Borderland (Ed. Terri Windling et al)

[ase]

Borderland (Ed. Terri Windling et al): I read several of the Borderland books in my mid-teens. It's one of the shared worlds that popped up during the '80's fad. This one is set in an indeterminate "now" where Faerie has unexpectedly overlapped with "our" world, creating the Borderlands the series is named for, where humans and elves flock, exiled or escaping from the boredom of their mundane worlds. The series tends to focus on the hip young urban scene, dominated by punk fashion, dance clubs, and avoiding the gang battles between the elven Bloods and human Pack. The four stories in this collection strikes me focused more on the Cool Idea than too much depth. Emma Bull and Will Shetterly's "Danceland" narrates an episode in the life of a group of Borderland teens. The story isn't bad, but I'm not sure if the style - several characters writing down events as they saw them in a shared journal - helps or hinders it. "Demon", by Midori Snyder, is crippled by wooden prose. The ideas presented are fairly neat, but are ruined in the execution. The third story, Bellamy Bach's "Exile", is minor, and a little angsty, but readable. "Mockery" is the last story, co-written by Ellen Kushner and Bellamy Beach, and is probably my favorite of the collection. It's an extended flashback to the events that catapuled several artists from the "bad" part of the Borderlands into fame. I'm kind of a sucker for "how we got here" stories.

Comments

[filkferengi]

There were various sequels. Did you ever read any of them?

[ase.livejournal.com]

I think I read some of them. I vaugely recall a story about Orient, for example. It's been a while, unfortunately, and I was never as addicted to the Borderlands stuff as I was to say, LMB's novels.