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ABOUT THE STORE : NEWSLETTER

DISPATCHES FROM THE BORDER

Events and News from Borderlands Books

November, 2013

Chapter One - Event Information, News, and Special Features

Editor's Note - You may be aware that we have a blog where this newsletter also appears <http://borderlands-books.blogspot.com/>.  At the end of major features in this newsletter you'll find permanent links to the same item on our blog.  These links can be convenient if you want to send just a single article or if you'd like to link to it from your website.

Upcoming Author Events

Cassie Alexander, Tim Pratt and Malinda Lo in Conversation - Saturday, November 9th at 3:00 pm

Jeffrey Siger, MYKONOS AFTER MIDNIGHT (Poisoned Pen Press, Hardcover, $24.95 and Trade Paperback, $14.95) Sunday, November 10th at 3:00 pm

Gail Carriger, CURTSIES AND CONSPIRACIES (Little, Brown, Hardcover, $18.00) Monday, November 11th at 7:00 pm

Cara Black at the Mission Library, 300 Bartlett Street, San Francisco - Wednesday, November 13th at 7:00 pm

Ellen Kirschman, BURYING BEN (Aakenbaaken & Kent, Trade Paperback, $15.95) Saturday, November 16th at 3:00 pm

Borderlands' Super-Special Sweet Sixteen Anniversary Party and Book Sale ($20 Admission) - Monday, November 18th from 8:30 pm - 10:30 pm (or later) in the Cafe, 870 Valencia Street

Free Presentation on Practical Book Repair with Sophia S.W. Bogle - Friday, November 22nd from 6:00 - 8:00 pm

Book Repair Class with Sophia S.W. Bogle, $30 - Saturday, November 23rd from 3:00 - 6:00 pm

Authors Turn Booksellers with Sofia Samatar, Saturday, November 30th from 1:00 - 4:00 pm

Permalink - http://borderlands-books.blogspot.com/2013/11/november-upcoming-events.html

News

* My Beautiful Bookshelf thinks we're one of the Top 10 Bookstores in San Francisco! http://mybeautifulbookshelf.wordpress.com/2012/10/08/top-10-bookstores-in-san-francisco/

* 7 x 7 Magazine wants to be friends with Alan Beatts, Borderlands' owner! http://ht.ly/pVIn1

* Amazon.com recently offered independent booksellers the opportunity to sell Kindles in-store, (with a whopping 6% discount! Yipee!) and to take a 10% commission on e-book titles sold for those Kindles for the next 2 years.  As you may imagine, independent booksellers were less than overwhelmed with gratitude at this offer.  Here are some of their responses, via Melville House Publishers: http://www.mhpbooks.com/we-are-not-amazon-franchises-booksellers-respond-to-amazon-source/

* Congratulations to all of the World Fantasy Award winners, and all of the British Fantasy Award winners!  Both sets of awards were presented at the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton, England.  The full lists are here: http://www.worldfantasy.org/awards/ and here: http://www.britishfantasysociety.co.uk/british-fantasy-awards/

* Overheard in the store:
"Well, it's better then the Nonfiction, which is all Jesus, Jesus, Jesus."
"I've got fifty-five pounds of bacon."
"Excellent life advice is to never drink an alcoholic beverage that comes in a souvenir glass."

Permalink - http://borderlands-books.blogspot.com/2013/11/october-news-roundup.html

From The Office

Hi Everyone,

I'm afraid that I don't have anything for this month's article because I'm too busy cataloging books.  Which is sort of neat in its own right.  Early in October I bought an entire collection (135 boxes worth of one, to be precise).  Suffice to say that is _a lot_ of books.  Right now the back room consists of stacks of boxes as high as my head with aisles so we can get to the back door.

So, I've been spending every minute that I can spare sorting books, checking prices, and getting them onto the shelves.  It's been fun.  I haven't done something like this in years and it's nice to get into the "bookseller groove".  It's also been fun to see how prices have changed.  It's not a surprise to me that a good copy of The Outsider And Others by Lovecraft is still selling for $2000.  After all, it was the first book that Arkham House ever published as well as being the first hardcover collection of Lovecraft's work.

It was, however, surprising that a first edition hardcover of my friend Richard Morgan's first novel, Altered Carbon, is now worth about $300.  It seems like just yesterday that we were selling those British hardcovers for cover price (plus shipping, but there you go).

I also ran across one of the nicest, brightest copies of The House On The Borderlands by William Hope Hodgson that I've seen in a long time.  It's a lovely early Arkham House title with full color cover art by Hieronymus Bosch.  Sadly the cover is quite sensitive to fading in bright sunlight so most of the copies out there have very faded spines.  This one, however, does not.

There have been lots of other neat things like --

A first edition of The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie (I was doing security work for Tower Records when people were making bomb threats about that one)
A first of Rosemary's Baby
A complete set of Burton's translation of The Arabian Nights (all 17 volumes)
A hardcover set of Ken MacLeod's Fall Revolution novels (which I took for my own collection)
A nearly complete run of all of Subterranean Press' titles, including the three-volume boxed sets of their first two published novellas
Quite a few nice, signed Fritz Leiber novels, including one of my favorites, Night's Black Agents.
A few signed books by Ray Bradbury
First hardcovers of all four of the Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons.

As you may guess, it's a nice collection and I'm quite pleased to have it in the store.  I'll be getting it inventoried and up on the shelves over the next month or so.  If you're looking for some nice books, you might want to stop in once a week or so.  Or, check our inventory online.

Until next month, it's back to the computer.

All Best,
Alan

Permalink - http://borderlands-books.blogspot.com/2013/11/lots-of-neat-books.html

Top Sellers At Borderlands

Hardcovers
1. The Incrementalists by Steven Brust and Skyler White
2. Parasite by Mira Grant
3. The Circle by Dave Eggers
4. The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two by Cat Valente
5. Jupiter War by Neal Asher
6. Bleeding Edge by Thomas Pynchon
7. Shaman by Kim Stanley Robinson
8. Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman
9. Aurorarama by Jean-Christophe Valtat
10. Dr. Sleep by Stephen King

Mass Market Paperbacks
1. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
2. A Dance With Dragons by George R.R. Martin
3. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
4. Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss
5. 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson
6. Cold City by F. Paul Wilson
7. Chimes at Midnight by Seanan McGuire
8. Redoubt by Mercedes Lackey
9. Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin
10. The Shining by Stephen King

Trade Paperbacks
1. Super Stories of Heroes and Villains edited by Claude Lalumiere
2. Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriger
3. Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
4. The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There by Cat Valente
5. Dodger by Terry Pratchett

Permalink - http://borderlands-books.blogspot.com/2013/11/october-bestsellers.html

Book Club Info

The QSF&F Book Club will meet on Sunday, November 10th, at 5 pm to discuss AURORARAMA by Jean-Christophe Valtat.  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, November 17th, at 6 pm to discuss 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson.  The book for December is DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP? by Philip K. Dick.  Please contact bookclub@borderlands-books.com for more information.

Upcoming Event Details

Cassie Alexander, Tim Pratt and Malinda Lo in Conversation, Saturday, November 9th at 3:00 pm - We're happy to welcome local authors Cassie Alexander, Malinda Lo and Tim Pratt!  Cassie is a registered nurse and the author of three novels about Edie Spence, a nurse on the supernatural night shift. Malinda's new novel is INHERITANCE, the sequel to ADAPTATION, which is a finalist for the 2013 Lambda Book Award and a Bank Street College Best Children’s Book of 2013.  Before she became a novelist, Malinda was an economics major, an editorial assistant, a graduate student, and an entertainment reporter.  Tim Pratt is a novelist and editor, who has most recently worked with Melissa Marr to bring you RAGS & BONES, a collection of classic tales retold by some of our most favorite current authors!  Join us to meet these fantastic writers, who will read, sign, and chat about the art of writing speculative fiction.  Bring your questions!

Jeffrey Siger, MYKONOS AFTER MIDNIGHT (Poisoned Pen Press, Hardcover, $24.95 and Trade Paperback, $14.95) Sunday, November 10th at 3:00 pm - Borderlands is pleased to host distinguished writer Jeffrey Siger, author of the Inspector Kaldis series.  These thrilling novels are all set in exotic Grecian locales.  From the book description: "Mykonos holds tight to its past even as it transforms from an obscure, impoverished Aegean island into a tourist mecca and summertime playground for the world’s rich, a process making the Mykonian people some of the wealthiest in Greece.  Yes, the old guard is still a force to be reckoned with despite the new money.  One of them, a legendary nightclub owner, has been found savagely bludgeoned in his home.  All evidence points to obvious thugs.  Yet the murder has put long hidden, politically explosive secrets in play and drawn a dangerous foreign investor to the island paradise.  Andreas Kaldis, feared head of Greece’s special crimes division, is certain there’s a far more complex solution to the murder than robbery, and he vows to find it."

Gail Carriger, CURTSIES AND CONSPIRACIES (Little, Brown, Hardcover, $18.00) Monday, November 11th at 7:00 pm - Help give Gail Carriger, author of the Parasol Protectorate series, a warm welcome!  CURTSIES AND CONSPIRACIES is the second novel in The Finishing School series.  It takes place about 20 years before the events in SOULLESS, and continues the story of Sophronia and her friends (and enemies) at Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality, a clandestine espionage school housed in an almost-constantly floating dirigible.  Now a conspiracy is afoot -- one with dire implications for both supernaturals and humans.  Sophronia must rely on her brand-new training to discover who is behind the dangerous plot, and also survive the London Season with a full dance card!

Cara Black at the Mission Library, 300 Bartlett Street, San Francisco - Wednesday, November 13th at 7:00 pm - From the Library's event description: "Join mystery author Cara Black and Alliance Francaise of San Francisco as they come to the Mission Branch Library to celebrate all things French!  A Noe Valley resident, Cara Black is a San Francisco Library Laureate and a member of the Paris Societe Historique in the Marais.  Her nationally bestselling and award-nominated Aimee Leduc Investigation series set in France has been translated into French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese and Hebrew.  She is included in the Great Women Mystery Writers by Elizabeth Lindsay.  Cara will be discussing her latest book MURDER BELOW MONTPARNASSE.  Book signing and sale hosted by Alliance Française & Borderlands Books follows the event.  Refreshments will be served courtesy of Bi-Rite Market."

Ellen Kirschman, BURYING BEN (Aakenbaaken & Kent, Trade Paperback, $15.95) Saturday, November 16th at 3:00 pm - We're happy to welcome author Ellen Kirschman to Borderlands!  Ms. Kirschman, a police psychologist, has written several nonfiction books, but BURYING BEN is her debut novel, and it's a good one.  Here's the short description from the publisher: "Dot Meyerhoff has barely settled into her new job as a psychologist for the Kenilworth Police Department when Ben Gomez, a troubled young rookie that she tries to counsel, commits suicide without any warning and leaves a note blaming her. Overnight, her promising new start becomes a nightmare. At stake is her job, her reputation, her license to practice, and her already battered sense of self-worth.  Dot resolves to find out not just what led Ben to kill himself, but why her psychologist ex-husband, the man she most wants to avoid, recommended that Ben be hired in the first place. Ben’s surviving family and everyone else connected to him are determined to keep Ben’s story a secret, by any means necessary. Even Ben, from the grave, has secrets to keep."

Borderlands' Super-Special Sweet Sixteen Anniversary Party and Book Sale ($20 Admission) - Monday, November 18th from 8:30 pm - 10:30 pm (or later) in the Cafe, 870 Valencia Street - Join us to celebrate sixteen years of Borderlands Books with our most intriguing sale yet. Like most sixteen-year-olds, this one's a bit unusual and rebellious, so listen up!

The sale will take place in the cafe after the bookstore is closed.  The books on sale will be from special stock (titles we over-bought, used books that we don't have space for, and other odd stuff).  Our usual store stock will _not_ be included in this sale.  Admission will cost $20 per person and will get you -- wine or iced tea, hors d'oeuvres, other surprises and, best of all, one large bag for you to fill with books of your choice.  Yup, all the books you can fit in that bag are included in the price of admission!

If that's not enough books for you, additional bags are $10 each, limited only by the number of books on hand and what you can transport.  This is an awesome deal, but there are a few rules.

1)  We will ask for your word of honor that the books you take are for your personal use (or to give to friends, etc.) but that they're NOT for resale.

2)  We also expect y'all to behave like ladies and gentlemen, i.e. no running, pushing or shoving, or arguing about books.  The first person to lay hands on a book gets it.  Anyone behaving in a ruffianly or unpleasant manner will be escorted out without a refund (and remember, Borderlands is the only bookstore we know of that has its own SWAT team).

3)  The books cannot extend over the top edge of the bag.  So plan on stacking neatly.

4)  All sales will be cash only and there will be no refunds.  It's a bit of a gamble, but there are A LOT of really awesome books here.

On the topic of gambling, for the high rollers out there, we'll also have a VIP room.  VIP admission is $100 (over and above the basic admission), which gets you the above-mentioned wine or tea, hors d'oeuvres, and one large bag for regular books . . . but you'll get another bag and you'll be able to choose from a large VIP selection of small-press titles and rarer books. Additional VIP bags are $80.  There are some incredible finds here, from publishers like Cemetery Dance, PS Publishing, and Subterranean, and many are signed.  You will absolutely get your money's worth and more, plus, it'll be fun!  We hope you'll join us for a most atypical sale and celebration.

Free Presentation on Practical Book Repair with Sophia S.W. Bogle - Friday, November 22nd from 6:00 - 8:00 pm - Ms. Bogle, of www.SaveYourBooks.com will show you simple and archival means to improve the value of your books.  Bring your books and get your questions answered!  Sophia is an expert book restorer with a diploma in book conservation from the American Academy of Bookbinding and more than 25 years of experience.

Book Repair Class with Sophia S.W. Bogle, $30 - Saturday, November 23rd from 3:00 - 6:00 pm - Learn how to clean up your ex-library books. No experience, tools or materials necessary. Practice books will be provided. The cost of the class is $30.  Reserve your spot now by calling 541-601-7543.  Class size is limited to 12.

Authors Turn Booksellers with Sofia Samatar, Saturday, November 30th from 1:00 - 4:00 pm - Sherman Alexie had a great idea to celebrate Small Business Saturday and support independent bookstores: authors turn booksellers! Authors choose an independent bookstore and act as recommenders for the day. We're delighted to have Sofia Samatar, author of A STRANGER IN OLONDIRA, as one of our guests.  Stop in and meet Sofia; she, like the rest of our staff, will be happy to assist you in finding the perfect book!

Borderlands event policy - all events are free of charge unless otherwise stated.  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 the book(s) until you can come in to pick them up or we can ship 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 for a nominal fee.  Call or email for details.

Dispatches from the Border
Editor - Jude Feldman
Assistant Editor - Alan Beatts

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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