Welcome to Bordertown

A remarkably strong collection of short stories* from the shared-world universe of Bordertown, a city that sits on the border between the World (earth) and the Realm (Fairyland). Despite being the fifth collection of stories, you don't need to know anything about Bordertown before picking this book up. All the stories are self-contained and there's a primer at the front for any concepts or terms that you may stumble over. I should know. I'm a "noob" myself to this series.

The conceit for the anthology is clever. Like Brigadoon, Bordertown vanishes from the World for a time, but now the Ways are open once more, with one complication: While thirteen days passed over there, thirteen years have passed over here. Thus is Borderland unchanged from it's previous incarnations from years ago (appealing to old fans), and is confronted by people from today's world (appealing to new readers). Much of the narrative power in these fourteen short stories comes from exploring that friction.

There was one outstanding story, six excellent tales, six average tales, and one disappointment. Not a bad track record!

Outstanding *****

"A Tangle of Green Men" by Charles de'Lint
Joey, a troubled, young Native American fresh out of juvvie, tries to turn his life around. A chance meeting with an eccentric family of fairy tale lovers changes his life in ways no one expects. This is a really simple and touching love story told with a deft and gentle hand, that gently blends Native American and Celtic myth. The last and best story of the collection.

Excellent ****

"Shannon's Law" by Cory Doctorow
Leave it to Cory to take a fantastical, otherworldly setting, and tell a tell of networking and information theory.

"Incunabulum" by Emma Bull
An interesting tale of sorcery induced amnesia that leads it's victim to wonder if he wants his memory back, or if he is more than man he was meant to be without it.

"A Prince of Thirteen Days" by Alaya Dawn Johnson
A young teen who is destined to fall in love in thirteen days is determined to make a statue in the park.he object of her affections.

"The Sages of Elsewhere" by Will Shetterly
A wolfman who runs a used book store finds his life threatened when he comes into possession of a very old (and very talkative) book.

"We Do Not Come in Peace" by Christopher Barzak
A street musician takes a new arrival to Bordertown under her wing. But before long, he's sowing the seeds of revolution.

"The Rowan Gentleman" by Holly Black & Cassandra Clare
A murder at the Magic Lantern Theatre sets Ashley, a young actress, on the trail of a notorious villain. A fun tale full of buckles that need swashing, and 'dos' that are very derring indeed.

Average ***

"Welcome to Bordertown" by Ellen Kushner & Terri Windling
A little brother is determined to find his older sister when Bordertown returns. But the older sister is no longer older, and the little brother is no longer little. A good intro to the rest of the stories. Co-written by the editor and creator of the series.

"A Voice Like a Hole" by Catherynne M. Valente
Fig, a runaway girl named with a beautiful voice, doesn't believe in the magic of Bordertown, but runs into Mara, a beautiful girl who does. But the price to reach it is different for each.

"Crossings" by Janni Lee Simner
Miranda & Analise brave the crossing into Borderland in the quest for love. Alas, they've read too many teenage vampire romances. . .

"Our Stars, Our Selves" by Tim Pratt
A noob just arrived to Bordertown can't seem to stop being hit on by an Elf. She wishes he'd go away, but you have to be careful what you wish for in this city.

"Elf Blood" by Annette Curtis Klause
A victim of a terrible disease, young Lizzie believes she knows the only cure. But an immortal will have to die to get it . . .

"Ours is the Prettiest" by Nalo Hopkinson
Gladstone's new girlfriend is not what she seems. A visitor to Bordertown, she's not from the World or the Realm. But what else is there? I appreciated the story for it's complex character relationships, but I'm not sure I understood the end.

Meh **

"Fair Trade" by Sara Ryan & Dylan Meconis
It takes more than being the sole comic in a short story collection to be unique. A generic story that doesn't bring anything new to the table, which is too bad since I'm a big fan of comics.

----------
* - There are also some poems and songs, but with the exception of one strong entry by Neil Gaiman, it's thin gruel and not worth commenting on. ( )

I grew up in the generation *after* the Bordertown series, so this is my first experience. That said, I really really liked it. Bordertown definitely has a 1980s NYC urban decay feel to it and makes me nostalgic for a scene that was over long before I was allowed to ride the subway by myself.

That said, the contents of this anthology are mixed. There are some poems that break up the stories. The poems themselves aren't bad, but they give the anthology more of an "I'm an anthropological tome" feel and jarred me out of Bordertown.

I love the way Black and Kushner put together the anthology--the first story is not only riveting, but lays out the landscape for all of us noobs. And the last story *really* worked as the book's last story. And in between, there's a Bordertown rewriting of [b:The Scarlet Pimpernel|136116|The Scarlet Pimpernel|Emmuska Orczy|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1172075548s/136116.jpg|750426]. (Not gonna say which one 'cuz that'll spoil the surprise)

I also love that many of the stories have either characters of color or mixed-race. AND that their race/ethnicity is just part of who they are, not the central focus of the story.

Definitely going to look for the older Bordertown books now. ( )

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 Bordertown at all. Nalo Hopkinsen's Mardi-Gras-inspired piece was interesting and bewildering in roughly equal measure. Cory Doctorow, as always, has Ideas, and then his writing fails them. (I am not what you'd call a fan of Cory D.) That said, he does come the closest to writing truly modern urban fantasy, to capturing the ~*magic*~ of the twenty-first century. ( )

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. ( )

Overall Summary and Review: Bordertown is much what it sounds like: a strange, ever-changing city that exists on the border between the human world ("The World"), and Faerie ("The Realm"). It's populated by humans, elves (or as they prefer to be called, "Truebloods", but never "fairies"), and their half-blood progeny. It is a world neither here nor there, where neither technology nor magic works reliably, where runaways from both sides of the border live in everything from squalid squats to fabulous mansions, where coffee and creativity are prized more highly than gold. Thirteen years ago, the way from Bordertown into the World was closed, and the stories and legends that built up its mystique have grown in its absence. Now the way is open again, but time passes differently close to the border, and the residents of Bordertown have only been away for thirteen days.

This year has marked the first time I've really gotten into the realm of shared-world anthologies, and while I enjoy the idea in theory, I've been finding that there are some problems with it in practice. In this case, the fact that a bunch of different authors were writing in a single world meant that a fair number of the world-building details got repeated. I can understand that hearing the same thing in several ways is meant to reinforce and provide depth, but after the first three or four times, I started to feel like "Yes, we get it, both magic and technology are unpredictable. Can we move on?" I also quickly grew tired of the "here's why I ran away to Bordertown" stories, with the result that the few stories told from the point of view of Bordertown natives wound up being some of my favorites. And while the stories themselves were each technically well-written with no obvious clunkers, I felt like a lot of them only skimmed the surface, rather than exploring the full potential of the world and magic and emotion they were creating, and most of them have not stuck with me particularly well. Bordertown is undoubtedly an interesting world, full of interesting story possibilities, and I can see why so many authors are drawn to it. But I was left with the feeling that there was a greater whole out there, something that was more than the sum of the parts of this anthology, but something it also (frustratingly) never quite reached. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Individual Stories: - "Welcome to Bordertown" by Ellen Kushner and Terri Windling was an excellent (albeit long) story to open with, about a bookish small-town girl who ran away to Bordertown before the borders closed, and her now-not-so-little brother who came looking for her thirteen years later.

- "Shannon's Law" by Cory Doctorow is a story of how Bordertown's "internet" works, and about an attempt to get any information across the Border into the Realm. I thought the ending was a little abrupt, but I liked the way Doctorow worked his typical tech-heavy style into a world where the tech is made of equal parts magic.

- In "A Voice Like a Hole" by Catherynne M. Valente, a homeless teenage runaway who didn't even believe Bordertown existed tells the story of how she wound up there.

- "Incunabulum" by Emma Bull is the story of a young Trueblood, who crosses into Bordertown covered in blood and missing his memories, and how he finds out who he is. The tone of this one was different, darker than a lot of the other stories in this collection, but I liked it quite a bit, and not just because it was a nice change of pace after three runaway stories.

- In "A Prince of Thirteen Days" by Alaya Dawn Johnson, the main character hears a prophecy that in thirteen days, she will lose her virginity and fall in love... and she appears to be the only one who can hear the thoughts of the statue in the park. It took me a little while to get my bearings in this story - it's comparably light on the exposition - but I really enjoyed it; several interesting twists meant it never went quite the way I expected.

- "The Sages of Elsewhere" by Will Shetterly stars Bordertown's resident wolfman and bookseller, who comes into possession of a valuable and powerful book, and gets caught up in a nasty struggle with one of his less-scrupulous competitors. I enjoyed this one; I think at least in part because it features an older, established Bordertown resident rather than a new arrival... and also a bookstore!

- "Crossings" by Janni Lee Simner features two close friends, one obsessed with vampires, the other with werewolves, who find their way to Bordertown in search of romance, only to discover that the creatures that inhabit the shadier parts of town are not so interested in the true love part of the vampire story. While I undoubtedly found the narrator a little silly in parts (as I think you're supposed to), this story had a number of unique elements that I really liked - particularly the focus on friendship over romance, and the subtly dark ending.

- "Fair Trade" by Sara Ryan, drawn by Dylan Meconis is a short piece about a girl who goes looking for her mom in Bordertown, but what she expects and what she finds are substantially different.

- "Our Stars, Our Selves" by Tim Pratt is the story of an ambitious young musician who travels to Bordertown in search of stardom, but learns - like everyone else - that there's a world of difference between wishing for something and getting it.

- "Elf Blood" by Annette Curtis Klause is the story of a girl who doesn't fit; even in Bordertown, she's treated like a half-blood. But the consequences of a decision she made to ease that lonliness are catching up with her, and she might have to do something terrible to save herself. I really enjoyed this one, in no small part because Moss, the leading man, was extremely appealing.

- "Ours Is the Prettiest" by Nalo Hopkinson is the story of a vodou Bordertown native, a tempestuous half-blood, and a newcomber to Bordertown, and proves that relationships are even more complicated in Bordertown than in the World.

- The narrator of "We Do Not Come in Peace" by Christopher Barzak is a few years older than many of the other narrators in the book, an established Bordertown transplant who is attempting to keep a new arrival from making the same mistakes he did.

- "The Rowan Gentleman" by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare is a story of Ashley, a young woman who works at Bordertown's only movie theater (as a live actress, for when the projector stops working). One day, a young woman staggers in and dies with only a few cryptic words, and Ashley's boss starts acting highly suspicious. Another story I really enjoyed, in part because it tells a good, complete story, and in part because it actually does some unique worldbuilding about a side of Bordertown that's not covered elsewhere in the book.

- "A Tangle of Green Men" by Charles de Lint is about a young Native American man who is headed down the path of self-destruction, and is given a miraculous second chance to make something of himself, thanks to the saving grace of an extraordinary young woman. This was a really beautiful story, smoothly written and heart-tearing in places, that fit well with the Bordertown feeling without spending more than a tiny fraction of its time in Bordertown proper.

I'm not going to comment on the poems (listed below) individually, but I do want to note that the editors did an excellent and very thoughtful job with their placement throughout the collection. In several cases, they either add an interesting counterpoint to the story that preceded them, or provide a bridge between the perspectives of the stories on either side.
- "Cruel Sister" by Patricia A. McKillip
- "Stairs in Her Hair" by Amal El-Mohtar
- "Run Back Across the Border" by Steven Brust
- "Soulja Grrrl: A Long Line Rap" by Jane Yolen
- "Night Song for a Halfie" by Jane Yolen
- "The Wall" by Delia Sherman
- "A Borderland Jump-Rope Rhyme" by Jane Yolen
- "The Song of the Song" by Neil Gaiman ( )