The Underwater Ballroom Society

INTRODUCTION: THE POWER OF WHAT IF ^{by Tiffany Trent}

As science fiction and fantasy writers, the power of ‘what if’ is our stock in trade. But ‘what if’ means nothing if it’s not followed with ‘yes.’

It was years ago that I first heard the tragic (and quite Gothic) story of the underwater ballroom at Witley Park. The tale of Whitaker Wright and his fraudulent investment schemes in 1890s London is surely worth a novel in and of itself, but the estate he built (and abandoned) at Witley Park with its underwater ballroom has captured many imaginations. I had saved files and images of it, knowing I wanted to write a story about it someday, unsure quite how I would do it justice.

Then, one day I saw my dear friend Stephanie Burgis talking about it on Twitter.

“Wouldn’t it be great if…?”

“What if…?”

We asked each other what if we edited an anthology in which each story featured an underwater ballroom, but then we took the crucial step of saying yes to the adventure before us. Immediately, other authors who saw the conversation wanted into the ballroom, and thus The Underwater Ballroom Society was born. We built it, and they came.

In this anthology, you will visit an old hangout one last time with an ex-punk siren and find out what the twelve dancing princesses learned in their secret world. You will feel the fallout of Oberon stealing a guitar god. You will wonder if magic might finally find a lonely officer of the Crown and a smuggler. You will learn about the secret society of Mycologians and find love with a girl who never otherwise fit in to society’s expectations. You will know what happened to Syrus Reed after The Tinker King, and you will be swept away by the determined romance of Amy Standish and Jonathan Harwood in Spellswept, the prequel novella to Snowspelled. You will solve mysteries with Harriet George under the Valles Marineris on Mars, and you will be left longing at the rusalkas’ ball.

Setting is so often relegated as mere furniture in stories, but it is far more than that. Setting not only imbues a work with atmosphere, but often has a mind of its own. As Robert McFarlane said in Landmarks, “Books, like landscapes, leave their marks in us.” We hope this book will leave its mark in you, and that you will return often to the underwater ballroom.