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ABOUT THE STORE : NEWSLETTER
DISPATCHES FROM THE BORDER
Events and News from Borderlands Books
May, 2008
Chapter One - Event Information, News, and Special FeaturesSF
in SF presents free movies "Silent Running" and "Outland," at the
Variety Preview Room in the Hobart Building, 582 Market Street,
Wednesday, May 7th - 7:00pm "Silent Running" directed by Douglas
Trumbull, 9:00pm "Outland" directed by Peter Hyams.
Marc Acito, Mark J. Ferrari, Adam Mansbach, Alejandro Murguia, and
April Sinclair are guests of Writers With Drinks at The Make Out Room,
3225 22nd Street, Saturday, May 10th at 7:30 pm
Paul Genesee, THE GOLDEN CORD - THE IRON DRAGON VOL. 1 (Five Star, Hardcover, $25.95) Wednesday, May 14th at 7:00 pm
Daniel Marcus and John Shirley are guests of SF in SF at the Variety
Preview Room in the Hobart Building, 582 Market Street, Saturday, May
17th at 7:00 pm
Cory Doctorow, LITTLE BROTHER, (Tor, Hardcover, $17.95) Thursday, May 22nd at 7:00 pm
Ripley's Birthday Sale and Celebration, Sunday, June 8th from 12:00 pm until 8:00 pm
Jacqueline Carey, KUSHIEL'S MERCY, (Grand Central, Hardcover, $26.99) Saturday, June 21st at 3:00 pm
Carol Emshwiller and Pat Murphy are guests of SF in SF at the Variety
Preview Room in the Hobart Building, 582 Market Street, Saturday, June 21th at 7:00 pm
(for more information check the end of this section)
Stay tuned for July events with Jay Lake, Naomi Novik, and many others!Overheard in the StoreWill Return Next Month.
News
* We are sorry to report the death of science
fiction artist John Berkey, who passed away last week at the age of
76. Tor Books' Art Director Irene Gallo provides this brief but
moving notice: <http://igallo.blogspot.com/2008/04/john-berkey.html>
* Congratulations to the winners of this year's Nebula Awards, which
were announced Saturday April 26, 2008, in Austin, Texas. The
winner for best novel was THE YIDDISH POLICEMEN'S UNION by Michael
Chabon. For the complete list of nominees and winners, see
<http://www.sfwa.org/news/2008/07nebwiners.htm>
* We are excited to pass on the following news from awesome local
author Simon Wood: "I was made an "author laureate" of San Francisco
Library. And my 1st horror book under my horror pen name of Simon
Janus, THE SCRUBS, will be coming out in May. It's picked up some
rave reviews already. For details and to read an excerpt, go to
<http://simonwood.net/scrubs.html>.
* More kudos to Lou Anders and everyone at Pyr Books, who sent along
the following: Pyr Gets two Hugo Nominations plus two authors up for
John W. Campbell Best New Writer Award! Pyr, the highly acclaimed
science fiction and fantasy imprint of Prometheus Books, is proud to
announce that its Editorial Director, Lou Anders, and three of its
authors have been nominated for highly esteemed awards in science
fiction: Lou Anders for Best Professional Editor, Long Form, Ian
McDonald's BRASYL for Best Novel, and both Joe Abercrombie (THE BLADE
ITSELF) and David Louis Edelman (INFOQUAKE) for John W. Campbell Best
New Writer Award. We are delighted at Pyr's accomplishments and
wish them ongoing success!
* The always delightfully unconventional Gavin and Kelly at Small Beer
Press want you to have free John Kessel and Maureen F. McHugh
stories! Two whole books of short stories have been licensed
under Creative Commons, so go ahead and download 'em for free right
here: <http://lcrw.net/>. We
hope you'll also decide to pick up a copy of the physical books, which,
although not free, are much more attractive and substantially easier to
read in the bath.
* Thanks to John Scalzi, if you are, or become, a member of this year's
World Science Fiction Convention, you can get FREE electronic copies of
several Best Novel nominees for the Hugo Award - Ian McDonald's BRASYL,
Robert Sawyer's ROLLBACK, John Scalzi's THE LAST COLONY, and Charles
Stross's HALTING STATE: <http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=576>
* In the last of the "free book news" for this month, Mort Castle sends
the following: "As you might know, I've been working the past few years
to replace Howard Stern as King of All Media, and it seems my latest
venture brings me closer to that goal. You can now download six
of my stories in mp3 audio format at <http://www.sniplits.com>".
*Thanks to Pat Murphy for the following notice about the Tiptree
Awards: "The James Tiptree, Jr. Literary Award Council is pleased to
announce that the winner of the 2007 Tiptree Award is THE CARHULLAN
ARMY by Sarah Hall (published in the United States as DAUGHTERS OF THE
NORTH). The British edition was published in 2007 by Faber & Faber;
the American edition in 2008 by HarperCollins. The Tiptree Award
will be celebrated on May 25, 2008 at WisCon <http://www.wiscon.info>
in Madison, Wisconsin. The winner of the Tiptree Award receives
$1000 in prize money, an original artwork created specifically for the
winning novel or story, and (as always) chocolate . . . . The
James Tiptree Jr. Award is presented annually to a work or works that
explore and expand gender roles in science fiction and fantasy. The
award seeks out work that is thought-provoking, imaginative, and
perhaps even infuriating. The Tiptree Award is intended to reward those
women and men who are bold enough to contemplate shifts and changes in
gender roles, a fundamental aspect of any society." For more
information on the Tiptrees, including the Tiptree Award Honor List,
see: <http://www.tiptree.org>.
From The Office
Books Without Borders
This is the second in a four-part series of stories about changes in
the book world. In part one I gave a quick overview of three
major changes. In this part I'm going to focus on Borders Books
and Music's recent financial problems and what they may mean for
readers, writers and publishers over the next year or two. The
final two columns will focus on Amazon.com's recent business changes
and eBooks respectively. As always, comments are welcome at
abeatts@borderlands-books.com.
First off, a quick disclaimer -- I don't like Borders. I like
them better than Barnes & Noble but still, like any independent
bookseller, I don't like them. Despite my intention to be as
objective as possible in the article, I'm sure that my bias is going to
creep in here and there. But, if you were looking for objective,
dispassionate news, you wouldn't be reading this. I'm going to
start with what has been going on with Borders over the past year, then
I'm going to talk about the implications, and I'll finish off with the
reasons that it matters to everyone who loves books.
What's Been Happening - At the beginning of 2007 reports indicated that
Borders had a poor holiday season and that their same-store sales were
down compared to the 2005 holiday season. Same-store figures are
one of the best measurements of sales since they compare sales at
stores that have been open for more than one year and cut out the
(usually huge) sales increases that are typical at a store that has
just opened and is still in the "honeymoon" phase of a rapidly growing
customer base. To be fair (and clear) the drop wasn't very large,
somewhere around 1%, but in the world of big business that's
serious. What was even more serious was that Borders' showed a
loss of $151.3 _million_ in 2006 (that's compared to a profit of $101
million in 2005). Most of that loss was a result of their
overseas operations (over $100 million) but the domestic side wasn't
doing very well either.
Borders' reaction was very strong -- they decided to close or sell all
their overseas stores, close more than 120 of their shopping-mall
oriented Waldenbooks locations (they started 2006 with 678 Waldenbooks
stores and ended 2007 with 490) and started a massive redesign effort
for their flagship stores. This store redesign is based on
stocking _fewer_ books, providing all sorts of high-tech, multi-media
services (vanity book publishing, photo album design and ordering,
eBook and music downloads and more), and, according to the original
plan, a stronger focus on CD and DVD sales (which changed to a much
_weaker_ focus on CDs sometime last year when they realized that music
downloads were killing the CD business). The multi-media services
come along with staff specifically trained to give assistance to people
who aren't terribly comfortable with computer stuff.
This process moved along slowly (the first of the redesigned stores
opened this January and they still haven't found a buyer for their
overseas stores anywhere except in the UK) and, as last year
progressed, it seemed to be too little and a bit too late. By the
end of last year, Borders' management was really hoping for a good
holiday season. Which they didn't get. At the beginning of
this year, Borders was short enough on money that they set up a loan
from Pershing Square Capital Management (an investment fund and one of
their major shareholders) at a very high interest rate. Exactly
what Borders needed the money for is beyond the scope of this article
but, to put it very simply, companies are just like you and I -- they
don't take out loans at a high interest rate unless they really need
the cash and don't have another place to get it. Based on
Borders' recently released shareholder report . . . wow, did they need
the money. Their loss in 2006 was $151.3 million, right? In
2007 the loss was up -- $157.4 million. In two years, Borders has
lost over three-hundred million dollars.
As of last month they managed to get better terms on the loan (still
not great though -- around one-and-a-half times the current, usual
interest rate for businesses) and they've gotten themselves some
breathing room so that they can, in the words of Borders' CEO George
Jones, "review their strategic alternatives". But they're still
in financial trouble and everything hinges on whether their new
business model is going to work (and if they can manage to make their
interest payments). If it doesn't, they're very likely on the way
out.
What Might Happen - It's possible that Borders' current plan will
work. Closing less profitable stores and their new super-store
format should reduce their losses and open up new sources of
income. But closing stores isn't a cure-all. Closing a
store creates other types of loss (selling off the fixtures at a loss,
returning inventory, and getting out of leases which are far from
expired) as was clearly demonstrated last year when closing their
overseas stores produced an enormous loss. This may be a little
graphic but closing stores is a little bit like cutting off a mangled
limb -- the blood loss and infection stops but the patient is still
missing the leg.
The new super-store format is very smart in a couple ways: The
plan to reduce stock by eliminating titles that sell slowly (or not at
all) instead of trying to have everything that any possible customer
might want is a technique that has worked well for independent stores
that were struggling (Cody's in Berkeley and Kepler's in Palo Alto are
two prime examples). Offering computer services, free
computer time, and tech help for people trying to build a "digital
lifestyle" are all things that make a bookstore both a destination and
hang-out spot. The best-case assumption is that these services
are going to both attract shoppers as well as creating a new source of
income. Of course, attracting shoppers is only useful if they buy
something but in principle it's a good thing.
The flip side of the new store format is that it's still predicated on
selling books, DVDs and (to a much lesser and perhaps vanishing degree)
CDs. A fair amount of Borders' current troubles came from the
unanticipated (at least by them) crash of the music CD market (their CD
sales were down more than 14% last year) and, based on plummeting CD
sales, they abandoned the CD-heavy element of their new store design
and have been shrinking their CD sections in all stores like
crazy. But may DVD sales go the same way? Apple is busily
building their movie download market and Amazon is working on a similar
project (more about Apple and Amazon's competition for downloadable
media next month). If DVD sales follow CD sales then Borders can
expect another huge revenue hit in the next couple of years.
As for book sales, Borders is still facing competition from on-line
retailers (21% of overall book sales last year) and places like Target,
Walmart, and CostCo (9% of sales). Though the last two outlets
are not likely to increase their sales, internet sales will probably
continue to grow over the next few years, especially as some towns are
left without a bookstore as Borders continues to close Waldenbook
locations. Overall 33% of book purchases are at chain
bookstores. In comparison, independent stores get 3% of
sales. Though it's possible that the sales going to the internet
will come from independent store customers, it seems unlikely since the
majority of people who shop at independent stores do so for qualities
that the internet cannot provide, whereas shoppers at chain stores are
often motivated by price, convenience and selection -- three qualities
that on-line companies have in abundance. In summation, one of
the three lines that Borders concentrates on is pretty much gone (CDs),
one of them may be on the way out (DVDs), and the final one is
certainly not going to grow and is likely to shrink (books). They
are building a new service-based income source (on-demand book
printing, photo album printing, download services, and etc.) that,
while useful to many people, is dependent on a customer base that
doesn't have the knowledge to do it themselves. The catch here is
that, if their customers get educated, they evaporate, since everything
that Borders is offering can be had on-line at a lower cost and with
greater convenience.
As my brother, the bank-guy, said, "_I_ wouldn't invest in them".
So, let's say that Borders continues to have financial trouble.
What happens? My bet is that they close. I'm pretty sure
no-one is going to buy their business, neither the whole company or
piecemeal (i.e. a local chain buying up three or four locations).
The only business that might be interested in buying Borders as a
complete business entity would be Barnes & Noble and, to be blunt,
there's no reason that B&N would want it. Most places where
there's a Borders there's a B&N nearby so B&N wouldn't buy
Borders to add to their markets. Borders' inventory is very
similar to B&N's and the same goes for their staff. Borders
doesn't own any of their buildings so there is no real estate asset
that would be attractive. In short, Borders doesn't have anything
that B&N would want, other than its customers. And, if
Borders goes out of business, all B&N needs to do to get the
customers is wait. It's possible that some other company would
want to buy Borders but essentially all that Borders owns that's worth
anything is its inventory and store fixtures. That's not enough
value to be worth the trouble of buying the company. The same
argument applies to the possibility of Borders being broken up and sold
piecemeal to other bookstores. There just isn't anything that
Borders has that's unique or particularly difficult to duplicate.
Without a buyer or a source of capital, continuing losses for Borders
probably means bankruptcy. In cases of bankruptcy like this, it's
very common for creditors to be paid somewhere between 30 and 70
percent of what they are owed by the bankrupt company (though it can go
as low as 10% or less in some cases). That would mean that almost
all of the publishers in the US could lose as much as 14% of their
_total_ accounts receivable. To put that in real-world terms,
imagine what your personal financial situation would be like if your
employer cut your pay by a similar amount (i.e. instead of making
$40,000 a year you made $34,000). The effect on publishers would
be at least as bad.
What Are The Consequences - If Borders declares bankruptcy and closes
there will be a cascade of effects. Publishers will lose a great
deal of money owed to them. The five major US publishers
(Hachette, Macmillan, Peterson, Harper and Bertelsman) and the the big
distributors (Ingram, Baker and Taylor, Diamond Books, and so on) will
be able to weather it without too much disruption but all the smaller
publishers in the country are going to be hurt. Many of them may
be hurt badly enough that they'll close. Publishers closing has
the immediate effect of reducing the number of books that get out to
the consumers and also reduces the number of places that authors can
sell books.
These effects will be amplified by the loss of bookstore shelf space
nationwide. Here's a simple equation -- the ability of a
publisher to purchase a book from an author and print it is determined
by the number of copies the publisher believes will sell. The
format (i.e. hardcover, large-size softcover, or paperback) of the book
is also determined by expected sales. You would think that the
number of copies that will sell is simply based on the number of
readers who will buy the book but it's not that simple. For a
reader to buy a book, they have to find it and the most common way that
readers find a book is on a shelf at a bookstore (though word of mouth
and publicity are also important). If there are fewer shelves and
fewer stores in the country, fewer books will sell. So, in the
immediate aftermath of Borders closing, fewer books will be sold in the
US. Perhaps a great deal fewer -- remember, of every six copies
of a book that are sold anywhere in the country, Borders sells one of
them.
So, on the heels of financial losses as a result of a bankrupt Borders
not paying its bills, there would also be a potentially major decrease
in book sales over all. Which would cause more independent
publishers to go out of business. Consequently even fewer books
are published, authors have more trouble selling their books and
readers have less choices in reading. It's also possible that
print runs would get smaller, which means less money for authors.
Less income from writing means that some authors won't be able to spend
as much time doing it, which also means fewer books out there for
readers.
Which brings us to the final consequence -- readers' access to
books. Borders and Barnes & Noble have been so successful
over the years that there are many towns and cities in which the only
bookstore is either one or both of those chains. If Borders
closes, there are many towns that will be without any bookstore of any
sort or, if they do have a bookstore, it will be Barnes &
Noble. In the first case, the residents will have the choice of
either ordering books on-line or driving long distances (in these
days of four-dollar-a-gallon gas) to get to a store. In time, a
local store might open or B&N might move into the area but it could
be a long time coming, if at all. In the areas that have a
B&N as well as a Borders things will be better but there's a catch
- the buying decisions for chain bookstores are made at the corporate
level. In other words, for any given section (like SF and fantasy
for example) one person decides for all the stores not only what books
are going to be stocked but also how many copies each store gets.
As far as I know, the buyers for the chains are all nice people and
they really care about books but they are still individual people with
all the assumptions, biases, and foibles that you'd expect.
Let's say, for example, that the science fiction buyer for B&N
decides that British hard SF is too complicated for an American
audience and therefore won't sell. In a world without Borders,
that might mean that a huge number of readers wouldn't be able to read
Iain Banks or Alastair Reynolds since the only store near them wouldn't
have their books. Even worse, without significant orders from
B&N, it's quite possible that those authors wouldn't even be
published in the US. And there would be no way of proving that
the authors would be popular since the books would simply be
unavailable (though people might order them from British
outlets). If this seems farfetched, consider that A) that comment
about "too complicated" is an exact quote from a US editor and that,
due to their huge market share, B) both Borders and B&N have enough
influence with publishers to get cover art and even book formats
changed, pretty much on a whim.
To sum up, Borders closes. Some small publishers close.
Book sales drop. More publishers close. Number of books
published per year drop. Print runs get smaller. Authors
sell fewer books and get less money for the books they do sell.
Fewer books get written. Many areas are without bookstores or
only have a representative of the one remaining chain. Readers
have less access to books and the books they do have access to are
increasingly the product of a single corporate "style".
Who loses in this scenario? Publishers, authors, and most of all
readers. And who wins? To some degree, independent
bookstores since some portion of Borders' former customers would end up
going to them. But the big winners are Barnes & Noble and
Amazon.com when they divide up what's left. However many of the
pressures that have been squeezing Borders are going to affect B&N
as well, so how long will they stay profitable? And then we're
left with Amazon. Who is making a huge bid to avoid the fate of
their non-virtual competitors. And that's the topic for next
month.
- Alan Beatts
abeatts@borderlands-books.com
Top Sellers At Borderlands
Hardcovers
1) Infected by Scott Sigler
2) Passage by Lois McMaster Bujold
3) The Dreaming Void by Peter F. Hamilton
4) Small Favor by Jim Butcher
5) Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
6) Starry Rift edited by Jonathan Strahan
7) Wit's End by Karen Joy Folwer
8) Pump Six by Paolo Bacigalupi
9) The Shadow Year by Jeffrey Ford
10) On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers
Paperbacks
1) Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill tie with
Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
2) Poison Sleep by T.A. Pratt
3) The City, Not Long After by Pat Murphy
4) Ravenous by Ray Garton
5 ) Hilldiggers by Neal Asher
6) Magic Burns by Ilona Andrews tie with
Snake Agent by Liz Williams
7) The Android's Dream by John Scalzi
8) Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan
9) The Demon and the City by Liz Williams
10) Judge by Karen Traviss
Trade Paperbacks
1) World War Z by Max Brooks
2) Wastelands edited by John Joseph Adams
3) Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks
4) Steampunk edited by Ann and Jeff Vandermeer
5) City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
Notes From a DVD Geek
I’m going to cover some old ground with this one, but the really
high profile new release last month was "I Am Legend". I’ve gone
on about this one before, but I figure I’d mention some of the
interesting bits about this release. The two-disk special
includes the “original” ending that actually speaks to the source
material, and addresses the problems I had with the first half of the
movie, and the intelligence of the zombie/vampires. It’s still
not a very good movie in my opinion, but it’s not as bad as the
theatrical version, which is also included with the DVD.
Speaking of Bad Adaptations, "The Golden Compass" came out at the end
of last month. It’s got a nice CGI polar bear battle,
anyway.
Another big SF franchise hitting DVD this month is "Alien Vs. Predator:
Requiem". The word on the street is that this one isn’t as bad as
the original "Alien Vs. Predator" movie. That’s high praise indeed.
Another adaptation that just hit DVD is Tim Burton’s "Sweeny
Todd". Neither of the leading actors can sing very well, and
Burton manages to screw up the framing device, but hell . . . it's
Sweeny Todd! Even Tim Burton can’t squeeze the goodness out of
the source material.
On the good side of the DVD releases this month, there’s a two-disk
25th anniversary edition of "War Games". Would YOU like to play a
game?
On the anime side of the shelf, the sequel to "KITE" just hit
DVD. "KITE Liberator" follows high-school student Monaka as she
becomes a feared and highly-skilled contract killer.
Two films from Spain to check out: one very high-profile movie
just released was produced by Guillermo Del Toro: "The
Orphanage". It got a wide theatrical release and a ton of well
deserved positive reviews. On the opposite side of the spectrum
is "Crazy Eights," a Spanish horror/exploitation film from the
Afterdark Horrorfest series, starring Tracy Lords. "Crazy Eights" was
released last year, so this isn’t one of Lord’s early efforts.
But it’s got all the right moves for a gruesome little indy horror
film. Check it out.
Another After Dark Horrorfest release is "Deaths of Ian Stone". I
haven’t seen this one yet, but it’s a sort of slasher version of
"Groundhog Day". Ian Stone must relive the day of his death, over
and over until he solves his murder. I’m definitely looking
forward to giving this one a watch.
And, finally, to the truly sublime part of this month's releases, we
have "The Mist". This adaptation is very true to the original
novella by Stephen King, and features top notch performances. It
also has some really stunning fx work, and has an unbelievably grim
ending. What’s not to like? This was one of my two favorite
movies of the year last year, so I hope you’ll check it out.
There’s a two disk special edition of this one that features an
extensive mix of extras that are worth the extra $3.
-Jeremy Lassen jlassen@borderlands-books.com
Book Club Info
The
Gay Men's Book Club will meet on Sunday, May 11th, at 5 pm to discuss
THE MOTE IN GOD'S EYE by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. The
title for June is CHILDHOOD'S END by Arthur C. Clarke. Please
contact the group leader, Christopher Rodriguez, at
cobalt555@earthlink.net, for more information.
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Club will meet on Sunday, May
18th, at 6 pm to discuss MATHEMATICIANS IN LOVE by Rudy Rucker.
The title for June is"The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" from THE
WIND'S TWELVE QUARTERS by Ursula K. LeGuin. Please contact Jude
at jfeldman@borderlands-books.com for more information.
Upcoming Event Details
SF in SF presents free movies "Silent Running" and "Outland," in the Hobart Building, 582 Market Street, Wednesday, May 7th
- 7:00pm "Silent Running" directed by Douglas Trumbull, 9:00pm
"Outland" directed by Peter Hyams. Free movies! Free popcorn!
Cash bar! The screenings will take place at Variety's Preview Room,
located in The Hobart Building, 582 Market Street @ Montgomery, San
Francisco. Doors open at 6:30 pm and the first movie starts at
7:00 pm. There will be one thirty-minute intermission between the
two films. Seating is limited and seats are available on a first-come,
first seated basis, so arrive early! Refreshments will be available for
purchase, and your purchase benefits Variety Children's Charity of
Northern California, a non-profit organization that supports children
in local communities who are dealing with poverty, neglect, violence,
and physical disabilities. For more information about upcoming
movies, write movies@borderlands-books.com. For more information
on Variety Children's Charity, see their web site at <http://www.varietync.org/> or write sffilmvariety@yahoo.com.
Marc Acito, Mark J. Ferrari, Adam Mansbach, Alejandro
Murguia, and April Sinclair are guests of Writers With Drinks at The
Make Out Room, 3225 22nd Street, Saturday, May 10th at 7:30 pm -
Writers With Drinks is exactly what it sounds like -- writers with
drinks! Emceed by the madcap and inimitable Charlie Anders, this
is a monthly spoken-word variety series that takes place at a bar down
the street from Borderlands. Do not miss this odd mix of authors,
alcohol and fun! Sliding scale, $3 - $5 at the door, proceeds benefit
good causes locally. Borderlands will be on hand to sell books at
the event. More info at <http://www.writerswithdrinks.com/>
Paul Genesee, THE GOLDEN CORD - THE IRON DRAGON VOL. 1 (Five Star, Hardcover, $25.95) Wednesday, May 14th at 7:00 pm -
From Paul's website: "Paul lives with his incredibly supportive wife
Tammy and their collection of frogs. He spends endless hours in his
basement writing fantasy novels, short stories, crafting maps of
fantastical realms, and occasionally copy-editing manuscripts for a
small press publisher. . ." We are happy to welcome Paul, in an
unusual mid-week event, to the store for the first time. He'll be
presenting his debut novel THE GOLDEN CORD, the first volume of his
Iron Dragon series. Paul describes the book thus: "Take a journey to
the harsh plateau world of Ae'leron. The dragon king has risen
from the Void, forcing a hunter to leave behind the woman he loves,
give up all hope of survival, and guide his most hated enemies to the
dragon king's lair." Read the first chapter at <http://www.paulgenesse.com>.
Cory Doctorow, LITTLE BROTHER, (Tor, Hardcover, $17.95) Thursday, May 22nd at 7:00 pm -
We're very excited to welcome former local author Cory Doctorow back to
Borderlands. This time, he's presenting what may be his most
important novel to date. All of the staff here has already read
LITTLE BROTHER and we're crazy about it -- in fact, it is one of only
three novels in the past ten years that everyone on the staff has
loved! Here's the text from the book jacket, so our enthusiasm doesn't
give you any spoilers: "Marcus, a.k.a "w1n5t0n," is only seventeen
years old, but he figures he already knows how the system works-and how
to work the system. Smart, fast, and wise to the ways of the
networked world, he has no trouble outwitting his high school's
intrusive but clumsy surveillance systems. But his whole world
changes when he and his friends find themselves caught in the aftermath
of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco. In the wrong place
at the wrong time, Marcus and his crew are apprehended by the
Department of Homeland Security and whisked away to a secret prison
where they're mercilessly interrogated for days. When the DHS
finally releases them, Marcus discovers that his city has become a
police state where every citizen is treated like a potential terrorist.
He knows that no one will believe his story, which leaves him only one
option: to take down the DHS himself."
Ripley's Birthday Sale and Celebration, Sunday, June 8th from 12:00 pm - 8:00 pm -
Now she is six! Come down to the annual Ripley's Birthday Sale
and celebrate with an indifferent feline. Buy two used paperbacks
and get a third of equal or lesser value free, and all non-book items
in the store (excluding staff and cat, sorry) are 10% off! Ripley
will of course be on hand to greet admirers and be spoiled (unless she
decides to hide in the stock room,) and there will also be cake and cat
treats (but not together). Ripley says "I already have everything
I need, so instead of bringing me gifts, please donate some money or
volunteer time to the San Francisco SPCA <http://www.sfspca.org/home.shtml> or to Wildcare <http://www.wildcaremarin.org/>. You'd better come and adore me, though."
Jacqueline Carey, KUSHIEL'S MERCY, (Grand Central, Hardcover, $26.99) Saturday, June 21st at 3:00 pm -
As always, we are delighted to host Ms. Carey, author of the fabulous
KUSHIEL books, and this year you won't have to choose between
attending her appearance and attending Pride! KUSHIEL'S MERCY
closes out the Imriel trilogy. From the book jacket: "Having paid
dearly for ignoring Elua's edict to love as thou wilt, Imriel and
Sidonie have finally come forward to publicly confess their love for
each other -- only to watch the news ignite turmoil throughout the
land. Those who are old enough cannot forget the misdeeds of Imriel's
mother, Melisande, whose self-serving lies plunged their country into
war. In order to quell the uprising, Queen Ysandre hands down a
decree: she will not divide the lovers, but neither will she
acknowledge them. And if they decide to marry, Sidonie will be
disinherited. That is, unless Imriel can find his mother and
bring her back to Terre D'Ange to be executed for treason . . .
." Join us to meet the delightful Jacqueline Carey, and learn
where she will take the magic next!
Carol Emshwiller and Pat Murphy are guests of SF in SF at
the Variety Preview Room in the Hobart Building, 582 Market Street,
Saturday, June 21th at 7:00 pm - More information to come.
Borderlands event policy - all events are free of charge. You are welcome
to bring copies of an author's books purchased elsewhere to be autographed
(but we do appreciate it if you purchase something while at the event).
For most events you are welcome to bring as many books as you wish for autographs.
If you are unable to attend the event we will be happy to have a copy of
any of the author's available books signed or inscribed for you. We
can then either hold it until you can come in to pick it up or we can ship
it to you. Just give us a call or drop us an email. If you live
out of town, you can also ship us books from your collection to be signed.
Call or email for details.
Chapter Two - Book Listings
Small Press Features
ON
STRANGER TIDES by Tim Powers (Subterranean Press, Hardcover, $18.95) -
Lovely, affordable hardcover reprint of this classic pirate fantasy
adventure. Recommended by Alan and Jeremy
STEAMPUNK edited by Ann and Jeff Vandermeer (Tachyon Publications,
Trade Paperback, $14.95) - Lucky us -- it's the month of great
anthologies, starting with STEAMPUNK! Wonderful gadget-driven
fiction by some of the biggest names in the genre including Ted Chiang,
Michael Moorcock, and Neal Stephenson. Also includes three
context-rich essays on the history and origins of steampunk by Bill
Baker, Rick Klaw, and Jess Nevins. Recommended by Jude. And
speaking of notable Tachyon anthologies, THE NEW WEIRD, also edited by
the Vandermeers, was just named a BookSense Notable Book for
April. Way to go, guys!
New and Notable
LIFE
SUCKS by Jessica Abel, Warren Pleece and Gabe Soria (First Second,
Graphic Novel, $19.95) - What if being a vampire wasn't all elegant
clothes and fabulous eternal life? What if your prospects for
eternity were working at a convenience mart forever and being ignored
by lovely goth girls? What's a nice-guy vampire to do? Meet
Dave Miller, unfortunate victim of circumstance and learn what he does
about his (ahem) dead-end life in this bittersweet and funny graphic
novel. Recommended by Alan and Jude.
LINE WAR by Neal Asher (Tor UK, Hardcover, $37.61) - Asher does a great
job of wrapping up the events that have been building in the last two
Cormac novels and he continues to improve his plotting. I was
very, very happy with it. Recommended by Alan.
MAPS AND LEGENDS by Michael Chabon (McSweeny's, Hardcover, $24.00) -
Essays and short-form memoirs, with one of the most beautiful and
clever dust jacket designs I've ever seen.
THE DEL REY BOOK OF SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY edited by Ellen Datlow
(Del Rey, Trade Paperback, $16.00) - Sixteen original works by some of
specualtive fiction's finest writers, including Pat Cadigan, Carol
Emshwiller, Jeffrey Ford, Margo Lanagan, Paul McAuley & Kim Newman,
and Maureen F. McHugh.
LITTLE BROTHER by Cory Doctorow (Tor, Hardcover, $17.95) - I can't
remember the last time we were all so excited about a book! Cary says
LITTLE BROTHER "may be the most important book we've ever sold".
I don't know if I would go that far, but it is certainly chilling,
topical, San Francisco (and Mission District!) local, funny and
vital. Pretty much everyone should read it. Short
version: a teen hacker and his friends are in the wrong place at the
wrong time when a major terrorist attack occurs in San Francisco.
Once released by the DHS, they decide to take civil liberties matters
into their own hands, or actually, keyboards. Recommended by
everyone on staff.
GREEN GLASS SEA by Ellen Klages (Puffin, Trade Paperback, $7.99) -
Winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction. Not
science fiction, but fiction about science, this is an incredible
coming of age story starring eleven-year-old misfits Dewey Kerrigan and
Suze Gordon, set in a city that didn't officially exist -- Los Alamos,
New Mexico in 1943. Look for the sequel, with the awesome title WHITE
SANDS, RED MENACE, coming in October. Recommended by Jude.
LAVINIA by Ursula K. Le Guin (Harcourt, Hardcover, $24.00) - From the
dust jacket: "In The Aeneid, Virgil's hero fights to claim the king's
daughter, Lavinia, with whoim he is destined to found an empire.
Lavinia herself never speaks a word in the poem. Now Ursula K. Le
Guin gives her a voice in a novel that takes us to the half-wild world
of ancient Italy, when Rome was a muddy village near seven hills."
ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE NORTH by Philip Pullman (Knopf, Other
Hardcover, $12.99) - Excellent short-story prequel to HIS DARK
MATERIALS that includes the very first meeting of Texas balloonist Lee
Scoresby and armored bear Iorek Byrnison. This pretty little
volume also contains an ingenious board game called "The Peril of the
Pole". This volume matches LYRA'S OXFORD, (ONCE UPON A TIME has blue
boards) and rumor says that there will eventually be a third volume,
with green boards, that will tell Will's story.
HOUSE OF SUNS by Alastair Reynolds (Gollancz, Hardcover, $39.44) - From
the jacket: "HOUSE OF SUNS is a dazzling, dizzying space opera with a
hard SF heart in a glorious new universe: this is Alastair Reynolds at
the very top of his game."
THE STARRY RIFT edited by Jonathan Strahan (Viking, Hardcover, $19.99)
- Fabulous new anthology of teen-oriented science fiction.
Stories by almost everyone you could ask for - Stephen Baxter, Cory
Doctorow, Greg Egan, Neil Gaiman, Kelly Link, Ian McDonald, Garth Nix,
Alastair Reynolds, Walter John Williams and more! Recommended by Jude.
DVD New Arrivals
Will return next month.
This newsletter is distributed monthly free
of charge and may be distributed without charge so long all the following
information is included.
Dispatches from the Border Editor - Jude Feldman
Assistant Editor - Alan Beatts
Contributors - Jeremy Lassen
All contents unless otherwise noted are the property of
Borderlands Books
866 Valencia St.
San Francisco, CA 94110
415-824-8203
http://www.borderlands-books.com
Comments and suggestions should be directed to editor@borderlands-books.com
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