postcards from bordertown | bordertownseries.com
Read the whole poem by Delia Sherman here (thank you, Cabinet des Fées!)
>For the halfies and Truebloods of Bordertown.The lives of elves are long.
They are easily bored.
They eat dreams for breakfast,
Are empty again by lunch.
Train travel to the border seems to be picking up some. Maybe it’s Catherynne Valente’s fault.Life (by Steven Chan)
(via beautiful-portals)
QUESTION: How do all of the Bordertown authors go about writing interconnected stories? Is there a big story that connects them all, or is it more that each individual story takes place in the same setting of Bordertown and the same characters appear throughout each?
When you edit an anthology, is it difficult to determine the order the stories will go in?
ANSWER: There’s a lot of communication that goes on between all the Bordertown writers as they’re working on their stories, and then a certain amount of “weaving” of the stories that happens in the editorial process. It’s complicated, but it works. (And it’s a whole lot easier now than it was in the pre-Internet 1980s!)
Ordering stories for an anthology is like ordering pieces of music on a playlist. You have to get the right flow….
From “The Sages of Elsewhere” by Will Shetterly, in Welcome to Bordertown.
This deserves to be on my blog more than once.
Good luck with that!SINGING THIS TO MY CHILDREN.
(Source: vilegoblindaughter)
With a nod to the Feral Houses in Tim Pratt’s WELCOME TO BORDERTOWN story, “Our Stars, our Selves!”Feral House #13 and Feral House #7 by James Griffioen
“As the city of Detroit disappears, nature is flourishing. I am interested in the duplicity of plant life in Detroit as both blindly innocent and somehow deeply sinister. The two feral houses selected here stood within three blocks of the border between Detroit and the old-money suburbs of Grosse Pointe: more than a municipal border, it is one of race, class and social order. In Grosse Pointe, meticulously groomed and maintained ivy walls of homes and institutions are a symbol of social elitism. In Detroit, ivy also flourishes as a symbol of the indomitable spirit of nature.”—Artist James Griffioen
(via abandonedography)
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historygirl2008: How did you come up with the setting for your book?
Terri Windling: I lived in New York City back in the 1980s, which is when the Bordertown series was created. New York was a different place then — dirtier, edgier, more dangerous, but also in some ways more exciting. The downtown music scene was exploding — punk and folk music were everywhere — and it wasn’t as expensive to live there then, so a lot of young artists, musicians, writers, etc. etc. were all living and doing crazy things in scruffy neighborhoods like the East Village.
I was a Fantasy Editor for a publishing company back then — but in those days, “fantasy” to most people meant “imaginary world” books, like Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. A number of the younger writers in the field, however, wanted to create a branch of fantasy that was rooted in contemporary, urban North America, rather than medieval or pastoral Europe. I’d already been working with some of these folks (Charles de Lint, Emma Bull, etc.), who were writing novels that would become the foundations for the current Urban Fantasy field. At the time, these kinds of stories were considered so strange and different, it was actually hard to get them into print.
When I was asked by a publishing company to create a shared-world anthology for Young Adult readers, I wanted to create an Urban Fantasy setting that was something like a magical version of New York…but I didn’t want it to actually be New York. I want it to be any city and every city — a place that anyone from anywhere could go to or relate to. The idea of placing it on the border of Elfland came from the fact that I’d just re-read a fantasy classic called The King of Elfland’s Daughter by the Irish writer Lord Dunsany. I love stories that take place on the borderlands between two different worlds…and so I borrowed this concept, but adapted it to a modern, punky, urban setting.
I drew upon elements of the various cities I knew best — New York, Boston, London, Dublin, maybe even a little of Mexico City, where I’d been for a little while as a teen — and scrambled them up and turned them into Bordertown. There actually IS a Mad River in southern Ohio (where I went to college) and I always thought that was a great name, so I imported it to Bordertown. As for the water being red, that came from the river of blood in the Scottish folk ballad “Thomas the Rhymer,” which Thomas must cross to get into Elfland.
"Excerpt of the Random Buzzers Q&A With Holly Black, Ellen Kushner, and Terri Windling”
Advice for Trueblood travelers, from Trueblood members of The Tough Guide staff…
We will assume you are not so witless as to read this Guide without a proper Cloaking Spell to keep your interest in Bordertown to your own delicate self. It is advisable to renew this spell each time you make your preparations. You will find that even the contemplation of things Human will affect the underlying vibrations of most Spells and Chants, producing discouraging results.
Your interest in crossing the Border will likely fall into one of these categories:
- You are a younger son or daughter of an old and noble House, restricted by inheritance laws, imprisoned by antiquated traditions, bored beyond endurance.
- You are the son or daughter of a common or impoverished House with no tangible prospects in the Realm.
- You’ve been beaten, neglected, cheated, wronged, and nobody understands you.
- You are flawed in physical form, magical function, or by unseemly desires, and you wish to spare your family the disgrace.
- You’ve fallen under the spell of dissident, human-tainted music and ideas…no doubt by patronizing underhill clubs of the sort that have caused Her Majesty’s Horseman no small degree of vexation.
There are two basic ways to cross the Border if you are underage and Under Oath; neither of them honorable or desirable, it must be admitted, but each has proven successful in more cases than the Border Wardens will acknowledge. The first and most foolproof is to have yourself legally Banished from the True and Only Realm by causing a scandal and embarrassing your House. But choose your scandal carefully. You’ll need to create one drastic enough to guarantee Banishment from the Realm, but not so dire that you end up in prison, or worse. Avoid politics and high drama. A nice, dull, tasteful scandal is best.
The second method is to attach oneself to an individual or group already sanctioned for limited Border travel (a merchant with business on both sides of the Border, a family with relatives in Bordertown, a school group or diplomatic mission). Once you have crossed through Elfhaeme Gate (whilst keeping your intentions carefully cloaked), the chaotic nature of magic in Bordertown will allow you to simply…disappear. The authorities will Search for you, of course, but they are easily eluded if you follow these three rules:
- Head immediately for Soho. The Border Patrol will be loath to follow you there, and the Silver Suits (Bordertown’s police force) has no interest in chasing down Border jumpers.
- USE NO MAGIC until you are absolutely certain that the Search has been called off. This is difficult and unpleasant, of course, but unless you are the Heir herself it is unlikely that the Search will last very long. Generally, after four to six months your honor will be so compromised that it will no longer be possible to bring you back and the Search will end.
- Pick up on the local language, fashions, and customs immediately. The more you associate with humans, the less desirable you are as a candidate for repatriation.
Do not attempt to jump the Border in the literal sense. Use your wits to get through Elfhaeme Gate, and then make your escape once you’re on the other side. The Border Wall is a work of master magery, designed by Tildon Sheel himself. Yes, you’ve heard stories of jumpers who’ve succeeded-but most do not survive the jump. So unless death is genuinely preferable to whatever you’re running away from, please, don’t even try.
How to Get to Bordertown from the Realm excerpted from The Tough Guide to Bordertown
Sebastian Keller created this amazing calligraphy inspired by Cory Doctorow’s “Shannon’s Law” from Welcome to Bordertown.
You can read an except of “Shannon’s Law” at Tor.com, or listen to a podfic recording of the entire story from Escape Pod.
This Danceland is in fact in the World, a nice little mirror of its Bordertown counterpart…
(via nativesky)
Today’s B-town music selection comes from author Nalo Hopkinson, who wrote “Ours Is The Prettiest”.
One of the songs that people are dancing to at the Jou’vert parade is “Jumbie Jamboree”, credited to Conrad Eugene Mauge Jr. and originally performed in 1953 Trinidad by calypsonian Lord Intruder.
And Screaming Lord Neville is singing The Mighty Sparrow’s “60 Million French Men Could Not Be Wrong” in the cafe.
Another music recommendation for you from Bordertown Central:
Crash Normada (formerly called Dorlene Love), an international alt-folk-punk band based in Stockholm, Sweden. Their music blends Scandinavian, Balkan, North African, gypsy and klezmer instruments and influence into a riotous sound that would go down well at The Dancing Ferret on a Saturday night.
More info on the band at crashnomada.com.
A little bit of Bordertown in Glasgow…
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