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Welcome to Bordertown

(Borderland #8)

Holly Black (Goodreads Author) (Editor),

Ellen Kushner (Goodreads Author) (Editor)

Terri Windling (Contributor)

Cory Doctorow (Contributor)

Patricia A. McKillip (Contributor)

Catherynne M. Valente (Goodreads Author) (Contributor)

Amal El-Mohtar (Goodreads Author) (Contributor)

Emma Bull (Goodreads Author) (Contributor)

, more…

4.06 · Rating details · 2,311 ratings · 226 reviews

Bordertown: 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 w ...more

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Hardcover, 544 pages

Published May 24th 2011 by Random House Books for Young Readers

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· 2,311 ratings · 226 reviews

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Jun 04, 2011 Sherwood Smith added it

Shelves: fantasy

I had sort of a love-hate deal going with the original Bordertown stories; though I liked the idea of them, there was this rich privileged kids patina to the stories. The Bordertown runaways were special, they dressed in leather, they found magic, and no one ever seemed to have to get a down and dirty job in order to survive--they live on air and music, or if they work at the inn, it seemed no one ever has brutal hours or hurting feet like waitressing in this world.

Enough of that. I think it's ...more

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May 10, 2011 Kris rated it really liked it

Shelves: neil-gaiman, patricia-a-mckillip, charles-de-lint, fantasy, ellen-kushner, urban-fantasy, favorites

Whew, this is going to be a long review as each entry gets its own blurb. *deep breath* Well, here goes...

Ellen Kushner & Terri Windling – Welcome to Bordertown

This was a sweet story about a girl who left for Bordertown and thirteen days later for her – but 13 years later for the human world – her younger brother gets a postcard she sent home and starts on a journey to find her. It is a story not only of his journey to find his older sister but to also find his place in the world. I quite li ...more

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Jul 15, 2011 Moira Russell added it · review of another edition

Shelves: on-the-kindle, 2011-50-new-books-challenge, ebook

I'm not sure this book works. The introduction of new computer technology to Bordertown seems off (did they really have to have a typical Cory Doctorow "teenage hero invents the internet and gets laid at the same time" story? Really truly?), and the "it's been thirteen days in Bordertown but thirteen years for the World" conceit seems invented to cover up the gap in books more than anything else, altho some of the writers use it very well. Most of the poetry reads like song lyrics without music, I'm not sure this book works. The introduction of new computer technology to Bordertown seems off (did they really have to have a typical Cory Doctorow "teenage hero invents the internet and gets laid at the same time" story? Really truly?), and the "it's been thirteen days in Bordertown but thirteen years for the World" conceit seems invented to cover up the gap in books more than anything else, altho some of the writers use it very well. Most of the poetry reads like song lyrics without music, which doesn't really work. The Jane Yolen rap is especially, embarrassingly bad. (Also, dammit, don't put "NEIL GAIMAN" on the cover in giant type unless he writes something besides a page-long poem.)

What's more, a lot of the stories are "meta" as much about the experience of reading Bordertown stories while growing up as the actual Bordertown itself, and that gets tiresome after a while. Yesyes, Bordertown is fantasy/scifi and the runaways are the readers disappointed in the "real world," but what about the place itself, without all the romantic expectations and crushing disappointments? Or maybe that's the actual point after all, that such a place doesn't really exist, just as books aren't actual reality, and the romantic expectations and crushing disappointments are all that's there -- but as I said, that gets tiresome after a while, and too besides (as one character says), that turns us all into Mme Bovary. The journey to Bordertown itself is the tale told too often.

Many of the stories remind me a bit like early-middle Pratchett (with obvious stylistic differences), in which he was having fun playing around with tropes and ideas about storytelling and narrative's effect on people, before he got interested in the nuts-and-bolts worldbuilding of how his creation actually worked. (The origin of the Bordertown "police," for example -- how do you become a cop? Aren't there courts? Who gives the cops their authority? Where do they all get those shiny silver suits? How did they get started in the first place? I always annoy people with questions like these. "Shut up and watch the movie and don't ruin it for the rest of us, Moi," is the usual response.)

I didn't read the original Bordertown anthologies growing up (not sure why, I was a real genre hound in my teens, and devoured most of the science fiction and fantasy anthologies the Santa Fe Public library had), which might be part of the problem. This book inspired me to pick up some earlier volumes, Bordertown and The Essential Bordertown, which struck me as much stronger books, as well as Emma Bull's Finder, which is fantastic. Bull has written all my favourite stories in all the Border anthologies I've read so far, and I'd love to see another novel (or three) about it from her. Maybe the earlier books work better for me because there isn't that thick gloss of nostalgia slicked over them. There's the real joy of discovery and freedom in a lot of them; it feels a little bit like receiving actual dispatches from the sixties and seventies, rather than the decades-later reminiscences about them. Maybe somewhere there is a book about the actual emotional impact of "you had to be there" on people who actually couldn't ever be there (whether because of the inexorable flow of time, the nature of fiction itself, or whatever), but this isn't it.

Obligatory GoodReads musical accompaniment provided by YouTube for this review: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w098rz... ...more

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Jul 02, 2012 ambyr rated it it was ok

Shelves: acquiredㅡlibrary, genreㅡfantasyㅡcontemporary, authorㅡfemale, authorㅡmale, authorㅡpoc, characterㅡdisabled, romantic-subplot-i-did-not-want, book-club, protagonistㅡmultiple-genders, characterㅡlgbt

I am too old for Bordertown. I don't mean that in some "put away childish things" sense. I still find the aesthetic as fun as ever--hell, I've got purple hair and a closet half-full of leather and lace as I type. But I've internalized Cavafy too much. I no longer believe problems can be solved by flight to another city; I no longer find the narrative of people trying an interesting one. I want to read about people who build a better life where they are, people who find the magic in the every day I am too old for Bordertown. I don't mean that in some "put away childish things" sense. I still find the aesthetic as fun as ever--hell, I've got purple hair and a closet half-full of leather and lace as I type. But I've internalized Cavafy too much. I no longer believe problems can be solved by flight to another city; I no longer find the narrative of people trying an interesting one. I want to read about people who build a better life where they are, people who find the magic in the every day.

Or, if they must run--there's a line in one of the stories where one of the characters muses, "No one comes to Soho to become a plumber, though I suspect that there are many who move uptown eventually and find a trade." And I thought, yes, that. I want to read that story, where people run to another city and find and face the fact that all their fears (and the basic principles of economics) have followed them, and build a cool life anyway. As a plumber.

But that story isn't here. Oh, that's not to say Bordertown is portrayed as a utopia. It has gang violence and drugs and prostitution and all the rest of the grit. But still, ultimately--it is the happy ending. It's better than the real world. More colorful, more magical, more special.

And I sit in the corner, wondering where all the food comes from, wondering how the electricity is supplied, wondering who, really, is doing the plumbing.

Partly the problem is the collection's theme: "Welcome to Bordertown." There's a couple stories about old hands, but for the most part it's origin stories, over and over again. I can enjoy a good origin story. Almost any of the stories, if I'd read it alone, would have provided a pleasant and enjoyable shot of nostalgia. But the repetition weakens them. How special can getting to Bordertown be, really, if everyone's doing it? And the whole allure of Bordertown is its specialness.

My favorites were "A Prince of Thirteen Days" (which had the distinction of being one of the few stories about a native, and I loved it for that--for portraying magic not as exotic but as a normal part of life, just a backdrop for regular adolescent angst), "Crossings" (because I do love a good female friendship story), and "Our Stars, Our Selves" (because the astrologer's backstory was the closest to the sort of story I wanted). Of the poetry, I thought "Stairs in Her Hair" and "The Song of the Song" had the best rhythm and language, but I probably would have preferred a poetry-less collection, or at least one where the poetry was imbedded in the stories.

But really, it was a fairly even collection. Any story picked at random should provide the needed shot of nostalgia. Then set the book down for a few months. It's better read in pieces than as a whole.

Is that an indictment, for a shared-world collection? Maybe. Or maybe, as I said, I'm just too old. ...more

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Jun 02, 2011 else fine rated it really liked it

Shelves: sf-fantasy-general, read2011

Like any collection, this one is uneven. Please don't throw things at me, Border fanatics. I assure you that I love Bordertown as much as anyone. The unevenness can be divided roughly into two groups: good and bad. For a change of pace, I'm going to start with what was so very good about this anthology, in a disjointedly listing sort of way. Like so:

Nalo Hopkinson and Catherynne Valente, turning out two ass-kickingly awesome stories, of the type which manage to feel epic and mythic despite their Like any collection, this one is uneven. Please don't throw things at me, Border fanatics. I assure you that I love Bordertown as much as anyone. The unevenness can be divided roughly into two groups: good and bad. For a change of pace, I'm going to start with what was so very good about this anthology, in a disjointedly listing sort of way. Like so:

Nalo Hopkinson and Catherynne Valente, turning out two ass-kickingly awesome stories, of the type which manage to feel epic and mythic despite their short size. Deep. Scary and beautiful.

Poetry can be an iffy thing in an anthology - it's likely to be too precious, or pretentious, or boring, or just sucky. The poetry selections in this book were great, and more importantly, helped add depth and backstory. Neil Gaiman, with his creepy little song, furthered my theory that he's at his best when most concise.

The old guard of Emma Bull, Terry Windling, and the rest: so good, and always so consistently good. It reminded me of this 'outlaw country' show I went to a couple of years ago. The night was largely young, exuberant people into old-timey music - lots of stomping, and drinking, and the happy sort of bellowing. We were all dancing and sweating and singing. It was great. Then these old guys who had been sitting towards the back, listening, came up for their set, and very politely and thoroughly handed all the young musicians their asses. I mean, these guys could really fucking play. It was sort of humbling and inspiring at the same time. The younger writers in this collection suffer a bit in the same way and for the same reasons - they just don't have the same mastery of the craft. But the most beautiful thing about Bordertown is its generosity. The kids will get there, eventually.

The bad:

I know I put the poetry in the 'good' column, but Jane Yolen shouldn't try hip hop. Well, what the hell. She's Jane Yolen, and I guess she's earned the right to do whatever she wants, even if it turns out sort of awkward and weird.

Annette Curtis Klause. This pains me, because I loved "Blood and Chocolate" so much, and her story here is just not at all good. I can see it might be irresistible to try to get vampires into Bordertown somehow, but this story had too many unconvincing gaps and loose ends to work. I kept thinking that maybe if it was scrapped as a short story and turned into a novel, it might turn out better.

Holly Black sits solidly in the bad category, and Cassandra Clare can join her, for the astonishingly crappy short story they jointly contributed. Yes, you're saying, but Sarah, we already know how you feel about Holly Black, and it seems neither fair nor surprising that you're bashing her contribution now. But I actually had high hopes for this story. True! Holly Black utterly won me over with her charming introduction. Oh Holly Black, I thought, I've maligned you without cause. I felt a warm sense of solidarity with her. And I remembered how good the story 'Poison Eaters' was. Clare has been talked up to me a lot at work, and so, all in all, I was really looking forward to this story. Really. You may be thinking that my change of heart is implausible and untrustworthy, but it actually happened. I was ready to start a new, more charitable chapter with Black. So imagine my sense of betrayal. This story, Rowan something, is about nothing. Noting happens. Things almost happen. We almost learn things about the characters. There's almost an adventure. It starts out promisingly, with a gruesome murder! But then nothing comes of it. The lead characters get into almost trouble and then everyone is saved at once and the plot, which never did get very far, is forgotten in favor of some crude jokes and a romantic jaunt into the sunset. Lord. For further emphasis, I'd just like to point out that my fiance's teenage daughter, who is a HUGE Holly Black fan, totally hated this story. This is extra maddening, because she started out with this one, being excited about Holly Black and all, and hated it so much that she wouldn't even try any of the rest of it, or any other Border related story, for that matter. THANKS A LOT.

No Midori Snyder. This made me sad.

I'm going to put Cory Doctorow right in the middle. He's like that friend we all have, who wants to chew your ear off all the time about the boring thing he's obsessed with, and will use any sort of excuse to work it into any conversation. Borderlands? Let's talk internet!! I'm not one to judge. I drove a very attractive young man clean away once, when, on our first and only date, I got started on medieval papermaking techniques. I think it's a common nerd affliction. The plus side about Doctorow is that he's a) fairly charming, even while preaching, and b) you really should know the shit he's trying to explain to you, because it's important.

So, all in all, there was more good than bad. But it still felt strangely bittersweet. It feels important for Bordertown to get handed over to a younger generation, and it also feels important that it keeps going. I think no other series speaks so strongly and so hopefully to the young, the fucked up, the irredeemably weird, the desperate, and the wounded. Is this the book that will win a whole new crop of fans? I hope so. I just wish it felt more solid. ...more

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May 21, 2011 Chris rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: collection, from-library, done, urban-fantasy, 2014, ebook

For me, urban fantasy is fantasy set in, duh, urban areas, in cities. Frequently the location is as much a character as it a setting. The stories are infused with hints of faerie and myth, both European and Native American, and when you finish reading, you can almost glimpse the fantastical out of the corner of your eye.

The Borderland anthologies were among the earliest urban fantasy, about the mythical Bordertown that existed on the cusp of this world and the Faerie Realm. Revisiting Bordertown ...more

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Jan 10, 2017 Valyssia Leigh rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: published-decade-2010s, anthology, fantasy, author-female, author-male, short-fiction, protagonist-male, format-audio, protagonist-female, audible

3.5 stars

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Nov 05, 2012 Mike rated it it was ok

Shelves: bad-books-have-good-covers, fantasy, bad-anthologies, anthologies

You know your anthology sucks when the best story in it gets 4 stars.

Yes, that's right. Not a single story in the anthology got 5 stars. A couple came close, but non achieved the rating. And I'm not one of those people who only saves 5 stars for the very best books in existence; I give it out fairly often. So to say that not a single story in here got the rating is a really shitty reflection of the editing and writing. It's not the worst anthology I've read (21 Proms actually had a higher rating ...more

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Aug 05, 2010 Wealhtheow rated it liked it

Shelves: feypunk, queer-characters, fantasy, urban-fantasy, pocmaincharacters, ya

Bordertown was one of my favorite set of stories back when I was a teen. The writing was often a little clunky, and once I started going to night clubs and having adventures of my own the stories became much less exciting. I wouldn't really recommend the majority of it anymore--it's just too self-consciously trying to be hip. But I still have a soft spot for the concept of Bordertown, and a few of the stories have stuck with me.

"Welcome to Bordertown" by Ellen Kushner and Terri Windling. These t ...more

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Jun 18, 2010 Snail in Danger (Sid) Nicolaides rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy-fiction, anthologies-and-collections, i-worried-that-i-d-get-hit-by-a-bus, used-to-own

I'm going to get this out of the way: there was a part of me that worried that this volume would be terrible or disappointing, but I feel like it's a worthy successor to the Bordertown stories I particularly loved, like "Danceland" and Finder. The gimmick that the way to the Border has been closed for 13 years, from the perspective of the world we know, while a mere 13 days passed on the Border is played with just enough for humor and drama, not to the point of being cheesy.

I'll be posting rev ...more

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May 22, 2011 Kim rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ya, urban-fantasy

I was a teenager during the '80s heyday of shared world anthologies (hey, whatever happened to those?). I read most of them voraciously (Thieves' World, it's your turn to come back next), but one of my favorites was definitely the Borderland series. Not only were many of my favorite authors involved (Charles de Lint, Will Shetterly, Steven Brust), but the concept itself was fascinating. Elves. Rock and Roll. Unreliable magic. And the pairing of modern society with some of the oldest beliefs in f I was a teenager during the '80s heyday of shared world anthologies (hey, whatever happened to those?). I read most of them voraciously (Thieves' World, it's your turn to come back next), but one of my favorites was definitely the Borderland series. Not only were many of my favorite authors involved (Charles de Lint, Will Shetterly, Steven Brust), but the concept itself was fascinating. Elves. Rock and Roll. Unreliable magic. And the pairing of modern society with some of the oldest beliefs in folklore still resonates in urban fantasy today. But perhaps most appealing for me was the fact that most of the characters in stories were misfits, runaways from both the human and the elven side of the Border just trying to find a place they belonged. These weren't stories for the prom queens and class presidents, but for the rest of us--the dreamers and outcasts. Anyone who longed for a taste of magic in their life could find a home in Bordertown, if only in their mind.

The Bordertown series, if I'm not mistaken, spawned 4 anthologies and 3 novels during the '80s and '90s; the last installment, The Essential Bordertown came out in 1998. Then for years there were no more Borderland anthologies, and Kim was a sadder girl. But in 2010, Terri Windling announced there would be a new Borderland anthology, co-edited by Ellen Kushner, one of the founders of Borderland, and Holly Black, an excellent writer of dark faerie tales for young adults. I attended a signing of Black's last year, and we shared a bit of fangirl squealing over how excited the return of Borderland made us.

So could this anthology live up to all the hype?

In a word, yes. Welcome to Bordertown is all I imagined it would be and more. The contributors include those who founded Bordertown, such as Terri Windling and Ellen Kushner, Charles de Lint, and Steven Brust, as well as many of the rising stars of YA fantasy, such as Holly Black and Cassandra Clare, Christopher Barzak, and Janni Lee Simner, many of whom grew up loving the Bordertown as much as I did. And Neil Gaiman! And Jane Yolen! Honestly, you'd be hard-pressed to find as many authors of this much talent in any other anthology. The back of the book includes blurbs from the authors telling how much the series meant to them and how honored they were to be contributing--not just the newer authors, like Janni Lee Simner, but also the venerable Jane Yolen , with 300 publications under her belt! It's a nice touch, and to me exemplifies why Borderland succeeds: it's truly a labor of love.

Reviewing an anthology is always difficult, particularly one with multiple authors and many stories. Instead of evaluating each contribution individually (which might keep me here till tomorrow), I'd rather approach the anthology holistically. It's an approach that works better for a shared world anthology that in one that is merely thematically linked, and works especially well for Welcome to Bordertown due to events that have transpired since the previous anthology. You see, that 13 year gap between books? It wasn't merely a gap between books, but a period during which the Borderland itself was inaccessible from the human world. For 13 years, no one from the mortal world could get to Bordertown, but in Bordertown it was only 13 days. I loved this premise, which "hangs a lampshade" on the gap between anthologies and also fits in well with traditional faerie myth. And the individual authors of the anthologies used the premise in diverse ways. For some, it was a source of humor, as the newcomers to Bordertown remark on the dated appearance of the citizens already there. For others, the changing technology between 1997 and 2010 became a problem to overcome. And still others wrought poignancy out of Bordertown's 13 year absence, as those who went there hunting for lost loved ones found their family roles changed.

Although initially thrilled to hear about Borderland's return, I'll admit that I was worried that in the 13 year gap, and with new authors joining the old, the series would change with this new anthology. Of course it has changed, because our society has changed, but this isn't a bad thing. Race has always been a big theme in the Borderland series; there are Trueblood (elf) gangs and human ones fighting it out on the streets; there are halfling children who don't fit in the mortal world but can't be brought over to the Trueblood Realm either. However, Welcome to Bordertown seems to deal more with real world race relations than the previous anthologies have, with a more ethnically diverse human cast and the Border between Elfhaeme and the mortal world sometimes standing in for the border between Mexico and the US. Welcome to Bordertown also expands on its number of LGBT characters, who feature prominently in stories by Tim Pratt, Christopher Barzak, and Nalo Hopkinson, among others. I adored Pratt's protagonist, want Screaming Lord Neville to get his own story, and think that the increasingly diverse characters who populate Bordertown can only improve the series as a whole. We all want to find our place in the world, I think, and we all want to find someone to love. ...more

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Apr 10, 2010 Just_ann_now rated it really liked it

Shelves: on-my-kindle, ellen-kushner

*This review pertains most specifically to the audiobook verstion of Welcome to Bordertown*

I came late to the Bordertown books, discovering them as an adult, but once I did I collected them assiduously on Amazon and eBay and devoured them greedily. I was delighted when I learned that there would a new collection, and that Ellen Kushner, my favorite writer, would be one of the editors.

The Bordertown series was the first of the "Urban Fantasy" genre, set in a world very close to our own contempor *This review pertains most specifically to the audiobook verstion of Welcome to Bordertown*

I came late to the Bordertown books, discovering them as an adult, but once I did I collected them assiduously on Amazon and eBay and devoured them greedily. I was delighted when I learned that there would a new collection, and that Ellen Kushner, my favorite writer, would be one of the editors.

The Bordertown series was the first of the "Urban Fantasy" genre, set in a world very close to our own contemporary world, rather than faux-medieval-Earth or some other planet entirely. So the issues of gang violence, racism, and political and economic inequalities, are just as real in this world as they are in ours, and present in a way that are very relevant to young readers (as well as older ones).

The premise is that Bordertown has been closed off from the world, for thirteen years in world time, but only thirteen days in Bordertown. This plays into a number of stories, most significantly the opening, "Welcome to Bordertown", by Ellen Kushner and Teri Windling. In this story, a little boy waits thirteen years to grow up and journey to Bordertown in search of his sister. When he is reunited with her, they have both made surprising discoveries about themselves.

I liked most everything in this anthology, but I loved "A Tangle of Green Men" by Charles de Lint, "Incunabulum", by Emma Bull, and particularly "We Do Not Come in Peace" by Christopher Barzak.

The performances of the narrators Cassandra Campbell, MacLeod Andrews, and Ellen Kushner, are particularly noteworthy. Kushner's reading of "Soulja Grrrl: A Long Line Rap" by Jane Yolen made me howl with laughter. Andrews' interpretation of the narrator, Marius of "We Do Not Come in Peace" was a perfect portrayal of a disillusioned young man who considered himself beaten down by life in Bordertown. Campbell's multiple dialects in Nalo Hopkinson's "Ours is the Prettiest" were loads of fun.

If you are planning a summer trip with kids in the YA age group, this would be a great and thoughtful introduction to the genre of "Urban Fantasy", and something the whole family could enjoy. ...more

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Mar 27, 2012 Melanti rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: anthology, e-book, library, urban-fantasy, 2012

Maybe I would have liked this book more if ...

... I'd read the original Bordertown anthologies way back when and had nostalgia on my side for this one.
... I wasn't so fed up with urban fantasy.
... most of the authors I was looking forward to reading had written actual stories instead of poems.
... there were more consensus between the authors on what Bordertown is like.
... the stories from the authors I like weren't so obviously just their standard fare with Borderland bits tacked on to fit the r ...more

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May 25, 2011 Indigo rated it it was amazing

Shelves: urban-fantasy, faerie, changelings, anthologies, magic, nookbook

If you have loved the Borderlands series since the beginning, then you know what I think.

If you haven't, and this is your first time across the border?

Then you're lucky. You'll get to meet Wolfboy, Orient, and Farrel Din, and Screaming Lord Neville. And you'll get to meet the new faces who made their way to the crazy town between the Human world and the Realm where the Truebloods come from.

The stories vary from whimsical: Welcome to Bordertown to the romantic and heartbreaking A Tangle of Green ...more

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Sep 23, 2011 John rated it really liked it

Shelves: children-ya, sf-fantasy

Nice to see some utopian visions among all the dystopian ones that are filling up the bookshelves now. The poetry here didn't knock my socks off, but the stories are all at least Good, and of particular note are:

Cory Doctorow's, for explaining so credibly why Faerie should be so decisively off limits to humans;
Will Shetterly's, for being such a feelgood tale (Charles de Lint's closer for the same reason);
Janni Lee Simner's, for giving the "Twilight" series such a chilly little...tweak;
The "Fairy ...more

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Jun 02, 2011 Michelle Morrell rated it it was amazing

Shelves: x-read-2011, faerie

A new tome in my favorite shared universe, ever! Woo! Bordertown is the same but the rest of the world sure isn't. The thirteen days that passed in town were really thirteen years to the rest of the world. But now the border is open again, and the people that considered themselves on the cutting edge of everything are forced to deal with a world that has moved on without them. But if there's anything they can do, it's adapt. Love the new life that was breathed into the series.

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Aug 08, 2016 Brian rated it it was amazing

Shelves: poetry, young-adult, romance, 5-stars, urban-fantasy, anthology

I was really excited to read this collection, because I wanted to see how Bordertown had changed with the introduction of texting and tweeting and Instagram and Google and Wikipedia. And in that sense, Welcome to Bordertown was a bit disappointing, but not really surprising. Of course you can't get a reliable internet connection on the Border. Of course a text might come through as snatches of poetry or in a language you don't speak. That's how tech works next to the Realm, after all. I should h ...more

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Sep 08, 2019 Carolyn F. rated it liked it

Shelves: urban-fantasy, anthology-omnibus-essays

Anthology. I have only read the following short story, but plan on reading the rest at some time in the future.

A Voice Like a Hole by Catherynne M. Valente. I can't get what a voice like a hole means - round sounds? Good story. 3 stars I read this as part of Magic City: Recent Spells

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Oct 26, 2010 Julia rated it it was amazing

Shelves: based-on-folksong-myth, short-stories, fairies-fae-faeries, graphic-novel, ya, glbtq, best-books-i-read-in-2011

“Anyone writing urban fantasy owes a debt to Terri Windling.” (p.1)

“We’re all misfits here. That’s why I started this squat. For people like us who don’t fit anywhere else. Halfies and homos and hopeless romantics, the outcast and outrageous and terminally weird.” (p.69)

“Youth is half of what anyone who comes to this city needs in order to make a way. The rest is a blend of luck, skill, and a friendly disposition.”(p.399)

“Welcome to Bordertown” by Ellen Kushner & Terri Windling sets up th “Anyone writing urban fantasy owes a debt to Terri Windling.” (p.1)

“We’re all misfits here. That’s why I started this squat. For people like us who don’t fit anywhere else. Halfies and homos and hopeless romantics, the outcast and outrageous and terminally weird.” (p.69)

“Youth is half of what anyone who comes to this city needs in order to make a way. The rest is a blend of luck, skill, and a friendly disposition.”(p.399)

“Welcome to Bordertown” by Ellen Kushner & Terri Windling sets up the premise for the anthology. Bordertown has been inaccessible to the World for thirteen years, but in Bordertown it’s been thirteen days. “The Sages of Elsewhere” by Will Shetterly is about Wolfboy, the bookstore he and Sparks now own, and why he remakes it into a lending library. “Crossings” by Janni Lee Simner is about two best friends who go to Bordertown to find a vampire and werewolf to fall in love with. Allie Land comes to B-town to become a famous musician and meets an astronomer who’s become an astrologer and an unnoticed boy who has become an elf in “Our Stars, Our Selves” by Tim Pratt. I hope Annette Curtis Klause will write more about the unwilling vampire Lizzie and her elf friend Moss in “Elf Blood.” “We Do Not Come in Peace” by Christopher Barzak is about Marius who came to B-town aways back, had a successful music career but the Music left him when the Way closed. “The Rowan Gentleman” by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare is about 20 masked men and women who operate out of the Magic Lantern theater which depending on how the magic is flowing is either a movie theater or live theater—and who help out humans and halfies in trouble. “A Tangle of Green Men” by Charles de Lint isn’t about any recurring characters I remember and most of it takes place outside of Bordertown. And that’s fine, because some adventures are about the journey. Upon getting out of juvie, Tia Luba sends Joey from the rez to his uncle in Baltimore who works on a crew setting up conventions. He’s setting up Faerie Con when he meets and falls in love with Juliana – and gets involved with her family. Eventually, Joey winds up in Bordertown. I would love to read more of his story.
And Bordertown, I don’t want it going away from the World again! I loved this book, I’ve been away too long! ...more

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Mar 24, 2011 Jenne rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: Fans of urban fantasy

Shelves: fantasy, fairies, short-stories

I love reading anthologies of short stories, it is one of the best ways to find new authors and catch up with old ones. Welcome to Bordertown was no exception. I found I knew most of the authors and I enjoyed visiting with them - Holly Black, Terri Windling, Charles de Lint, Neil Gaiman, Cassandra Clare and Jane Yolen, just to name a few!

Although I have read a lot of anthologies, this was my first time experiencing Bordertown, where all the stories are connected by a place and where urban fantas ...more

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Sep 19, 2012 Tim Hicks rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy

There's a good framework here, with the existing word of Bordertown and the useful idea of a time-slip to give the authors some room. Several stories were creative and engaging.

But as I neared the end of the book. it got to be too much of a muchness. I'm finding Bordertown boring. Coffee, music, motorcycles, drugs, sex, elves, like wow man. And yes, I *was* there for the sixties and I'm on my fifth motorcycle and I make vicious coffee, so it's not as if I don't get it.

And it's implausible. Th ...more

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Jul 17, 2011 C.J. rated it did not like it

I did not, in fact, take the time to read cover to cover, as only brief peridots of prose and story struck out of the noxious fog of self-stroking stupidity. One might consider that slightly harsh. Hyperbole. But no apology: the bordertown stories compiled seem to live in their own little world, beyond reason, fairy tale reason, or even simple story common sense. Their characters are more than fairly un-likeable, unpleasant, and self-pitying. Their world is wracked by a peculiar but pricking ugl ...more

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May 24, 2011 Tarja rated it really liked it

I read the first Bordertown books when they came out in the 80's, 90's and liked the mix of normal world & elf runaways, the music, the gangs, and the atmosphere created in the Bordertown anthologies and novels. When I found out there was going to be a new book telling more stories about that fascinating town and it's inhabitants I was extremely excited.

I just finished Welcome to Bordertown, the new addition to the Bordertown lore and was not disappointed. For a while, Bordertown was inacces ...more

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Jul 21, 2011 Jessica rated it really liked it

Shelves: youngadult, short-stories, fantasy

For me this was "Welcome BACK to Bordertown." I can't count the number of times I've read Will Shetterly's ELSEWHERE and NEVERNEVER, which in my opinion are two of the best urban fantasy booka for teens ever written. (I love you, Wolfboy!)

Bordertown is a "shared world" with books and stories written by a number of authors over the years, though no one has done anything new in several years, until now. And that's the premise that these stories hang on: the border was closed for thirteen years, t ...more

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Nov 22, 2011 Deirdre rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, short-stories, young-adult

I'm still enjoying my forays into Bordertown. This newer collection posits that the way to the Borderlands has been closed for the past 13 years, during which time only 13 days passed within the Borderlands (kind of a Rip Van Winkle thing). As with any collection, I found some of the stories more absorbing than others, but I genuinely enjoyed all of them. "Shannon's Law" by Cory Doctorow is very clever--it goes into great detail about an elaborate scheme to get the Elflands online (put simply), ...more

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Jul 23, 2011 Logan rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, anthologies

3.5 stars, really.
I really love all the Bordertown books. I started reading them when I was much younger, and at the time was often on the road, traveling. I ran away from home, traveled the US and beyond for many years, and had a book with me every step of the way. These were the only books that I read (at that time) that had characters with lives like mine, and *also* included all my favorite things like elves and magic and fighting, etc. So they hold a special place in my heart, and I was p ...more

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Apr 26, 2012 Dawn added it

Dawn States
Short Stories
Bordertown is an unusual short story collection. It is not just a book of short stories, it is a book of short stories, poems, and graphic novel that all connect to each other. This book is its own unique mix, just like Bordertown, the place the stories are all written about. The common theme in the book is finding magic in life, runaways, discovering the place you belong, and believing that something better is possible. Any teen who feels as if the world does not have ...more

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May 26, 2011 glitrbug rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle

544 pages of wonderful stories, a novella, a graphic short, and a couple poems about a city between the Realm (fairie) and the World populated by runaways of all kinds; humans, halfies, Truebloods, a Wolfboy, some goblins, they are all here bumping up against each other. Magic works some of the time but not always they way you'd expect it to. You can't always tell the good guys from the bad. It's a collection of good old fashioned fairy tales in an urban setting. Simply wonderful. Couldn't have ...more

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Feb 01, 2012 Elizabeth rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction-fairytales-folklore, fiction-fantasy, fiction-anthology

Eh. Possibly should not have read in less than three days, as everything started to blend together. Bordertown: awesome on its own terms, not yours! I get it.

The best of the lot, for me, was the Kushner-Windling piece -- mostly because it was delightful happymaking story-I-would-like-to-tell -- Emma Bull's "Incunabulum," and Tim Pratt's "Or Stars, Our Selves" (although holy wow, worst title ever). Okay, so there were some good parts, including Charles de Lint's finale, which isn't really about B ...more

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Aug 16, 2011 Catherine rated it liked it

Had a mixed response to this book. I read and enjoyed the original Btown books when they came out but they didn't quite hold up as well for me as say, Liavek, which included many of the same authors.
None of the poetry in tuis anthology worked for me, unfortunately, though I think it was an interesting notion to include it. I really enjoyed some stories - the first novella by Black and Kushner, " The Rowan Gentlemen", and several others. Other stories elicited a "so what?" reaction and one, Hopki ...more

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About Holly Black

Holly Black

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Holly Black is the author of bestselling contemporary fantasy books for kids and teens. Some of her titles include The Spiderwick Chronicles (with Tony DiTerlizzi), The Modern Faerie Tale series, the Curse Workers series, Doll Bones, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, the Magisterium series (with Cassandra Clare), The Darkest Part of the Forest, and her new series which begins with The Cruel Prince in ...more

Other books in the series

Borderland (8 books)

Books by Holly Black

The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air, #1)

The Wicked King (The Folk of the Air, #2)

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“We''re all misfits here,” he says, almost proudly. “That's why I started this squat, after all. For people like us, who don't fit in anywhere else. Halfies and homos and hopeless romantics, the outcast and outrageous and terminally weird. That's where art comes from, Jimmy, my friend. From our weirdnesses and our differences, from our manic fixations, our obsessions, our passions. From all those wild and wacky things that make each of us unique.” — 101 likes

“Reading about Bordertown was the first time I saw people like me in speculative fiction. Messed-up kids, making messsed-up choices. I couldn't be a magician's apprentice or a pig keeper who might or might not be a king's son or a princess with a prophecy hanging over my head. But I could, maybe, somehow, be part of a community of artists who loved magic.” — 5 likes

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