Borderland - Definition and Overview

Borderland refers to a shared universe created by Terri Windling, and to a fictional place within that universe. The premise of the Borderland books is that at some point in the near future, the "Elflands", the realm of magic populated by post-Tolkien elves "returns" to the world, and is placed in juxtaposition with "The World."

The region of this juxtaposition (which seems at times to be New York, New York and at other times to be geographically underspecified, is the "Borderland" or "Borderlands," and its dystopian metropolis, which combines urban fantasy of various forms with a vaguely post-apocalyptic atmosphere, is "Bordertown" or "B-Town." In the liminal environment of Bordertown and its environs, neither magic nor technology functions "normally," and unpredictable combinations of the two may emerge.

The Borderlands series focuses primarily but not exclusively on the disenfranchised youth culture of Bordertown, as manifest in gang violence, race relations and miscegenation, impromptu forms of social organization, class conflict, generation gaps, and literary criticism. The music of the 1980s is a significant influence.

Anthologies

• Borderland (Anthology)
  • Farrel Din: "Introduction"
  • Steven R. Boyett: "Prodigy"
  • Bellamy Bach: "Gray"
  • Charles de Lint: "Stick"
  • Ellen Kushner: "Charis"

• Bordertown (Anthology)
  • Farrel Din: "Introduction"
  • Emma Bull & Will Shetterly: "Danceland"
  • Midori Snyder: "Demon"
  • Bellamy Bach: "Exile"
  • Ellen Kushner & Bellamy Bach: "Mockery"

• Life on the Border (Anthology)
  • Will Shetterly: Nevernever
  • Ellen Kushner: Lost in the Mail (II)
  • Kara Dalkey: Nightwail
  • Ellen Kushner: Lost in the Mail (III)
  • Midori Snyder: Alison Gross
  • Ellen Kushner: Lost in the Mail (IV)
  • Charles de Lint: Berlin
  • Ellen Kushner: Lost in the Mail (V)
  • Michael Korolenko: Reynardine
  • Ellen Kushner: Lost in the Mail (VI)
  • Craig Shaw Gardner: Light and Shadow
  • Ellen Kushner: Lost in the Mail (VII)
  • Bellamy Bach: Rain and Thunder
  • Emma Bull: For It All (lyrics)
  • Ellen Kushner: Lost in the Mail (VIII-IX)

• The Essential Bordertown: A Traveller's Guide to the Edge of Faerie (Anthology)

Novels

• Elsewhere and Nevernever, by Will Shetterly
• Finder, Emma Bull

External links

• Terri Windling's Official Page (http://www.endicott-studio.com/borderland.html)
• http://www.player.org/pub/u/nathan/border/