Welcome to Bordertown

Starred review from April 15, 2011

Bordertown: where the human and faerie worlds intersect, a place populated by runaways and the lost, powered by an unreliable mix of magic and technology.

Thirteen years ago, the way to this shared world was closed after four anthologies (The Essential Bordertown, 1998, etc.) and three novels (Elsewhere, 1991, etc.). Now, Kushner (one of the original contributors) and Black (who grew up reading the original tales) have reopened the way, and once again teens uncomfortable in the world—or just looking for excellent fantasy fiction—can escape to it. This is punk-rock, DIY fantasy, full of harsh reality and incandescent magic. "Noobs" will be quickly acclimated by the introductory "Bordertown Basics," an irreverent tour-guide's view with everything the visitor needs to know. Many of the stories echo with loss and discomfort; standouts include "Crossings" by Janni Lee Simner, a chilling look at the difference between dreams and reality, and "A Tangle of Green Men," Charles De Lint's heartbreaking examination of love, loss and life. Poems and songs (from Patricia A. McKillip, Neil Gaiman and Jane Yolen, among others) balance the fiction, and if some of the songs don't play so great to tone-deaf readers, they still bring the importance of music home. A few stories fall a little flat, but these tiny flaws don't detract from a masterful anthology.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

Starred review from June 1, 2011

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 naivete. 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

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2011
Grades 9-12 This collection of stories and poems expands on the Borderland series edited by Terri Windling in 1986. Editors Black and Kushner have conceptualized this urban-fantasy collection around the city of Bordertown, at the border of the human world and the elfin realm. Bordertown is where both human and elf runaways searching for meaning end up. Magic may or may not work here, technology is sketchy at best, and there is no Internet. The door to this border town has been closed for 13 years when this collection of interconnected stories takes place, but for residents of the city, it has only been 13 days, and this is creating problems. The editors have amassed a tremendous collection of stories, poems, and even a graphic story by many of todays top fantasy writers. There is no weak link: from the opening guide to Bordertown Basics and the introductory story by Kushner and Windling, readers will be sucked into the lives of those who find themselves living on the outskirts of all worlds.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)