Veronica Schanoes, "Ballroom Blitz" - WOD #3

Veronica Schanoes, “Ballroom Blitz” – WOD #3

March 11, 2018 · by · in Bibliographicallie, Judaicallie
Two ambiguously gendered/sexed punks in pale pinky-beige and charcoal with mohawks face each other, nose to nose. They share what appears to be a cigarette or joint between their mouths and a lighter patch of smoke that simulates the twirl of a dancer rises between their heads. Barely visible in red-black against a red-black ground, the right hand figure's arm is bent up, her (because earrings and fingernail polish suggest a she) hand cradles 'his' face visually separating his darkened eyes from the tribal tattoo partially visible on his neck. Taken as a whole, the image is suggestive of a cracked but not broken heart.

“Ballroom Blitz” by Veronica Schanoes. Art by Anna and Elena Balbusso.

And the girl in the corner said boy I want to warn you It’ll turn into a ballroom blitz. – The Sweet, “The Ballroom Blitz“

This story‘s harder than “Burning Girls” also by Veronica Schanoes. Harder in that its words are sharper, uglier, darker, but also because it’s more honest, which makes it harder to process. “Burning Girls” is a fantasy, a reminder that “Jews were here” in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire and in the history of the New York City. It reimagines Rumpelstiltskin as one of the lilim (demonic children of Lilith). It takes a familiar story and makes it Jewish. Read On

Veronica Schanoes, "Burning Girls" - WOD #2

Veronica Schanoes, “Burning Girls” – WOD #2

March 9, 2018 · by · in Bibliographicallie, Judaicallie
Cover art for the novella "Burning Girls" by Veronica Schanoes. A girl in a red blouse and blue skirt walks above the skyline of New York City. Her hair and the trailing edge of her skirt have gone up in flames. Dark smoke scrolls up from a building on the left and arches over the girl.

“Burning Girls” by Veronica Schanoes. Art by Anna & Elena Balbusso

She’s just a girl, and she’s on fire… She’s living in a world and it’s on fire – Alicia Keys, “Girl on Fire“

“This is no place for a girl on fire.” – Katniss Everdeen, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, based on the book by Suzanne Collins.

Veronica Schanoes‘s “Burning Girls“, available for free on Tor.com, isn’t the story I expected it to be. I should have picked up on the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire reference earlier than I did. I was more interested in the other reference, the lilim and the significance of names, and I was thoroughly curious about Schanoes’s reference materials. I need to get my hands on them, stat. In spite of the cityscape cover, for some reason I was expecting something more in the vein of Elizabeth George Speare’s The Witch of Blackbird Pond.  Read On