Skip to content

Bordertown Book Giveaway Contest

People! I am throwing a contest. You can win a copy of Welcome to Bordertown, the awesome anthology that’s relaunching the beloved shared-world contemporary fantasy series.

My story “Our Stars, Our Selves” features a would-be rock star, and in recognition of that fact, here’s what you do to win:

Give me your best imaginary name for a band.

That’s it. Leave your ideal imaginary band name in the comments here, any time between now and midnight Pacific time on Friday, May 20th. I will choose my favorite (I dare not say “the best”), and the winner will be sent a copy of the anthology. One entry per commenter, please. (If I am utterly torn and unable to choose among the top contenders, I will apply some sort of randomization to determine the winner from that pool.) Do include an e-mail of some kind so I can contact you in case you win.

(Fake band names only, please. The point isn’t to promote your emocore shoegaze string quartet, no matter how cool your name is, though of course I wish you the best of luck.)

I mean, I assume everyone else is like me and my friends, in that every time you utter or encounter an unusual phrase, you immediately declare, “That’s going to be the name of my next band.” (I’ve named lots of fictional bands, from Allison Wonderland to Feral Sex Herd to Vicodin Love Confession — though I had to take that last one out of a novel when an actual band started using it as their name.) Now you can turn that band-naming impulse into sweet free book profit!

Published incontest!

80 Comments

  1. Patrick Derrickson Patrick Derrickson

    My band name:

    The Borderland Express.

  2. secretseasons secretseasons

    I am saddened to report that “St Vincent and the Grenadines” — which I’ve always thought was an awesome band name — is a real band with such hits as “Hee Hank ‘t Is Je Vrouw” (they’re Dutch).

    So I guess that doesn’t count as my entry.

  3. admin admin

    Ah, the heartbreak of reality stealing our good ideas! I know it well.

  4. The name of the band is….

    Capitan Crunch and the Cereal Killers!

    Silly metal all the way!

  5. secretseasons secretseasons

    OK, this thread is really bumming me out. I have a text file (‘bandnames.txt’) of lots of these. I hadn’t checkup on them before. Two more that I thought were genius but are real bands: “The Middle Eight” and “The Anchor Babies”.

    I give up.

  6. secretseasons secretseasons

    s/checkup/checked up/

  7. Tim Pratt Tim Pratt

    Aw, man, and The Anchor Babies would have been a major contender! (You can post one without checking if it’s real. I’ll probably never know. I’m lazy.)

  8. My next band will be named Thaumaturge.

  9. Josh Gentry Josh Gentry

    Is It Organic

  10. How about “Righteous Eggplant?”

  11. Jordy Jensky Jordy Jensky

    In college my roommate and I put together a list of fictional band names. The ones I remember:
    Fascist Bicycle
    Uncle Farooq
    13 1/2 MPH Curve

    I know, shocking none of them ever came to fruition 😉

  12. Mikael Dahl Mikael Dahl

    Wheezy Lumpkins would be my suggestion.

    The best band name I’ve heard comes from a Dylan Moran stand-up show: Mongoloid Porn Inferno
    “That sounds like such a busy evening.”

  13. Emily Emily

    Judas and the Oppressors.

  14. Ryan Nutick Ryan Nutick

    My band name would:

    Flawed Dog Rising

  15. Cheryl Hinterleitner Cheryl Hinterleitner

    The Spacey-Wasey Project

  16. I cannot tell you how excited I am that they’re relaunching Bordertown! I REALLY WANT that book so I’m entering your contest.

    How about Ophelia Dreaming

    or Strangers in Strange Lands?

    You see? I’m willing to embarrass myself for a chance to win this book!

  17. I have a lot of potential band names (and no musical talent) but my latest:

    The Split Infinitives.

  18. Krystal Clemons Krystal Clemons

    Band name: A tribute to my sixth finger
    first album title: Never there but always in thought

  19. MikeMagpuyo MikeMagpuyo

    Band name thinking = you’ll never be bored again.
    My suggestion would be, “Circus Specimen”

  20. Carmen Carmen

    The Coffee-Fueled Straycats

  21. Sasha Sasha

    “Edgy hedgehogs” imagine hedgehogs with mohawks. 🙂

  22. Purple Kinkajous

  23. terri m moore terri m moore

    Last Exit In Ohio!

    saw it on a sign once.

  24. Ken Ken

    Vampires with Amplifiers

  25. Anne Delekta Anne Delekta

    screech of dissonant flowers

  26. Krystina Krystina

    What about: “[insert awesome band name here]” as my entry.

  27. Hmm, a band name…

    I tease my roommate constantly that she’s going to front for a band called Demented Velociraptor. Then she usually roars at me. 😀

  28. Okay, I had a few ideas, but since we’re limited to one, I’ll go with…Drumroll please…

    Captain Termite and the Peg Legs

  29. Kali and the Backup Smurfs

  30. Nellie Nellie

    Cataclysmic Breakdown. 🙂

  31. Stacey Stacey

    Big Dirty Limo.

  32. “Getting Dressed Out of the Dryer”

  33. googlefish googlefish

    Black Heart Envy

  34. Drew Drew

    mmm how about “twisted butterflies”?

  35. S Lynn S Lynn

    “Temporary Burning Sensation”.

  36. […] it. Leave your ideal imaginary band name in the comments on my blog, any time between now and midnight Pacific time on Friday, May 20th. I will choose my favorite (I […]

  37. Laminda Laminda

    “Matty and the Groves”, who would play traditional folk ballads with punk rock intensity.

  38. Amy Z. Amy Z.

    One Last Minute

  39. Jess Miller Jess Miller

    Savage Hippies

    GroveMinders

  40. Beth Beth

    Physic Dingo

  41. Katya Katya

    My friend and I made up an imaginary hipster band in high school so we could tell people about it and say “you’ve never heard of it”. The band was Black & White Suicide Mission and our first single was called Rocking the Dunce Cap.

  42. Em Em

    I’ve always wanted to name a band “Green on Thursday”.

  43. Jennifer Jennifer

    Spastic Amoebae.

  44. Oh, this is the first I’ve heard of the book. And it sounds like a great read! Thank you for the chance to win a copy. 🙂

    Hmmm, band name… that is hard as I’m not sure what style of music, but I will try one for you. 🙂

    Space Finns

  45. Heads in the Sand.

  46. Mia MacHatton Mia MacHatton

    Seven Chicken Nightmare.

  47. Barry J. Northern Barry J. Northern

    Arthur Ian Legend and the Bubblebath Marching Band

Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.