Monday, April 2, 2012

Her Frozen Wild by Kim Antieau Giveaway!

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.

Read an excerpt!

Part One: Bewilder

Chapter One

The Altai, Siberia ca. 500 B.C.E.

The needle slipped out of her arm, and Ulla kissed the spot where it had been, tasting her own sweet blood, her salty sweat, and the clay, horn, and mountain mixture that now bubbled beneath her skin as part of a swan the embroiderer was creating. A deer grazed on her thigh; a spider made her fingers part of her web; a snake crawled up her leg; a bear’s claw pricked her heart.

Outside the timeless cave, the others danced and sang. Ulla sat at the edge of the cave while the women needled her. She tried not to sway to the beat of the horse-hide drums. The broad sky was amber and rose with dusk. She felt the roaring inside herself, bubbling, gurgling, tearing at her. The dancers undulated and shook, each moving in such a way that Ulla did not know what she saw, no matter how often she blinked. Was that an eagle or a girl? A fox or a man? A leopard or a woman?

The fire burned her face, and the embroiderers hummed. She was becoming. Was . . .

“Are you, She-bear?” She smelled him in this cave that reeked of humus and bear before she heard him, felt his hand on the small of her back. His fingers always found her soul. “You don't have to do this. You are already one of the People.” He kissed the sweat from the back of her neck. Then he was one of the dancers, twirling the night into existence.

She felt the needle go into her skin, deeper and deeper, and she wanted to roar.

The coriander-colored dirt, heated by the fire—or was it by her own body—tickled the soles of her feet.

She gasped as the needle came out again.

“We are finished,” the embroiderer whispered.

The drums sounded like horse hooves.

War was coming. Or war was leaving.

“One more,” she whispered, pressing her hand against her buttocks. “Right here. A wild rose. A tiny red wild rose.”

“But it isn’t like the others,” the embroiderer said.

The dancers whirled faster. Everything pulsed.

“I want it anyway,” she said. “It’s a message for someone back home.”

The embroiderer picked up the needle and pushed Ulla’s message through time.

Read the reviews!

"This was a powerful, life shifting book for me. It has everything: love, danger, romance, mystery, desire and so much more. I can not recommend it highly enough. If you are looking for a book that touches your heart (and at times even rips it out) give this a try."
--Marykatherine Meyer, Amazon reviewer

"Overall, great message, superb details, and interesting character development."
--USMCwife329, Amazon reviewer

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.


Her latest book is Her Frozen Wild.


Learn more about Kim and her writing at www.kimantieau.com.



Enter for your chance to win a copy of Her Frozen Wild below.



a Rafflecopter giveaway

No comments:

Post a Comment