Spirits of the Ice Forest
Max Davine, 2021
I credit Spirits with giving me the confidence to step out and write the way I want to. I worked hard on this. A long time. And it’s a story that means a lot to me because, as an Australian, I see the plight of Native Americans as being very similar to what we did to our natives. Except there is really nothing left of the Natives who encountered the Vikings. They were all gone before the next European encroachment came along, maybe the Beothuk were descended from them but there’s no sure way of telling, so to see these vanished people stand up to a white aggressor and actually win in the Viking sagas was so inspiring I just had to do my own version of it. There was also the allure of Freydis Eiriksdottir. Reading these two contradictory stories she appeared in was enrapturing – I thought what sort of a person could have left such binary reactions among chroniclers after she was gone? And again, by not moralizing I think she became a far more complicated character than she would have if I just went and threw her in the “villain” basket. And that’s evident in the reviews – again, binary responses. So I’m proud I was able to do that.
