Scientists in the Altai in Siberia uncover the 2,500 year old frozen mummy of a tattooed priestess or shaman. This mummy has the same mtDNA (mitochondrial DNA) as American archaeologist Ursula Smith whose mother disappeared in Siberia 30 years earlier. Ursula travels from the U.S. to Siberia to unravel the mystery of the “lady” and meets Sergei Ivanovich Polyakov, a Russian doctor who graciously invites her into his home. After they become lovers, she discovers he has the same tattoos on his body as the tattooed lady. He tells a disbelieving Ursula that they have met before and she is destined to save the ancient People, considered as devils by some and shape-changing gods by others. A shaman takes Ursula to one of the sacred timeless caves where Ursula’s mother supposedly disappeared. When Ursula allows the shaman to tattoo her, she is thrown back in time where she must unlock the mystery of the People and their link to her past in order to save them and Sergei—even if it costs her her life.
Author: Kim Antieau
Kim Antieau has written many novels, short stories, poems, and essays. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, both in print and online, including The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Asimov’s SF, The Clinton Street Quarterly, The Journal of Mythic Arts, EarthFirst!, Alternet, Sage Woman, and Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. She was the founder, editor, and publisher of Daughters of Nyx: A Magazine of Goddess Stories, Mythmaking, and Fairy Tales. Her work has twice been short-listed for the Tiptree Award, and has appeared in many Best of the Year anthologies. Critics have admired her “literary fearlessness” and her vivid language and imagination. She has had nine novels published. Her first novel, The Jigsaw Woman, is a modern classic of feminist literature. Kim lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, writer Mario Milosevic.
I highly recommend following Ms Antieau on her website for a wonderful adventure at: http://www.kimantieau.com
Taking Bits and Pieces from Kim's Interviews Over the Ages:
If you could spend the day with a fictional character, who would it be and what would you do together?
KA: That’s a tough one. There are so many cool fictional characters. I’d love to hang out with Jane Eyre and find out where she got her backbone. I wouldn’t mind following Sissy around from Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. She had herself some adventures. The Count of Monte Cristo. I’d like to find out how he survived. Oh and the Scarlet Pimpernel. I don’t like looking foolish, and he reveled in that and used it to his advantage. And Ripley from Alien. I’d definitely like to learn a thing or two from her on surviving. But I'd only like to meet her on Earth, where there aren't any of those lovely creatures she was always fighting with. And I’d love to meet Gloria, from my novel The Gaia Websters because she can heal people.
As a librarian, what's your favorite thing about working in a library and what's your least favorite thing?
KA: I now select books, so I’m not in the branches much. My absolute favorite thing about being a librarian is being with the public. I loved it! I loved helping people, finding what they needed. I loved working with teenagers especially. I loved the energy teenagers brought to a library. My least favorite thing was dealing with administration. I see myself as one of the true librarians! (How pompous is that?) I became a librarian to stand up for our intellectual freedom and to protect the civil rights of the people in my community. I have no patience for whimpy library administrations or boards who pander to the few people who complain about materials.
Who is your best friend in the world and will you tell us a little about why you like that person? Also, does he/she have great hair?
KA: My best friend in the world is my husband, Mario Milosevic. What I liked about him when I first met him and what I still like about him is his sense of humor. He is the funniest person I know. And he thinks I’m the funniest person he knows. He’s also very eclectic in his interests. He isn’t macho. He is supremely comfortable in the company of women, and women and men are comfortable with him. My best girlfriend was Linda Ford. She died a year and a half ago. She was funny, too. She knew everything (and I mean everything). She would walk in the woods with me almost anytime, and like me, she hugged trees. I miss her very much. Ruby’s Imagine is dedicated to her.
Kim with her husband and best friend, Mario.
Who is your favorite fictional crush and why?
KA: I do like Darcy in Pride and Prejudice. I love honorable men. Never been attracted to "bad boys." And Sarah Connor from the Terminator movies is pretty cool.
If you could interview one fictional character, or one writer who is no longer alive, who would it be and what would you ask them?
KA: Just one? Emily Dickinson. And then Walt Whitman. I think I’d just like to spend time with Emily. I want to walk through the fields of tall grass and wildflowers with her and her dog, her wild red hair flowing behind her. I’d like to sit with her and watch her write. And then maybe, maybe, I'd pick one poem and ask her if she could tell me what it meant to her.
What was/is your favorite Soap Opera?
KA: Probably the soap opera I loved the most was Dark Shadows. Remember that? I’d run home to watch it. I’ve seen it as an adult and it’s pretty bad, but boy, was it fun to see something like that on TV back then. I saw the very first episode of All My Children and One Life to Live. I actually remember the beginning of those soaps; I have no idea why! I liked All My Children even though there was no one on there who was like me. I really liked One Life to Live because they did stories from real life. Like drug addiction. I thought that was a great storytline, back in the day. Also, someone was “passing” for white on that show. (It started in 1968.) Plus, remember when Karen Wolek (played by Judith Light) was married to a doctor but working as a prostitute and she admitted to it all on the witness stand? I still remember that. (Why do we remember these kinds of things?) She was so good. I liked General Hospital when Luke and Laura were on. Now the soaps seem so much about serial killers and mobsters, so I don't watch much. I don’t care about that kind of stuff. So yeah, Dark Shadows was my fave.
The Dame's Last Word:
First, may I just say, what's not to love about a lady who loves Barnabas Collins/Dark Shadows, Mr. Darcy, Emily Dickinson, Jane Eyre, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Alien's Ripley, and her own husband as her best friend? And, who writes fantastical novels about mystical women... I think Kim Antieau is an eccentric sort or woman with a bent toward acting "normal" because she finds it amusing. I like that she describes herself as someone who goes behind her closed door for long periods of time to "do things" (I take that to mean her writing and research), then comes out one day, peeking around her door to see if there's anybody still out there. It's an "after thought." Are there still real people out there! LOL I love that! I also love that she's an old fashioned librarian...one who is vigilant about keeping books alive for us.
That being said, Ms Antieau is also quite an accomplished author. Sad to say, I'm not familiar with others of her books, but I intend to be. Based on my reading of "Her Frozen Wild," I can hardly wait!
"Her Frozen Wild" begins with an expedition in Siberia that uncovers a woman's body replete with markings like tattoos. It is obvious to all the archaeologists involved that the woman is some kind of shaman/princess. Her mtDNA which apparently matches Ursula Smith's, an American archaeologist, brings them all together to solve the mystery of the frozen princess's history. Ursula's mother's disappearance 30 years prior in the same location, her instincts and her connections with her Russian male counterpart to the scientific research work together to create the foundation of this startling novel. What makes this book unique to others that may have been read with similar backgrounds is the mystical way Ms Antieau puts thing together. There are some elements that will bring to mind Clan of the Cave Bear in terms of the early exposure to cave people and magical thinking we experienced in writing and reading in the early 1970's. There are some elements that are skating the edges and outer limits of syfy or magical thinking today. This is a book couched between different worlds, viewed through the eyes of different characters, captured in a landscape so odd and so pristine, yet so foreign to most civilization that it's like an alien planet. "Her Frozen Wild" is a strange and beautiful tale.
Before I go too far in this review, I want to reference for you a guest post Ms Antieau gave earlier this month on her Pump Up Your Book tour for As The Pages Turn in which she explores how Her Frozen Wild became a concept to her. She was dreaming frequently about bears. She eventually connected that bears and ancient peoples were connected in forms considered to be healing totems and such. Or, that humans took on bear spirits or connections, and when they did so, they were known or seen to have healing powers...shaman powers. It was through her own recurring dreams and her reading about an actual discovery in Siberia of a frozen shaman woman with tattoos that she began her exploration of this novel.
Dreams and subconscious impressions undoubtedly inhabit this novel and overlap the story. The characters are rich in this covering. I think this is one of the most unique novels I've read because of the employ of this method, and the use of it so masterfully. I fell in love with Ursula and Sergei immediately. Ursula is a complex character, a beloved child who is brought up by a knowledgeable and mystical grandmother to guide her, as well as a mother who had the calling to another time and dimension through archaeology. This book has a storyline that is carried out in a most captivating way.
I recommend the book to those who love a mystery, but also who are looking for a change in pace from the ordinary. Ms Antieau is an extraordinary writer. If nothing else, this is a rare trip into the often unexplored side of creative writing. It's an amazing and beautiful novel.
4 stars
This review tour is provided in association with Virtual Book Publicity Tour and Pump Up Your Book
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