{"id":3620,"date":"2016-12-14T18:26:28","date_gmt":"2016-12-14T23:26:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=3620"},"modified":"2016-12-14T18:26:28","modified_gmt":"2016-12-14T23:26:28","slug":"the-autobiography-of-a-traitor-and-a-half-savage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/12\/the-autobiography-of-a-traitor-and-a-half-savage\/","title":{"rendered":"The Autobiography of a Traitor and a Half-Savage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Growing up, people hissed that I was born to be a mapmaker, being half of one thing and half the other. In our language, the word for\u00a0mapmaker\u00a0<\/em>is also the word for\u00a0traitor<\/em>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Alix E. Harrow’s fantasy novelette, “The Autobiography of a Traitor and a Half-Savage<\/a>,” published today on Tor.com, is set in an alternate turn-of-the-century America in which mapmakers from west of the Mississippi use magic to tame a chaotic, ever-changing land for the benefit of colonizers from the east.<\/p>\n

\"autobiography-traitor\"They\u00a0need\u00a0<\/em>mapmakers, you see\u2014a few traitors like myself to hold the land still. They need us more than anything in the world, if they ever want to fulfill that destiny so manifestly their own, \u201cto overspread the continent allotted by Providence.\u201d[4]<\/p>\n

Without us, the land won\u2019t lie still. It writhes and twists beneath their compasses, so that a crew of surveyors might make the most meticulous measurements imaginable, plotting out each hill and bluff and bend in the river, and when they return the next day everything is a mirror image of itself. Or the river splits in two and one branch wanders off into hills that shimmer slightly in the dawn, or the bluffs are now far too high to climb and must be gone around. Or the crew simply disappears and returns weeks later looking hungry and haunted.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Not for the first time, we have a story in which the\u00a0relationship between map and territory is more than just descriptive. To map a place is to fix that place in place.\u00a0This is a story that uses maps,\u00a0memoir and footnotes\u2014the trappings of late-19th- and early-20th-century exploration\u2014to say some sharp things about the colonialism of that era.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Growing up, people hissed that I was born to be a mapmaker, being half of one thing and half the other. In our language, the word for\u00a0mapmaker\u00a0is also the word for\u00a0traitor. Alix E. Harrow’s fantasy… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[745,746],"class_list":["post-3620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-maps-and-literature","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5716,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/11\/a-book-roundup\/","url_meta":{"origin":3620,"position":0},"title":"A Book Roundup","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"7 November 2017","format":"link","excerpt":"Writing for the\u00a0Globe and Mail, Charlotte Grey reviews two recent Canadian books about mapmaking and mapmakers, both of which came out last month: Adam Shoalts's\u00a0History of Canada in Ten Maps (which I reviewed here last month) and Barbara Mitchell's\u00a0Mapmaker: Philip Turnor in Rupert\u2019s Land in the Age of Enlightenment.\u00a0Mitchell and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "History"","block_context":{"text":"History","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/history\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/red-atlas-115x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/red-atlas-115x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/red-atlas-115x150.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/red-atlas-115x150.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1787200,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/03\/priscilla-spencer-fantasy-mapmaker\/","url_meta":{"origin":3620,"position":1},"title":"Priscilla Spencer, Fantasy Mapmaker","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"25 March 2019","format":"link","excerpt":"I'm impressed by the work of fantasy mapmaker Priscilla Spencer, whose maps have illustrated novels by Seanan McGuire, Myke Cole, Jim Butcher and Saladin Ahmed, among others. Spencer's maps push the boundaries of the default fantasy map style: some of them appear as they would in-universe, others adopt elements appropriate\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Maps and Literature"","block_context":{"text":"Maps and Literature","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/maps-and-literature\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/spencer-lowryland-150x120.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/spencer-lowryland-150x120.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/spencer-lowryland-150x120.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/spencer-lowryland-150x120.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/spencer-lowryland-150x120.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/spencer-lowryland-150x120.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1788486,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/02\/whimsical-drawings-hide-in-punctilious-swiss-topo-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":3620,"position":2},"title":"Whimsical Drawings Hide in Punctilious Swiss Topo Maps","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"27 February 2020","format":"link","excerpt":"Swiss topographic maps are legendary for their precision, but that hasn\u2019t stopped cartographers from having a little fun. As Zoey Poll reports for AIGA Eye on Design, whimsical little drawings can be found hidden in some editions of Swiss topo maps: But on certain maps, in Switzerland\u2019s more remote regions,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Map Errors"","block_context":{"text":"Map Errors","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/map-errors\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5992,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2015\/07\/robert-lazzaretti-fantasy-mapmaker\/","url_meta":{"origin":3620,"position":3},"title":"Robert Lazzaretti, Fantasy Mapmaker","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"6 July 2015","format":"link","excerpt":"Lou Anders interviews fantasy mapmaker Robert Lazzaretti, who drew the maps for Anders's Thrones and Bones series (Frostborn, Nightborn). I can never get enough information about the process of making fantasy maps. Previously: Mapping An Ember in the Ashes; How to Make a Fantasy Map.","rel":"","context":"In "Maps and Literature"","block_context":{"text":"Maps and Literature","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/maps-and-literature\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4049,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/03\/fantasy-rpg-mapmakers\/","url_meta":{"origin":3620,"position":4},"title":"Fantasy RPG Mapmakers","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"20 March 2017","format":"link","excerpt":"Geek and Sundry looks at four cartographers who make maps for role-playing games: Dyson, Derek Ruiz (Elven Tower), Mike Schley\u00a0and Deven Rue (Rue Ink). Previously:\u00a0The RPG Maps of Dyson\u2019s Dodecahedron.","rel":"","context":"In "Games"","block_context":{"text":"Games","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/games\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4565,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/07\/jonathan-roberts-scientist-and-fantasy-mapmaker\/","url_meta":{"origin":3620,"position":5},"title":"Jonathan Roberts, Scientist and Fantasy Mapmaker","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"5 July 2017","format":"link","excerpt":"Fantasy cartographer Jonathan Roberts is profiled in a\u00a0short, paywalled piece in Crain's New York Business. (Winter Is Coming has a summary.) Roberts is, among other things, the artist behind\u00a0The Lands of Ice and Fire, the boxed collection of 12 maps of George R. R. Martin's Westeros.\u00a0Things I did not know\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Maps and Literature"","block_context":{"text":"Maps and Literature","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/maps-and-literature\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3620"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3620\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3625,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3620\/revisions\/3625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}