The Place - Borderlands Books
Location - 534 Laguna, between Hayes and Fell
Phone - 415-458-8978, 1-888-893-4008

By Alexandria Volk

The Mechanics Institute Library

Columbus Books

San Francisco Public Library

Corsets at the Dark Garden in Hayes Valley

There are times when everyone longs for something a little different on their reading table. Something a little... edgier. Stranger. Fantastic. You could go to a megavolume store, where stacks of the latest horror or science fiction from the big publishers are stacked high, and the clerk might have read some of that speculative fiction, maybe...

Or you could go someplace where they know what weird really can be. Know the whole depths and breadths (not to mention the shallows...) of Horror, Fantasy, and Science Fiction. Someplace where they celebrate the intoxication of books, their smell, feel, and a page's ability to not only contain the words an author endowed it with but whole rafts of our own memories, fears, and sorrows. This place stocks the books we read because we desired to know the limits of the mind; because, deep down, we LIKED
being scared; because we had evidence that the world was more than we thought it was...or is that just more uncertain that we thought it was? Like songs on the radio, books are powerful containers of time and place, evokers of deja vu. If you know what I am talking about, and enjoy the genres of horror, fantasy, or science fiction, you should head to the Hayes Valley, and Borderlands Books.

The shop has both new and used books, leaning towards the used. Need a copy of the British hardback first edition of Stephen King's latest? Canadian or Australian Science Fiction releases? The incredible short stories of Kathe Koja or John Shirley? This year's Stoker Award winners/nominees? A beautiful hardback of Tolkien for a friend? An ancient edition of Lovecraft? Borderlands has all of these, and whatever your taste within their genres, if they do not have it - they can find it for you. Stock turns over fairly well, and the staff makes a point of keeping the place interesting enough to
make customers want to come back frequently. This place appreciates everything from antique pulp to neo noirotica, from paperback thrills to eloquence.

There is a community feel about the place - one that is carefully fostered by the store's owner, Alan Beatts, and his enormously knowledgeable staff, Jeremy and Liza. They make recommendations, talk about the merits of the chapbooks they stock, (try finding small press chapbooks at Barnes and Noble...) and know the latest lowdown on what is being published. They'll
buy the books you are finished with, or trade them for ones you haven't read yet. And on Wednesday night at 7:00pm, there is The Movie: SF, horror, or fantasy - with bowls of free popcorn and free beverages. There are two large televisions in two separate rooms - one room for those who want to watch the movie seriously, and the other room is for those who wish to hone their MST3K heckling skills. The movie schedule is posted on the stores bulletin board, and is also distributed in the store's newsletter (which also showcases Horror fiction from recognised authors), and the staff takes suggestions on what to show. Amazon.com cannot come close to this, no matter how many reader reviews they put up. Having someone you just shared popcorn and a movie with recommend an author that becomes one of your favorites is a wonderful, surreal experience all by itself.

Also on the bulletin board are news of future readings, which take place in the store's atmospheric basement reading vault. Recent readers have included John Shirley, Michael Marano, and a group reading from contributors to the (non-fiction) magazine Morbid Curiosity. Did I mention that Borderlands stocks very interesting periodicals?

If you want to drive, there are parking lots nearby on Gough Street; but the store is a short three-block walk down Grove from the Civic Center BART. The store is also less than a block from the 21 Hayes Muni Line.

I love this place. I am there nearly every week for the movies, and the readings that take place there have been nothing short of incredible. I thought I knew the genre until I started coming to this store - and was rocketed to the awareness of exactly how much there still was to discover. I have made friends here among the bookstacks, and at times simply had a quiet place to sit, read a few pages of an old, favorite story, and savor it in the atmosphere that only a place full of books has: the magic moment of
convergence, of my memories and mind with the mind of another. Kurt Vonnegut calls reading one of the most profound methods of meditation even conceived. They know what that means here. For that, I am not only their customer but somewhat in their debt. Thanks.

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