For the next two 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
Anyone who collects books or who is an avid reader knows what a pain moving books can be. But to really appreciate how bad it can get you have to work at a bookstore (or, gods help you, own one). As I write this, Borderlands has a total of 18,937 books in the store. When we moved here from our old location, we only had about half that number. All of which had to be boxed up in alphabetical order and moved over to the current location. We were clever (at least a little bit) and found boxes that were exactly the right size to fit three long rows of mass-market paperbacks (those are the small paperbacks) stacked one deep. At least that meant that the books would stay in order as they were moved. Then it was just a matter of packing them up. And packing them up. And packing them up.
I was busy working on getting the new location into shape and most of the rest of the staff were either working their other jobs or helping me at the new location, so Claud Reich packed almost all the paperbacks by himself. When I left the bookstore that morning, there was a pile of broken down boxes in the middle of the store about five feet high. By the time I got back there in the evening, there were three or four piles of boxes in stacks higher than Claud's head (and he's not a short guy -- taller than my six feet, in fact). When you think of regular moving boxes, that doesn't seem very high, but remember, these boxes were only 4" high. That is a lot of boxes. And then there were all the boxes of hardcovers and trade paperbacks.
September 01, 2007
Recent Reading
by Alan Beatts
It has been a good summer for my reading, so this month I thought I'd talk a little about books that I've read recently that really impressed me. It's a truism that booksellers are either reading something old or something that hasn't come out yet. I think it's because we're either working on our stacks (and we all have piles of books to read) of brand news stuff or we're "finally getting to that", fill in the blank, "that I've been meaning to read for months". Whatever the reason, booksellers are almost always either behind our customers' reading or ahead of them.
Having said that, the first book I'm going to mention is an exception to that rule. HILLDIGGERS by Neal Asher arrived at the store very recently and I grabbed it. I've been a fan of Asher's since 1998 or so when I read THE ENGINEER, his first collection of short work that was published by Tanjen (a now sadly defunct UK small press). I was crazy about that book and bought up the entire supply of copies available in the US. And I promptly sold every single one at the then-cover price of around $15. Now I wish I'd saved some copies since they're hard as hell to find and go for at least $100 now.
Fast-forward to 2007 when Asher has more than a half-dozen novels out, is a pretty big deal in the UK and working towards that in the US. His Polity universe, in which most (if not all, the jury is still out on whether COWL is a Polity novel or not) of his novels and many of his short stories are set, is perhaps the must interesting and fully-imagined future history since Niven's Known Space and Banks' Culture. HILLDIGGERS is his most recent work and in some ways I liked it better than the last two (POLITY AGENT and THE VOYAGE OF THE SABLE KEECH). Not that the last two were poor examples of his work but they both are followups to other novels (BRASS MAN and THE SKINNER, respectively). HILLDIGGERS, however, introduces a completely new cast of characters and is set on the outskirts of the Polity (the Line, as it's called). It's a solid piece of writing that demonstrates Asher's increasing skill at starting the reader at the beginning of the action and then filling in the back-story bit by bit throughout the course of the novel. If you haven't tried Asher yet, HILLDIGGERS is a good place to start (though I still think that THE SKINNER is his best work to date).
Next I'm going to jump way forward and tease you a little. John Meaney may be familiar to some of you from his Nulapeiron Sequence (PARADOX, CONTEXT, and RESOLUTION). His newest novel, BONE SONG, is a departure from his other work and I think it's his best yet. It's a noir-ish detective novel set in a world very different from ours where something like magic (or more accurately, Necromancy) takes the place of much of our technology. Neither science fiction nor fantasy, BONE SONG is the book that I've been waiting years to find. Combining the aesthetic of Hammett or Robert Parker with a setting reminiscent of China Mieville's New Crobuzon, it's a remarkable entry into the canon of supernatural investigation. Here's the catch: although the UK edition is out already I strongly suggest that you wait to read the US edition. There were a few editorial and textural changes to the US edition that make it a stronger novel. The bad news -- the US edition won't be out 'til February of next year. So, you'll just have to wait. Don't worry though, we'll mention it in this newsletter when we get copies.
Finally, I'll jump back in time and mention that I finally got around to reading Glasshouse by Charles Stross. I know, I know it's been out forever but the paperback just caught my eye. If there's anyone out there who hasn't gotten to it yet either -- buy it. I heard mixed reviews right when it came out (which was part of the reason I waited on it) but I thought it was great. Some of the riffs he's playing have been around for a while (interstellar teleportation, artificial societies, and human/meta-human/trans-human relations) but he does his usual (and remarkable) job of extrapolating and integrating ideas so that they are a seemingly rock-solid basis for the story, instead of being the centerpiece. And the story is a lovely paranoid thriller where the no-one-is-what-they-seem element is enhanced by technology that allows effectively instant body switching and even multiple instances of the same personality in duplicate bodies. The damn thing hooked me completely and cost me sleep, not to mention several hours at work!
That's about all for this month. Have a lovely fall.
It has been a good summer for my reading, so this month I thought I'd talk a little about books that I've read recently that really impressed me. It's a truism that booksellers are either reading something old or something that hasn't come out yet. I think it's because we're either working on our stacks (and we all have piles of books to read) of brand news stuff or we're "finally getting to that", fill in the blank, "that I've been meaning to read for months". Whatever the reason, booksellers are almost always either behind our customers' reading or ahead of them.
Having said that, the first book I'm going to mention is an exception to that rule. HILLDIGGERS by Neal Asher arrived at the store very recently and I grabbed it. I've been a fan of Asher's since 1998 or so when I read THE ENGINEER, his first collection of short work that was published by Tanjen (a now sadly defunct UK small press). I was crazy about that book and bought up the entire supply of copies available in the US. And I promptly sold every single one at the then-cover price of around $15. Now I wish I'd saved some copies since they're hard as hell to find and go for at least $100 now.
Fast-forward to 2007 when Asher has more than a half-dozen novels out, is a pretty big deal in the UK and working towards that in the US. His Polity universe, in which most (if not all, the jury is still out on whether COWL is a Polity novel or not) of his novels and many of his short stories are set, is perhaps the must interesting and fully-imagined future history since Niven's Known Space and Banks' Culture. HILLDIGGERS is his most recent work and in some ways I liked it better than the last two (POLITY AGENT and THE VOYAGE OF THE SABLE KEECH). Not that the last two were poor examples of his work but they both are followups to other novels (BRASS MAN and THE SKINNER, respectively). HILLDIGGERS, however, introduces a completely new cast of characters and is set on the outskirts of the Polity (the Line, as it's called). It's a solid piece of writing that demonstrates Asher's increasing skill at starting the reader at the beginning of the action and then filling in the back-story bit by bit throughout the course of the novel. If you haven't tried Asher yet, HILLDIGGERS is a good place to start (though I still think that THE SKINNER is his best work to date).
Next I'm going to jump way forward and tease you a little. John Meaney may be familiar to some of you from his Nulapeiron Sequence (PARADOX, CONTEXT, and RESOLUTION). His newest novel, BONE SONG, is a departure from his other work and I think it's his best yet. It's a noir-ish detective novel set in a world very different from ours where something like magic (or more accurately, Necromancy) takes the place of much of our technology. Neither science fiction nor fantasy, BONE SONG is the book that I've been waiting years to find. Combining the aesthetic of Hammett or Robert Parker with a setting reminiscent of China Mieville's New Crobuzon, it's a remarkable entry into the canon of supernatural investigation. Here's the catch: although the UK edition is out already I strongly suggest that you wait to read the US edition. There were a few editorial and textural changes to the US edition that make it a stronger novel. The bad news -- the US edition won't be out 'til February of next year. So, you'll just have to wait. Don't worry though, we'll mention it in this newsletter when we get copies.
Finally, I'll jump back in time and mention that I finally got around to reading Glasshouse by Charles Stross. I know, I know it's been out forever but the paperback just caught my eye. If there's anyone out there who hasn't gotten to it yet either -- buy it. I heard mixed reviews right when it came out (which was part of the reason I waited on it) but I thought it was great. Some of the riffs he's playing have been around for a while (interstellar teleportation, artificial societies, and human/meta-human/trans-human relations) but he does his usual (and remarkable) job of extrapolating and integrating ideas so that they are a seemingly rock-solid basis for the story, instead of being the centerpiece. And the story is a lovely paranoid thriller where the no-one-is-what-they-seem element is enhanced by technology that allows effectively instant body switching and even multiple instances of the same personality in duplicate bodies. The damn thing hooked me completely and cost me sleep, not to mention several hours at work!
That's about all for this month. Have a lovely fall.
August 01, 2007
Notes from a DVD Geek
by Jeremy Lassen
This month I’m psyched. There’s a truly awesome movie arriving on DVD and chances are most of you were unable to catch it in the theaters. Now’s your chance to rectify this horrible mistake: run out and watch "The Host". For those of you who came out to the Variety Screening Room this spring to watch "The Host," you know it’s a truly fabulous giant monster movie that transcends the genre. Great effects, gripping characterizations, and superb performances by the entire cast. This Korean-made extravaganza comes to the US with a 2 disk special edition that should not be missed.
Speaking of splendidly over the top films we’ve shown at the Variety Screening Room, I’ll bet some of you remember our screening of the long-out-of-print "Flash Gordon" movie, featuring music by Queen, and the greatest performance of Max Von Sydow’s career, as Ming the Merciless. The new “Savior of the Universe” DVD release features a restored anamorphic disk (for those non-techno-dorks, this means it looks better on your widescreen TV, if you’ve got one of those) and 5.1 surround sound, so as to better hear Brian May’s guitar and Freddy Mercury’s vocals. Get it!
This month I’m psyched. There’s a truly awesome movie arriving on DVD and chances are most of you were unable to catch it in the theaters. Now’s your chance to rectify this horrible mistake: run out and watch "The Host". For those of you who came out to the Variety Screening Room this spring to watch "The Host," you know it’s a truly fabulous giant monster movie that transcends the genre. Great effects, gripping characterizations, and superb performances by the entire cast. This Korean-made extravaganza comes to the US with a 2 disk special edition that should not be missed.
Speaking of splendidly over the top films we’ve shown at the Variety Screening Room, I’ll bet some of you remember our screening of the long-out-of-print "Flash Gordon" movie, featuring music by Queen, and the greatest performance of Max Von Sydow’s career, as Ming the Merciless. The new “Savior of the Universe” DVD release features a restored anamorphic disk (for those non-techno-dorks, this means it looks better on your widescreen TV, if you’ve got one of those) and 5.1 surround sound, so as to better hear Brian May’s guitar and Freddy Mercury’s vocals. Get it!
July Bestsellers
Hardcovers
1) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
2) Sons of Heaven by Kage Baker
3) Territory by Emma Bull
4) Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman
5) Thirteen by Richard Morgan
6) The Gospel of the Knife by Will Shetterly
7) Kushiel's Justice by Jacqueline Carey
8) The Devil You Know by Mike Carey
9) Fortress in Shadow: A Chronicle of the Dread Empire by Glen Cook
10) Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis
Paperbacks
1) Glasshouse by Charles Stross
2) Kushiel's Scion by Jacqueline Carey
3) The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
4) Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds
5) The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner
6) Year's Best SF 12 edited by David Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer
7) Fugitives of Chaos by John C. Wright
8) Blue Moon by Scott Westerfeld
9) Plague Year by Jeff Carlson
10) Book of the Dead by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Trade Paperbacks
1) Reaper's Gale by Steven Erikson
2) Butcher Bird by Richard Kadrey
3) The Year's Best Science Fcition vol. 24 edited by Gardner Dozois
4) Whisky and Water by Elizabeth Bear
5) Snake Agent by Liz Williams
1) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
2) Sons of Heaven by Kage Baker
3) Territory by Emma Bull
4) Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman
5) Thirteen by Richard Morgan
6) The Gospel of the Knife by Will Shetterly
7) Kushiel's Justice by Jacqueline Carey
8) The Devil You Know by Mike Carey
9) Fortress in Shadow: A Chronicle of the Dread Empire by Glen Cook
10) Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis
Paperbacks
1) Glasshouse by Charles Stross
2) Kushiel's Scion by Jacqueline Carey
3) The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
4) Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds
5) The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner
6) Year's Best SF 12 edited by David Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer
7) Fugitives of Chaos by John C. Wright
8) Blue Moon by Scott Westerfeld
9) Plague Year by Jeff Carlson
10) Book of the Dead by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Trade Paperbacks
1) Reaper's Gale by Steven Erikson
2) Butcher Bird by Richard Kadrey
3) The Year's Best Science Fcition vol. 24 edited by Gardner Dozois
4) Whisky and Water by Elizabeth Bear
5) Snake Agent by Liz Williams
Origin of the Bookstore, Part the Tenth - Second-Hand Things
For the next three 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
Much of the furniture and equipment at Borderlands has a curious and checkered past. Almost everything in the store that wasn't purpose-built by me (often with the very patient help of staff and friends) was either A) bought used, B) a hand-me-down, C) a gift or D) scrounged in some other fashion. Here's a little list of some of the notable and interesting items -
The glass cases behind the counter were bought from the science department at the College of San Mateo where they were used as microscope cases 'till I got a hold of them. The cabinets on the back counter came from the same place where they were used for chemical storage (and my, weren't they fun to clean!). The display case at the front counter displayed cigars and fine liquor in a shop in Noe Valley. The laser printer at the counter came from the motorcycle shop I used to manage -- applause to Hewlett Packard since it's eleven years old and still going strong.
The two (large, stuffed) cockroach puppets that decorate the cash register came from Community Thrift courtesy of long-time store volunteer Mikael. They are Saints Gulik, messengers of the Discordian goddess Eris, of whom several prominent store employees are adherents. If that last sentence looked like gibberish to you, read THE PRINCIPIA DISCORDIA, conveniently for sale at Borderlands, or click here: <http://jubal.westnet.com/hyperdiscordia/saint_gulik.html>
The light colored bookshelves near the front door were hand-me-downs from my brother when he and his family moved to Japan. The tall one came from his office and the two shorter ones were my niece and nephew's first real bookshelves. I bought the display case in front of the office window from my friend Kelleigh, who was the owner of the Ebb-Tide cafe. She bought it used herself but it never worked in her shop (it was meant to be a pastry case).
Most of the rugs throughout the store have been in my family for generations (my parents and my maternal grandparents were all very fond of Oriental rugs). I remember crawling around on them as a child and tracing the patterns with my finger. The blue rug in the office was a gift from a longtime customer, Guy Johnson. The couch at the rear of the shop (and its larger mate in the back room) were bought via a classified ad in the SF Weekly three days before the store opened in Hayes Valley. I was in a panic because I concluded that there weren't enough places to sit, so I rushed out and bought those couches. I think I spent $75 on the both of them. I still remember the expression on my mother's face when I brought them to the store, where she was helping shelve books. I said, "Look! I got 'em for 75 bucks."
And she said, "Really . . . ." while her expression said, "Holy Christ! What the hell were you thinking?"
I have to admit that they are the least attractive pieces of furniture in the shop but they've grown on me over the past ten years. The cats, like several generations of unknown cats before them, occasionally use them as scratching posts. The chairs at the back of the shop, as well as the sideboard (and the oak file cabinets in the office) all came from Cottrell's Moving and Storage. Now closed, Cottrell's was on Valencia near Duboce and it was _the_ place to get decent furniture for cheap. If people didn't pay their storage bill for too long, their furniture ended up for sale. Based on the age of some of the furniture, Cottrell's had been in the storage business for a long, long time.
In the office, my desk is an old WWII vintage receptionist's desk that my mother bought used and then gave to me when I was in high school. Jude's desk was the one good desk that was left here by the owner of Captain Jacks when I bought him out, prior to moving to the current location.
All the computers and associated bits were either hand-me-downs from my brother, Joe (it's nice to have a computer programer in the family) or were bought used from various sources, notably the nice folks at PowerMax <http://www.powermax.com> or my friend and computer consultant par excellence, Bill Melcher.
by Alan Beatts
Much of the furniture and equipment at Borderlands has a curious and checkered past. Almost everything in the store that wasn't purpose-built by me (often with the very patient help of staff and friends) was either A) bought used, B) a hand-me-down, C) a gift or D) scrounged in some other fashion. Here's a little list of some of the notable and interesting items -
The glass cases behind the counter were bought from the science department at the College of San Mateo where they were used as microscope cases 'till I got a hold of them. The cabinets on the back counter came from the same place where they were used for chemical storage (and my, weren't they fun to clean!). The display case at the front counter displayed cigars and fine liquor in a shop in Noe Valley. The laser printer at the counter came from the motorcycle shop I used to manage -- applause to Hewlett Packard since it's eleven years old and still going strong.
The two (large, stuffed) cockroach puppets that decorate the cash register came from Community Thrift courtesy of long-time store volunteer Mikael. They are Saints Gulik, messengers of the Discordian goddess Eris, of whom several prominent store employees are adherents. If that last sentence looked like gibberish to you, read THE PRINCIPIA DISCORDIA, conveniently for sale at Borderlands, or click here: <http://jubal.westnet.com/hyperdiscordia/saint_gulik.html>
The light colored bookshelves near the front door were hand-me-downs from my brother when he and his family moved to Japan. The tall one came from his office and the two shorter ones were my niece and nephew's first real bookshelves. I bought the display case in front of the office window from my friend Kelleigh, who was the owner of the Ebb-Tide cafe. She bought it used herself but it never worked in her shop (it was meant to be a pastry case).
Most of the rugs throughout the store have been in my family for generations (my parents and my maternal grandparents were all very fond of Oriental rugs). I remember crawling around on them as a child and tracing the patterns with my finger. The blue rug in the office was a gift from a longtime customer, Guy Johnson. The couch at the rear of the shop (and its larger mate in the back room) were bought via a classified ad in the SF Weekly three days before the store opened in Hayes Valley. I was in a panic because I concluded that there weren't enough places to sit, so I rushed out and bought those couches. I think I spent $75 on the both of them. I still remember the expression on my mother's face when I brought them to the store, where she was helping shelve books. I said, "Look! I got 'em for 75 bucks."
And she said, "Really . . . ." while her expression said, "Holy Christ! What the hell were you thinking?"
I have to admit that they are the least attractive pieces of furniture in the shop but they've grown on me over the past ten years. The cats, like several generations of unknown cats before them, occasionally use them as scratching posts. The chairs at the back of the shop, as well as the sideboard (and the oak file cabinets in the office) all came from Cottrell's Moving and Storage. Now closed, Cottrell's was on Valencia near Duboce and it was _the_ place to get decent furniture for cheap. If people didn't pay their storage bill for too long, their furniture ended up for sale. Based on the age of some of the furniture, Cottrell's had been in the storage business for a long, long time.
In the office, my desk is an old WWII vintage receptionist's desk that my mother bought used and then gave to me when I was in high school. Jude's desk was the one good desk that was left here by the owner of Captain Jacks when I bought him out, prior to moving to the current location.
All the computers and associated bits were either hand-me-downs from my brother, Joe (it's nice to have a computer programer in the family) or were bought used from various sources, notably the nice folks at PowerMax <http://www.powermax.com> or my friend and computer consultant par excellence, Bill Melcher.
Reuse and use used
by Alan Beatts
Writing my piece about the store history this issue made me start thinking about recycling and "green-thinking" in general. Despite my Bay Area upbringing, I've never been much of a "tree hugger" (as we used to call environmentally-minded people when I was in High School). In fact, when I was younger, I pretty much didn't give a damn about environmental issues. But as I got older, I got smarter (at least _I_ think so) and I started to think about those issues.
Now my attitude is much more thoughtful, if not 100% hippy-certified, organically grown, and environmentally conscious (I mean really . . . I do drive a damn big, gas-guzzling truck . . . when I'm not walking or riding a motorcycle). It's based on two key things --
A) I really, REALLY hate waste. Perhaps it comes from being dirt poor and living hand-to-mouth for a while (not to mention being homeless, but that's another story) or maybe it's my father's Scottish frugality coming to the fore late in life but whatever the reason I don't like to see something that could be valuable to someone (other than its owner) getting thrown away. It strikes me as both foolish and inconsiderate. Foolish since one is wasting something that has value and inconsiderate because one is denying someone else something that might be quite valuable to them. I think it's simple self-centeredness that makes a person conclude that something is valueless in an absolute sense and therefore trash simply because that object no longer has (subjective) value to that person. By definition, that's inconsiderate.
B) I love efficiency and good design. It just makes me happy on a very basic level. Up to a point, reusing objects is efficient in that it makes the best use of the raw materials, the energy and the labor that went into creating the object in the first place. Good design is (in many cases if not always) based on creating something that achieves its purpose effectively with the minimum amount of effort or energy.
Writing my piece about the store history this issue made me start thinking about recycling and "green-thinking" in general. Despite my Bay Area upbringing, I've never been much of a "tree hugger" (as we used to call environmentally-minded people when I was in High School). In fact, when I was younger, I pretty much didn't give a damn about environmental issues. But as I got older, I got smarter (at least _I_ think so) and I started to think about those issues.
Now my attitude is much more thoughtful, if not 100% hippy-certified, organically grown, and environmentally conscious (I mean really . . . I do drive a damn big, gas-guzzling truck . . . when I'm not walking or riding a motorcycle). It's based on two key things --
A) I really, REALLY hate waste. Perhaps it comes from being dirt poor and living hand-to-mouth for a while (not to mention being homeless, but that's another story) or maybe it's my father's Scottish frugality coming to the fore late in life but whatever the reason I don't like to see something that could be valuable to someone (other than its owner) getting thrown away. It strikes me as both foolish and inconsiderate. Foolish since one is wasting something that has value and inconsiderate because one is denying someone else something that might be quite valuable to them. I think it's simple self-centeredness that makes a person conclude that something is valueless in an absolute sense and therefore trash simply because that object no longer has (subjective) value to that person. By definition, that's inconsiderate.
B) I love efficiency and good design. It just makes me happy on a very basic level. Up to a point, reusing objects is efficient in that it makes the best use of the raw materials, the energy and the labor that went into creating the object in the first place. Good design is (in many cases if not always) based on creating something that achieves its purpose effectively with the minimum amount of effort or energy.
July 01, 2007
Notes from a DVD Geek
by Jeremy Lassen
As an independent bookstore, Borderlands definitely likes to support independent home video distributors, who bring us some of the weirder and more obscure films that would otherwise never find their way to home video.
I’ve talked in the past about the DVDs from Lurker Home Video, but I wanted to focus on them again, as they’ve recently released volume 4 of their consistently good H. P. Lovecraft Collection DVD series. The mad man behind Lurker home video is Andrew Migliore, who is also one of the authors of the recent Lovecraft film encyclopedia, THE LURKER IN THE LOBBY. He also, in copious spare time, has been running the annual H. P. Lovecraft International Film Festival for 11 years. If there is anybody who knows obscure and quality filmic adaptations of H. P. Lovecraft, it’s Andrew.
As an independent bookstore, Borderlands definitely likes to support independent home video distributors, who bring us some of the weirder and more obscure films that would otherwise never find their way to home video.
I’ve talked in the past about the DVDs from Lurker Home Video, but I wanted to focus on them again, as they’ve recently released volume 4 of their consistently good H. P. Lovecraft Collection DVD series. The mad man behind Lurker home video is Andrew Migliore, who is also one of the authors of the recent Lovecraft film encyclopedia, THE LURKER IN THE LOBBY. He also, in copious spare time, has been running the annual H. P. Lovecraft International Film Festival for 11 years. If there is anybody who knows obscure and quality filmic adaptations of H. P. Lovecraft, it’s Andrew.
June Bestsellers
Hardcovers
1. Kushiel's Justice by Jacqueline Carey
2. Thirteen by Richard Morgan
3. Precious Dragon by Liz Williams
4. The Spirit Stone by Katharine Kerr
5. The Execution Channel by Ken MacLeod
6. The Harlequin by Laurel K. Hamilton
tie
Children of Hurin by J.R.R. Tolkien
7. Reaper's Gale by Steven Erikson
tie
The Last Colony by John Scalzi
8. Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman
9. Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
10. World War Z by Max Brooks
Mass Market Paperbacks
1. Kushiel's Scion by Jacqueline Carey
2. The City, Not Long After by Pat Murphy
3. The Bonehunters by Steven Erikson
4. Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds
5. Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
6. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
7. Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
8. Accelerando by Charles Stross
9. Tithe by Holly Black
10. Kushiel's Avatar by Jacqueline Carey
Trade Paperbacks
1. Reaper's Gale by Steven Erikson
2. Twilight Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko
3. Snake Agent by Liz Williams
4. The Demon and the City by Liz Williams
5. Grey by Jon Armstrong
tie
9 Tail Fox by John Courtenay Grimwood
1. Kushiel's Justice by Jacqueline Carey
2. Thirteen by Richard Morgan
3. Precious Dragon by Liz Williams
4. The Spirit Stone by Katharine Kerr
5. The Execution Channel by Ken MacLeod
6. The Harlequin by Laurel K. Hamilton
tie
Children of Hurin by J.R.R. Tolkien
7. Reaper's Gale by Steven Erikson
tie
The Last Colony by John Scalzi
8. Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman
9. Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
10. World War Z by Max Brooks
Mass Market Paperbacks
1. Kushiel's Scion by Jacqueline Carey
2. The City, Not Long After by Pat Murphy
3. The Bonehunters by Steven Erikson
4. Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds
5. Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
6. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
7. Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
8. Accelerando by Charles Stross
9. Tithe by Holly Black
10. Kushiel's Avatar by Jacqueline Carey
Trade Paperbacks
1. Reaper's Gale by Steven Erikson
2. Twilight Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko
3. Snake Agent by Liz Williams
4. The Demon and the City by Liz Williams
5. Grey by Jon Armstrong
tie
9 Tail Fox by John Courtenay Grimwood
Origin of the Bookstore, Part the Ninth - Sidelines
For the next four 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
"How hard can it be to find a stupid bike messenger bag?!" I threw up my hands in frustration. I'd been looking for days; sending out email queries, flipping through catalogs, staring at low-resolution pictures on-line until my eyes stung and my contact lenses felt glued in place. I felt like the Goldilocks of bike-messenger-bag seekers, except that there was no sign of the "Just Right" one yet, and there seemed to be about 48,000 bears' beds to choose from. This bag was too large, and that one too small. This one was made of cheap nylon and looked flimsy, that one appeared to be made of Kevlar and, if the cost was any indication, it darn well better have stopped bullets, too. That type would be great, except it only came in an eye-offending orange or Army green, and all 53 of those looked too much like computer bags. And I still had to find pens, and pint glasses, and coffee mugs and stickers.
Welcome to the wonderful world of sidelines. What's a sideline, anyway? Other than someplace in sports where you sit when you're not in the game? A sideline, in retail-speak, is a line of products that you sell in your store that is outside your main purview. So Borderlands carries a handful of sidelines; essentially everything in the store that isn't a book.
So that covers greeting cards and Ripley postcards, our cool wooden boxes, all the dragon and skull tchotchke, blank books, jewelry, art prints, sculptures and our Borderlands branded gak. Before starting my career in retail lo these many years ago, it never occurred to me to wonder where stores bought their stuff. I never would have suspected that there were such things as "Gift Fairs," or that they could possibly fill the whole of Moscone Center. (Google "San Francisco International Gift Fair" if you're interested.) I just knew that Alan wanted the sideline items that Borderlands carries to fit with the feel and personality of the store. Some of those items were no-brainers. Cary and I both have a weakness for beautiful boxes, so those were easy, and we ended up with Ripley postcards by customer request. Most of the other stuff we'd seen and admired elsewhere, and it fit right in to the store.
by Jude Feldman
"How hard can it be to find a stupid bike messenger bag?!" I threw up my hands in frustration. I'd been looking for days; sending out email queries, flipping through catalogs, staring at low-resolution pictures on-line until my eyes stung and my contact lenses felt glued in place. I felt like the Goldilocks of bike-messenger-bag seekers, except that there was no sign of the "Just Right" one yet, and there seemed to be about 48,000 bears' beds to choose from. This bag was too large, and that one too small. This one was made of cheap nylon and looked flimsy, that one appeared to be made of Kevlar and, if the cost was any indication, it darn well better have stopped bullets, too. That type would be great, except it only came in an eye-offending orange or Army green, and all 53 of those looked too much like computer bags. And I still had to find pens, and pint glasses, and coffee mugs and stickers.
Welcome to the wonderful world of sidelines. What's a sideline, anyway? Other than someplace in sports where you sit when you're not in the game? A sideline, in retail-speak, is a line of products that you sell in your store that is outside your main purview. So Borderlands carries a handful of sidelines; essentially everything in the store that isn't a book.
So that covers greeting cards and Ripley postcards, our cool wooden boxes, all the dragon and skull tchotchke, blank books, jewelry, art prints, sculptures and our Borderlands branded gak. Before starting my career in retail lo these many years ago, it never occurred to me to wonder where stores bought their stuff. I never would have suspected that there were such things as "Gift Fairs," or that they could possibly fill the whole of Moscone Center. (Google "San Francisco International Gift Fair" if you're interested.) I just knew that Alan wanted the sideline items that Borderlands carries to fit with the feel and personality of the store. Some of those items were no-brainers. Cary and I both have a weakness for beautiful boxes, so those were easy, and we ended up with Ripley postcards by customer request. Most of the other stuff we'd seen and admired elsewhere, and it fit right in to the store.
June 01, 2007
Notes from a DVD Geek
by Jeremy Lassen
Having just returned from the Feminist Science Fiction Convention in Madison Wisconsin, where they presented the James Tiptree, Jr. Award, I figured it was appropriate to lead off this column with a Tiptree-related item: The Masters of Horror Season Two episode from Joe Dante is called "The Screwfly Solution," and is based on her short story of the same name. For those of you who haven’t read it, it is included in the Tachyon collection HER SMOKE ROSE UP FOREVER, or you can check it out at SciFi.com’s “classics” archive: <http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/sheldon/sheldon1.html>. There’s also a very useful bio and bibliography there.
Having just read the story, now you are ready to see the cinematic adaptation of this film, which is out on DVD this month. It’s directed by Joe Dante, and stars Jason Priestly and Elliot Gould. This one is pretty good.
Two years ago, in the first Masters of Horror Season, Joe Dante stirred conservative feathers with his zombie political allegory, "Homecoming," which was also very good. And just recently, a classic from his filmography was re-released: 1980's film of teen/monster mayhem, "Gremlins". This one is in fact as good as you remember it being.
Having just returned from the Feminist Science Fiction Convention in Madison Wisconsin, where they presented the James Tiptree, Jr. Award, I figured it was appropriate to lead off this column with a Tiptree-related item: The Masters of Horror Season Two episode from Joe Dante is called "The Screwfly Solution," and is based on her short story of the same name. For those of you who haven’t read it, it is included in the Tachyon collection HER SMOKE ROSE UP FOREVER, or you can check it out at SciFi.com’s “classics” archive: <http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/sheldon/sheldon1.html>. There’s also a very useful bio and bibliography there.
Having just read the story, now you are ready to see the cinematic adaptation of this film, which is out on DVD this month. It’s directed by Joe Dante, and stars Jason Priestly and Elliot Gould. This one is pretty good.
Two years ago, in the first Masters of Horror Season, Joe Dante stirred conservative feathers with his zombie political allegory, "Homecoming," which was also very good. And just recently, a classic from his filmography was re-released: 1980's film of teen/monster mayhem, "Gremlins". This one is in fact as good as you remember it being.
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