watching it.
Forgive me for repeating myself, but in an all- zombie newsletter there's bound to be some repetition. "Return of the Living Dead" is the greatest comedic zombie film of all time, so you might consider watching "Return. . ." with "Night of the Comet". Another repeat recommendation is "Cemetery Man," which was finally released in the States on DVD last year. It is also known by its original title, "Dellamorte Dellamore," and is the best existential-zombie love story ever put to film. Another phenomenally successful comedic zombie film is of course "Shaun of the Dead". If you're living under a rock, and haven't heard of this one, go watch it. It's great.
In celebration of the release of "The Night of the Comet," March is All Zombie Month. I know next month would be a better fit, with the Easter Holiday, but I'm trying to avoid the ire of the Catholic-Anti-Defamation league.
"Night of the Comet" is a much-talked-about silly 80's comedy zombie film that has never been on DVD. It is a total artifact of its era, but is definitely worth seeing if you've never had the pleasure of watching it.
Forgive me for repeating myself, but in an all- zombie newsletter there's bound to be some repetition. "Return of the Living Dead" is the greatest comedic zombie film of all time, so you might consider watching "Return. . ." with "Night of the Comet". Another repeat recommendation is "Cemetery Man," which was finally released in the States on DVD last year. It is also known by its original title, "Dellamorte Dellamore," and is the best existential-zombie love story ever put to film. Another phenomenally successful comedic zombie film is of course "Shaun of the Dead". If you're living under a rock, and haven't heard of this one, go watch it. It's great.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)