About the creation of the Borderlands...part 4 by Terri Windling I must admit that when I wrote the first words of "Gray" over a decade ago ("She wakes in an alley and can't remember how she got there. There is blood under her fingernails..."), I never quite imagined Bordertown would still be so vividly alive to readers so many years later. Despite the fact that the books are damned hard to find, somehow they still seem to get around--the music's still playing, the bikes are still roaring, and a whole new generation is heading to the Dancing Ferret to claim a beer from Farrel Din. The various Borderland sites on the Net, role-playing, and events like this one, have allowed a sense of community to develop on a Border that is nationwide...which is especially pleasing since the books have always been about the creation of community. When I read the words of people (particularly young people) on the Bulletin Board, I am touched more than I can possibly express to discover that Borderland actually seems to have done what we all once hoped it would do: we hoped the tales would resonate with kids (and the "kid" within us all) during the dark and difficult passages of life, holding out the idea that community, friendship and creativity are potent forms of magic. It is still, all these years later, difficult for me to think long about that devastating time when I was fifteen, homeless, hungry, and in need of a helluva lot more than adult platitudes to change my life. Books, friends, a love of art and music, stubborness and sheer dumb luck got me through it. All these things are ingredients in the basic stew of Borderland. Each writer who has entered the project has added their own ingredients to the stew, creating a taste beyond anything I could ever have dreamed of cooking up alone. To Ellen, Midori, Charles, and Steven who first braved the streets of Bordertown; to Will and Emma who subsequently explored those streets so thoroughly and so well; to each of the other talented writers who have contributed to Borderland to date, I owe great thanks. I only laid the cobbles; you're the ones who brought the streets to life. And to the Borderland community (all you folks who are buying the books, passing them on, nagging bookstores to carry them) I owe the greatest thanks of all, for keeping it all going. See you on the Border. back a page..