One of the things that make the dancing mania so intriguing is that it calls to a sense of longing that is familiar to music lovers. “Searching for the Perfect Beat” captures this sense with the story of Avoye.
Author Allison Thurman knows her way around a story, being a book reviewer as well. In “Searching for the Perfect Beat” she manages to illustrate what is familiar and beautiful about the dancing plague, with the release and community that can be part of dance.
What made you decide to write a story for The Dancing Plague: A collection of Utter speculation? I stumbled across the call for submissions on the Submission Grinder and a mix of ideas already in the back of my mind coalesced into a story.
How did you formulate your theory? How much did you rely on research? I played with the idea that similar emotional events in different times can attract each other and tangle the timeline. I did some basic research for the historical details of the dancing plague itself, but the framing device came out of my years as a college raver.
Do you think your speculation could be a feasible explanation for the plague or were you just telling a good story? Just a good story, though of course I’m curious what really happened.
What are you reading right now? Making slow work of my never-ending “to read” pile: Nicole Glover’s “The Conductors”, Allred and Horton’s “Bowie: Stardust, Rayguns, and Moonage Daydreams”, Kate Quinn’s “Signal Moon”, Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s “Daughter of Dr. Moreau”.
What other projects are you working on? Where can we look for you next? Dividing my time between developmental edits on my historical fantasy novel about alchemist Edward Kelley and another short story about my cryptid zookeeper from “The Zolo Hound of the Newly Found World”. Where you look for me next depends on which of these gets out into the world first.
There are lots of ways to keep up with everything Allison Thurman is doing. On, allisonthurman.com Twitter: @adotnon | Facebook: AllisonThurmanAuthor | Instagram: @adotnon
And if you want to read more of her work:
The Zolo Hound of the Newly Found World : Tall Tale TV
Book reviews for the Washington Independent Review of Books:
Queens of Jerusalem: The Women Who Dared to Rule
In Search of a Kingdom: Francis Drake, Elizabeth I, and the Perilous Birth of the British Empire
LC W. Allingham 
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