What do you think?
Rate this book
Terrain
Terrain, by Genevieve Valentine, is a steampunk western about six diverse people living and working together on a farm outside a small town in Wyoming. The encroaching Union Pacific railroad wants the land, threatening their home and their livelihood, running a unique message service with mechanical "dogs" (actually looking more insectile) that can climb up mountains where the Pony Express cannot.
At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.
At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.
32 pages, ebook
First published March 6, 2013
2 people are currently reading
186 people want to read
About the author
Genevieve Valentine
205 books319 followersGenevieve Valentine has sold more than three dozen short stories; her fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Clarkesworld, Strange Horizons, Journal of Mythic Arts, Fantasy Magazine, Lightspeed, and Apex, and in the anthologies Federations, The Living Dead 2, The Way of the Wizard, Running with the Pack, Teeth, and more.
Her nonfiction has appeared in Lightspeed, Tor.com, and Fantasy Magazine, and she is the co-author of Geek Wisdom (out in Summer 2011 from Quirk Books).
Her first novel, Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti, is forthcoming from Prime Books in May 2011. You can learn more about it at the Circus Tresualti website.
Her appetite for bad movies is insatiable, a tragedy she tracks on her blog.
Her nonfiction has appeared in Lightspeed, Tor.com, and Fantasy Magazine, and she is the co-author of Geek Wisdom (out in Summer 2011 from Quirk Books).
Her first novel, Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti, is forthcoming from Prime Books in May 2011. You can learn more about it at the Circus Tresualti website.
Her appetite for bad movies is insatiable, a tragedy she tracks on her blog.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
January 2, 2021
WELCOME TO DECEMBER PROJECT!
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIFTH year of me doing a short story advent calendar as my december project. for those of you new to me or this endeavor, here’s the skinny: every day in december, i will be reading a short story that is 1) available free somewhere on internet, and 2) listed on goodreads as its own discrete entity. there will be links provided for those of you who like to read (or listen to) short stories for free, and also for those of you who have wildly overestimated how many books you can read in a year and are freaking out about not meeting your 2020 reading-challenge goals. i have been gathering links all year when tasty little tales have popped into my feed, but i will also accept additional suggestions, as long as they meet my aforementioned 1), 2) standards, because i have not compiled as many as usual this year.
IN ADDITION, this may be the last year i do this project since GR has already deleted the pages for several of the stories i've read in previous years without warning, leaving me with a bunch of missing reviews and broken links, which makes me feel shitty. because i don't have a lot of time to waste, i'm not going to bother writing much in the way of reviews for these, in case gr decides to scrap 'em again. 2020 has left me utterly wrung out and i apologize for what's left of me. i am doing my best.
DECEMBER 12: TERRAIN - GENEVIEVE VALENTINE
You just can’t be dead enough for some people. They want to burn your footprints right off the earth.
uuuuuuuggghhhh, this is heartpunchingly wonderful. i somehow missed this one way back in 2013—i probably skipped it because it was a long'un, comparatively, but i'm so glad i made the time to slide into it this morning.
it's a bleak steampunk western about a man named elijah who takes in a group of individuals who have only ever received the short end of the white man's stick and gives them a home, making of them a sort of family. frank and faye are shoshone siblings who escaped an abusive mormon school, joseph is an emancipated slave, ex-soldier and blacksmith, fa liang is a chinese mechanical engineer who had been laying railroad tracks until his brother was killed in a blast, and maria is, presumably, a mexican woman run off of her farm after her husband died. separately, none of these people are considered people by the law, but with elijah, they are given a respectable purpose, providing "a service too useful to run out of town;" running a messenger service using 'dogs'—nimble six-legged manned mechanical contraptions designed by fa liang capable of clambering up and over places that couriers on horseback cannot.
with elijah, they are safe and reasonably tolerated by the township, although faye; fiercely protective of her brother, is always braced for the inevitable conflict that will break this tenuous homestead apart.
which—naturally—does occur, when railroad men come a-calling, offering elijah big $$ for his land, and, when he refuses, playing that shady strategy card; tempting locals with promises of what the town could become with the railroad's prestige and spreading lies about elijah and the others.
things get bad.
then they get worse.
it is a powerhouse of a story, beautifully written and highly empathetic. the only 'genre' thing about it is that mechanical dogs exist, so even if you're not into steampunk, that shouldn't stop you from appreciating all the rich and heartbreaking humanity of it. if you're a goddamn racist, it's probably not for you, and fuck you anyway.
read it for free here
DECEMBER 1: PG - COURTNEY SUMMERS
DECEMBER 2: THE JUMPING MONKEY HILL - CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE
DECEMBER 3: ORIGIN STORY - T. KINGFISHER
DECEMBER 4: THE GREAT SILENCE - TED CHIANG
DECEMBER 5: A CLEAN SWEEP WITH ALL THE TRIMMINGS
DECEMBER 6: BORED WORLD - ANDY WEIR
DECEMBER 7: VAMPIRE - ROBERT COOVER
DECEMBER 8: A STATEMENT IN THE CASE - THEODORA GOSS
DECEMBER 9: STET - SARAH GAILEY
DECEMBER 10: MARGOT'S ROOM: EMILY CARROLL
DECEMBER 11: HORROR STORY - CARMEN MARIA MACHADO
DECEMBER 13: IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED, TRY, TRY AGAIN - ZEN CHO
DECEMBER 14: GHOUL - GEORGE SAUNDERS
DECEMBER 15: DURING THE DANCE - MARK LAWRENCE
DECEMBER 16: CLEARING THE BONES - CELESTE NG
DECEMBER 17: THE WAITER'S WIFE - ZADIE SMITH
DECEMBER 18: DEMOLITION - FIONA MCFARLANE
DECEMBER 19: NO PERIOD - HARRY TURTLEDOVE
DECEMBER 20: DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE - GG
DECEMBER 21: RUB-A-DUB-DUB - TONY MILLIONAIRE
DECEMBER 22: HANSA AND GRETYL AND PIECE OF SHIT - REBECCA CURTIS
DECEMBER 23: BRIDESICLE - WILL MCINTOSH
DECEMBER 24: I, CTHULHU, OR, WHAT'S A TENTACLE-FACED THING LIKE ME DOING IN A SUNKEN CITY LIKE THIS (LATITUDE 47° 9' S, LONGITUDE 126° 43' W)? - NEIL GAIMAN
DECEMBER 25: CHRISTMAS TALE - MARK LAWRENCE
DECEMBER 26: THE MONSTERS OF HEAVEN - NATHAN BALLINGRUD
DECEMBER 27: TWO DREAMS ON TRAINS - ELIZABETH BEAR
DECEMBER 28: THE MARTIANS CLAIM CANADA - MARGARET ATWOOD
DECEMBER 29: UNDER THE WAVE - LAUREN GROFF
DECEMBER 30: MR. SALARY - SALLY ROONEY
DECEMBER 31: A/S/L - EMMA CLINE
come to my blog!
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIFTH year of me doing a short story advent calendar as my december project. for those of you new to me or this endeavor, here’s the skinny: every day in december, i will be reading a short story that is 1) available free somewhere on internet, and 2) listed on goodreads as its own discrete entity. there will be links provided for those of you who like to read (or listen to) short stories for free, and also for those of you who have wildly overestimated how many books you can read in a year and are freaking out about not meeting your 2020 reading-challenge goals. i have been gathering links all year when tasty little tales have popped into my feed, but i will also accept additional suggestions, as long as they meet my aforementioned 1), 2) standards, because i have not compiled as many as usual this year.
IN ADDITION, this may be the last year i do this project since GR has already deleted the pages for several of the stories i've read in previous years without warning, leaving me with a bunch of missing reviews and broken links, which makes me feel shitty. because i don't have a lot of time to waste, i'm not going to bother writing much in the way of reviews for these, in case gr decides to scrap 'em again. 2020 has left me utterly wrung out and i apologize for what's left of me. i am doing my best.
DECEMBER 12: TERRAIN - GENEVIEVE VALENTINE
You just can’t be dead enough for some people. They want to burn your footprints right off the earth.
uuuuuuuggghhhh, this is heartpunchingly wonderful. i somehow missed this one way back in 2013—i probably skipped it because it was a long'un, comparatively, but i'm so glad i made the time to slide into it this morning.
it's a bleak steampunk western about a man named elijah who takes in a group of individuals who have only ever received the short end of the white man's stick and gives them a home, making of them a sort of family. frank and faye are shoshone siblings who escaped an abusive mormon school, joseph is an emancipated slave, ex-soldier and blacksmith, fa liang is a chinese mechanical engineer who had been laying railroad tracks until his brother was killed in a blast, and maria is, presumably, a mexican woman run off of her farm after her husband died. separately, none of these people are considered people by the law, but with elijah, they are given a respectable purpose, providing "a service too useful to run out of town;" running a messenger service using 'dogs'—nimble six-legged manned mechanical contraptions designed by fa liang capable of clambering up and over places that couriers on horseback cannot.
with elijah, they are safe and reasonably tolerated by the township, although faye; fiercely protective of her brother, is always braced for the inevitable conflict that will break this tenuous homestead apart.
which—naturally—does occur, when railroad men come a-calling, offering elijah big $$ for his land, and, when he refuses, playing that shady strategy card; tempting locals with promises of what the town could become with the railroad's prestige and spreading lies about elijah and the others.
things get bad.
then they get worse.
it is a powerhouse of a story, beautifully written and highly empathetic. the only 'genre' thing about it is that mechanical dogs exist, so even if you're not into steampunk, that shouldn't stop you from appreciating all the rich and heartbreaking humanity of it. if you're a goddamn racist, it's probably not for you, and fuck you anyway.
read it for free here
DECEMBER 1: PG - COURTNEY SUMMERS
DECEMBER 2: THE JUMPING MONKEY HILL - CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE
DECEMBER 3: ORIGIN STORY - T. KINGFISHER
DECEMBER 4: THE GREAT SILENCE - TED CHIANG
DECEMBER 5: A CLEAN SWEEP WITH ALL THE TRIMMINGS
DECEMBER 6: BORED WORLD - ANDY WEIR
DECEMBER 7: VAMPIRE - ROBERT COOVER
DECEMBER 8: A STATEMENT IN THE CASE - THEODORA GOSS
DECEMBER 9: STET - SARAH GAILEY
DECEMBER 10: MARGOT'S ROOM: EMILY CARROLL
DECEMBER 11: HORROR STORY - CARMEN MARIA MACHADO
DECEMBER 13: IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED, TRY, TRY AGAIN - ZEN CHO
DECEMBER 14: GHOUL - GEORGE SAUNDERS
DECEMBER 15: DURING THE DANCE - MARK LAWRENCE
DECEMBER 16: CLEARING THE BONES - CELESTE NG
DECEMBER 17: THE WAITER'S WIFE - ZADIE SMITH
DECEMBER 18: DEMOLITION - FIONA MCFARLANE
DECEMBER 19: NO PERIOD - HARRY TURTLEDOVE
DECEMBER 20: DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE - GG
DECEMBER 21: RUB-A-DUB-DUB - TONY MILLIONAIRE
DECEMBER 22: HANSA AND GRETYL AND PIECE OF SHIT - REBECCA CURTIS
DECEMBER 23: BRIDESICLE - WILL MCINTOSH
DECEMBER 24: I, CTHULHU, OR, WHAT'S A TENTACLE-FACED THING LIKE ME DOING IN A SUNKEN CITY LIKE THIS (LATITUDE 47° 9' S, LONGITUDE 126° 43' W)? - NEIL GAIMAN
DECEMBER 25: CHRISTMAS TALE - MARK LAWRENCE
DECEMBER 26: THE MONSTERS OF HEAVEN - NATHAN BALLINGRUD
DECEMBER 27: TWO DREAMS ON TRAINS - ELIZABETH BEAR
DECEMBER 28: THE MARTIANS CLAIM CANADA - MARGARET ATWOOD
DECEMBER 29: UNDER THE WAVE - LAUREN GROFF
DECEMBER 30: MR. SALARY - SALLY ROONEY
DECEMBER 31: A/S/L - EMMA CLINE
come to my blog!
December 12, 2020
I picked this up because Karen had it in her December reading project and liked it. It was a whim, but one that turned out to be a great decision.
I'm a bit in awe of Genevieve Valentine. In a story short enough to read in less than an hour, she's managed to build a believable alternate old west, create characters I actually cared about rather more than I'm going to admit (no, those were not tears; it's allergies-- in December, inside--allergies, I tell you!), a story that sucked me in completely (please tell me there's a novel), and blended in enough hard truths about greed and racism to make this more than just a casual read. This is one I'm going to be thinking about for a long time.
I'm a bit in awe of Genevieve Valentine. In a story short enough to read in less than an hour, she's managed to build a believable alternate old west, create characters I actually cared about rather more than I'm going to admit (no, those were not tears; it's allergies-- in December, inside--allergies, I tell you!), a story that sucked me in completely (please tell me there's a novel), and blended in enough hard truths about greed and racism to make this more than just a casual read. This is one I'm going to be thinking about for a long time.
March 4, 2015
Perhaps this will be a book someday, a little over 30 pages long. I find Ms. Valentine's writing style compelling and quite readable.
July 1, 2013
Terrain is for people who...
...like a little steampunk in their stories
...enjoy historical stories about the west
...find diverse characters to be interesting
...don't mind depressing stories
...don't mind when depressing stories get *really* depressing
...enjoy a well-written standalone story (that's on the depressing side)
Terrain was a short story I read on Tor's website on July 1st, 2013 for the Why Buy the Cow? reading challenge.
...like a little steampunk in their stories
...enjoy historical stories about the west
...find diverse characters to be interesting
...don't mind depressing stories
...don't mind when depressing stories get *really* depressing
...enjoy a well-written standalone story (that's on the depressing side)
Terrain was a short story I read on Tor's website on July 1st, 2013 for the Why Buy the Cow? reading challenge.
July 13, 2014
This is good and sad. I actually considered stopping near the beginning not because the book was bad but because I wanted to leave the characters in a happier place than they were heading.
January 19, 2021
O papel de um crítico muitas vezes se confunde com uma série de fatores: humor, clima, ambiente, stress literário, cotidiano. Por mais que eu me coloque para ser o mais técnico possível nas minhas leituras, é óbvio que ela vai se confundir com o meu estado de espírito e com os meus gostos literários. Por isso, nem sempre uma análise vai ser justa ou correta com o que está sendo lido. Leitura é um ato subjetivo. Fiz todo esse preâmbulo apenas para dizer que Terrain foi um desses casos. Por mais que a narrativa da Genevieve Valentine conseguisse desenvolver seus personagens e apresentasse uma história minimamente interessante, ela não me cativou em nenhum momento. Por vários momentos eu me via arrastando na leitura. E em se tratando de um conto, isso não é um sinal positivo.
Somos levados a uma fazenda no interior do Wyoming, em um cenário steampunk. Elijah tem uma fazenda onde circulam uma série de pessoas diversas e interessantes: a experiente Maria, o bravo Faye, o inseparável Frank e Fa Liang, a oriental. Os personagens são diversos e interessantes como Maria que é vista como alguém capaz de realizar bruxaria ou Elijah, uma pessoa que possui uma reputação e teoricamente seria uma espécie de burguês. A confusão começa quando a Union Pacific deseja expandir a sua malha ferroviária e ela passa pelas terras de Elijah, provocando um futuro desalojamento de todos que ali vivem. Só que a Union Pacific está agindo com a conivência do xerife local e buscando expulsar as pessoas à força. É aí que Maria e Elijah organizam uma resistência contra os opressores. E usar os "cães", uma espécie de robôs insetoides usados para levar correspondência a lugares onde o Pony Express não consegue, pode virar o jogo a favor dos fazendeiros.
Esse é um daqueles livros steampunk onde o elemento de gênero é mantido de forma bem sutil na narrativa. A autora não esfrega na sua cara que é um steampunk... só sabemos por causa dos "cães" e do trem estranho. É uma maneira inteligente de tratar o assunto; não é necessário usar tudo o que diz que steampunk é steampunk para que a narrativa assim seja. O importante não é inserir uma história em um gênero, mas contar uma boa história. E Terrain é uma história dramática. Narrada pelo ponto de vista de Maria, mas em terceira pessoa, vamos acompanhar esses personagens em uma resistência desesperada para manter o seu modo de vida. A história tem um bom tamanho para um conto, sem exageros e a autora consegue entregar o que ela pretendia desde o começo.
A parte mais importante da narrativa são os personagens. E eles são bem construídas, sendo tridimensionais e cada um com suas características e peculiaridades. É interessante ver como eles se relacionam como Maria sempre ao lado de Frank ou o quanto Elijah representa a base de sustentação de todos. Ou como Frank é uma pessoa extremamente confiável a ponto de se tornar a rocha no momento em que eles mais precisam de forças para lidar com o xerife e a Union Pacific. O drama vai se complicando a cada página à medida em que a corporação vai apertando cada vez mais o laço no pescoço dos personagens. O leitor percebe que não há saída ali. Torcemos para que tudo acabe bem, mas mesmo assim a pressão para eles saírem dali é demais. E não há ajuda vinda de parte alguma. Eles só podem contar com eles mesmos.
Para mim, Terrain não funcionou. Tentei me apegar aos personagens, mas a história não me gerou empatia. Talvez em algum outro momento eu retorne e tente outra vez.
Somos levados a uma fazenda no interior do Wyoming, em um cenário steampunk. Elijah tem uma fazenda onde circulam uma série de pessoas diversas e interessantes: a experiente Maria, o bravo Faye, o inseparável Frank e Fa Liang, a oriental. Os personagens são diversos e interessantes como Maria que é vista como alguém capaz de realizar bruxaria ou Elijah, uma pessoa que possui uma reputação e teoricamente seria uma espécie de burguês. A confusão começa quando a Union Pacific deseja expandir a sua malha ferroviária e ela passa pelas terras de Elijah, provocando um futuro desalojamento de todos que ali vivem. Só que a Union Pacific está agindo com a conivência do xerife local e buscando expulsar as pessoas à força. É aí que Maria e Elijah organizam uma resistência contra os opressores. E usar os "cães", uma espécie de robôs insetoides usados para levar correspondência a lugares onde o Pony Express não consegue, pode virar o jogo a favor dos fazendeiros.
Esse é um daqueles livros steampunk onde o elemento de gênero é mantido de forma bem sutil na narrativa. A autora não esfrega na sua cara que é um steampunk... só sabemos por causa dos "cães" e do trem estranho. É uma maneira inteligente de tratar o assunto; não é necessário usar tudo o que diz que steampunk é steampunk para que a narrativa assim seja. O importante não é inserir uma história em um gênero, mas contar uma boa história. E Terrain é uma história dramática. Narrada pelo ponto de vista de Maria, mas em terceira pessoa, vamos acompanhar esses personagens em uma resistência desesperada para manter o seu modo de vida. A história tem um bom tamanho para um conto, sem exageros e a autora consegue entregar o que ela pretendia desde o começo.
A parte mais importante da narrativa são os personagens. E eles são bem construídas, sendo tridimensionais e cada um com suas características e peculiaridades. É interessante ver como eles se relacionam como Maria sempre ao lado de Frank ou o quanto Elijah representa a base de sustentação de todos. Ou como Frank é uma pessoa extremamente confiável a ponto de se tornar a rocha no momento em que eles mais precisam de forças para lidar com o xerife e a Union Pacific. O drama vai se complicando a cada página à medida em que a corporação vai apertando cada vez mais o laço no pescoço dos personagens. O leitor percebe que não há saída ali. Torcemos para que tudo acabe bem, mas mesmo assim a pressão para eles saírem dali é demais. E não há ajuda vinda de parte alguma. Eles só podem contar com eles mesmos.
Para mim, Terrain não funcionou. Tentei me apegar aos personagens, mas a história não me gerou empatia. Talvez em algum outro momento eu retorne e tente outra vez.
December 1, 2020
This is a short and painful story about the immense suffering imparted by white Americans (historically) onto native Americans and other minorities. There's a sci fi lens to it, but I don't think it corrupts the message at all. The politics/logic was a bit confusing at times and I felt a bit more backstory to the settijg would have helped. Overall, brutal and beautiful.
November 9, 2016
Terrain is a steampunk western where the steampunk doesn't smack you in the face with it's steampunkiness. Possibly because you are too busy being depressed about how terrible humans are to one another. The western vibe is well done, and the dogs were a really neat, but still believable addition to the genre. I really should not have read this the night of the 2016 American election. Too many parallels.
September 2, 2024
Li aqui, marquei lido aqui: Some of the Best from Tor.com, 2013.
As coisas pioram antes de melhorar... e pioram muito. Mas acho que essa é uma história de esperança... o que resta dela.
As coisas pioram antes de melhorar... e pioram muito. Mas acho que essa é uma história de esperança... o que resta dela.
February 14, 2015
Another Tor.com short story
Oh god. This. This story actively hurt me to read it. All the horrible things in history that we don't really think of day to day, and what that must have been like to live it. And over it all "bury me not in the lone prairie". Gah.
Oh god. This. This story actively hurt me to read it. All the horrible things in history that we don't really think of day to day, and what that must have been like to live it. And over it all "bury me not in the lone prairie". Gah.
March 15, 2013
This was a very moving and thought-provoking short story. I enjoyed how the story was initially driven through the introduction of each character. Valentine is very adept at combining steampunk elements with historical experiences. I think this read would appeal to a wide audience.
March 8, 2013
3 1/2 stars
Well written with interesting characters and hard truths, sad, a really sad story.
Well written with interesting characters and hard truths, sad, a really sad story.
Want to read
March 10, 2013Free online - http://www.tor.com/stories/2013/03/te...
April 2, 2013
Set in the Oklahoma of the old west, this is one crazy steampunk adventure. It will entertain you from front to back and make you want to read it again.
August 10, 2013
Sad, bittersweet story of the price of America's progress. With mechanical dogs.
December 30, 2013
Ouch. This one hurts. But it's beautifully written, and stands on strong footing against injustice and greed.
May 27, 2016
A bit depressing but a good story.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews