October has been a month of milestones here At Boundary’s Edge. The major one is somewhat given away by the title of this post, but I’ll get to that in a minute. It’s been three years and ten months (to the day, in a fun coincidence) since I started this blog, and I never imagined it would have led me to where I am today. Back in December of 2018 I had no real plans other than talking about some of my favourite books. I planned to write a review a week, and if I could keep to that, I’d be happy.

Well. That escalated quickly. I’m happy to say that I have maintained a perfect record of posting at least once a week. Usually I post a lot more, and it’s spread far beyond book reviews. There are, of course, plenty of those. But now they are joined by TV reviews, discussions on genre, and the occasionally angry rant. If I have a thought about science fiction, it finds a home on this blog.

Against all my expectations, there is seemingly an audience for this sort of thing. Quite a big one, actually. As of this month, my all-time views ticked over the 50,000 mark. A truly unfathomable number. And yes, some of those are bots. And some are curmudgeons dropping by to quibble with my interpretation of their favourite book. But a view is a view. So thanks.

And that’s basically what this post is. A big old thank you letter to anyone who might read it, be they bot or biological. What better way to commemorate 50,000 views than to spend my 600th post spreading some of the love around. Buckle in nerds. We’re about to get wholesome.

Thanks to:

The Writers

Obviously, this wouldn’t be much of a book review site without books to review. So the first thank you goes to all the authors (living and dead) who made such wonderful creations for me to enjoy. An extra special thank you to those authors who have emailed in, agreed to be interviewed, and other wise shared my reviews. The appreciation goes both ways.

The Readers

Wanting to find other people who read the same sort of books as me was a big reason for starting At Boundary’s Edge, and I have definitely achieved that. Like Pitbull, I have become Mr Worldwide in my reach. Well, that or way more people use VPNs than I thought. The point is that I now converse with people from around the world on the topic of science fiction. Every comment, like, share, and tweet is very much welcome. A special mention must be made to the readers of Warhammer 40,000 fiction, who continue to make up a sizable portion of my viewing figures.

The Reviewers

Partly due to my focus, partly due to my personality, I’m not much of one for community outreach. Nevertheless, I have somehow stumbled headfirst into some kind of bookish online community. It has (generally speaking) been a great place to hang out and chat about books, even if my insights and wisdom are under appreciated. Twitter, The SFF Oasis, and The Red Company, have all provided great conversation, so thanks for that.

The Musicians

I was just going to talk about books, but then I thought ‘Hey. Why not branch out?” That is how I started reviewing heavy metal and musicals on this blog. Only the SF-adjacent stuff, of course. I am a man of principle. But a big thank you to the musicians who have got in touch over the years and let me take a sneaky peak at their work.

The SPSFC

Somehow, I managed to blag my way into judging a global competition. Not entirely sure how I’m still getting away with it, but a big thank you to Hugh Howey and Duncan Swan for letting me in. Thanks also go to the authors who willingly offer up their work for me to sample, and for not being too put out when I don’t hang around for after-dinner conversation. But the biggest thanks goes to my judging team, past and present. Ryan, Ale, Paul, Athena. This one’s to you.

And finally, the biggest thanks of all go to:

Me. Because I couldn’t have hoped for finer company. Here’s to the next 50,000 views.