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ABOUT THE STORE : NEWSLETTER

DISPATCHES FROM THE BORDER

Events and News from Borderlands Books

April, 2009

Chapter One - Event Information, News, and Special Features

Free Movies at SF in SF: "Night of the Comet" and "Brother From Another Planet", Wednesday, April 8th at 7:00 pm

Nick Mamatas, YOU MIGHT SLEEP (Prime Books, Trade Paperback, $14.95) and T.A. Pratt, SPELL GAMES (Bantam, Mass Market, $6.99) Saturday, April 11th at 3:00 pm

Robert J. Sawyer, WWW: WAKE (Ace, Hardcover, $24.95), Monday, April 13th at 7:00 pm

SF in SF presents authors Peter S. Beagle and Richard Lupoff, at the Variety Preview Room in the Hobart Building, 582 Market Street, Saturday, April 18th at 7:00 pm

S.J. Tucker and Catherynne M. Valente, PALIMPSEST, (Bantam, Trade Paperback, $14.00), Thursday, April 23rd at 7:00 pm

And stay with us for great events with Ray Garton, Jeff Prucher, Rudy Rucker, Jacqueline Carey, and many many others!

News

* Update on the last volume of THE WHEEL OF TIME:
Dot Lin from Tor sends the following: "Some of you may have seen this already, but at long last, I’m proud to announce the Nov. 3rd on-sale date for the final installment in Robert Jordan’s beloved Wheel of Time series. The final book, A MEMORY OF LIGHT, will actually be split into three volumes, the first of which will be called THE GATHERING STORM.  As some of you know, Robert Jordan passed away in late 2007 due to a rare blood disease. Harriet McDougal, Jordan’s wife and editor, chose Brandon Sanderson to complete the WoT series from Jordan’s notes and materials, and both have taken on the monumental task of bringing this legendary twenty-years-in-the-making series to an end.  So many people, especially Brandon and Harriet and their “Team Jordan,” have worked so, so hard on AMOL to bring it to readers and fulfill Jordan’s vision. It was and is very much a labor of love. Do join me in congratulating them and supporting them as they head into the final journey."  Read an interview with editor Harriet McDougal here: <http://www.dragonmount.com/Books/Memory_of_Light/harriet_interview_01.php> and author Brandon’s Sanderson's piece on some of the process and decisions behind AMOL: <http://www.brandonsanderson.com/article/56/Splitting-AMOL>.

* Author Richard Morgan defends his Tolkien criticism: <http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/DRIN/DRIN_links.html#interview>

* Be an extra in ALL ABOUT EVIL, directed by Peaches Christ! : <http://www.peacheschrist.com/BACKLASHFILMS/INDEX.html>

* Ripley makes Ugly Overload!  We don't know whether to be grateful or peeved: <http://uglyoverload.blogspot.com/2009/03/next-time-youre-in-mission-in-san.html>. Thanks to author Thomas Roche for spotting this.

* Because we haven't had enough cat news recently, I thought you might want to see a painfully cute video of Ash as a tiny, two-week old kitten: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwT34SRawBw&feature=related>

* Sharp-eyed customer Eleanor Farrell spotted this website, which names Borderlands among "The Most Interesting Bookstores in the World".  We're in some pretty distinguished company! <http://www.miragebookmark.ch/most-interesting-bookstores.html>

* Thanks to our Tor rep Kevin Peters for pointing out this article about the discovery of a "vampire" skeleton in Venice recently: <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29681670>

Cafe News

I've been pretty busy this month on the cafe.  In the beginning of March my friend Jim and I got all the paint done on the walls and the ceiling.  I'll tell you, painting ceilings is just no fun at all but we got it done.  Finally.  Of course, that doesn't mean that the painting is finished.  Since all the walls were taken down to bare studs at the beginning of the job, there's no baseboard, door casing, or other trim up but painting all that stuff is going to wait 'til after the current job de jour is finished -- the floor.

I've sanded and repaired a fair number of floors since I opened the store but this job has been one of the most ambitious.  There was a section of badly damaged floor that ran the entire width of the place (that's 20' for those of you who haven't been keeping score at home) and covered almost 10' front to back.  It had to be torn out and replaced.  And that was, by far, the biggest piece of floor repair I've ever tried.  All in all it worked out pretty well, though the shade of the floorboards is a bit patchy since half of them were boards I salvaged from the kitchen area when I had to tear that floor up and the other half were short pieces that I salvaged from the wainscoting of the original bathroom.

Those repairs took a fair amount of time but they're almost done now.  The first sanding pass is done as well and so I've just got about a billion nails to set and holes to fill.  Then I sand, sand, sand again and get the first coat of sealer down.  That'll take about a week to dry and then I'll put down the second coat, which'll take another week or two to dry.  Based on the overall condition of the floor, I think it's going to look even better than the floor of the bookstore when I'm done.  Plus, there's a small room at the rear that's going to look just fantastic -- I was able to save the original, 100 year-old thin-plank oak floor in there.

Off the cuff, I'd say that we're still a couple of months out from the opening date but I'll be surprised if it's much longer than that.

More news as I have it.

Best,
Alan

From The Office

This month I've a collection of miscellany for you all.  Sort of a sound-bite article, with bits about eBooks, The Watchmen (both movie and comic), and some teasers about stuff I've read that you won't be able to buy for _months_.

The Watchmen --
I made time (with some difficulty) to go check out the movie about two weeks ago and I've got to say, I was almost completely happy with it.  There might have been one or two little things I would have changed but they were so minor that they're not really worth mentioning.

The thing that really stood out for me in the film was the sheer (and very deeply _not_ Hollywood and _not_ safe) faithfulness to the original material.  I really didn't expect it, despite hearing all about how respectful the production was meant to be (really, I thought that was a case of "the lady doth protest too much").  Granted there were a few changes but I thought that they were mostly wise choices that reflected the differences between film and graphic novels.

I've got two pieces of advice for you all - 1)  Go see it in the theater (and better yet, go see it in an IMAX theater).  The film will lose a lot on DVD in your living room.  2)  If you haven't read the graphic novel (or if you haven't read it in years), see the movie _first_ and then read the comic.  It'll be better that way (and I'm not going to explain why 'cause that would include spoilers).

eBook News --
Yup, got more of my doom and gloom eBook news here (for new readers of this column, this topic has been a hobby-horse of mine for a _long_ time).

Apple's Forthcoming Non-eBook -- Suppliers of components for Apple have leaked these two snippets of information.  First, Apple is buying large numbers of 10" multi-touch displays.  These are just like the ones used in the iPhone and iPod Touch but bigger (i.e. nine times the surface area).  Second, Apple is also buying digital camera sensors in two resolutions - a 3.2 megapixel sensor, which is almost certainly destined for the next generation iPhone _and_ a 5 megapixel sensor.  There doesn't seem to be any product in Apple's current line-up that would use such a sensor and so this leads to speculation that it's for something new.  Combine these two bits of info with other rumors and it's looking like Apple is going to release a sub-notebook computer (or "net-book") sometime this year.  With a high-quality 10" touch screen similar to the iPhone, such a device would be a very nice eBook reader in addition to all the other possible uses (i.e. mobile internet, music and video playback, plus use as a light-weight substitute for one's main computer).  Also, unlike the current crop of purpose-built eBook readers, it would be capable of excellent reproduction of color illustrations and photos which opens it up as a platform for magazines and comic books.  Finally, such a device would overcome one of the great limitations of eBook readers -- people are hesitant to invest hundreds of dollars for a single purpose device and are also unwilling to lug yet another electronic gadget around.

Kindle Comes to iPhone -- In much the same vein, Amazon has produced an application for the iPhone that allows it to work as a reader for Kindle format books and also allows (albeit via an awkward work-around) users to purchase titles from Amazon from their phones.  The application is free and, once the new iPhone operating system is released this summer, the process of purchasing books directly from an iPhone will be greatly simplified.

eComics -- Several major New York publishers are testing the market for comic books formatted for the iPhone.  Though there are difficulties in maintaining the quality of the content while fitting it to the iPhone's 3.5" screen, publishers are choosing titles that, due to their style of art and/or layout, will work on the small screen.

Sorry, You Can't Buy It, Yet --
One cool thing about being in this biz is that I sometimes get to read stuff long before in comes out in print.  Just recently I read a couple of novels that way and I loved both of them so I thought I'd give you all a heads-up.

MAKERS by Cory Doctorow -- When Cory was in town last week he gave me a copy of his self-produced advance reading copy of MAKERS.  I read it pretty much straight through and thought it was great.  Though I believe that he wrote much of it before the economy went to crap, it's very much on target relative to our current situation.  It's been a conceit of SF writers that they can (to some degree) predict the future as well as shaping it ever since the golden age of SF but most writers' accuracy has been remarkably poor.  Cory, on the other hand, seems to be very good at it.  MAKERS posits an economic future where large companies are impractical and charts a movement to hire small groups of inventive, creative people to work in small groups and invent "cool stuff," the marketing of which is handled by experts provided by the parent companies.  It's full of Cory's trademark clever ideas and technophillic images but also has a cast of characters who are more mature and evolve more during the course of the novel than has been typical of his other books.  As it stands, the book should be out in October of this year.

THE LEGIONS OF FIRE by David Drake --  As some of you may know, Dave and I are good friends and he usually sends me copies of his novels when he submits them to his publisher.  LEGIONS is his next fantasy novel from Tor Books and is a bit of a departure for him.  The setting is the capital city of an empire that is very similar to Rome around 30 AD.  Very, very similar.  In fact, about the only thing that's different in the setting is that the city is called Carce rather than Rome.  Since Dave's degree is in Classical Studies and he translates Latin poetry into English for fun (did I mention that Dave is a bit of an odd duck? -- ask me sometime how he collects Mistletoe around the holidays,) he brings a degree of accuracy and depth to the setting and characters that I don't think I've ever seen equaled in our field.  But LEGIONS isn't a historical novel.  There are plenty of wizards, spirits, ghosts, and angry gods to keep anyone happy along with Dave's usual dry-as-the-desert sense of humor and believable (if not always "nice") characters, including two female characters who are both engaging and completely atypical for a fantasy novel.  It's good stuff but it won't be out 'til probably next year.

That it for this month.  I hope to see you at the shop soon.  If I'm not around, I'm probably the guy next door making that _horrible_ noise.

Best,
Alan

Top Sellers At Borderlands

Hardcovers

1. Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
2. Caryatids by Bruce Sterling
3. Lamentation by Ken Scholes
4. Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
5. Storm From the Shadows by David Weber
6. Contagious by Scott Sigler
7. Fool by Christopher Moore
8. Judging Eye by R. Scott Bakker
9. White Witch, Black Curse by Kim Harrison
10. The Steel Remains by Richard Morgan

Mass Market Paperbacks

1. Death's Daughter by Amber Benson
2. The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar
3. Escapement by Jay Lake
4. Mainspring by Jay Lake
5. The Dreaming Void by Peter F. Hamilton
6. Territory by Emma Bull
7. Small Favor by Jim Butcher
8. Galaxy Blues by Allen Steele
9. Night Life by Caitlin Kittredge
10. Lost Colony by John Scalzi

Trade Paperbacks

1. Breathers: A Zombie's Lament by S.G. Browne
2. Jailbait Zombie by Mario Acevedo
3. Postsingular by Rudy Rucker
4. Palimpsest by Catherynne Valente
5. Shambling Towards Hiroshima by James Morrow

Notes From a DVD Geek

I’m going to make it short and sweet this month.  Just the good stuff!

Two films of note (recently released on DVD domestically) by Japanese director Takashi Miike:  The first is an adaptation of  “Crows Zero” from the popular manga of the same name.  This one might be seen as "Heathers" meets "The Sopranos" --Japanese style.  The other is "Sukiyaki Western: Django".  This one is Akira Karasawa’s "Ran" meets "A Fist Full of Dollars".  It’s in the tradition of a spaghetti western Django movie, but has a mind-blowing color pallet, and over-the-top stylization of Miike.  Good stuff all around.  While neither of these movies is exactly horror or science fiction, they get special mention here because of Miike’s interest to genre movie watchers in general, and because they are so damn surreal as to quite possibly be fantasy.

Firmly in the genre is "Cthulhu". . . an independent film shot in the Pacific northwest on a modest budget.  It’s a sort-of adaptation of "The Shadow Over Innsmouth".  The matriarch of a small coastal town passes away, and her son (who left because his family didn’t approve of his gay lifestyle,) returns for her funeral.  Little does he know, his family will stop at nothing to get him to reproduce, before his TRUE nature reveals itself.  Fun stuff. . . with some really effective, surreal//creepy dream logic and imagery.  Not perfect, but better then most Lovecraft adaptations. And it has Tori Spelling.

If you’ve been jonesing for a rippling-muscled-son-of-Zeus, Image entertainment has your fix this month, with an Eight (8!!?!) movie box set of Hercules films, on 4 DVD’s.  The set kicks off with the 1959 classic "Hercules" (starring Steve Reeves in the role that made him famous) and rounds out with "Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules"; "Hercules the Avenger"; "Hercules and the Black Pirate"; "Hercules and the Captive Women"; "Hercules, Prisoner of Evil"; "Hercules and the Princess of Troy"; and "Atlas in the Land of the Cyclops".  And with the low low price of only $20, this is a bargain that shouldn’t be missed.

New Korean horror this month is the amazingly effective movie "Voices".  It’s part of the “Danger After Dark Horror Festival” and is probably the best of the bunch this year.  Everyone keeps getting murdered around our high-school age protagonist.  The murders are being carried out by people she knows, and before too long, she herself is the target.  A familial curse and some creepy murders might seem kind of standard fair, but the directing and pacing on this one are spot on, making the creepy moments spectacularly creepy.  I can’t recommend this one enough.

On the American side of the pond is "House". . . a horror movie featuring Michael Madsen and Bill Moseley.  Did I mention Michael Madsen and Bill Moseley?  I don’t care how bad this script is, nor how banal the plot.  It’s Michael Madsen and Bill Moseley, chewing the scenery like it's saltwater taffy.  Check it out.

And for your monthly dose of dystopic cyberpunk adventure cum-Japanese anime, I recommend "Madlax".  The creators of "Noir" continue their tradition of girls with guns and mysterious pasts. The country of Gazth-Sonika is overrun by armed rebels, spies, assassins, and covert organizations that take advantage of the chaos to ply their wares. Shadowy profit-seekers thrive in the unstable environment, including Friday Monday, the masked leader of the criminal Enfant intelligence group; and sexy female assassin Molly Millions-errr-I-mean-Madlax, who sells her mercenaries to the highest bidder. Meanwhile, rich orphan schoolgirl lives miles away in the peaceful country of Nafrece – but she’s haunted by dreams and memory lapses that hint at a hidden connection between herself and Madlax. Get all 26 episodes in one set this month.

Finally, coming this month is the movie that everyone but me hated.  Frank Miller’s "The Spirit" was EXACTLY what I thought it was going to be.  A Frank Miller movie.  If you liked "Sin City". . . if Frank Miller’s weirdly surreal visions of love, violence and urban life turn your crank. . . then get ready for the BEST MOVIE EVER.  Well, actually, it’s a rather bad movie. . . but it’s a spectacularly bad movie in the same way that Lucio Fulci’s "From Beyond" is a bad movie!  It defies all conventions and rolls around in its own feces with gusto!  The Spirit has a five minute monologue, wherein The Spirit talks to his cat on top of a roof.  Seriously.  Nobody told Frank Miller that while that shit might work in comics, it’s not very “cinematic”. . . and by god, I’m glad they didn’t.  The Spirit, talking to a random tom-cat for five minutes.  It’s awesome!  So is Samuel Jackson wearing a Nazi uniform.  I mean really.  Frank Miller scripts seem to be written for someone like Sam Jackson to come along and revel in the madness.  Spectacular doesn’t begin to describe Frank Miller’s "The Spirit".  Then again, *you* may not like it.  But *I* did.

Till next month.

- Jeremy Lassen
jlassen@borderlands-books.com

Book Club Info

The Gay Men's Book Club will meet on Sunday, April 12th, at 5 pm to discuss BUTCHER BIRD by Richard Kadrey.  The book for May is THE CITY, NOT LONG AFTER by Pat Murphy.  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, April 19th, at 6 pm to discuss BLINDSIGHT by Peter Watts.  The book for May is STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND by Robert Heinlein.  Please contact Jude at jfeldman@borderlands-books.com for more information.

Upcoming Event Details

Free Movies at SF in SF: "Night of the Comet" and "Brother From Another Planet", Wednesday, April 8th at 7:00 pm - Free movies! Free popcorn! Cash bar!  Bar proceeds and tips benefits Variety Children's Charity.  Doors at 6:30, first movie starts at 7:00 pm

Nick Mamatas, YOU MIGHT SLEEP (Prime Books, Trade Paperback, $14.95) and T.A. Pratt, SPELL GAMES (Bantam, Mass Market, $6.99) Saturday, April 11th at 3:00 pm - Join us for a double event with two awesome local authors!  Nick Mamatas presents his newest short story collection, and T.A. Pratt brings us the continuing adventures of bad girl Marla Mason!

Robert J. Sawyer, WWW: WAKE (Ace, Hardcover, $24.95), Monday, April 13th at 7:00 pm - From the book jacket: "Caitlin Decter is young, pretty, feisty, a genius at math—and blind. Still, she can surf the net with the best of them, following its complex paths clearly in her mind. But Caitlin’s brain long ago co-opted her primary visual cortex to help her navigate online. So when she receives an implant to restore her sight, instead of seeing reality, the landscape of the World Wide Web explodes into her consciousness, spreading out all around her in a riot of colors and shapes. While exploring this amazing realm, she discovers something—some other—lurking in the background. And it’s getting more and more intelligent with each passing day…"  We're happy to welcome Hugo and Nebula Award winner Robert Sawyer back to the store!  He lives in Canada, and doesn't get down here that often, so don't miss your chance to meet him!

SF in SF presents authors Peter S. Beagle and Richard Lupoff, at the Variety Preview Room in the Hobart Building, 582 Market Street, Saturday, April 18th at 7:00 pm - We are very excited to help SF in SF welcome these distinguished guests!  Each author 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 in the lounge. Books available for sale courtesy of Borderlands Books.  Seating is limited, so first come, first seated.  Bar proceeds benefit Variety Childrens Charity - learn more at <http://www.varietync.org/>.  We REALLY encourage you to take BART into the City, or use MUNI to get here - parking can be problematic in San Francisco, to say the least.  We are less than one block away from the Montgomery St. station.  Trust us - you don't want to be looking for parking and be late for the event!  Phone (night of event) 415-572-1015.  Questions? Email sfinsfevents@gmail.com.

S.J. Tucker and Catherynne M. Valente, PALIMPSEST, (Bantam, Trade Paperback, $14.00), Thursday, April 23rd at 7:00 pm - Thanks to S.J. for this lovely write-up: "PALIMPSEST is a lush, decadent and evocative tale of a sexually transmitted city. Connected through passion and desire, those who make the journey find another world waiting. The world of PALIMPSEST is attached to our own here and now -- and so a pair of extraordinary storytellers and performers have combined their efforts to bring PALIMPSEST to life.  On Thursday, April 23rd at 7:00 pm, Borderlands Books in San Francisco will hold a portal to the world of PALIMPSEST. The evening will feature live music by S. J. Tucker combined with theatrical readings from PALIMPSEST author Catherynne M. Valente herself, and special guest reader-performers. Bear witness to this unique event, dress to extravagance, experience the mystery. . . Full tour details are available here: <http://sjtucker.com/shows.php>

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

RAVENS IN THE LIBRARY edited by Phil Brucato and Sandra Buskirk (Quiet Thunder, Trade Paperback, $28.50) - A benefit anthology for musician S.J. Tucker, (who will be here at Borderlands April 23rd,) this collection features stories by Holly Black, Francesca Lia Block, Storm Constantine, Charles de Lint, Neil Gaiman and many others!

WILDWOOD by John Farris (Centipede Press, Hardcover, $65.00) - From Centipede Press: "John Farris's bizarre welding of suspense novel, love story and detective story, with a generous portion of physics, biology, time travel, and Nicolai Tesla thrown in for good measure, remains a brilliant, underated, and unclassifiable oddity of genre fiction."

THE GOOD HUMOR MAN by Andrew Fox (Tachyon Publications, Trade Paperback, $14.95) - From Tachyon Publications: "In this witty tribute to Ray Bradbury's FAHRENHEIT 451 set in 2041, government-sanctioned vigilantes – the Good Humor Men – ruthlessly patrol the streets, immolating all fattening food products as illegal contraband. A pound of real chocolate is worth more on the black market than a kilo of cocaine. Evil nutraceutical company MannaSantos controls the food market with genetically modified products like "Leanie Lean" meats. But the craze for svelte healthfulness has reached a critical turning point, as a mysterious wasting plague threatens to starve all of humanity.  A lone ex-plastic surgeon and founding Good Humor Man, whose father performed a secret liposuction surgery on Elvis Presley, holds the key to humanity’s future. In a mad dash to retrieve his family heirloom – the mortal remains of the King's belly fat – Dr. Louis Shmalzberg becomes entangled with a civil servant of questionable motives, an acquisitive assassin from a wealthy Caliphate, a power-mad preacher evangelizing anorexia, a beautiful young woman addicted to liposuction, and a homicidal clone from a MannaSantos experiment gone terribly wrong.  Can Elvis save the world sixty-four years after his death?"  I adored Fox's first two novels, FAT WHITE VAMPIRE BLUES and BRIDE OF THE FAT WHTE VAMPIRE, and this book is at the top of my To Be Read pile, so I'm recommending it in advance. -Jude

New and Notable

PONTYPOOL CHANGES EVERYTHING by Tony Burgess (ECW Press, Trade Paperback, $19.95) - The basis for the upcoming movie "Pontypool," this is an experimental novel about a conversation-bourne zombie virus/infestation in basically-contemporary Ontario.  It's just that hard to describe.

MYSTERY OF GRACE by Charles de Lint (Tor, Hardcover, $24.95) - Publishers Weekly lauds this book, which also has one of the most beautiful covers I've seen in a long time: "Prolific Canadian fantasist de Lint, recently focused on YA (DINGO), returns to adult fiction with a supernatural love story set in the American Southwest and an odd afterlife.  Following her death, auto restorer Altagracia "Grace" Quintero awakens in a timeless realm inhabited by her recently deceased neighbors.  Briefly returned to our world during Halloween night, Grace falls in love with John, a young artist, and he returns the feeling even when he discovers her condition.  As the obvious pun in the title indicates, this tale of attachments formed and relinquished is also about belief and hope.  De Lint doesn't endorse any particular religious system, but he writes passionately about the individual's ability to discover an effective personal magic. The story develops through comforting, warm compassion to reach the inevitable, mostly satisfying solution."

SPOOK COUNTRY by William Gibson (Berkeley, Mass Market, $9.99) - Gibson's newest tale of international intrigue and spooks of many sorts, now in mass market.  Recommended by Jude.

CORAMBIS by Sarah Monette (Ace, Hardcover, $24.95) - The awesome conclusion to the series that began with MELUSINE.

FIREBIRDS SOARING edited by Sharyn November (Puffin, Hardcover, $19.99) - The third in the outstanding anthology series edited by November, FIREBIRDS SOARING features a wonderful centerpiece novella by Nina Kiriki Hoffman, as well as standout stories by Carol Emshwiller, Ellen Klages, and others too numerous to name.  Recommended by Cary and Jude.

LIVING WITH GHOSTS by Kari Sperring (DAW, Mass Market, $7.99) I'm very intrigued by the back cover copy of this paperback original: "This highly original, darkly atmospheric fantasy novel immerses readers in a world where ghosts and other malevolent spirits seek entry into mortal realms—invisible to all but those who are not entirely human themselves. Drawn into the ancient city of Merafi, yet barred from entering by an ancient pact sealed in blood, these hungry haunts await their opportunity to break through the magical border and wreak havoc on the city’s innocent denizens."

COYOTE HORIZON by Allen Steele (Ace, Hardcover, $25.95) - The newest novel in the excellent Coyote Universe series maintains the quality of the earlier books.  I somehow often overlook these books when recommending outstanding "space opera-ish" titles, and it's an error I mean to remedy.  Recommended by Jude.

THE BEST OF GENE WOLFE: A DEFINITIVE RETROSPECTIVE OF HIS FINEST SHORT FICTION by Gene Wolfe (Tor, Hardcover, $27.95) - I reluctantly admit that Gene Wolfe is such a complex, elaborate and complicated writer that he sometimes leaves me in the dust, or at least coming to conclusions and realizations about his books weeks later (ask me about the painting in the library in SHADOW OF THE TORTURER sometime).  Hopefully, therefore, this collection of 31 short stories will please most lovers of literary science fiction, as Wolfe is really one of the masters of the craft.

DVD New Arrivals

Special directed by Hall Haberman  (Magnet, $26.98, DVD)

Dead Like Me: The Complete Collection directed by Stephen Herek  (MGM, $69.98, DVD) - Two Seasons, and Movie.

Trinity Blood: The Compete Collection directed by Tomohiro Hirata  (Funmation, $49.98, DVD)

Howl’s Moving Castle directed by Hayao Miyazaki  (Disney, $29.99, DVD)

Tales from the Darkside: The First Season directed by George Romero  (Paramount, $36.99, DVD)

Son of Kong directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack  (Warner, $19.97, DVD)

Whip and the Body, The / Conspiracy of Torture directed by Mario Bava  (Midnight Choir, $19.95, DVD)

Dying Breed directed by Jody Dwyer  (LIonsgate, $19.98, DVD) - After Dark Horrorfest III

Cthulhu directed by Daniel Gildark  (Here!, $24.95, DVD)

Twilight directed by Catherine Hardwicke  (Summit, $32.99, DVD)

Slaughter directed by Stewart Hopewell  (Lionsgate, $19.98, DVD) - After Dark Horrorfest III

It / The Shuttered Room directed by Herbert J. Leder and David Green (Warner, $19.98, DVD)

From Within directed by Phedon Papamichael  (Lionsgate, $19.98, DVD) - After Dark Horrorfest III

Dead in Three Days directed by Andreas Prochaska  (Dimension Home Video, $19.97, DVD)

Stagefright directed by Michele Soavi  (Blue Underground, $14.95, DVD)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Chosen Collection directed by Joss Whedon  (Twentieth Century Fox, $199.95, DVD)

Scourge directed by Jonas Quastel  (Lionsgate, $26.98, DVD)

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, Christopher Hsiang

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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DECEMBER, 2005
NOVEMBER, 2005
OCTOBER, 2005
SEPTEMBER, 2005
AUGUST, 2005
JULY, 2005
JUNE, 2005
MAY, 2005
APRIL, 2005
MARCH, 2005
FEBRUARY, 2005
JANUARY, 2005

2004
DECEMBER, 2004
NOVEMBER, 2004
OCTOBER, 2004
SEPTEMBER, 2004
AUGUST, 2004
JULY, 2004
JUNE, 2004
MAY, 2004
APRIL, 2004
MARCH, 2004
FEBRUARY, 2004
JANUARY, 2004

2003
DECEMBER, 2003
NOVEMBER, 2003