What do you think?
Rate this book
Borderland #2
Bordertown
The second set of Anthologies in the Borderland Series.
253 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
5 people are currently reading
1071 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
July 16, 2011
Here's the thing about Bordertown: it's more than it appears on the surface. As a shared world project, it's a solid one - the premise is interesting (for new arrivals: Fairyland has returned, causing various calamities and upheavals, and creating a 'border' region between the two worlds, where neither human machines nor elven magic work reliably), the writers work well together, and the voices were fresh and compelling at the time. They still are, more or less, but that's not why we love it so much.
When I was young, we didn't have Youtube, much less anything like the "It gets better" project. Yeah, ok, we had zines and we had records, and sometimes you could travel to a bigger town and mingle with a larger group of freaks, but we didn't have a lot of older freaks to tell us the things we desperately needed to hear. In the Bordertown anthologies, the original writers - a mix of queer folk and musicians and former street kids and other assorted weirdos - found a way to reach us. They told us that sometimes running away is ok, depending, but that you still have to make a home out of wherever you end up - it's not enough to just survive, though survival comes first. They told us that it was great to be strange, and that we didn't have to outgrow it if we didn't want to, that we could go on to be weird adults and be proud and happy, if maybe totally broke as well. They told us that we had to take care of each other, and that the families we chose were as real and important as the ones we were born with. Most importantly, they told us that the million small acts of creativity and self-sufficiency that we practiced every day - making our own clothes, baking bread, growing food, making music, telling stories - were as vital and as magical as anything any Elfland could ever produce.
Bohemia is always changing and always the same, but like any other culture, it needs a certain amount of continuity. The Bordertown books gave us that sense of solidarity, and they still seem to - which is why you find them creased and bent all to hell, passed around from person to person to person, and why people will shell out as much as fifty bucks for an old paperback copy. They're a lifeline and a beacon and a map. Like the best books for young people, they show us how to navigate the route between childhood and adulthood and arrive in one piece. I hope they bring comfort to the strange - young and old - for many more years to come.
When I was young, we didn't have Youtube, much less anything like the "It gets better" project. Yeah, ok, we had zines and we had records, and sometimes you could travel to a bigger town and mingle with a larger group of freaks, but we didn't have a lot of older freaks to tell us the things we desperately needed to hear. In the Bordertown anthologies, the original writers - a mix of queer folk and musicians and former street kids and other assorted weirdos - found a way to reach us. They told us that sometimes running away is ok, depending, but that you still have to make a home out of wherever you end up - it's not enough to just survive, though survival comes first. They told us that it was great to be strange, and that we didn't have to outgrow it if we didn't want to, that we could go on to be weird adults and be proud and happy, if maybe totally broke as well. They told us that we had to take care of each other, and that the families we chose were as real and important as the ones we were born with. Most importantly, they told us that the million small acts of creativity and self-sufficiency that we practiced every day - making our own clothes, baking bread, growing food, making music, telling stories - were as vital and as magical as anything any Elfland could ever produce.
Bohemia is always changing and always the same, but like any other culture, it needs a certain amount of continuity. The Bordertown books gave us that sense of solidarity, and they still seem to - which is why you find them creased and bent all to hell, passed around from person to person to person, and why people will shell out as much as fifty bucks for an old paperback copy. They're a lifeline and a beacon and a map. Like the best books for young people, they show us how to navigate the route between childhood and adulthood and arrive in one piece. I hope they bring comfort to the strange - young and old - for many more years to come.
July 17, 2015
Bordertown, an anthology of short stories edited by Terri Windling, has the distinction of being both a sparkling example of a shared-world concept and was a hugely influential excursion into the genre that would become urban fantasy. Written in the 1980s, this collection of short fiction marries high-fantasy constructs (elves, magic, etc) with punk rock sensibilities. The conceit is as follows: a long, long time ago magic was part of our world. For reasons no one now remembers, the Elflands departed and took magic with them. The two worlds existed in parallel until, with no explanation, the Elflands returned. A city—Bordertown—sits on the weird boundary between our world and the world of faery, existing in a liminal stretch where neither human technology or elvin magic works with anything like consistency. Bordertown, like all other fascinating cities before it, attracts runaways from both sides of the border. The collection includes four short stories, each set in a different part of Bordertown and each written by a different author.
I’ve read Bordertown and most of its companion collections several times each.* I read them a few times through as an adolescent who was distinctly an outsider in my home town. I read them again in graduate school when I began to write my own fiction in earnest. I am one of the many genre-addicted misfit kids deeply influenced by this collection. Were I reviewing Bordertown on reach or downstream influence alone, five stars would not be adequate. I say all that by way of caveat, because I’m going to review the book, instead, on the text itself.
Bordertown is composed of four stories—“Danceland,” a murder mystery set in a punk night club; “Demon”, a story which explores the intersections of elvin and East Asian forms of magic; “Exile,” a quiet little thing about a very peculiar elvin girl; and “Mockery,” a love story set that reads like a La Boheme homage. Together, the four stories provide distinct snapshots into the lives of the youth of Bordertown. There’s no direct connection between the characters, no overarching plot. It’s a survey of what it’s like to live in Bordertown in a particular moment in time, a survey with a particular focus on the runaways and the kids just scraping by. But, as a glimpse into those people’s lives, it’s strangely romantic. I made a similar critique of Patti Smith’s autobiography,Just Kids; having known kids living these kinds of lives I can say with some certainty than not everyone makes it out in one piece. There are cursory nods to drugs and addiction, most explicitly in “Danceland”, but the most common and terrible outcomes of that kind of life, as well as the reasons substance abuse happens in those circumstances, are brushed neatly under the rug. Bordertown, for the people followed in these four stories, should be a much, much grittier place than it appears on the page. This is highlighted by the fact that a number of the protagonists we follow (with the notable exception of Michelle in “Demon” who inhabits a distinctly gritty and working class life) actually come from intact middle-class families either in the human suburbs on the edges of Bordertown or in the well-to-do elvin neighborhood uptown. These are kids, essentially, playing pauper. That’s a whole different ballgame than actually being a pauper. As such, the book dazzles us with its inherent coolness, a coolness I would like to point out still oozes from the pages, which is somehow not anachronistic in spite of how tied the book is to the decade which spawned it. Bordertown is escapist in nature. It’s exactly, precisely what I wanted to read when I was fifteen. Now I prefer a bit more nuance and realism in my fictional discussions of class in secondary universes, but this is pitch-perfect for the misfit teenager I used to be.
Taken separately, the stories are hit and miss. “Danceland” reads very much as the strong first chapter of a novel and less as a strong short story. And, indeed, the characters in “Danceland” appear down the road as protagonists in a couple of full-length Bordertown novels. “Demon” is an interesting conceit, but the writing left me flat—the author has a noticeable habit of head-hopping, or flitting between POV characters in a hard to follow and distracting way. “Exile”, I think, is the strongest of the bunch—it is the most grounded in simple emotional truths, it does a lot to explain and explore the foreignness of elvin culture through just a little insight into a elf girl cast out from her world, and it reads as a complete story populated by real people. “Mockery” I found overly long and overly romantic, but, my god, it influenced the hell out of me as a kid. Some years ago I wrote a novel which will never see the light of day, and that novel more or less completely ripped this particular story off wholesale. Yeah, my characters were musicians not painters (except one of them, extra oops) but the whole idea of very young and very talented and very wild kids living together and raising hell and changing things goddammit is stolen directly from this story. So, while I was less impressed by it this time around I will say that “Mockery” has a power to it.
Again, the influence of this collection can’t be overstated. Taken just on its own merits, though, I give Bordertown three stars out of five—it’s a book with a lot of heart, a lot of fearless gusto, but a book of short stories that could have used a couple more drafts.
*I own but have not yet read the most recent collection, Welcome to Bordertown. I felt like I should reread the past collections before diving into the new one, hence this reread.
I’ve read Bordertown and most of its companion collections several times each.* I read them a few times through as an adolescent who was distinctly an outsider in my home town. I read them again in graduate school when I began to write my own fiction in earnest. I am one of the many genre-addicted misfit kids deeply influenced by this collection. Were I reviewing Bordertown on reach or downstream influence alone, five stars would not be adequate. I say all that by way of caveat, because I’m going to review the book, instead, on the text itself.
Bordertown is composed of four stories—“Danceland,” a murder mystery set in a punk night club; “Demon”, a story which explores the intersections of elvin and East Asian forms of magic; “Exile,” a quiet little thing about a very peculiar elvin girl; and “Mockery,” a love story set that reads like a La Boheme homage. Together, the four stories provide distinct snapshots into the lives of the youth of Bordertown. There’s no direct connection between the characters, no overarching plot. It’s a survey of what it’s like to live in Bordertown in a particular moment in time, a survey with a particular focus on the runaways and the kids just scraping by. But, as a glimpse into those people’s lives, it’s strangely romantic. I made a similar critique of Patti Smith’s autobiography,Just Kids; having known kids living these kinds of lives I can say with some certainty than not everyone makes it out in one piece. There are cursory nods to drugs and addiction, most explicitly in “Danceland”, but the most common and terrible outcomes of that kind of life, as well as the reasons substance abuse happens in those circumstances, are brushed neatly under the rug. Bordertown, for the people followed in these four stories, should be a much, much grittier place than it appears on the page. This is highlighted by the fact that a number of the protagonists we follow (with the notable exception of Michelle in “Demon” who inhabits a distinctly gritty and working class life) actually come from intact middle-class families either in the human suburbs on the edges of Bordertown or in the well-to-do elvin neighborhood uptown. These are kids, essentially, playing pauper. That’s a whole different ballgame than actually being a pauper. As such, the book dazzles us with its inherent coolness, a coolness I would like to point out still oozes from the pages, which is somehow not anachronistic in spite of how tied the book is to the decade which spawned it. Bordertown is escapist in nature. It’s exactly, precisely what I wanted to read when I was fifteen. Now I prefer a bit more nuance and realism in my fictional discussions of class in secondary universes, but this is pitch-perfect for the misfit teenager I used to be.
Taken separately, the stories are hit and miss. “Danceland” reads very much as the strong first chapter of a novel and less as a strong short story. And, indeed, the characters in “Danceland” appear down the road as protagonists in a couple of full-length Bordertown novels. “Demon” is an interesting conceit, but the writing left me flat—the author has a noticeable habit of head-hopping, or flitting between POV characters in a hard to follow and distracting way. “Exile”, I think, is the strongest of the bunch—it is the most grounded in simple emotional truths, it does a lot to explain and explore the foreignness of elvin culture through just a little insight into a elf girl cast out from her world, and it reads as a complete story populated by real people. “Mockery” I found overly long and overly romantic, but, my god, it influenced the hell out of me as a kid. Some years ago I wrote a novel which will never see the light of day, and that novel more or less completely ripped this particular story off wholesale. Yeah, my characters were musicians not painters (except one of them, extra oops) but the whole idea of very young and very talented and very wild kids living together and raising hell and changing things goddammit is stolen directly from this story. So, while I was less impressed by it this time around I will say that “Mockery” has a power to it.
Again, the influence of this collection can’t be overstated. Taken just on its own merits, though, I give Bordertown three stars out of five—it’s a book with a lot of heart, a lot of fearless gusto, but a book of short stories that could have used a couple more drafts.
*I own but have not yet read the most recent collection, Welcome to Bordertown. I felt like I should reread the past collections before diving into the new one, hence this reread.
September 9, 2009
For some reason I was thinking about this book recently, and felt the need to get some comments out there.
Four stories, one setting. Bordertown, the mixing pot between our world and faerie, where elves, humans and halfbloods have created a world of their own.
I was so in love with the story "Mockery" when I first read it, both in love and disapointed because it does some beautiful things but also feels like the authors didn't want to spend too much time rethinking and perfecting this little gem. A small issue that has always bothered me: the protagonist, Hale; Hale is his last name, as is evidenced by the fact that when he carves his initials "H" is last, but when he hears his mother's voice in his head scolding him she calls him "Hale". Huh?
The characters are all interesting and romantic and complex and tortured in their own ways, but the whole thing begs to be a novel. None of 'em, not even Hale and Linnea, get enough page time. And the final crisis when Linnea can't get past her double heritage as elf and human, feels really forced, blown out of proportion.
Four stories, one setting. Bordertown, the mixing pot between our world and faerie, where elves, humans and halfbloods have created a world of their own.
I was so in love with the story "Mockery" when I first read it, both in love and disapointed because it does some beautiful things but also feels like the authors didn't want to spend too much time rethinking and perfecting this little gem. A small issue that has always bothered me: the protagonist, Hale; Hale is his last name, as is evidenced by the fact that when he carves his initials "H" is last, but when he hears his mother's voice in his head scolding him she calls him "Hale". Huh?
The characters are all interesting and romantic and complex and tortured in their own ways, but the whole thing begs to be a novel. None of 'em, not even Hale and Linnea, get enough page time. And the final crisis when Linnea can't get past her double heritage as elf and human, feels really forced, blown out of proportion.
September 8, 2009
This book had a seriously formative impact on me. <3
October 29, 2010
"You knew, knew, that if you could just run away to one of those places, you'd become someone else, someone wonderful, and wonderful things would happen to you."
May 6, 2016
I picked up my first Borderland book as a pre-teen, scouring the shelves of the library in my grandparents' town on the Oregon coast. I don't remember which one it was--probably Borderland; that cover looks familiar--and I loved it. The world of Bordertown, halfway between the World and Faerie, where spellboxes power motorcycles and elves run in gangs down the abandoned streets of Soho, utterly captivated me. It was everything that I thought I wanted to grow up to be. Staying up until dawn, loud music and cold drinks, sweat glistening under neon lights, art and late-night conversations, all the parts of adulthood that captured me with their glamour. And in the end, it's not like that, or least it's mostly not like that. Bills and responsibilities that aren't to your friends aren't exciting. But a man can dream.
That's just the surface aesthetic, though. Borderland is about fast cars and loud music, but it's also about belonging. It's okay to be strange. It's okay to be different. Things can get better, and if you look hard enough, in the right places, you will find your people. All things considered, I had a pretty good childhood, but I was different enough that I never felt that I fit in with my family and Borderland was a glimpse of the way it could be. The way that, eventually, it was.
That in mind, now that I'm older, with those bills and those responsibilities and with the urge to stay out until dawn and dance under neon lights not quite as strong as it was decades ago, I thought I'd come back to Borderland and see how well it held up. And the answer is "pretty damn well."
"Danceland" is about how appearances are deceiving, mixed with plenty of motorcycles and rock and roll. I liked it well enough, especially after the twist, but while it was fun to read it didn't stick with me. The only part I really remember is the line
I liked the message in "Demon," about the necessity of dealing with all of yourself, even the parts that you find unpleasant, but I thought that the story went a bit too far afield. One of the things I like about Borderland is that it doesn't have the scope creep that a lot of urban fantasy developed. There are humans, and there are elves, and there is Faerie, and there is the World, and Bordertown between them. There's none of this bringing in wizards and vampires and werewolves and golems and djinn and bigfoots and everything else, and so while I understand the desire to draw on Japanese mythology to flesh out the world, I didn't really think that it fit here and that's most of what I took away from the story.
"Exile" is a good look into the politics of Elfland, even if obliquely, with the note that you, all of you, matter even if you're born different. Whether it's a talent you lack, a trait that you have, or something else that sets you apart, that's okay. Dez is born without magic and cast out by her family, but she's the one who befriends the monsters who roam the Borderland. "Elves love perfection," the story says, and I know a few people who could say the same about their families and have gotten burned because of it. Unfortunately, I didn't actually care that much for the writing, so while it's a good story as a whole the actual telling of it didn't resonate with me.
My favorite story was probably "Mockery," and while I'm sure that part of it is that like Hale, I'm older now and looking back on the days when I raised hell and thought the future would never come, but part of it is the essential optimism. Hale and the Mock Street art group want to change the culture of Bordertown and they succeed, and sure, it ends up tearing them apart and they all move on to fame and fortune or self-destruction in their own ways, but there's a magic in that moment when the future's path is set but it has yet to unfold. Before you get old and bitter and look in front of you and see nothing but closed doors.
I'm not even that old, I swear. But Hale is, and that's his attitude in the framing tale. Until the end, when he realizes that maybe hiding isn't going to make things right. And he's right--it won't. It never does. "Mockery" is a bit too unpolished to be great, and the ending confrontation between Hale and Linnea comes out of nowhere and could have used more buildup, but the mood throughout the story is fantastic. You can change the world if you try, or least, you can change part of it. Just make sure you pick the right part.
Five stars for message and mood, and three stars for the actual content of the stories. It has more than enough of what I remember that I've already put in at the library for a couple of the other books I read long ago.
That's just the surface aesthetic, though. Borderland is about fast cars and loud music, but it's also about belonging. It's okay to be strange. It's okay to be different. Things can get better, and if you look hard enough, in the right places, you will find your people. All things considered, I had a pretty good childhood, but I was different enough that I never felt that I fit in with my family and Borderland was a glimpse of the way it could be. The way that, eventually, it was.
That in mind, now that I'm older, with those bills and those responsibilities and with the urge to stay out until dawn and dance under neon lights not quite as strong as it was decades ago, I thought I'd come back to Borderland and see how well it held up. And the answer is "pretty damn well."
"Danceland" is about how appearances are deceiving, mixed with plenty of motorcycles and rock and roll. I liked it well enough, especially after the twist, but while it was fun to read it didn't stick with me. The only part I really remember is the line
The old magic is made with loud music and sweat and colored light.which speaks to Borderland's aesthetics if not really its messages. The interactions between Orient (as in "to determine true north") and Caramel were touching, but they come in during the latter part and the perspective switching during the beginning, even in epistolary format, wasn't as interesting to me. Maybe it's because I remember being Caramel, before I learned the lingo, forgot the lingo, and then stopped caring about whether I knew it or not.
I liked the message in "Demon," about the necessity of dealing with all of yourself, even the parts that you find unpleasant, but I thought that the story went a bit too far afield. One of the things I like about Borderland is that it doesn't have the scope creep that a lot of urban fantasy developed. There are humans, and there are elves, and there is Faerie, and there is the World, and Bordertown between them. There's none of this bringing in wizards and vampires and werewolves and golems and djinn and bigfoots and everything else, and so while I understand the desire to draw on Japanese mythology to flesh out the world, I didn't really think that it fit here and that's most of what I took away from the story.
"Exile" is a good look into the politics of Elfland, even if obliquely, with the note that you, all of you, matter even if you're born different. Whether it's a talent you lack, a trait that you have, or something else that sets you apart, that's okay. Dez is born without magic and cast out by her family, but she's the one who befriends the monsters who roam the Borderland. "Elves love perfection," the story says, and I know a few people who could say the same about their families and have gotten burned because of it. Unfortunately, I didn't actually care that much for the writing, so while it's a good story as a whole the actual telling of it didn't resonate with me.
My favorite story was probably "Mockery," and while I'm sure that part of it is that like Hale, I'm older now and looking back on the days when I raised hell and thought the future would never come, but part of it is the essential optimism. Hale and the Mock Street art group want to change the culture of Bordertown and they succeed, and sure, it ends up tearing them apart and they all move on to fame and fortune or self-destruction in their own ways, but there's a magic in that moment when the future's path is set but it has yet to unfold. Before you get old and bitter and look in front of you and see nothing but closed doors.
I'm not even that old, I swear. But Hale is, and that's his attitude in the framing tale. Until the end, when he realizes that maybe hiding isn't going to make things right. And he's right--it won't. It never does. "Mockery" is a bit too unpolished to be great, and the ending confrontation between Hale and Linnea comes out of nowhere and could have used more buildup, but the mood throughout the story is fantastic. You can change the world if you try, or least, you can change part of it. Just make sure you pick the right part.
Five stars for message and mood, and three stars for the actual content of the stories. It has more than enough of what I remember that I've already put in at the library for a couple of the other books I read long ago.
March 3, 2019
Review to come :)
January 5, 2011
I read this when it first came out in the 80's and I really dug the urban fantasy milieu that it helped popularize. I've been on a will Sheterly kick lately and several of his books are in this universe so I re-familiarized myself with this. Grunge elves and punk half-humans was so transgressive and cool at the time, it's still fairly fresh but the change in me and my reaction is somewhat startling. The "poignancy of our vanished beautiful youth" that pervades the stories just irks me, but maybe it's just that I don't want to be reminded of it. I think I need to stay away from YA fiction for a while.
May 23, 2017
Danceland (Emma Bull and Will Shetterly) is a pretty fun urban fantasy murder mystery story! The other three stories are skippable (of course I read them anyway), I found the writing pretty childish (describing outfits, gratuitous ~edgy~ curse words, wish fulfillment) and the content not really original enough for me to look past the writing. Danceland works though because it has a lot of odd and cool characters and sweeps you into flashy seedy 80s club world.
August 30, 2007
A group of fantasy writers created the shared universe in which elves and humans met, and thus Bordertown was born. The city right off of the literal border of Fairy, it's home to misfits, outcasts, weirdos and poseurs of all types. The writing itself is uneven and often subpar, but the idea is one close to my heart, so I love this series anyway.
April 1, 2011
My very favorite shared universe, about a city on the blurred edge of earth and faerie, and the people who find their way there. One of many anthologies and stand-alone novels.
July 9, 2020
The 'read' dates on this review are misleading. I first read this series when I was a teen, although I somehow managed not to review any of them. Now that I'm an adult and the world has lost its luster, I'm re-reading some old favorites, and the siren song of the escapism of Bordertown is strong.
If I was reviewing this book based on pure nostalgia and escapism, it'd rate a solid 5 stars from me. Bordertown was exactly the place I craved as a teenager, to mingle with elves and magic on dirty, dangerous, fairy-dusted city streets. As an adult... well, I'd still run away to Bordertown in a heartbeat, but as a more critical reader I do see the places where the stories are wanting.
'Danceland' and 'Mockery' are the standouts here. 'Danceland' is classic Bordertown personified, and 'Mockery' is quiet and a little frustrating. I wanted better characterization from a writer of Ellen Datlow's caliber. I wasn't a fan of 'Demon' at all - it seemed overwrought to me, and the generic 'Asian' magic of Dragontown didn't age well. The third story was okay - good, not great.
I think I will always love Bordertown, and these books will always hold a sort of magic for me. I can't be too harsh on these stories, formative as they were for a younger me. This is a place I love to revisit, even if some of the shine has faded to my adult eyes. I'm still a child of Bordertown.
If I was reviewing this book based on pure nostalgia and escapism, it'd rate a solid 5 stars from me. Bordertown was exactly the place I craved as a teenager, to mingle with elves and magic on dirty, dangerous, fairy-dusted city streets. As an adult... well, I'd still run away to Bordertown in a heartbeat, but as a more critical reader I do see the places where the stories are wanting.
'Danceland' and 'Mockery' are the standouts here. 'Danceland' is classic Bordertown personified, and 'Mockery' is quiet and a little frustrating. I wanted better characterization from a writer of Ellen Datlow's caliber. I wasn't a fan of 'Demon' at all - it seemed overwrought to me, and the generic 'Asian' magic of Dragontown didn't age well. The third story was okay - good, not great.
I think I will always love Bordertown, and these books will always hold a sort of magic for me. I can't be too harsh on these stories, formative as they were for a younger me. This is a place I love to revisit, even if some of the shine has faded to my adult eyes. I'm still a child of Bordertown.
February 7, 2023
Enjoyment level: 5🌟
Writing Quality: 5🌟
In 2018, I picked up a book of short stories titled "Welcome Back to Bordertown". I had no idea that a week later, I'd be as focused as a Mad River Rat looking for their next fix from the red river. If that last sentence made no sense to you and you like stories full of magic colliding with the normal human world then you NEED to read these books!
Books that tell what happens when the border to Elfland suddenly appears and the impact of its magic on the city closest to it - Bordertown. A place where humans and elves run the streets. Where magic sometimes work and other times it doesn't. Where human technology is always a spotty proposition. Fairy dust coats the walls and doorways of the buildings, and coffee and chocolate are more valuable than any form of human currency. Bordertown is wild; very rough around the edges; unsafe for many; and the perfect home for those - human and elves alike - who just never quite belonged to the world they were born into.
This series is mostly made up of short story collections but there are a few novels thrown into the mix. All are marvelous - including book #2 Bordertown - and you can read them in any order. I had so much fun reading this one and can't wait to get my hands on the one remaining book in the series I've yet to read. Love these entirely.
Writing Quality: 5🌟
In 2018, I picked up a book of short stories titled "Welcome Back to Bordertown". I had no idea that a week later, I'd be as focused as a Mad River Rat looking for their next fix from the red river. If that last sentence made no sense to you and you like stories full of magic colliding with the normal human world then you NEED to read these books!
Books that tell what happens when the border to Elfland suddenly appears and the impact of its magic on the city closest to it - Bordertown. A place where humans and elves run the streets. Where magic sometimes work and other times it doesn't. Where human technology is always a spotty proposition. Fairy dust coats the walls and doorways of the buildings, and coffee and chocolate are more valuable than any form of human currency. Bordertown is wild; very rough around the edges; unsafe for many; and the perfect home for those - human and elves alike - who just never quite belonged to the world they were born into.
This series is mostly made up of short story collections but there are a few novels thrown into the mix. All are marvelous - including book #2 Bordertown - and you can read them in any order. I had so much fun reading this one and can't wait to get my hands on the one remaining book in the series I've yet to read. Love these entirely.
March 10, 2020
I particularly liked this anthology. It develops on from the stories in the first anthology and allows us to really connect with the characters.
A delight!
A delight!
Read
September 7, 2020Mine is by Signet. ISBN matches.
March 23, 2025
One of the best-shared world anthologies. Compelling stories that are totally relatable even in this magical world. Highly recommend.
August 26, 2025
Some more fun stories (and sad ones)
March 14, 2017
This is three shorter stories filled with teenage angst. I had heard about this series through another novel and thought that I'd check it out. It was just okay.
October 7, 2015
Още четири разказа от Бурдюрландия излезли през същата 1986 година. Отново различни автори, имаме и комбинации по двама на разказ. Бавно, дразнещо бавно, развиват света на Граничната земя.
Danceland - Emma Bull и Will Shetterly - Група много симпатични герои, работещи в заведение в Бордертаун. Едно убийство, в което е обвинен един от тях и приятелите му трябва да го измъкнат. Малко запъртясала криминална линия. Стилът на двамата автори е различен и си личи много, до толкова, че стои като два отделни разказа с общ сюжет. Тъпотията двамата да пишат в един дневник, първият път беше обяснена, но втория... Не ме впечетли.
Demon - Midori Snyder - Най-доброто нещо до тук в поредицата. Мидори вкарва цял нов квартал в Бордертаун - Драгънтаун(азиатски) със собствени банди, правила и собствена магия. Също комбинацията между фентъзи и бойни изкуства винаги ми е харесвала, а има и личностно израстване, което трябва да присъства в юношеската литература. Главната героиня е срамежлива сервитьорка, която тренира карате. Въвличат я в междовидов конфликт, от който може да се измъкне, само ако пребори личните си демони с помощта на спорта.
Exile - Bellamy Bach - Ами ако си елф роден в страната на елфите и нямаш капчица магия? Ако те прогонят в град, когато си свикнал да търчиш гол и да говориш с дърветата? Основоположничката на серията, имайки предимството да огъва света си както си иска отново пише доста добра пънкарска история.
Mockery - Ellen Kusher и Bellamy Bach - Много добра романтична история за група разглезени богаташки синчета, които искат да са художници, която съвсем не е в мой стил. Няколко елфи, два мелеза и един човек обитават изоставена църква в Бордертаун. Изкуството ги свързва и те правят всичко възможно да се издигнат в попрището си, когато това се случва се изпокарват, разделят, продрусват и така на татък...
Във всичките разкази се усешта пънкарско-рокаджийския дух на 80-те. Тук вече имаме и заченки на залелия ни напоследък паранормален романс, което май се очакваше щом 2/3 от пишещите в серията са жени, на чело с Terri Windling, която е измислила света и има други неща в жанра.
Danceland - Emma Bull и Will Shetterly - Група много симпатични герои, работещи в заведение в Бордертаун. Едно убийство, в което е обвинен един от тях и приятелите му трябва да го измъкнат. Малко запъртясала криминална линия. Стилът на двамата автори е различен и си личи много, до толкова, че стои като два отделни разказа с общ сюжет. Тъпотията двамата да пишат в един дневник, първият път беше обяснена, но втория... Не ме впечетли.
Demon - Midori Snyder - Най-доброто нещо до тук в поредицата. Мидори вкарва цял нов квартал в Бордертаун - Драгънтаун(азиатски) със собствени банди, правила и собствена магия. Също комбинацията между фентъзи и бойни изкуства винаги ми е харесвала, а има и личностно израстване, което трябва да присъства в юношеската литература. Главната героиня е срамежлива сервитьорка, която тренира карате. Въвличат я в междовидов конфликт, от който може да се измъкне, само ако пребори личните си демони с помощта на спорта.
Exile - Bellamy Bach - Ами ако си елф роден в страната на елфите и нямаш капчица магия? Ако те прогонят в град, когато си свикнал да търчиш гол и да говориш с дърветата? Основоположничката на серията, имайки предимството да огъва света си както си иска отново пише доста добра пънкарска история.
Mockery - Ellen Kusher и Bellamy Bach - Много добра романтична история за група разглезени богаташки синчета, които искат да са художници, която съвсем не е в мой стил. Няколко елфи, два мелеза и един човек обитават изоставена църква в Бордертаун. Изкуството ги свързва и те правят всичко възможно да се издигнат в попрището си, когато това се случва се изпокарват, разделят, продрусват и така на татък...
Във всичките разкази се усешта пънкарско-рокаджийския дух на 80-те. Тук вече имаме и заченки на залелия ни напоследък паранормален романс, което май се очакваше щом 2/3 от пишещите в серията са жени, на чело с Terri Windling, която е измислила света и има други неща в жанра.
June 27, 2007
'In fact, Elves appear to have deteriorated generally since the coming of humans. If you meet Elves, expect to have to listen for hours while they tell you about this...and conclude by telling you how great numbers of Elves have become so wearied with the thinning of the old golden wonders that they have all departed, departed into the West. This is correct, provided you take it with the understanding that Elves do not say anything quite straight. Many Elves have indeed gone West, to Minnesota and thence to California, where they have great fun wearing punk clothes and riding motorbikes.'
--Diana Wynne Jones, The Tough Guide to Fantasyland
--Diana Wynne Jones, The Tough Guide to Fantasyland
July 3, 2012
In this anthology of Bordertown, the mythology is deeper as the authors fill out the world that they created and other authors join in. Bordertown is full of art and music as well as elves with their complex society. A theme that moves through Bordertown is the idea of how do you know where you belong and who you are. In each of the stories, the characters struggle with understanding the choices they must make to be where they fit. From dealing with a murder mystery to a rich, young woman who takes a foolish risk that could end up badly instead becomes a lesson. These anthologies are great reads for the what the authors do with Bordertown and seeing their styles change and grow.
Read
April 9, 2017The Elflands have returned to the real world and the border between both has become a dangerous and magical place. This anthology written by several different authors has elves in motorcycle gangs, rich kids from Dragon's Tooth Hill, magically-addictive river water, punk artists in Soho, and runaways on heroes' journeys. The collection of eccentric and original characters and the detailed world create a genre all its own. Ever wondered what it would be like if Tolkien's elves returned to the modern world? The Border books are some of the first urban fantasies I ever read and they still have the power to enchant.
February 10, 2015
I had a hard time rating this one because the stories are so irregular.
I liked the first and last one, and didn't care for the two in the middle.
Bordertown is a shared setting for different writers work from. There are different neighbourhoods and what I loved most was the magical and non magical creatures sharing their space in a place where neither magic nor technology work the way they are expected. It's a kind of no-man's land where everything is possible.
Favorite characters are Orient, Hale and Dez.
Anyway it's a nice sweet read that can be enjoyed at any time but mostly for youngsters. Adults might find it a bit cliche.
I liked the first and last one, and didn't care for the two in the middle.
Bordertown is a shared setting for different writers work from. There are different neighbourhoods and what I loved most was the magical and non magical creatures sharing their space in a place where neither magic nor technology work the way they are expected. It's a kind of no-man's land where everything is possible.
Favorite characters are Orient, Hale and Dez.
Anyway it's a nice sweet read that can be enjoyed at any time but mostly for youngsters. Adults might find it a bit cliche.
January 13, 2012
This entry in the Borderland Series (2nd book) was just what I expected of it. It was not as good for me as the first book but I do not think that is due to poor writing or stories, just that the stories that did not appeal to me were meant for someone else. That is the great thing about the Borderland Series, and Bordertown; there are stories for every individual (though I think it helps in most cases if you led a punk rock lifestyle in the 80s, which I did). But anyway, I got a good deal on this at Abe books and was pleased with the purchase.
December 24, 2008
Faery has returned to the modern world and now joins reality at Bordertown where the two worlds merge and neither technology nor magic are fully functional. Urban Faeries can be rather mean.
This book is # ISBN-10: 0812522621 # ISBN-13: 978-0812522624
This book is not Bordertown: A Chronicle of the Borderlands # ISBN-13 978-0451145277 or # ISBN-10: 0451145275
For more of these read Emma Bull's "Finder"
Widling's "Borderland 1" or "The Essential Bordertown"
This book is # ISBN-10: 0812522621 # ISBN-13: 978-0812522624
This book is not Bordertown: A Chronicle of the Borderlands # ISBN-13 978-0451145277 or # ISBN-10: 0451145275
For more of these read Emma Bull's "Finder"
Widling's "Borderland 1" or "The Essential Bordertown"
March 30, 2018
‘Where magic meets rock & roll’, says the subtitle, and that pretty much sums it up. This compilation of short(ish) stories about a town on the edge of faerie (which has returned) and the misfits from both worlds who try to live there side by side is fantasy that isn’t Tolkien. It’s the second in a series, but it can be read on its own. Plus, magic! And rock & roll!
March 19, 2009
Elfpunk: Faerie meets rock and roll! And surprisingly readable, too. The Kushner story was decent, I guess. Not what I was expecting; I need to reread. The de Lint was Good de Lint, which to me means archetypal Urban Fantasy, and the "Bach" (Shetterly?) story was also nice.
December 24, 2008
Some of the story tittles are 'Danceland' with the characters Tick-Tick and Orient, & 'Demon' is about an elf brat. 'Mockery' about a sensitive artist.
July 28, 2011
Loved the first book I was exposed to by Terri Windling and associates, so looking forward to this one! Will update as it is completed.
February 9, 2012
I wrote about this book (among other things) here.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews