Sponsor Letter August 13th, 2015

Hello Sponsors,

I hope that the end of the summer is treating you all well.  We've been busy here at the shop with one thing and another, but that's really nothing new.  I've got a bit of news for you but we're mostly in the process of completing a bunch of stuff on the "to-do" list.  We're quite close to having the on-line credit card payment system set up so, next year, we'll have the on-line option that many people have asked about.  I'm also finalizing the design for both the knife and watch that I've mentioned.  Finally, we should have t-shirts available for you by the social next week.

Speaking of the social, it's going to be a little bit more low-key than that last few and it's just next week (on Thursday, August 20th).  I'm looking forward to a quiet-er event since it will give me more time to say hi and chat with the folks attending.  But, we do have a few neat things planned.  You'll find information about that at the end of this note.  If you can't make this one, mark your calendar for the next (and last for the year), Saturday, October 24th.  Since it's right on top of Halloween, we're thinking that costumes will be very much in order.  There might even be a contest.

Custom Bags - All the bags that folks ordered from Rickshaw Bagworks arrived last month and almost everyone has picked theirs up.  When we opened the boxes I was struck by some of the . . . vibrant . . . color choices that people made.  Everyone seemed to love their new bags and they've almost all been picked up.  There have been a fair number of orders coming in through Rickshaw's website but I suspect that some of you have been waiting to order.  That's totally cool, but you should know that the 20% discount will expire on December 31st.  So don't wait too long to order, if you're planning to.  The promo code is <Redacted.  Please email for code.> and you can find all the information about ordering at the sponsors' blog - http://borderlands-sponsors.blogspot.com/2015/08/sponsor-letter-july-16th-2015.html

On the topic of custom bags, we've been collecting pictures of folks with their bags when they come by the shop to pick them up.  If you ordered a bag, would you send me a picture of you with it?  I think it'll be fun to put them up on the sponsors' blog as well as making a single big picture to send to the folks at Rickshaw as a thank you.

Sponsors' Blog - I thought it would be nice to have a single place where you can lookup the list of sponsor benefits and also find an archive of the notes that I've been sending out.  Also, I don't like to attach pictures to emails because of size limitations so having a place to post pictures from events like the Socials seemed like a nice thing.  So, you'll find all that information at http://borderlands-sponsors.blogspot.com.

Tuesday Cocktails - We've been meeting-up on Tuesdays at a local bar, The Pilsner Inn < http://www.pilsnerinn.com/ > for the last month or so and it's been a lot of fun.  This week's major topics of conversation were whether the new Star Wars movie is going to be worth a damn, what a nano-tech battle field would be like, and how to transition a print magazine to an on-line one.

If that sounds like a nice way to spend a Tuesday evening, come and hang out in the spacious backyard and enjoy a drink with some of Borderlands' staff and your fellow sponsors.  Some combination of us will be there from 9:00 pm - midnight every Tuesday night.  No need to RSVP and any number of guests and friends are welcome.  The address is 225 Church Street, near Market, and they are INCREDIBLY convenient to public transit -- the MUNI Metro Underground (via F,K, L, and M lines at Church Street,) and J and N lines stop less than a block away.

Upcoming Special Event - Join NASA Ames geologist (and Borderlands sponsor) Orkan Umurhan for an absolutely fascinating, sponsors-only presentation about the New Horizons mission to Pluto on Tuesday, October 27th at 6:30pm.  Orkan is a geologist on the New Horizon's team and he'll discuss several aspects of the mission, including the spacecraft design (it's only the size of a grand piano), the naming scheme for features (there's a black mass, originally called "the whale," that's now referred to as Cthulhu), and other amazing discoveries (there appear to be nitrogen ice glaciers on Pluto's surface!).  One of the first SF novels I read was Have Spacesuit, Will Travel and the scene when Kip almost dies trying to get to shelter on the surface of Pluto still sticks in my memory.  I'm really looking forward to this event and I hope to see some of you there.

The Next Sponsor Social

We're coming right up on the third Sponsor Social so, if you're planning on coming, now would be a good time to RSVP if you haven't already.  Of course, you can just show up at the door, but we'd love to have a good idea how many people to expect.  In case you've misplaced the date, it's going to be Thursday, August 20th, from 7 to 11 pm.  Entry will be through the Cafe at 870 Valencia St.  You're welcome to bring a guest, but please let us know if you're doing so.

Paulson Wines - People enjoyed talking with Monty Paulson of Pat Paulson Vineyards < http://www.ppvwines.com > and tasting our wine selections so much last party, we thought we'd do it again this month.  Also, Monty will be have the upper tier red that we tasted last time on sale.  The wines are all quite nice and priced very reasonably.  On top of that, a portion of each sale goes to Borderlands so it's a nice way to support the store.  After all, you might want a nice glass of red to enjoy along with that book you just bought.  And, by the way, if you live out of town and can't make the party, you can order the wine on-line from Monty at http://www.ppvwines.com/collections/borderlands-books-wines-that-benefit-your-favorite-local-bookstore .

Private Book Sale - Jeremy Lassen, editor of Night Shade Books and long-time Borderlands staffer, is dealing with the common problem of living in San Francisco: too many books and not enough house.  So, he's trimming down his collection and has agreed to give our sponsors first chance at the books he's not keeping.  They are mostly modern first editions in the SF, fantasy and horror genres and the prices are going to be very reasonable.  One quite rare item for sale will be the Scream Press limited edition of Skeleton Crew by Stephen King -- signed by the author.  One of only 1000 copies, it's profusely illustrated by noted artist J. K. Potter and signed by him as well.  Since the sale is directly from Jeremy, payment options will be limited to cash or checks.  So bring your check book and be ready to fill in some gaps in your collection.

T-shirts - Barring surprises, we'll have our sponsor-only baseball t-shirts on sale for the first time at the social.  We're still sorting out final pricing but they're going to be much less expensive than you would expect for a top-quality shirt from American Apparel.  In my next note to you, I'll have information about how to order them to be shipped to you (that said, if you don't want to wait, drop me an email or give the store a call anytime after the 20th and we'll be happy to send one out to you).

As always, thank you for supporting Borderlands and I'll hope to see you around the shop.

Regards,

Alan