Welcome to Bordertown: New Stories and Poems of the Borderlands

by Holly Black (Editor), Ellen Kushner (Editor)

Overview

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 was the forerunner of today's urban fantasy, introducing authors that included Charles de Lint, Will Shetterly, Emma Bull, and Ellen Kushner. In this volume of all-new work (including a 15-page graphic story), the original writers are now joined by the generation that grew up dreaming of Bordertown, including acclaimed authors Holly Black, Cassandra Clare, Cory Doctorow, Neil Gaiman, Catherynne M. Valente, and many more. They all meet here on the streets of Bordertown in more than twenty new interconnected songs, poems, and stories.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780375897450
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	05/24/2011
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	eBook
Pages:	544
File size:	5 MB
Age Range:	12 Years

About the Author

HOLLY BLACK is the author of bestselling contemporary fantasy books for kids and teens. Some of her titles include The Spiderwick Chronicles, The Modern Faerie Tale series, The Good Neighbors graphic novel trilogy, and her new Curse Workers series, which begins with White Cat. She has been a finalist for both the Mythopoeic Award and Eisner Award, and the recipient of the Andre Norton Award.

ELLEN KUSHNER's award-winning novels include the “mannerpunk” cult classic Swordspoint, The Privilege of the Sword, and Thomas the Rhymer. Kushner’s children’s story, The Golden Dreydl: A Klezmer ‘Nutcracker’, has been produced as a CD (with Shirim Klezmer Orchestra), a chapter book, and onstage by New York’s Vital Theatre. She is known to national public radio audiences as the longtime host of public radio's weekly program Sound & Spirit. She lives in New York City.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 9 Up—After 13 years of being "closed" to the outside world (and 13 years since the publication of Terri Widling's original anthologies), Bordertown has reopened to a new generation of runaways, misfits, and dreamers. This gritty metropolis sits metaphysically at the edge of the World and Realm, populated by mostly teen and 20-something humans; high- and lowborn elves; the occasional cursed human (e.g., Wolfboy); and halfies (Elf/human progeny). Widling and Kushner's "Welcome to Bordertown," the first of 22 stories, poems, and a graphic entry, immerses readers into a fully realized urban fantasy world that runs on unreliable faerie magic and erratic human technology, and pulses with sex, drugs, music, and brutal lawlessness, as a brother seeks out his missing sister and finds a community amid cursed humans and dangerous Elves. This story also sets up the themes carried throughout the collection: identity and authenticity, race and power, and the balance between wonder and naïveté. It's easy to be transported by each entry's rich details and compelling characters, but this page-turner's biggest success is in how veteran authors simultaneously address the themes through traditional fantasy tropes and current reality. Sardonic references to modern tech fads and fantasy trends abound: in Janni Lee Simner's "Crossings," two friends learn that werewolves and vampires (or sinister, opportunistic elves) do not actually make good boyfriends. Some poems are more successful than others, and the graphic story adds perhaps the least to the anthology. Nonetheless, every contribution brings something valuable and new, and readers will leave Charles de Lint's "A Tangle of Green Men," the volume's particularly heart-wrenching and beautiful last story, richer for having had the Bordertown experience, and eager for more.—Riva Pollard, Prospect Sierra Middle School, El Cerrito, CA

School Library Journal

Urban fantasy is a relatively new genre, featuring stories with supernatural elements that are set in contemporary times. This title, an excellent example, comprises an entertaining mix of interconnected stories and poems by such famous authors as Neil Gaiman. All are set in Bordertown, a city that connects the human world with its fantasy counterpart. An ensemble of narrators, including Cassandra Campbell, MacLeod Andrews, Holly Black, and Ellen Kushner, gives strong performances that both welcome fans of urban fantasy and encourage newcomers to understand its lure. While some may find the stories a bit unusual, the narrators’ enthusiasm is engaging. D.J.S. 2013 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine

JANUARY 2013 - AudioFile