Borderland: Where Magic Meets Rock and Roll

Borderland: Where Magic Meets Rock and Roll (1986) edited by Terri Windling and Mark Alan Arnold

The Borderland anthologies contain stories by some of my favorite authors, in this volume Charles de Lint and Ellen Kushner contributed stories, along with Steven R Boyett and Bellamy Bach.

I’ve been a fan of shared world anthologies since Thieves’ World, and although Borderlands is nowhere near close to Thieves’ World (and some would say that’s a good thing) in that there were not the shared characters and story lines that made TW so compelling, there were still four solid stories in this collection. One story was set in the past, soon after the world had been changed by the reappearance of Faerie, the other three stories were set in the present, long after the world had adjusted to the presence of Faerie and Bordertown became whatever it is that it became.

The first story, “Prodigy,” was my least favorite. I had a hard time caring about Scooter. I saw why he did the things he did, but that was about it. And the last line of the story annoyed me to no end. I’d have punched him, had that been me.

The second story, “Gray” by Bellamy Bach, I liked better, although the shifting viewpoint confused me initially. And starting with Gray, the remainder of the stories were written from a female point of view. I have no idea if that affected my opinion of the stories, but I did like the remainder better.

I had high expectations for the last two stories, “Stick” by Charles de Lint, and “Charis” by Ellen Kushner, because I am particularly fond of their writing.

“Stick” seemed very familiar to me, so it’s possible I read it in another anthology.

“Charis” was a story I know I had not read anywhere previously, and although I enjoyed it very much, it was painfully sad. Ellen Kushner had the teen female mindset down pat, but managed to keep her from being an annoying twit (that’s a very hard line to walk, and many writers fail it.). So although it was good, it wasn’t the most chipper ending for an anthology.

All in all, I’m glad someone was able to find a copy of this book for me, as it is long out of print, because I love reading new stories by Charles de Lint and Ellen Kushner, but it was somewhat dark, and I can see that it might not be for everyone.
Rating: 7/10

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