Ballroom Blitz by Veronica Schanoes
My rating: 4/5 cats
punk rock fairytale?? yes, please!
We became the center of the storm and the lightning struck and we danced. We danced the band dry and the DJ sore, and still we moved like machine-gun fire, like the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, and I knew that this was it, that she and her sisters were the ones.
We danced the sun up, not that we could see the sun through the tattered walls. No, we were lit by neon and dim incandescence and the flares of cardboard matches, but the space emptied out and the music faded until finally we could hear each other speak, and there were holes worn through the soles of our boots.
this is a gritty spin on the twelve dancing princesses tale, made even more fun by the fact that it takes place ’round where i used to go clubbing, and it mentions the place where the fashion punks probably still buy their club-gear, although the club i was picturing while reading this—coney island high, is no longer there. i think it’s a bubble tea place now.
nope—sushi place:
but still. this captures the sticky-floors and cigarette smoke of a misspent club-youth, the relentless pounding of the music over which conversations had to be half-shouted, half-mouthed, the shabby morning-after feeling, but also the elation each night when you forget what you felt like that morning and put off thinking about how the coming dawn’s gonna feel.
i always love a good fairy-tale retelling, and this one os a good example of why. not only does it modernize it, making it a little more accessible and relevant to a reader, but it also irons out some of the weirdness of the original. because let’s face it—the twelve dancing princesses is not a great fairytale. it’s hard to locate the message, moral, or even the point of it. sometimes the grimms, like penny dreadful, get caught up in striking imagery and forget that they’re also supposed to be telling a story.
but who’s complaining because damn, girl…
and for dana, dudes kissing! :
where was i—oh, eva green is hot.
no, wait—punk rock fairytale, yes!
so—this takes the concept and gives it a bit more context. it’s still got all the magic of a fairytale, but it’s also got characters who matter, who grow and bring something more weighted and tender to the story. it’s less grim(m), but more determined—with an ending that isn’t “everyone is happy!!!” or “everyone is dead!” but “everyone is human.”
which is the most satisfying of endings.
read it for yourself here:
http://www.tor.com/2015/04/01/ballroo…
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