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An Explorer's Cartography of Already Settled Lands
Fran Wilde's fantasy short story "An Explorer's Cartography of Already Settled Lands" is a Tor.com Original
One can't set a course without a map. A ship's navigator seeks to map a world already inhabited in order to find a space for their ship's passengers to settle. In doing so, they find their course altered as the world and their place in it changes.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
One can't set a course without a map. A ship's navigator seeks to map a world already inhabited in order to find a space for their ship's passengers to settle. In doing so, they find their course altered as the world and their place in it changes.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
21 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 22, 2020
About the author
Fran Wilde
114 books529 followersTwo-time Nebula Award-winner Fran Wilde has (so far) published nine novels, a poetry collection, and over 70 short stories for adults, teens, and kids. Her stories have been finalists for six Nebula Awards, a World Fantasy Award, four Hugo Awards, four Locus Awards, and a Lodestar. They include her Nebula- and Compton Crook-winning debut novel Updraft, and her Nebula-winning, Best of NPR 2019, debut Middle Grade novel Riverland. Her short stories appear in Asimov’s Science Fiction, Tor.com, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Shimmer, Nature, Uncanny Magazine, and multiple years' best anthologies.
The Managing Editor for The Sunday Morning Transport, Fran teaches or has taught for schools including Vermont College of Fine Arts’ MFA and St. Mary’s College of Maryland. She writes nonfiction for publications including The Washington Post, The New York Times, NPR, and Tor.com. You can find her on Instagram, Bluesky, and at franwilde.net.
The Managing Editor for The Sunday Morning Transport, Fran teaches or has taught for schools including Vermont College of Fine Arts’ MFA and St. Mary’s College of Maryland. She writes nonfiction for publications including The Washington Post, The New York Times, NPR, and Tor.com. You can find her on Instagram, Bluesky, and at franwilde.net.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
April 30, 2020
You measured and cut so all the maps fit together. You laughed and forgot, and teased and remembered, and you grew so big you defined the entire world.
if you’ve been reading any of my flailing attempts at book-reviewing lately, you’ve already heard me complaining about how frustrated i am by the inverse relationship between the length of my self-quarantine and the length of my attention span.
this story was not a good choice for karen-tine.
there is some undeniably lovely writing here; delicately turnt phrases and an evocative lyrical atmosphere, but right now i got a bunch of slippery noodles where my brain should be, and the story, its message, even its shape—i was more perplexed than anything else. it leads off strong with a ship’s arrival upon an unfamiliar shore—dropping expository backstory to establish past events, and suggesting a future course of action.
and then there are a series of short prose chunks that are sort of journal entries chronicling the exploration/anthropological impressions of the region, but soon become less strictly observational as the segments begin to feature the navigator who is presumably writing these as they assimilate over an unknown but significant period of time, and i’m not really sure if this dialogue is meant to be written or if we’ve moved away from the initial conceit and if we have, why are they still marked off in these entry-sized chonks, with separate, additional narrative chonks and why do we need both and what's the difference and to whom are the dramatically italicized tagline-sounding sentences addressed and again, i’m not the sharpest needle in the haystack these days, but the transitions were unclear to me long before You come into it.
it’s my fault—i was disengaged early on. when the first set of ‘journal entries’ began, they read like a series of imagery-heavy magical realism flash fiction pieces and i’m not in a place where i can *do* abstractions right now.
this:
The Salt Maps and the Blood Maps
The salt maps of the people who live by the brackish river are carved into the cliff walls, a history of people who hunger for the taste of the long-forgotten sea. Each layer of the map digs the river’s embankment deeper. The river, which once ran smoothly from the mountains to the sea, now crashes and falls from a great height and runs along the map’s edge until it disappears underground.
At one layer, less than a third of the way down, the salt maps run pink. There, a people to the east of the brackish river had ventured near and carved their own maps on the skins of their neighbors. But they’d found the water sour and left, and those few who had hidden within the carved salt walls of their history began to emerge again, and dig the river deeper, and wider still.
loses me halfway through the first paragraph because THE BRAIN IS JUST NOODLES.
but i thought i’d gotten a handle on it—that this was going to be a story comprised of journal entries about the region’s inhabitants—disconnected bits of pretty poetic fluff without narrative. i’d resigned myself to the likelihood that i’d be re-reading sentences several times without the anchor of action or character or plot to keep me invested, but then when it started deviating from this initial structure, i got even more bewildered, and while there were some effective passages with sad-pretty-achy writing, i didn’t *get* it as a story.
welcome to olive garden. i'll be your meal today.
read it for yourself here:
https://www.tor.com/2020/04/22/an-exp...
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November 22, 2022
A spaceship full of sleeping passengers is looking for a new home as it lands on a planet. The planet is unfortunately already inhabited but the ship’s ran out of fuel. So they’re stuck there, whether they like it or not. The navigator goes out to explore and map the world, hoping to find a place that’s suitable for them to settle down.
I don’t think I quite get the point of this story to be honest. It’s also a bit too boring for me. But there’s no denying that it’s got some really beautiful, lyrical prose. And I do like the premise of the story.
I don’t think I quite get the point of this story to be honest. It’s also a bit too boring for me. But there’s no denying that it’s got some really beautiful, lyrical prose. And I do like the premise of the story.
April 25, 2020
2.5 stars - just okay. A spaceship lands on a new world, but the captain and crew find to their dismay that the planet is already inhabited. They're stuck - the ship hasn't got enough fuel to go anywhere else. So the ship's navigator takes off to explore this world and see if there's an empty place they can fit in and be hidden to the rest of the world's inhabitants, while the ship shrinks down to the size of a rock, and the crew goes into some kind of sleep and awaits the navigator's return.
It's a murky story plot-wise, though there are some lovely descriptions of strange and creative ways of mapping that the people on this world use. That’s the best part of this story, frankly. I'm extremely unclear on what the point was. Life goes on and you do your best?
It's a murky story plot-wise, though there are some lovely descriptions of strange and creative ways of mapping that the people on this world use. That’s the best part of this story, frankly. I'm extremely unclear on what the point was. Life goes on and you do your best?
December 7, 2020
This was an interesting concept that fell down with its execution.
The story follows a third-generation navigator, born and raised on a ship that has been traversing the stars all that time in search of a new home for it's passengers and crew. By the time they arrive on a new planet at the beginning of the story, they've reached a point of no return. With only the one option in front of them, the navigator sets out to find a place to settle on what is an already inhabited world.
Whilst the navigator sets out to map the land, the story soon develops into a map of their life instead. As the crew and passengers on the ship wait (largely comatose, it seems) for the navigator's return, the navigator begins to assimilate into the new world without them.
The main issue I had with this story was the way the author chose to tell it. It felt like they hadn't decided whether this would be a story told in verse or not, so the end result was a lyrical, but largely vague, narrative that negatively impacted the storytelling. It felt fragmented, lacking in any sense of flow, and I became frustrated with it quite early on.
This could have been great, but it felt unresolved because of the issues above. I interpreted the main character as being gender-fluid, which added an element of representation that was not only great to see, but fit well within the context of the story (i.e.: three generations from now, it seems absolutely plausible that we will no longer feel so personally attached to a gender label - long live the day). But I wish it had done more to develop the character rather than just plot their life's trajectory on a map.
A bit of a let down, but an exciting idea that I hope can be developed further in future.
The story follows a third-generation navigator, born and raised on a ship that has been traversing the stars all that time in search of a new home for it's passengers and crew. By the time they arrive on a new planet at the beginning of the story, they've reached a point of no return. With only the one option in front of them, the navigator sets out to find a place to settle on what is an already inhabited world.
Whilst the navigator sets out to map the land, the story soon develops into a map of their life instead. As the crew and passengers on the ship wait (largely comatose, it seems) for the navigator's return, the navigator begins to assimilate into the new world without them.
The main issue I had with this story was the way the author chose to tell it. It felt like they hadn't decided whether this would be a story told in verse or not, so the end result was a lyrical, but largely vague, narrative that negatively impacted the storytelling. It felt fragmented, lacking in any sense of flow, and I became frustrated with it quite early on.
This could have been great, but it felt unresolved because of the issues above. I interpreted the main character as being gender-fluid, which added an element of representation that was not only great to see, but fit well within the context of the story (i.e.: three generations from now, it seems absolutely plausible that we will no longer feel so personally attached to a gender label - long live the day). But I wish it had done more to develop the character rather than just plot their life's trajectory on a map.
A bit of a let down, but an exciting idea that I hope can be developed further in future.
June 21, 2020
I don't know what I just read. What was the point of this story?!
The only beautiful thing is the cover.
The only beautiful thing is the cover.
January 1, 2022
Did I understand anything? No.
Was the writing still beautiful? Yes.
Was the writing still beautiful? Yes.
Read
May 17, 2020"????????????????" was my reaction as soon as i read it and it still is.
i liked that every character was nonbinary (they/them) although it was probably more to show that they are archetypes more than single individuals. other than that i found the writing hard to follow and i think i can safely say I didn't fully get this. it's about how you can explore and become part of a new world as you trace its maps and i guess everyone can decide what to make of it for themselves, as it often seems to be the case with short fiction.
i liked that every character was nonbinary (they/them) although it was probably more to show that they are archetypes more than single individuals. other than that i found the writing hard to follow and i think i can safely say I didn't fully get this. it's about how you can explore and become part of a new world as you trace its maps and i guess everyone can decide what to make of it for themselves, as it often seems to be the case with short fiction.
May 6, 2020
“This is a map of my mistakes. These lines were good defense for generations.”
Satisfactory writing, but a pointless short story. Whatever the author had in mind is not conveyed.
“A map of errors, laid over another map that also contained errors, could, in the right light, reveal truths and a way forward.”
Satisfactory writing, but a pointless short story. Whatever the author had in mind is not conveyed.
“A map of errors, laid over another map that also contained errors, could, in the right light, reveal truths and a way forward.”
December 9, 2020
Meh. See Tadiana's, nearby. I kept hoping to make sense of it. Never really did. 2.5-ish stars.
June 9, 2021
Normally, while writing a review, I say a couple of things about the plot and go on to describe what I enjoyed and what I did not.
However, I can't do that with this one because I genuinely cannot tell you what the story is about.
I mean yeah, it is about unexplored lands and map making but what more is there?
Rating this one is also a bit tricking. But I think it's fair to say that when you read something with no plot and zero development, things don't look good. And given the fact that this lowkey reminded me of the time I was reading To the lighthouse I am going to give it the same rating and put it on the same shelves.
P.S. This is tagged as LGBT, but I have no idea why. Does anyone know why that is?
However, I can't do that with this one because I genuinely cannot tell you what the story is about.
I mean yeah, it is about unexplored lands and map making but what more is there?
Rating this one is also a bit tricking. But I think it's fair to say that when you read something with no plot and zero development, things don't look good. And given the fact that this lowkey reminded me of the time I was reading To the lighthouse I am going to give it the same rating and put it on the same shelves.
P.S. This is tagged as LGBT, but I have no idea why. Does anyone know why that is?
July 24, 2020
This is a really unique short story. The writing was beautiful. However—I didn't get much from it in the way of a plot or characters. It's worth reading for the quality of the prose, but I would suggest you go into it for the descriptions and not for a plot or character development. (There is character development, just in a rather intangible way.)
You can read this online here, if you're interested.
You can read this online here, if you're interested.
November 1, 2020
This was an evocative and beautifully written story about a world inhabited by non-binary people trying to make sense of a wrong turn they must have took in their journey. The revelation they have is that they were following a purposefully wrong map, drawn to protect its readers from danger. The conclusion which comes wistfully is that a map with mistakes, if it were transparent and placed on top of a map of 'truths', could tell us a more nuanced story about the past and about things we should avoid.
June 9, 2020
This was such a beautiful story. If you're looking for something satisfying and short, this is it.
April 26, 2020
A very melancholy tone, overall.
May 13, 2020
Unique storytelling with a deep heart. This short story was at times hard to follow but had incredible thought applied to it. Thoroughly enjoyed.
May 22, 2020
Wonderfully evocative story.
February 26, 2021
A small piece of atmospheric prose about alien beings searching for a place for themselves in an already settled land, about maps and how they offer an insight into peoples, about immersing oneself in a once alien world and about unavoidable changes along one's path.
It is an interesting piece of prose that manages to make a simple story more mysterious and moving by never describing things in a straightforward way, leaving many gaps for the reader to fill. However, the metaphor of the map becomes too strained for me before the end, and at times the prose seems to be flowery for floweriness' sake, or at least trying to elevate a relatively simple thought to profoundness through poetry. For me, it becomes a bit hit-or-miss. On the other hand, I love the way the author describes the Ship and its inhabitants and mechanics.
Overall, a short piece that's well worth the few minutes you need to get through it (it's free, so there's no reason not to try, at least), may put you in a melancholic mood or make you think, but it's far from brilliant.
It is an interesting piece of prose that manages to make a simple story more mysterious and moving by never describing things in a straightforward way, leaving many gaps for the reader to fill. However, the metaphor of the map becomes too strained for me before the end, and at times the prose seems to be flowery for floweriness' sake, or at least trying to elevate a relatively simple thought to profoundness through poetry. For me, it becomes a bit hit-or-miss. On the other hand, I love the way the author describes the Ship and its inhabitants and mechanics.
Overall, a short piece that's well worth the few minutes you need to get through it (it's free, so there's no reason not to try, at least), may put you in a melancholic mood or make you think, but it's far from brilliant.
May 19, 2021
Really a strange story where the reader had to be in the author's mindset to understand the story. The common definition of a map was certainly not there. Shadows however were. It seems that travelers from across the many galaxies got lost in the definitions of maps and shadows.
An interesting short story to wrap your mind around, but I don't think I understood what the author was trying to say - perhaps enjoy the moment where you are?
An interesting short story to wrap your mind around, but I don't think I understood what the author was trying to say - perhaps enjoy the moment where you are?
April 29, 2020
Short story, read for free on Tor.com: https://www.tor.com/2020/04/22/an-exp...
Loved the idea that anything can be a map. The author's prose creates beautiful metaphors that were heartfelt.
Representation notes: Main character is from a culture without a gender binary.
Loved the idea that anything can be a map. The author's prose creates beautiful metaphors that were heartfelt.
Representation notes: Main character is from a culture without a gender binary.
April 27, 2020
A little too different for me to enjoy. It's a sci-fi novella, but with too weird of a plot. It took me over half of the story to understand what was going on, and at the end I was still a little confused.
April 30, 2020
Beautiful writing, but I just did not know fully what was happening. The story was lyrical and dreamlike, but in the way that you are fully conscious of things not working out the way they should and leaving you confused at what is happening.
May 23, 2020
Fran Wilde is an excellent writer but this story did nothing for me. I simply did not understand where it was going and I was none the wiser at the end. Clearly, I missed the point as, based on the reviews, many other people liked it.
December 7, 2020
I read this somewhere in the beginning of the Coronavirus lock-down, but I didn't realize Goodreads had it listed. I spent some time on the Tor website in the first couple of months of lockdown, which was often helpful in bringing some calm. The dates read here are an estimate.
January 16, 2023
Read January 2023
2,5 stars
I'm intrigued, but can't say I understand what I just read..
(Read as part of "Some of the best from Tor.com 2020 edition" but prefer to log & rate the stories separate.)
2,5 stars
I'm intrigued, but can't say I understand what I just read..
(Read as part of "Some of the best from Tor.com 2020 edition" but prefer to log & rate the stories separate.)
April 29, 2020
A bit too poetic for me. Confusing plot line with a not so interesting journey.
September 11, 2020
Oooh this one was very nice. Very lyrical and beautifully written
January 10, 2021
Haunting and beautiful story.
February 22, 2021
An incredibly weird story with no tangible hook. I enjoyed the imagery but there is little plot, and what plot there is it is confusing.
I will say that it was a bit evocative.
I will say that it was a bit evocative.
September 9, 2021
Pretty and poetic, yet aimless prose. Works much better as a selection of flash fictions rather than a cohesive short story.
October 27, 2021
I liked this. It was a little more on the poetry side of a short story, but I liked the concept. Sometimes you can search for so long for a place to belong that you forget who you are.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews