Finder: A Novel of the Borderlands Review

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Finder: A Novel of the Borderlands ReviewI mean, really. I never thought it was possible to crush on a fictional character, until I read "Finder." If I could somehow slip into Bookworld--where all the worlds in books are real--I'd head straight for Bordertown (after a lengthy visit to Pern, perhaps) so I could marry Orient. I mean, he's perfect! He's handsome, he's friends with the best mechanic in the universe (vive Tick Tick!), you'd never lose anything again, and hey! he's even Jewish. Dig this: we have here the only man who could possibly locate the socks that disappear in the dryer! Hmmmm. OK, sex drives aside, this is a fun book. Bordertown: a sleek, hip world where magic melds with technology and bohemians dabble with royalty. (Kinda makes me homesick for NYC, mmmm?) Anyway, the Elves have returned...and they're cool, not a jot like the deified Tolkien-esque elves found in epic fantasies nowdays. Orient, our hero, is a fugitive from the regular world, who has found Bordertown a haven from his dark, secret past. He's friends with Tick Tick, a runaway elven princess who is the best mechanic known to man, a werewolf named Wolfboy (who stars in "Elsewhere" and "Never Never" by Will Shetterly, which were fun but not great), and a determined, mysterious cop named Sunny Rico. Anyway, the book centers around a mystery--some strange disease is turning humans into elves and killing real elves--and how Orient comes to grips with his past. Fast-paced, sleek dialogue, interesting characters, cool locale, strong plot, and Orient. Definately a great find! (Sorry about that last 8-)!)Finder: A Novel of the Borderlands Overview

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The Essential Bordertown (Borderlands) Review

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The Essential Bordertown (Borderlands) ReviewGoing by other reader reviews of this book, some fans of the series were disappointed by The Essential Bordertown--they felt the stories "just weren't the same" or something. Of course they weren't the same! It has a different character than other books in the series, but that's only to be expected from an anthology, and I enjoyed it immensely. One of its best features, to my mind, is the way "guidebook" excerpts are placed between the stories--for those unfamiliar with Bordertown, they provide excellent background material, and for fans, they're full of little jokes and references to familiar locations/people/events. They also make good transitions from one story to the next. The book contains 13 stories (how apropos) by Patricia A. McKillip, Midori Snyder, Delia Sherman, Donnard Sturgis, Ellen Kushner, Michael Korolenko, Elisabeth Kushner, Charles de Lint, Caroline Stevermer, Steven Brust, Ellen Steiber, Micole Sudberg, and Felicity Savage, of which four particularly struck me.
I loved Patricia A. McKillip's "Oak Hill" for many reasons, but one of them is that its protagonist reminded me of myself in junior high--a lonely girl with bad skin looking for magick. I particularly liked the fact that the girl has no terrible reason to come to Bordertown; she just wants something better--something more--than what she has. McKillip's prose is beautiful as ever, and the ending, though of course I won't give it away, is simple and powerful. "Dragon Child" by Midori Snyder is largely set in Dragontown, which has always been one of my favorite areas of Bordertown. Eli, half elvin and half human, escapes from his cruel elvin father to Bordertown, where he struggles to fully free himself from the aristrocratic father who has controlled him all his life. The story doesn't offer any easy answer to Eli's problems; it may be about a boy who blurs the border between the World and Faerie, but it's realistic.
"Changeling" by Elisabeth Kushner I admit I was already predisposed to like--young lesbians desperately trying to build a happy life for themselves have always had a special place in my heart. "Oak Hill" shows Bordertown as a place to run to; "Changeling," like "Dragon Child," shows it as a place to run away to. Selkie/Seal (neither her given name, of course; people who come to Bordertown frequently give themselves new names, in the hopes of new lives) is trying to find a place where her "difference" won't stand out, and comes to Bordertown--where it might not be easier, but it might also be better. The final member of my top four, Ellen Steiber's "Argentine," is about an elvin girl who didn't run anywhere--she was banished, her memory erased, to Bordertown, where she does what she seems to do best: steals. Argentine seeks out things that matter to people, and takes them, to feel the love they contain. But no thief's luck lasts forever, as the ghost of a dead man is only too happy to remind her when she takes his living lover's necklace. Steiber makes Argentine a sympathetic character, despite the things she does, and Roberto, already dead, is tragic. This story makes me cry almost every time I read it.
The Essential Bordertown definitely holds its own within the series, and I highly recommend it--and if you like it, you should try to find the others, although some are out of print and hard to get ahold of.The Essential Bordertown (Borderlands) Overview

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Welcome to Bordertown Review

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Welcome to Bordertown ReviewBordertown has been missing from the mortal world for thirteen years, but Ellen Kushner and Holly Black have managed to bring it back to us. "Welcome to Bordertown" picks up exactly where the last collection left off, bringing back a magical array of authors who have explored the Borderlands before (Charles de Lint, Emma Bull, Patricia McKillip) as well as new arrivals (Tim Pratt, Cory Doctorow, Neil Gaiman).
Thirteen years ago, Bordertown vanished from the mortal world. No one knows how or why, but when it reappeared, only thirteen days had passed for those inside.
In Terri Windling and Ellen Kushner's opening novella, teenage "fixer" Jim arrives there to find his sister Trish, who ran away to live in Bordertown. But Trish has learned that even magical places have their hardships, even as she befriends a grad student named Anush, whose studies went horribly awry when he was cursed by a cruel elf lady.
Some of these stories are by longtime Borderland contributers. Emma Bull's "Incunabulum" is the tale of a young Blood who lost his memory, and must now forge a new one, and Will Shetterly's "The Seven Sages of Elsewhere" is a feud between two bookstores over a rare, magical tome.
But many of these authors are new to Bordertown anthologies -- Cory Doctorow, Catherynne Valente, Janni Lee Simner, Christopher Barzak, Annette Curtis Klause, Tim Pratt, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Holly Black and Cassandra Clare.
Their stories include a technonerd bringing modern tech to Bordertown, a runaway named Fig who doesn't believe in magic, a girl who falls in love with a statue, a pair of best friends in search of werewolves and vampires, a musician stalked by a lonely love-talker, an artist cursed with blood magic, a gang of Caribbean lesbians haunted by love and magic, a failed musician's relationship with a boy-terrorist, deception and death at a tiny theatre, and a grief-stricken young man looking for his true love.
And then there are poems and songs, such as Jane Yolen's lullaby, and Amal El-Mohtar's delicately surreal poem. Not to mention Neil Gaiman's odd, lilting poem and Patricia McKillip's lush ballad of two sisters.
The 21st century has sapped none of Bordertown's eerie charm -- it's still full of ragged teens, rock concerts, silver-haired elves and odd twists that take people's lives where they never could have expected. And while it shows us that magic and the fantastical will always be alluring, it also has its hidden dangers and sorrows.
This is probably one of the best anthologies I have ever read. While the authors have their own individual quirks, the same silver threads run through almost all of the stories -- a mixture of moonlit magic and grimy, rambunctious urban reality. And they come up with some truly enchanting characters, some of whom are not what they seem. Some are destined to stay in Bordertown, and some merely need the magical to set them on their path.
"Welcome to Bordertown" is a welcome return to one of the classic realms of urban fantasy -- and it's no less enchanting after a wait of thirteen years.Welcome to Bordertown OverviewBordertown: a city on the border between our human world and the elfin realm. Runaway teens come from both sides of the border to find adventure, to find themselves. Elves play in rock bands and race down the street on spell-powered motorbikes. Human kids recreate themselves in the squats and clubs and artists' studios of Soho. Terri Windling's original Bordertown series was the forerunner of today's urban fantasy, introducing authors that included Charles de Lint, Will Shetterly, Emma Bull, and Ellen Kushner. In this volume of all-new work (including a 15-page graphic story), the original writers are now joined by the generation that grew up dreaming of Bordertown, including acclaimed authors Holly Black, Cassandra Clare, Cory Doctorow, Neil Gaiman, Catherynne M. Valente, and many more. They all meet here on the streets of Bordertown in more than twenty new interconnected songs, poems, and stories.

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