I loved this. I was looking for other books by Alix E. Harrow and when I saw this I fell in love with the cover art. But the story, Oh my goodness, I loved it all. Its short, sure, but so full of depth. I love it. Go read it. There is a link on this title where you can read it on Tor.com. ( )

This story leaves me with the same unsatisfied feeling I had after reading Ten Thousand Doors of January. There is an almost-but-not-quite quality to Harrow's work that has me sitting here underwhelmed and wondering what I'm missing... how hard-hearted am I? Oh! To be so unmoved when everyone around me is awash in mystical magical showers of unfettered literary bliss!? I do appreciate the imaginative underpinnings, and sometimes a turn of the lovely phrase gives me pause, but now that it's all over I can only think, "meh."

Read online at Tor.com
January 2022
#BeatTheBacklog
Hampton Lithonia
Shorts/Fantastical ( )

Winter 2021 (January);

The last of my pieces to knock off my [a:Alix E. Harrow|9823112|Alix E. Harrow|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1605188394p2/9823112.jpg] backlist (until [b:A Spindle Splintered|49187294|A Spindle Splintered|Alix E. Harrow|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|74636201] publishes, of course). Harrow's writing has been lush since her beginnings, and getting to see this restyle of time (and insertion of the 'mapmakers' and just what 'mapmaking' entails in her world) was such a gorgeous gift. I pulled a number of pieces out of this one and am so sad to be at the end of my All Harrow Writing Quest. ( )

Wow.


This is one of the things I love about anthologies, that they are so often filled with perfect gems from authors I would not otherwise encounter. Alix Harrow's story is set in an alternative America where the land is resisting colonisation, where the native peoples have a connection with the land that, Mythago Wood-like, confound attempts to force settlement - but, while into the early 20th Century the United States has barely reached the Mississippi, it still seems that the technology and perseverance and cruelty of the European settlers will dominate.


The POV character is Oona, the progeny of a drunken Irishman and a native Amerind woman, employed through necessity as a Mapmaker, someone able to help the invaders find their way into the hostile land. Harrow wonderfully portrays the dichotomy of seeking to earn a living in the economy imposed by the white man while betraying her own heritage and a people who have shunned her half-breed nature. We also get a glimpse, via footnote, into wider world of native magic; of the headwaters of the Nile being an inland ocean populated by gods, of Ireland filled with hallucinatory mists and transient fairy mounds.


Just beautiful. ( )

Historical, mildly fantasy, this short story is nonetheless heartbreaking and evocative of the whole Company Town mentality. More than anything, it is the drive to live and survive despite being under the power of so many other forces beyond your control that makes this such an emotional tale.

Let's just tack on a decade of forced labor because you're not doing your job. Shame on you for not putting the needs of US over YOU.

Of course, this is absolutely about being marginalized, so beware or forwarned. It could happen to us all.
( )