I am excited. I am very, very excited. I will try to be coherent in my excitement but I just can't make any guarantees.
First, a little background. When I was younger I used to get a lot of books from the library. A lot. I'd leave the library with more books than I could reasonably read or carry as it turned out. I was an avid reader. As an only child, reading was my biggest summer entertainment. I wouldn't read every book I brought home, but I'd tear a good chunk out of the pile, some just being too uninteresting to warrant more than a few pages.
That's how I discovered Will Shetterly and Elsewhere. It was probably pushing ten years ago and I'm not sure how I ended up finding Elsewhere but it must have been literary fate. I took it home and it was like I'd started a whole new book relationship. Elsewhere was followed by Nevernever and then, a couple years later, The Essential Bordertown which was followed shortly thereafter by Finder. By that point I was getting ready to graduate high school. My relationship with the Bordertown series was already proving to be a lengthy one.
In that time, I had managed to score an used copy of Elsewhere that had never been read. It was, to me, a serious book treasure. The problem with the series was, though, that it was pretty much out of print. That I had gotten my hands on three books of the series was pretty exciting. My copy of Elsewhere also had the original cover art on it. Now, I'm not really that obsessed with books that I care so much about different editions and everything, but I liked the original artwork the most.
Those were the days before I had my own credit card and really had a full understanding of what the internet could do for someone looking for out of print books. I learned that Will Shetterly and Emma Bull, who had written Finder, were just two of many authors that were contributing to the Bordertown Series. The Essential Bordertown was a series of short stories compiled about Bordertown itself. In fact, some internet searching informed me, the original books written about Bordertown were just a compilation of short stories, all out of print, and Will Shetterly and Emma Bull were actually the only contributors to the series that had written full length books about any specific characters. It was kind of a weird way to do things but it really worked. There is a lot of character overlap in the books and between stories and, even though there are so many contributing authors, it all fits together marvelously.
You're probably wondering what's so special about this series to make me giddily and slightly incoherently tell you all about my love for it. Well, I've mentioned before that I enjoy movies set in post apocalyptic worlds. I don't know why. Bordertown is a made up place that is basically a post apocalyptic landscape. It's got its own rules, it's populated largely by young people, and it has a weird faerie race that can kind of do magic but also have their own land just outside of town. Bordertown is a border between the land of faeries and the real world. I know it sounds absurd but for some reason it just works marvelously. You'll have to trust me on this.
So, to back up a little, once I got a credit card I spent more money than I probably should have completing my Bordertown Series. I bought Nevernever, Borderland, Bordertown, and Life on the Border. It was my first real online purchase with my own credit card. It was empowering.
Well, today as I whiled away my seemingly endless work day I found out something wonderful and amazing: there is a new book in the series. Even better yet? It's been out for over a year so it's in paperback. Even better yet? I just bought a Groupon for a discount book website that has over 400 copies of Welcome to Bordertown. Sure, it's hardcover but it's still half the price of the Amazon paperback. I enjoy paperbacks more because they're easier to hold, but getting a book for less than $6 with a coupon and not having to spend any more money on online book shopping that I need to makes me very happy. Do note, though, that if any of our local bookstores had it in stock I'd be headed straight there after work.
Happy birthday to me!
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