Thursday, June 7, 2018

Dispatches from the Border, June 2018

Events and News From Borderlands Books

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Upcoming Events
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TONIGHT! Drop-by signing with Steve Toutonghi, SIDE LIFE (Soho Press, Hardcover, $26.00) Thursday, June 7th at 6:00 pm

Writers With Drinks with authors Joanna Angel, Adam Becker, Vernon Keeve III, Chandler Klang-Smith, and Nitasha Tiku, hosted by Charlie Jane Anders (at the Make-Out Room, 3225 22nd Street, San Francisco) Saturday, June 9th at 7:00 pm

SF in SF with authors Lucy Jane Bledsoe, Meg Elison, and Ellen Klages, moderated by Terry Bisson (at the American Bookbinders Museum, 355 Clementina Street, San Francisco) Sunday, June 10th at 6:30 pm

Jacqueline Carey, STARLESS (Tor Books, Hardcover, $25.99) Wednesday, June 13th at 6:00 pm

Open House at Borderlands West (1377 Haight St. at Masonic) Saturday, June 16th from 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm

Drop-by signing with DJ Butler, WITCHY WINTER (Baen, Hardcover, $25.00) & Christopher Husberg, BLOOD REQUIEM (Titan Books, Trade Paperback, $14.95) Wednesday, June 20th at 6:00 pm

Daniel H. Wilson, CLOCKWORK DYNASTY (Vintage, Trade Paperback, $16.95) Saturday, June 30th at 3:00 pm

(for more information check the end of this newsletter)

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News
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* Overheard in the Store:

"We tore down the ivy.  Then we realized it was _structural_ ivy."

"Want to hold my baby while I get some vampire erotica?"

"Yes, I'm looking for J.R.R. Tolkien's 'Ring Cycle'."

"It will probably be an artisanal bag shop. We're in the Artisanal Bag Shop District, you know."

"I just hate my sneeze. It undermines my authority."

"I love lying to children."

* Are you attending Worldcon 76 in San Jose in August?  Are you looking for a ride to, or a roommate for the con?  If so, email scox@borderlands-books.com and let us know if we can put you in touch with other Borderlands customers who are seeking the same.

* Atlas Obscura made a list of 62 of the World's Best Independent Bookstores and we made the list!  Check out all the other bookstores that you should visit: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/best-independent-bookstores

* Gardner Dozois, respected science fiction author and editor, has passed away at 70 years of age.  The field has lost a giant. http://www.philly.com/philly/obituaries/gardner-dozois-70-acclaimed-science-fiction-editor-20180529.html

* A new Ursula K. LeGuin Documentary by filmmaker Arwen Curry is on the way with many new insights into the legend's life, and some interesting reflections on her problems with writing women in science fiction.  https://www.bustle.com/p/this-ursula-k-le-guin-documentary-reveals-how-much-the-author-struggled-to-write-women-in-sci-fi-9237547

* An exploration of how writers of color have started to expand the traditional ideas and tropes of fantasy, and the responses to them, both positive and negative.  https://www.csmonitor.com/Books/2018/0521/After-decades-of-dwarfs-and-elves-writers-of-color-redefine-fantasy

* Dark Horse Comic "Resident Alien" has been ordered to pilot by Syfy.  An alien lands on earth and masquerades as a doctor while deciding whether humanity is worth survival.  Sounds a bit like Grey's Anatomy meets The Day The Earth Stood Still . . . . We're interested. https://showsnob.com/2018/06/01/syfy-resident-alien-pilot/

* Paste Magazine has put together a list of their Top 30 Dystopian Novels of all time, (which is a pretty bold claim if you ask us!) but useful as a recommendation list.  https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2018/05/the-30-best-dystopian-books-of-all-time.html

* Fonda Lee has written a great post over at Locus Magazine - The Case for YA Science Fiction.  Go give it a read: https://locusmag.com/2018/05/fonda-lee-guest-post-the-case-for-ya-science-fiction/

* Are you looking for a bloody revenge flick mixed with body horror with a thin veneer of sci-fi and AI theory?  It looks like "Upgrade" may be the film for you. http://screenanarchy.com/2018/05/review-upgrade-smart-violent-science-fiction-for-action-film-fans.html

* Here are 11 real-life inventions inspired by science fiction novels.  https://www.bustle.com/p/11-real-life-inventions-inspired-by-science-fiction-novels-9090688

* The Detroit Institute of Arts has an awesome exhibit called "Star Wars and the Power of Costume" up right now.  If you live nearby please check it out and report back.  http://michiganradio.org/post/science-fiction-meets-fine-art-dia-s-star-wars-costume-exhibit

* An in-depth look at the fatphobia, obfuscation, and lack of communication that took down the Midwest Writers Workshop convention this summer, and earned them the ire of Roxane Gay.  https://www.indianapolismonthly.com/arts-culture/the-midwest-writers-workshop-scandal/

* Someone is always writing an article about the possibility of time travel, and honestly we wish they would just inform us when progress has been made -- we've got a lot of mistakes we'd like to undo.  https://www.space.com/40716-time-travel-science-fiction-reality.html

* Five animated spin-offs of some classic science fiction shows.  (Now, no one is saying they're good. In fact Na'amen can personally guarantee at least three of them are pretty bad, but they do (or did) exist!)  https://fandomspotlite.com/5-science-fiction-tv-animated-spin-offs-fandom-spotlite

* Janelle Monae's spent years crafting one of the best dystopian worlds in media, and her latest release is the rebellion thousands have been waiting for.  https://www.vox.com/2018/5/16/17318242/janelle-monae-science-fiction-influences-afrofuturism

* EFF's fair use petition explained through essay and a Mur Lafferty story. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/05/eff-presents-mur-laffertys-science-fiction-story-about-our-fair-use-petition

* Talk to us when we can send our personal holograms to work to deal with all the stress while we sit on the couch at home controlling it through a neural array:  https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/may/22/star-wars-holograms-3d-images-future-holochess-princess-leia

* The tastiest nuggets from James Cameron's "Story of Science Fiction", including why he thinks aliens are bad news (hint: the same reason Stephen Hawking wasn't down with us communicating with aliens).  http://www.syfy.com/syfywire/james-camerons-story-of-science-fiction-explains-why-we-shouldnt-contact-aliens

* Check out this great interview with Mimi Mondal, the first Indian writer to be nominated for a Hugo. http://www.thehindu.com/profile/author/all-science-fiction-is-political-says-hugo-award-nominee-mimi-mondal/article23867184.ece

* Preparing for Disease X: how do we prepare for something about which we know nothing?  https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/0/must-work-together-prevent-disease-x/

* Soon we will be able to trade memories. . . and by soon we mean maybe in a few decades.  Maybe . . . . http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5727665/Science-fiction-reality-Researchers-transfer-memories-animals.html

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Award News
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* The 2018 finalists for the Mythopoeic Awards have been announced and they include friend of the store & sponsor Ellen Klages for her amazing novella PASSING STRANGE! http://www.mythsoc.org/news/news-2018-05-21.htm

* The shortlist for the Geffen Awards, presented by Israeli Society for Science Fiction and Fantasy, has been announced and includes translated works from Seanan McGuire, Ellen Kushner and Jim Butcher!  http://file770.com/?p=42357

* The 2017 Nebula Winners have been announced and congratulations to them all, and _especially_ N.K. Jemisin who continues to pick up award after award for her amazing trilogy! https://nebulas.sfwa.org/award-year/2017/

* The finalists for Spain's 2018 Ignotus Awards have been announced: https://locusmag.com/2018/05/2018-ignotus-finalists/

* The Shirley Jackson Awards for horror, psychological suspense and dark fantasy have announced the newest batch of nominees.  Check out the list if you need some dark reading material: https://www.shirleyjacksonawards.org/nominees/

* The Spectrum 25 Awards have announced their winners for excellence in art. https://spectrumfantasticart.com/blog/2018/05/06/spectrum-25-awards-recipients/

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From The Office
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Hi Everyone,

May was one of those months when things just don't line up quite right -- at least where our building on Haight St.  was concerned.  As a result, we had a bit of a slowdown this month, but things should be picking up shortly.  The first delay was getting the final details of the structural work sorted out.  It wasn't anything major, but fitting some of the beams around the existing stairwell required a bit of back-and-forth with the structural engineer.  Once that was all sorted out, I realized that there were some details for the I-beam in the basement that needed to be clarified, too.  Once all of that was worked out, the welder who is making the beam went on vacation for a week.  By then, it was almost the end of the month.

But, that's all sorted out now and the beam should be ready this week, and I'm very pleased to be working with Ricardo's Welding again (they did some very nice work for me on my motorcycle last year).  We'll be putting that in place and then marking out the foundation locations in the basement for both that beam and the beams upstairs.  Once that's done, we'll be able to start work on the bathroom in earnest.

Despite all that, we made some good progress in the back yard.  The fences are almost done and are looking good - thank you again to all the volunteers who came to clamber about on my scaffolding (I've never built one before! Could you tell?) to construct the frame and then put the redwood boards in.  It looks fantastic, it's very strong, and more importantly it will age well.  We've just got the last bits of the west section left to do and once we're done mucking about on top of the walls we can get started on building the planters.  

The other big thing we're waiting on is tearing up the floor.  We had a bit of a nasty shock last week when Joseph found tile beneath the particle board covering.  As anyone who has renovated can tell you, old tile ranks up there with popcorn ceilings in terms of Things You Do Not Want To Find.  Asbestos was a popular building material back in the day (including in floor tile).  Since asbestos is basically made of cancer bullets, I'm having samples of the tile tested and, 'till I hear back from the lab, I'm not messing with that stuff at all.  Adding offense to the possibility of possible injury, the tiles are a pukey-avocado green and black.  I literally cannot wait to make them go away.

But, if they do turn out to incorporate asbestos, I'll have to have a big think about it.  The inexpensive way to deal with asbestos is to encapsulate it.  In this case that would mean a heavy coat of paint on the small section we've exposed and then putting down a new layer of floor covering (probably plywood). Then we put some sort of flooring on top.  The problem there, although it's safe as houses (asbestos is only a problem if it can get into the air), it does make the floor a bit thick and might mean we can't have solid wood (because of the thickness).  The alternative is tearing up the existing floor all the way down to the joists as part of an asbestos abatement job.  That job would be expensive all by itself, but then we'd also need to entirely replace the floor.

Like I said, it's going to call for a big think.

We'll be back in the full swing of things this month, and thank you again to all of our volunteers.  We definitely could not do this without you.

All Best,
Alan

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Best Sellers
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Borderlands Best-Selling Titles for May, 2018

1) Noir by Christopher Moore
2) Tempests and Slaughter by Tamora Pierce
3) Autonomous by Annalee Newitz
4) Artificial Condition by Martha Wells
5) Tortall: A Spy's Guide by Tamora Pierce
6) Head On by John Scalzi
7) The Soldier by Neal Asher
8) Space Opera by Cat Valente
9) Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
10) In Calabria by Peter S. Beagle

Trade Paperbacks
1) Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu, trans by Ken Liu
2) How to Marry a Werewolf by Gail Carriger
3) The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
4) The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
5) Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
6) Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer
7) The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin
8) Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O by Nicole Galland and Neal Stephenson
9) All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders
10) Robots vs. Fairies edited by Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe

Mass Market Paperbacks
1) Who Fears Death? by Nnedi Okorafor
2) Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
3) Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K LeGuin
4) American Gods by Neil Gaiman
5) Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
6) Lock In by John Scalzi
7) Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn
8) Tiassa by Steven Brust
9) Red Sister by Mark Lawrence
10) Arcanum Unbounded by Brandon Sanderson

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Book Club Information
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The QSF&F Book Club will meet on Sunday, June 10th, at 5 pm to discuss THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS by Robert A. Heinlein.  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, June 17th, at 6 pm to discuss ACCELERANDO by Charles Stross. The book for the following month will be WHERE LATE THE SWEET BIRDS SANG by Kate Wilhelm.  Please contact bookclub@borderlands-books.com for more information.

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Upcoming Event Details
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TONIGHT!  Drop-by signing with Steve Toutonghi, SIDE LIFE (Soho Press, Hardcover, $26.00) Thursday, June 7th at 6:00 pm - Join us for an informal signing and meet-and-greet with the author of JOIN!  Steve will be showing off his new novel SIDE LIFE.  From the publisher: "SIDE LIFE is a dazzling, paranoid literary sci-fi novel in which Vin, a down-on-his-luck young tech entrepreneur takes a job house-sitting an ultra-modern Seattle mansion whose owner has gone missing.  There he discovers a secret basement lab with an array of computers and three large, smooth caskets--one of which is inhabited by a woman in a state of suspended animation.  There is also a dog-eared notebook filled with circuit diagrams, beautiful and intricate drawings of body parts, and pages of code.  When Vin decides to enter one of the caskets himself, his reality begins to unravel, and he finds himself on a terrifying journey that raises fundamental questions about reality, free will, and the meaning of a human life."

Writers With Drinks with authors Joanna Angel, Adam Becker, Vernon Keeve III, Chandler Klang-Smith, and Nitasha Tiku, hosted by Charlie Jane Anders (at the Make-Out Room, 3225 22nd Street, San Francisco) Saturday, June 9th at 7:00 pm - Writers With Drinks is the most awesome spoken-word variety show in the world, hosted by Charlie Jane Anders, and we're always happy to participate!  The amazing lineup this month includes authors Joanna Angel, Adam Becker, Vernon Keeve III, Chandler Klang-Smith, and Nitasha Tiku. Cost: $5 to $20, no-one turned away for lack of funds.  All proceeds benefit local non-profits.  Doors open at 6:30 and Borderlands will be on hand to sell books.

SF in SF with authors Lucy Jane Bledsoe, Meg Elison, and Ellen Klages, moderated by Terry Bisson (at the American Bookbinders Museum, 355 Clementina Street, San Francisco) Sunday, June 10th at 6:30 pm - (Suggested donation $10.)  Doors and bar at 6:00 pm, event begins at 6:30 pm.  We're so happy to participate in the Science Fiction in San Francisco reading series! The authors will read a selection from their work, followed by Q&A from the audience moderated by author Terry Bisson.  Authors will schmooze & sign books after.  Books available for sale courtesy of Borderlands Books.  Seating is limited, so first come, first seated.  Bar proceeds benefit the American Bookbinders Museum. Questions? Email sfinsfevents@gmail.com.

Jacqueline Carey, STARLESS (Tor Books, Hardcover, $25.99) Wednesday, June 13th at 6:00 pm - New York Times bestselling author and Borderlands favorite, Jacqueline Carey will spend the evening with her fans old and new to celebrate the release of her latest stand-alone fantasy novel, THE STARLESS!  Carey came upon the scene in glorious fashion with the release of her spellbinding Kushiel's series.  Not one to rest on her laurels, Carey has given fans of genre fictions many delicious choices; from the gritty sci-fi action of SANTA OLIVIA to stand-alone novels taking on iconic characters from Shakespeare's THE TEMPEST with her novel MIRANDA AND CALIBAN.  With many trilogies, duologies and novels to her name, Jacqueline Carey is firmly placed among the leaders in genre fiction, and we couldn't be happier than to have her in the store the week of her new release.  If you would like to have a copy of any of her in-print books reserved, please call the store before the event between the hours of 12:00 pm and 8:00 pm.

Open House at Borderlands West (1377 Haight St. at Masonic) Saturday, June 16th from 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm - Would you like to see what we've been up to at the bookstore-to-be?  Come to our future home at 1377 Haight Street to get a tour of the new bookstore space and check out the progress we've made, and how far there is to go; you know you want to be able to say you "saw it when"!  This is an open house, so come by anytime between noon and six and Alan will show you around.

Drop-by signing with DJ Butler, WITCHY WINTER (Been, Hardcover, $25.00) & Christopher Husberg, BLOOD REQUIEM (Titan Books, Trade Paperback, $14.95) Wednesday, June 20th at 6:00 pm - We're delighted to welcome these two authors for an informal signing in the bookstore!  In WITCHY WINTER, the sequel to the brilliantly-reviewed WITCHY EYE, "Butler delivers another brilliant Americana flintlock fantasy novel," and in BLOOD REQUIEM, the third of Chaos Queen Quintet, Daemons, which were once believed dead and gone, have found a way back into the world.  We hope you'll join us to meet these up-and-coming writers and check out their novels!

Daniel H. Wilson, CLOCKWORK DYNASTY (Vintage, Trade Paperback, $16.95) Saturday, June 30th at 3:00 pm - We're delighted to welcome Daniel H. Wilson to the store to show off the paperback release of THE CLOCKWORK DYNASTY!  From the publisher: "An ingenious new thriller that weaves a path through history, following a race of human-like machines that have been hiding among us for untold centuries, written by the New York Times bestselling author of ROBOPOCALPSE.  Present day: When a young anthropologist specializing in ancient technology uncovers a terrible secret concealed in the workings of a three-hundred-year-old mechanical doll, she is thrown into a hidden world that lurks just under the surface of our own.  With her career and her life at stake, June Stefanov will ally with a remarkable traveler who exposes her to a reality she never imagined, as they embark on an around-the-world adventure and discover breathtaking secrets of the past. . . Russia, 1725: In the depths of the Kremlin, the tsar's loyal mechanician brings to life two astonishingly humanlike mechanical beings.  Peter and Elena are a brother and sister fallen out of time, possessed with uncanny power, and destined to serve great empires.  Struggling to blend into pre-Victorian society, they are pulled into a legendary war that has raged for centuries.  THE CLOCKWORK DYNASTY seamlessly interweaves past and present, exploring a race of beings designed to live by ironclad principles, yet constantly searching for meaning. As June plunges deeper into their world, her choices will ultimately determine their survival or extermination.  Richly-imagined and heart-pounding, Daniel H. Wilson's novel expertly draws on his robotics and science background, combining exquisitely drawn characters with visionary technology -- and riveting action."  We do hope you'll join us to meet this talented author and check out his most recent thrilling novel!

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 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.


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 - Na'amen Gobert Tilahun
Assistant Editor - Jude Feldman

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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