Upcoming Events

Tori Eldridge, NINJA DAUGHTER (Agora Books, Trade Paperback, $16.95) Sunday, November 24th at 3:00 pm

Sisters in Crime / Mystery Writers' of America Holiday Party, Saturday, December 7th from 2:00 - 4:00 pm

Writers With Drinks with authors Megan E. O'Keefe, Alvin Orloff, and Olga Zilberbourg, and fabulous guest host Maggie Tokuda-Hall! (At the Make-Out Room, 3225 22nd Street, San Francisco)  Saturday, December 14th at 7:30 pm

November Building Update

by Alan Beatts

The last month has been a good one for the construction but not particularly exciting, so this update is going to be kind of short.  The rough plumbing is completed and passed inspection. Other than some less-than-esthetically-pleasing work in the lightwell, it's a really nice, clean job.  And, it'll be easy enough for me to re-route the stuff in the lightwell so that it's not quite so . . . industrial . . . looking.  Granted, I can understand why a plumber would want to run all the piping between waist and shoulder height -- it's easy to work at that level.  But it doesn't really make for the best look, if you know what I mean.

Antonius and Juan, our electricians, were in last week and the rough electrical for the bathroom is finished.  We just need to get that inspected and then we can get to closing up the walls. With a little luck, I hope to have the bathroom completed by the end of next month.

The framing for the front wall is also finished (big thanks to Zach for getting the last bits completed) and it passed inspection yesterday.  We need to put a little bit of electrical in that wall and then we can start closing it as well.  That job is going to be a bit long because of the complexity.  Instead of just simple sheetrock like the bathroom, there's tile on the outside to do, plus an awful lot of windows to build.  On the other hand, because that wall is mostly windows, once they are built and installed, most of the wall will be completed, both outside and in.

October Bestsellers

Hardcovers

1. Burning White by Brent Weeks
2. Angel Mage by Garth Nix
3. The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman
4. The Future of Another Timeline by Annalee Newitz
5. Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
6. Turning Darkness Into Light by Marie Brennan
7. A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie
8. The Institute by Stephen King
9. Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
10. The Grand Dark by Richard Kadrey

Trade Paperbacks

1. To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers
2. The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
3. The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin, translated by Ken Liu
4. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
5. Perfect Specimen by M. Luke McDonell
6. Million Mile Road Trip by Rudy Rucker
7. Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin
8. Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
9. A People's Future of the United States edited by Victor LaValle and John Joseph Adams
10. In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan

Mass Market Paperbacks

1. The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi
2. Dune by Frank Herbert
3. Fallen by Benedict Jacka
4. The Forbidden Stars by Tim Pratt
5. The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi
6. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
7. Old Man's War by John Scalzi
8. American Gods by Neil Gaiman
9. Neuromancer by William Gibson
10. Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio

November News

* Overheard in the Store:

"Pokemon should not make you feel funny in your pants-parts."

"Finally, a bookstore with the _correct_ smell!"

"Some fungi are only edible once."

"If all else fails, use the parallel world."

"The highest villain in the book is a giant bagpipe. Nothing could be more evil than a bagpipe."

"I was ambushed, and she forcibly read her poetry at me."

"If you're not pissing someone off, you're probably in PR."

"Joel Selvin has covered pop music for the San Francisco Chronicle since shortly after the Civil War."

"It's a book title - 'Consensual Cannibalism: An Atheist's Primer for Surviving the Apocalypse'."

"Apparently it's the day of Hyper Aggressive Authors."

* Big congratulations to all the nominees and winners of this year's World Fantasy Awards!  https://locusmag.com/2019/11/2019-world-fantasy-awards-winners/

* We are very sad to share news of the death of the incomparable Michael Blumlein.  Michael was a Borderlands sponsor, a retired doctor, and an extremely talented genre author, but more importantly he was a brilliant, humorous, generous, and tremendously good human being with an enduring sense of wonder.  He will be fiercely missed. https://www.tor.com/2019/10/28/michael-blumlein-1948-2019/

Upcoming Events

Writers With Drinks with authors Marta Acosta, Imani Gandy, Dr. Jen Gunter, Vivian Ho, Nazelah Jamison, and Michelle Ruiz Keil (at the Make Out Room, The Make Out Room, 3225 22nd St, San Francisco), Saturday, October 12th at 7:30 pm

Litquake Litcrawl Phase 2, SF in SF Presents: Women Imagine Different Worlds with authors Lisa Goldstein, M. Luke McDonell, Pat Murphy, Madeleine Robins, and Maggie Tokuda-Hall, Saturday, October 19th at 6:30 pm

Litquake Litcrawl Phase 3, Adventures in Crime and Time with authors Mark Coggins, Paul Drexler, Richard Kadrey, and Annalee Newitz Saturday, October 19th at 8:00 pm

Brent Weeks, THE BURNING WHITE (Orbit, Hardcover, $30.00) Thursday, October 24th at 6:00 pm

Rudy Rucker, THE MILLION MILE ROAD TRIP (Nightshade Books, Trade Paperback, $14.99) Saturday, October 26th at 3:00 pm

JUST ADDED!  An Afternoon with N.K. Jemisin, Sunday, November 3rd at 3:00 pm

SF in SF (at the American Bookbinders Museum, 355 Clementina St. San Francisco) with authors Charlie Jane Anders and Annalee Newitz, Sunday, November 10th at 6:30 pm

An Evening with Seanan McGuire, Saturday, November 16th at 6:00 pm

Tori Eldridge, NINJA DAUGHTER (Agora Books, Trade Paperback, $16.95) Sunday, November 24th at 3:00  pm

October Building Update

by Alan Beatts

It's been a very busy month at the new building on Haight St.  I'll get to all the details in a second but I've got a bigger piece of news.  I finally decided when (roughly) we're going to move.

I'm aiming to have us up and running at the new building by Spring of next year.  Specifically, by May.  That is, granted, a long way off from now but at least there's a date.  Or, at least a month.

Why so long?  Well, here's the thing -- we need to get the two big jobs finished (the bathroom and the new front wall).  Both are pretty far along but, once that's done, there's still quite a lot to do.  I'd like to get the basement office in reasonable shape because trying to do that after we've moved would just be a whole lot of not-fun.  Also, there are some bits and pieces of work that will also need doing (reworking the stairway to the basement, getting the final electrical in place, and so on).  But the big one is building the shelves.  There are quite a lot of them to build and, speaking from experience, that's a time-consuming process.  Plus, there are bound to be delays as we go.  So yeah, I think that May is about right.  We'll see if that lasts, eh?

September Bestsellers

Hardcovers

1. The Future of Another Timeline by Annalee Newitz
2. Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
3. The Unkindest Tide by Seanan McGuire
4. The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
5. A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie
6. Jade War by Fonda Lee
7. This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone
8.  The Institute by Stephen King
9. The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders
10. Wanderers by Chuck Wendig

Trade Paperbacks

1. To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers
2. The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
3. Time Shards: Shatter War by Dana Fredsti and David Fitzgerald
4. The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin, translated by Ken Liu
5. Velocity Weapon by Megan E. O'Keefe
6. All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders
7. A People's Future of the United States edited by Victor LaValle and John Joseph Adams
8. Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
9. How Long 'Til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin
10. The Dark Forest by Liu Cixin, translated by Joel Martinsen

Mass Market Paperbacks

1. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
2. Dune by Frank Herbert
3. Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
4. Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio
5. American Gods by Neil Gaiman
6. Old Man's War by John Scalzi
7. Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss
8. Neuromancer by William Gibson
9. Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
10. Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch

October News

* Overheard in the Store:

"At one point in history you could certainly read every science fiction & fantasy title that came out that year. Now you can't even read all the Seanan McGuire titles that come out in a year!"

"What house are you in?  Gryffindor?  Like everybody.  I'm in Slytherin, obviously."

"It's low-level and hilarious vegan propaganda, TBH."

"I just need to find an ancient Babylonian oatmeal recipe RIGHT NOW!"

"I think it's really creative what this guy did with dried noodles."

"Please don't kill people.  It would be rude."

"Tentacles are coming.  Paint is drying."

"As a friend of mine once sniffed, 'Suburban bondage'."

"That's the name of my new punk band --'Stalin's Unicorns'."

"This is the sort of book you put on your coffee table to find out who your real friends are."

* Huge congratulations to Alex and JoAnne!  Alex proposed to JoAnne at Borderlands on Tuesday, October 1st with a custom-made book that celebrates their story.  We wish them a lifetime of happiness!  You can see pictures of the happy couple (and that adorable book) on our Twitter feed, @borderlands_sf.

* Bay News Rising talked to Alan about Borderlands' new building and discussed the difficulties of small businesses purchasing them: https://baynewsrising.org/2019/08/19/small-business-survival-tactic-own-your-own-building/

Upcoming Events

Tyler Hayes, THE IMAGINARY CORPSE (Angry Robot, Trade Paperback, $12.99) Tuesday, September 10th at 6:00 pm

Informal signing with D.J. Butler (WITCHY KINGDOM, Baen, Hardcover, $25.00) Christopher Husberg (FEAR THE STARS, Titan Books, Trade Paperback, $14.95) and Christopher Ruocchio (THE HOWLING DARK, DAW, Hardcover, $27.00) Thursday, September 12th at 6:00 pm

Fonda Lee, JADE WAR (Orbit, Hardcover, $26.00) with Megan E. O'Keefe (VELOCITY WEAPON, Orbit, Trade Paperback, $15.99) Saturday, September 14th at 3:00 pm

Chad Stroup, SEXY LEPER (Bizarro Pulp Press, Trade Paperback, $13.95) Sunday, September 15th at 3:00 pm

SF in SF (at the American Bookbinders Museum, 355 Clementina, San Francisco) with authors Christopher Brown and Hannu Rajaniemi, Sunday, September 15th at 6:30 pm

Dana Fredsti & David Fitzgerald, TIME SHARDS: SHATTER WAR (Titan Books, Trade Paperback, $14.95) Saturday, September 28th at 3:00 pm

Annalee Newitz, THE FUTURE OF ANOTHER TIMELINE (Tor Books, Hardcover, $26.99) Sunday, September 29th at 3:00 pm

SF in SF (at the American Bookbinders Museum, 355 Clementina, San Francisco) with author Garth Nix, Wednesday, October 2nd at 6:30 pm

Marie Brennan, TURNING DARKNESS INTO LIGHT (Tor Books, Hardcover, $27.99) Saturday, October 5th at 3:00 pm

And coming up in the Fall, stay turned for more Writers With Drinks, the fabulous Litquake Lit Crawl, Rudy Rucker, Brent Weeks, and many more excellent authors!

September Building Update

Big news, in several ways, this month.  First off, not only is the framing for the bathroom completed but, yesterday, I met with our structural engineer and he signed off on his final inspection.  Which means that the whole, big, complicated structural job that we started over a year ago in the basement is completed, from an engineering standpoint.  He said that it was a very nice job and that everything looked great.

This is a big milestone not just for the obvious reasons but also because it marks the end of the section of the job that I had no experience doing.  The blessedly innocent Alan of 2018 knew nothing of I-beams, steel-reinforced foundations, engineered lumber, or how to get a 400 lb. beam 13 feet in the air.  He also never considered that he would not only be intimately familiar with the Simpson Company catalog, but that he would own his own dog-eared copy of it!