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On a frontier world, like Coyote, banishment can be a death penalty. In Allen Steele's novella River Horses, two ruffians, Marie Montero and her lover, Lars Thompson find themselves exiled from their community after they can't make the transition from Rebellion to peacetime. Rather than a permanent exile, however, they are tasked with exploring the planet, still widely unknown, and reporting back via radio every couple of days. To increase their chance of survival, a savant, Manuel Castro, is sent along with them.

The inclusion of the savant, a sort of cyborg, helps Steele set up a relationship triangle (not a love triangle). Upon their departure, Lars nurses a strong antipathy towards the cyborg, while Marie is willing to see some usefulness in his presence. Lars, however, is more than willing to see anything less than outright hatred of the savant as evidence that Marie is not entirely devoted to him and her attitude toward the savant causes Lars pangsof jealousy.

Before Steele can fully explore that relatively simple relationship, he throws a curveball at the trio. Within days of the start of their banishment, they come across a small colony trying to make it on their own. The threesome is welcomed into the community, but no sooner do they arrive than they get caught in a power play between the two sides of the small village and must decide where their loyalties lie.

While River Horses could have been a standard exploration novella, it is Marie, Lars and Manuel's discovery of the small offshoot colony and their reactions that really make the story stand apart. Thompson's reaction seems at first out of place, given the jealousy he has shown towards Marie's interaction with Manuel, however, Steele carefully uses his reaction to flesh out other aspects of Thompson's character.

While at times the actions and the denouements seem a little too pat, Steele doesn't present his characters' adventure as any sort of fairy tale. All three show signs of growth, and all of them develop their own interests and desires, sometimes mutually exclusive. River Horses does not have a happily ever after for any of the characters, all of whom must come to compromise with each other and the world around them based on their own previous decisions.

Set against the backdrop of Steele's ever expanding world of Coyote, the story is not only an adjunct to Coyote's history as a whole, but also to the characters Steele has previously written about. In many ways, Marie, Lars, and Manuel could be having their adventure on any unexplored, dangerous planet, although by placing it on Coyote, Steele gives it a sense of depth that would otherwise be lacking in a story of this length.

Steven H Silver is a seven-time Hugo Nominee for Best Fan Writer and the editor of the anthologies Wondrous Beginnings, Magical Beginnings, and Horrible Beginnings. He is the publisher of ISFiC Press. In addition to maintaining several bibliographies and the Harry Turtledove website, Steven is heavily involved in convention running and publishes the fanzine Argentus.