SF in SF (at The American Bookbinders Museum, 355 Clementina Street) with authors Terry Bisson & Paul Park, moderated by guest Cliff Winnig, Sunday, July 22nd at 6:30 pm
B Catling, THE CLOVEN (Vintage, Trade Paperback, $16.95) Wednesday, July 25th at 6:00 pm
Open House at Borderlands West, 1377 Haight St, Saturday, July 28th from 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm
Borderlands Sponsors' Open Mic, Sunday, August 5th at 5:00 pm
Writers With Drinks (at The Make Out Room, 3225 22nd St.) with authors S.L. Huang, Jack Kaulfus, Cassandra Khaw, Hannah Pittard, Margaret Wilkerson Sexton, and Marlee Jane Ward, Saturday, August 11th at 7:30 pm
SF in SF presents: George R.R. Martin in conversation with John Picacio! (A fundraiser for The Locus Science Fiction Foundation, at the Fox Theatre, Redwood City) Tuesday, August 14th at 7:30 pm
July 11, 2018
July Building News
by Alan Beatts
Hi Everybody,
So, remember last month when I said that the work on the building had been pretty slow and irritating in May but that June was going to be better? Whelp, thankfully that was true. Much was accomplished, most notably getting the I-beam fixed, then up and shored in place; pulling out several of the old posts (they were in the way of the excavations for the new foundations); cutting the concrete floor of the basement for the new foundations; and, a bit over a week ago Sunday, getting all the excavation work done.
That Sunday, the 1st, was a truly Borderlands kind of day. Based on some rough calculations by my friend Zach, it seems we shifted more than 3 tons of dirt up a flight of stairs and then 80 feet into the garden. There were five of us moving the buckets of dirt and, most of the time, one of us digging and filling the buckets.
It took three hours.
Hi Everybody,
So, remember last month when I said that the work on the building had been pretty slow and irritating in May but that June was going to be better? Whelp, thankfully that was true. Much was accomplished, most notably getting the I-beam fixed, then up and shored in place; pulling out several of the old posts (they were in the way of the excavations for the new foundations); cutting the concrete floor of the basement for the new foundations; and, a bit over a week ago Sunday, getting all the excavation work done.
That Sunday, the 1st, was a truly Borderlands kind of day. Based on some rough calculations by my friend Zach, it seems we shifted more than 3 tons of dirt up a flight of stairs and then 80 feet into the garden. There were five of us moving the buckets of dirt and, most of the time, one of us digging and filling the buckets.
It took three hours.
June Bestsellers
Hardcovers
1) Starless by Jacqueline Carey
2) Brief Cases by Jim Butcher
3) Head On by John Scalzi
4) Noir by Christopher Moore
5) Artificial Condtion by Martha Wells
6) Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
7) The Oracle Year by Charles Soule
8) Autonomous by Annalee Newitz
9) Clockwork Dynasty by Daniel H. Wilson
10) Summerland by Hannu Rajaniemi
Trade Paperbacks
1) Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu, trans by Ken Liu
2) How to Marry a Werewolf by Gail Carriger
3) Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
4) Revenant Gun by Yoon Ha Lee
5) The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
6) Freeze-Frame Revolution by Peter Watts
7) All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders
8) The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
9) Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant
10) Walkaway by Cory Doctorow
Mass Market Paperbacks
1) Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K LeGuin
2) Old Man's War by John Scalzi
3) Who Fears Death? by Nnedi Okorafor
4) Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
5) American Gods by Neil Gaiman
6) Sea Peoples by S.M. Stirling
7) Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
8) God Save the Queen by Kate Locke
9) Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey
10) Lock In by John Scalzi
1) Starless by Jacqueline Carey
2) Brief Cases by Jim Butcher
3) Head On by John Scalzi
4) Noir by Christopher Moore
5) Artificial Condtion by Martha Wells
6) Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
7) The Oracle Year by Charles Soule
8) Autonomous by Annalee Newitz
9) Clockwork Dynasty by Daniel H. Wilson
10) Summerland by Hannu Rajaniemi
Trade Paperbacks
1) Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu, trans by Ken Liu
2) How to Marry a Werewolf by Gail Carriger
3) Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
4) Revenant Gun by Yoon Ha Lee
5) The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
6) Freeze-Frame Revolution by Peter Watts
7) All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders
8) The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
9) Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant
10) Walkaway by Cory Doctorow
Mass Market Paperbacks
1) Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K LeGuin
2) Old Man's War by John Scalzi
3) Who Fears Death? by Nnedi Okorafor
4) Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
5) American Gods by Neil Gaiman
6) Sea Peoples by S.M. Stirling
7) Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
8) God Save the Queen by Kate Locke
9) Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey
10) Lock In by John Scalzi
July News
* Overheard in the Store:
"I've been seeing the saddest couples on BART [recently]...like if Sid & Nancy were American, 18 years old, and didn't know who Sid & Nancy were."
* Attention, Borderlands community! Do you work for Stripe or Square, or another mobile credit card service? We're looking for a contract-free mobile POS and credit card solution to try out while we're at WorldCon next month -- if it works well, it will likely become our in-store replacement for our cash register. Can you assist us, either directly or with advice? If so, please email Jude at jfeldman@borderlands-books.com. We need to have a service functional for WorldCon next month, so time is a bit of the essence, and your help is very appreciated!
* Over at Tor.com, Rebecca Roanhorse gives us a list of five Indigenous authors that we should be reading. https://www.tor.com/2018/06/27/five-indigenous-speculative-fiction-authors-you-should-be-reading/
* Speaking of Rebecca Roanhorse, here is an article about her award-winning new novel TRAIL OF LIGHTNING, and bringing Indigenous futurism to urban fantasy. http://www.denofgeek.com/us/books/books/274577/trail-of-lightning-rebecca-roanhorse-brings-indigenous-futurism-to-urban-fantasy
"I've been seeing the saddest couples on BART [recently]...like if Sid & Nancy were American, 18 years old, and didn't know who Sid & Nancy were."
* Attention, Borderlands community! Do you work for Stripe or Square, or another mobile credit card service? We're looking for a contract-free mobile POS and credit card solution to try out while we're at WorldCon next month -- if it works well, it will likely become our in-store replacement for our cash register. Can you assist us, either directly or with advice? If so, please email Jude at jfeldman@borderlands-books.com. We need to have a service functional for WorldCon next month, so time is a bit of the essence, and your help is very appreciated!
* Over at Tor.com, Rebecca Roanhorse gives us a list of five Indigenous authors that we should be reading. https://www.tor.com/2018/06/27/five-indigenous-speculative-fiction-authors-you-should-be-reading/
* Speaking of Rebecca Roanhorse, here is an article about her award-winning new novel TRAIL OF LIGHTNING, and bringing Indigenous futurism to urban fantasy. http://www.denofgeek.com/us/books/books/274577/trail-of-lightning-rebecca-roanhorse-brings-indigenous-futurism-to-urban-fantasy
June 07, 2018
Upcoming Events
TONIGHT! Drop-by signing with Steve Toutonghi, SIDE LIFE (Soho Press, Hardcover, $26.00) Thursday, June 7th at 6:00 pm
Writers With Drinks with authors Joanna Angel, Adam Becker, Vernon Keeve III, Chandler Klang-Smith, and Nitasha Tiku, hosted by Charlie Jane Anders (at the Make-Out Room, 3225 22nd Street, San Francisco) Saturday, June 9th at 7:00 pm
SF in SF with authors Lucy Jane Bledsoe, Meg Elison, and Ellen Klages, moderated by Terry Bisson (at the American Bookbinders Museum, 355 Clementina Street, San Francisco) Sunday, June 10th at 6:30 pm
Jacqueline Carey, STARLESS (Tor Books, Hardcover, $25.99) Wednesday, June 13th at 6:00 pm
Open House at Borderlands West (1377 Haight St. at Masonic) Saturday, June 16th from 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm
Drop-by signing with DJ Butler, WITCHY WINTER (Baen, Hardcover, $25.00) & Christopher Husberg, BLOOD REQUIEM (Titan Books, Trade Paperback, $14.95) Wednesday, June 20th at 6:00 pm
Daniel H. Wilson, CLOCKWORK DYNASTY (Vintage, Trade Paperback, $16.95) Saturday, June 30th at 3:00 pm
June Building News
by Alan Beatts
May was one of those months when things just don't line up quite right -- at least where our building on Haight St. was concerned. As a result, we had a bit of a slowdown this month, but things should be picking up shortly. The first delay was getting the final details of the structural work sorted out. It wasn't anything major, but fitting some of the beams around the existing stairwell required a bit of back-and-forth with the structural engineer. Once that was all sorted out, I realized that there were some details for the I-beam in the basement that needed to be clarified, too. Once all of that was worked out, the welder who is making the beam went on vacation for a week. By then, it was almost the end of the month.
But, that's all sorted out now and the beam should be ready this week, and I'm very pleased to be working with Ricardo's Welding again (they did some very nice work for me on my motorcycle last year). We'll be putting that in place and then marking out the foundation locations in the basement for both that beam and the beams upstairs. Once that's done, we'll be able to start work on the bathroom in earnest.
Despite all that, we made some good progress in the back yard. The fences are almost done and are looking good - thank you again to all the volunteers who came to clamber about on my scaffolding (I've never built one before! Could you tell?) to construct the frame and then put the redwood boards in. It looks fantastic, it's very strong, and more importantly it will age well. We've just got the last bits of the west section left to do and once we're done mucking about on top of the walls we can get started on building the planters.
May was one of those months when things just don't line up quite right -- at least where our building on Haight St. was concerned. As a result, we had a bit of a slowdown this month, but things should be picking up shortly. The first delay was getting the final details of the structural work sorted out. It wasn't anything major, but fitting some of the beams around the existing stairwell required a bit of back-and-forth with the structural engineer. Once that was all sorted out, I realized that there were some details for the I-beam in the basement that needed to be clarified, too. Once all of that was worked out, the welder who is making the beam went on vacation for a week. By then, it was almost the end of the month.
But, that's all sorted out now and the beam should be ready this week, and I'm very pleased to be working with Ricardo's Welding again (they did some very nice work for me on my motorcycle last year). We'll be putting that in place and then marking out the foundation locations in the basement for both that beam and the beams upstairs. Once that's done, we'll be able to start work on the bathroom in earnest.
Despite all that, we made some good progress in the back yard. The fences are almost done and are looking good - thank you again to all the volunteers who came to clamber about on my scaffolding (I've never built one before! Could you tell?) to construct the frame and then put the redwood boards in. It looks fantastic, it's very strong, and more importantly it will age well. We've just got the last bits of the west section left to do and once we're done mucking about on top of the walls we can get started on building the planters.
May Bestsellers
Hardcovers
1) Noir by Christopher Moore
2) Tempests and Slaughter by Tamora Pierce
3) Autonomous by Annalee Newitz
4) Artificial Condition by Martha Wells
5) Tortall: A Spy's Guide by Tamora Pierce
6) Head On by John Scalzi
7) The Soldier by Neal Asher
8) Space Opera by Cat Valente
9) Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
10) In Calabria by Peter S. Beagle
Trade Paperbacks
1) Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu, trans by Ken Liu
2) How to Marry a Werewolf by Gail Carriger
3) The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
4) The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
5) Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
6) Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer
7) The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin
8) Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O by Nicole Galland and Neal Stephenson
9) All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders
10) Robots vs. Fairies edited by Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe
Mass Market Paperbacks
1) Who Fears Death? by Nnedi Okorafor
2) Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
3) Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K LeGuin
4) American Gods by Neil Gaiman
5) Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
6) Lock In by John Scalzi
7) Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn
8) Tiassa by Steven Brust
9) Red Sister by Mark Lawrence
10) Arcanum Unbounded by Brandon Sanderson
June News
* Overheard in the Store:
"We tore down the ivy. Then we realized it was _structural_ ivy."
"Want to hold my baby while I get some vampire erotica?"
"Yes, I'm looking for J.R.R. Tolkien's 'Ring Cycle'."
"It will probably be an artisanal bag shop. We're in the Artisanal Bag Shop District, you know."
"I just hate my sneeze. It undermines my authority."
"I love lying to children."
* Are you attending Worldcon 76 in San Jose in August? Are you looking for a ride to, or a roommate for the con? If so, email scox@borderlands-books.com and let us know if we can put you in touch with other Borderlands customers who are seeking the same.
* Atlas Obscura made a list of 62 of the World's Best Independent Bookstores and we made the list! Check out all the other bookstores that you should visit: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/best-independent-bookstores
* Gardner Dozois, respected science fiction author and editor, has passed away at 70 years of age. The field has lost a giant. http://www.philly.com/philly/obituaries/gardner-dozois-70-acclaimed-science-fiction-editor-20180529.html
"We tore down the ivy. Then we realized it was _structural_ ivy."
"Want to hold my baby while I get some vampire erotica?"
"Yes, I'm looking for J.R.R. Tolkien's 'Ring Cycle'."
"It will probably be an artisanal bag shop. We're in the Artisanal Bag Shop District, you know."
"I just hate my sneeze. It undermines my authority."
"I love lying to children."
* Are you attending Worldcon 76 in San Jose in August? Are you looking for a ride to, or a roommate for the con? If so, email scox@borderlands-books.com and let us know if we can put you in touch with other Borderlands customers who are seeking the same.
* Atlas Obscura made a list of 62 of the World's Best Independent Bookstores and we made the list! Check out all the other bookstores that you should visit: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/best-independent-bookstores
* Gardner Dozois, respected science fiction author and editor, has passed away at 70 years of age. The field has lost a giant. http://www.philly.com/philly/obituaries/gardner-dozois-70-acclaimed-science-fiction-editor-20180529.html
May 09, 2018
Upcoming Events
Tamora Pierce, TEMPESTS AND SLAUGHTER (Random House, Hardcover, $18.99) Wednesday, May 23rd at 5:00 pm
SF in SF with authors Lucy Jane Bledsoe, Meg Elison, and Ellen Klages, moderated by Terry Bisson (at the American Bookbinders Museum, 355 Clementina Street, San Francisco) Sunday, June 10th at 6:30 pm
Jacqueline Carey, STARLESS (Tor Books, Hardcover, $25.99) Wednesday, June 13th at 6:00 pm
Coming up in the summer: B. Catling at the bookstore, Hannu Rajaniemi at The Interval at Long Now, George R.R. Martin in conversation with WorldCon artist GOH John Picacio at The Fox Theatre, and many, many more exciting events!
SF in SF with authors Lucy Jane Bledsoe, Meg Elison, and Ellen Klages, moderated by Terry Bisson (at the American Bookbinders Museum, 355 Clementina Street, San Francisco) Sunday, June 10th at 6:30 pm
Jacqueline Carey, STARLESS (Tor Books, Hardcover, $25.99) Wednesday, June 13th at 6:00 pm
Coming up in the summer: B. Catling at the bookstore, Hannu Rajaniemi at The Interval at Long Now, George R.R. Martin in conversation with WorldCon artist GOH John Picacio at The Fox Theatre, and many, many more exciting events!
May Building News
by Alan Beatts
Whew. The past couple weeks have been kind of a blur. We've finished the west and south walls -- all patched and painted (well, primed actually). They came out really well and it makes a huge difference to how the place looks. We've also torn up all the horrible carpet which has made another huge improvement. It turns out that, when the carpet was installed, they did a proper job and nailed down plywood to glue the carpet to. That's a great thing for two reasons; first, I'm not going to have a sand off the carpet glue when I refinish the floors and, second, the plywood has probably protected the floors since the 1970s. I'm sure that they're going to be pretty worn when I get down to them but, it's better than it would be if they hadn't been protected for forty-plus years.
Along with working on the electrical (more about that in a moment), I've been working on the fences in the back yard (with a lot of help from the volunteer crew). Today I just did the final work on the south fence. It was the trickiest because it's (mostly) straight, so getting it level along a 25' run was a challenge. But, it all worked out and it looks wonderful. The east fence is about half-finished and the west has yet to be started. Big thanks go out to everyone who helped with that -- Jim, Z'ev, Maddy, Salem, Aliza, Carl, David, Melinda, Russ and Zach. Despite my sudden inability to measure anything accurately (or do fractional arithmetic in my head), Zach, Russ and David were very patient with me (thanks and sorry, guys.)
Whew. The past couple weeks have been kind of a blur. We've finished the west and south walls -- all patched and painted (well, primed actually). They came out really well and it makes a huge difference to how the place looks. We've also torn up all the horrible carpet which has made another huge improvement. It turns out that, when the carpet was installed, they did a proper job and nailed down plywood to glue the carpet to. That's a great thing for two reasons; first, I'm not going to have a sand off the carpet glue when I refinish the floors and, second, the plywood has probably protected the floors since the 1970s. I'm sure that they're going to be pretty worn when I get down to them but, it's better than it would be if they hadn't been protected for forty-plus years.
Along with working on the electrical (more about that in a moment), I've been working on the fences in the back yard (with a lot of help from the volunteer crew). Today I just did the final work on the south fence. It was the trickiest because it's (mostly) straight, so getting it level along a 25' run was a challenge. But, it all worked out and it looks wonderful. The east fence is about half-finished and the west has yet to be started. Big thanks go out to everyone who helped with that -- Jim, Z'ev, Maddy, Salem, Aliza, Carl, David, Melinda, Russ and Zach. Despite my sudden inability to measure anything accurately (or do fractional arithmetic in my head), Zach, Russ and David were very patient with me (thanks and sorry, guys.)
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