Bordertown lives.: seanan

Bordertown lives.

For all that I argue constantly that urban fantasy is one of the oldest genres, and that those of us who write it are the descendants of Lily Fair and should be afforded the same respect as the children of her better-known sisters, Snow White and Rose Red, the fact remains that urban fantasy as we know it right now, today, is a relatively recent beast. It developed slowly, lurching and slithering its way out of the jumble of general fantasy and into its current position.

A lot of the classics* of the urban fantasy genre were published during the 1980s, and many of them fell out of print during the same time period. They were like thieves in the night, only instead of sneaking into your house and stealing all your stuff, they snuck into your head and planted ideas like seeds. Maybe they didn't germinate overnight. Maybe they took years, or decades, to begin sprouting. But they did sprout, and the flowers they grew into spread more seeds, until the genre itself began to grow.

I was too young to really appreciate what was going on during those beginning days, but I already read voraciously, and several of those strange flowers have been a part of my mental landscape for as long as I can remember. Jack of Kinrowan. War for the Oaks. Gossamer Axe.

Bordertown.

Bordertown was a modern-day Neverland, a place where the lands of humanity and the fae collided, with magic and science at continual war with one another. It was a place for teenage runaways, filled with music and madness, and there were times when I, as a pre-teen nerd girl who never felt like she really belonged anywhere, practically ached with the longing to find that magic doorway that could get me there. In Bordertown, I would find friends, and adventures, and stories, and maybe I'd get hurt, but I'd do it in a place that hurt everyone, not just the ones who didn't quite fit in. In Bordertown, I could make the rules, and break the rules, and take the rules for whatever they were worth. All I had to do was find the door.

I knew even then that Bordertown was just a story, but it was a beautiful story, and stories have power. I read every Bordertown tale I could find with the same voracious need, and when they stopped coming, I started looking further afield. When I met Ellen Kushner last year in Australia, I told her that I wrote urban fantasy because I'd come too late to write Bordertown, and the genre as it exists now was as close as I could get.

Those original books are sadly out of print now. For thirteen years, the doors to Bordertown have been closed.

The doors to Bordertown are opening again on May 23rd. Welcome to Bordertown is a gorgeous, glorious anthology of all-new stories and poems set in that magical place, written by an incredible assortment of authors, and because the authors and editors are clever, you don't need to know anything but what I've told you here to appreciate it. Bordertown is where the magic is. Bordertown is where the music is. Bordertown lives.

In the meanwhile, you can read three of the original stories on the website; you can begin exploring this world; you can fall in love the way I did when I first heard the city's name, and the way I did again when I went to Boston and was handed an advance copy of the new map. Bordertown lives.

Now step into the story and find out why so many of us have loved this world so fiercely, so cleanly, and for so very, very long.

Bordertown lives.

I missed it so much.

(*Defining "classics" as "things without which the genre would not occupy the shape it occupies today," not based on popularity or staying power or even, in some cases, quality.)

eilan

April 20 2011, 21:22:12 UTC 6 years ago

New comment

Jack of Kinrowan.
The fact that you have read Charles de Lint and LOVE him has me in AWE over here.
He's my favourite UF author. He's probably my favourite author period. I have an autographed copy of Jack of Kinrowan, and I guard it carefully. I try to tell everyone I can about the awesomeness that is de Lint, because more people need to appreciate the magical worlds he creates with his words.

copperwise

April 20 2011, 21:43:13 UTC 6 years ago

AND he's one of the original Bordertown authors, and his new story in Welcome to Bordertown is GORGEOUS. And have you seen his new videos? I <3 Charles.

6 years ago

April 20 2011, 21:23:10 UTC 6 years ago

Oh my god, I loved the Bordertown books when I was younger; I think (I hope) I still have my copies of the original anthologies as well as some of the novels and the last anthology that came out. It's an amazing shared world series and I will be looking for the newest book to come out.

God, I wanted to go there so damn *bad*.

April 21 2011, 01:33:01 UTC 6 years ago

Didn't we all?

mephron

omnia_mutantur

April 20 2011, 21:30:47 UTC 6 years ago

I am weirdly proud (hence the actually telling you) that I got to see Ellen Kushner's advance copy and when I said I wanted to lick it, and she said go ahead, I actually did.

Sadly, unlike licking cookies as a child in order to keep my little brothers from eating them, this did not instantaneously confer possession.

laughingfalcon

April 20 2011, 21:39:43 UTC 6 years ago

That's pretty funny, Omnia. ^-^

I hope the convention went well for you, Seanan! May the Spring bring you warmth, joy, inspiration, and prosperity!

wiredwizard

April 20 2011, 21:44:06 UTC 6 years ago

I'd love to get my hands on book 3 of the series...

April 21 2011, 01:39:03 UTC 6 years ago

Good luck!

queenbookwench

chaoticgoodnik

naurwen

April 20 2011, 21:49:41 UTC 6 years ago Edited: April 20 2011, 21:50:11 UTC

*off to explore*
this sounds very intriguing :)

April 21 2011, 01:39:17 UTC 6 years ago

It really, truly is.

Deleted comment

April 21 2011, 01:39:29 UTC 6 years ago

Me, too!

ellen_kushner

April 20 2011, 22:38:15 UTC 6 years ago

Aw, thank you, Seanan! It's good to have you with us on the journey. Glad to let you know that *3* of the old books are actually still in print:

* the 4th anthology, THE ESSENTIAL BORDERTOWN, edited by Terri w/our very own Delia Sherman - and although lots of people thought it was a collection of older stories, **it's not**! All new stories; and it also includes selections from "The Rough Guide to Bordertown" which are invaluable to the traveler

* ELSEWHERE and NEVERNEVER, the full-length novels by Will Shetterly

Info & links are here:
http://bordertownseries.com/?page_id=109
with purchases by link benefiting a shelter for homeless kids.

And there are plans afoot to get the rest back in circulation, too - more on this to come!

tikiera

April 20 2011, 22:43:44 UTC 6 years ago

wait, there is an anthology that I don't have that is in print??????

Bordertown... it was the first non-kid book urban fantasy I ever read. It lead me to War of the Oaks. I miss it.

BORDERTOWN CONTEST

Re: BORDERTOWN CONTEST

yellowblackhaze

April 20 2011, 22:48:11 UTC 6 years ago

I'd enver heard of Bordertown before this post, but now I think I'll have to find out. It sounds like the kind of place I'd like to vist.

April 21 2011, 01:48:51 UTC 6 years ago

Yay!

windbourne

April 21 2011, 01:33:14 UTC 6 years ago

I wrote poetry for this series when I was sixteen. Later, I drew a couple of the characters, though never as well as I wanted to. (Though someone once recognized one of the drawings on DeviantArt, much to my delight. :3)

A gleeful squeaking, I has it. >D

April 21 2011, 01:49:02 UTC 6 years ago

That's fantastic.

triskelmoon

April 21 2011, 01:38:42 UTC 6 years ago

ZOMG, Bordertown. SO. DAMN. EXCITED.

Bordertown was one of those places where my people (or as Cat says, my tribe) were, I'm so glad I'll be able to read about them again.

Charles de Lint is one of the first authors I took my son to a reading of and we both adored him. An amazing author and super nice too.

April 21 2011, 01:49:18 UTC 6 years ago

I couldn't be happier with this book unless I were in it.

groblek

April 21 2011, 04:25:38 UTC 6 years ago

Ooh, that looks shiny - I wasn't lucky enough to be exposed to these when they came out originally, but they look like something I'd quite enjoy. The ones still in print are going on the wish list for when the book budget recovers from attending the Late Eclipses release party. :)

April 21 2011, 17:04:32 UTC 6 years ago

Awesome. :)

dawn_metcalf

April 21 2011, 16:30:20 UTC 6 years ago

Well said! YAY BORDERTOWN! I can't wait, truly...!

April 21 2011, 17:04:42 UTC 6 years ago

See you there!

ladymondegreen

April 21 2011, 18:24:45 UTC 6 years ago

I love Bordertown.

I have been known to stand on street corners when friends are leaving calling "You have big fun!" after them until I can no longer hear the corresponding "No! You have big fun!" coming back at me.

whitecrow0

April 21 2011, 19:12:15 UTC 6 years ago

Ooo ooo ooo is that Epcot's Tunnel of Imagination in your icon?

April 21 2011, 19:14:57 UTC 6 years ago

I love Bordertown. I purchased Bordertown, Borderland & The Essential Bordertown when they came out. Apparently I missed on. (I also have Finder and NeverNever.)

(I follow you on my Google Reader even though I have an LJ account. Same thing with Twitter. *'.'*
Less than three the Toby books! And Feed, also.)

April 23 2011, 17:53:26 UTC 6 years ago

Oh, rock on!

April 21 2011, 21:40:27 UTC 6 years ago

I have all of the anthologies (the first two in multiple editions, including the original), plus all of the novels.

I even have the Fourth Avenue Press (House of Speculative Fiction, *sniffle*) edition of the novella, Berlin, from 1989. Copy number 8 of the 300 trade editions. (There were 26 hardcovers, lettered instead of numbered, and 24 that were private copies, for 350 copies total of this edition. Two years later it went into Life on the Border.

April 23 2011, 17:40:22 UTC 6 years ago

Wow.

deire

April 21 2011, 23:59:44 UTC 6 years ago

I'm not the only one who remembers Gossamer Axe fondly?

April 22 2011, 14:30:03 UTC 6 years ago

Definitely not. It's pretty much the only Gael Baudino book that I really liked, but I go back and reread it every so often.

Never Forgot Bordertown

msbhaven

April 25 2011, 04:06:31 UTC 6 years ago

[Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<i<bordertown>') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.]

<i<Bordertown was a modern-day Neverland, a place where the lands of humanity and the fae collided, with magic and science at continual war with one another.</i>

It took 13 years but thank gawd, it's back.

Re: Never Forgot Bordertown

April 26 2011, 15:45:41 UTC 6 years ago

Word.

Post a new comment
59 comments