Dare to Dance the Tide

Zine
Title:	Dare to Dance the Tide
Publisher:	The Squiggle Press
Editor:
Author(s):	Regenia Marracino and Carlotta Vaughn
Cover Artist(s):
Illustrator(s):
Date(s):	March 1993, second printing of 100 copies was in September 1993
Medium:	print zine
Size:
Genre:
Fandom:	Quantum Leap
Language:	English
External Links:
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front cover: "Admiral Albert Calavicci and Dr. Samuel Beckett at the Nobel Prize ceremonies (okay, okay. It's Dean and Scott at tbe Emmys. So sue us!")

sample page

Dare to Dance the Tide is a 374-page gen AU hurt/comfort Quantum Leap novel by Regenia Marracino and Carlotta Vaughn.

The pages numbering start over for each chapter.

The original cost was $26.

Summaries

From Media Monitor: "Sam leaps home for some much-needed rest, but that's the last thing he gets as he locks horns with the government, his brother, and Al. Loads of good ol' hurt/comfort."

From the zine: "One final note. The back cover color just happens to be--are you ready?—BECKETT CAMBRIC. Is that kismet, or what? Oh, yeah. I almost forgot. We've inserted a little bonus at the back of the zine. Just remember when you're reading the flashbacks, that's basically what Al's seeing. *Smile*"

Reprinted

When a fan in July 1993 sent her money in for a copy of this zine, the editor replied:

Bad tidings. We have sold out.

Good tidings. We have decided to do a second printing if we get 100 orders by August 1, 1993.

You have 3 choices. #1: You can return the $26 as payment in full for DARE and a SASE for refund (in case). #2: You can send a $5 deposit and SASE for refund (in case). #3: You can decide not to purchase DARE at all. (And miss out on a great zine.) Oh, yeah. A 4th choice! You can find someone who already has it and borrow their copy. Hope to hear back from you!

Authors' Foreword

We know, we know--you want to get to the story. Bear with us for just a moment; what we have to say here may prevent some confusion later and/or keep you from wondering if our memories Swiss-cheesed somewhere gdong the line.

First. This story takes place immediately after the lightning strikes Sam and A1 during the second electroshock and prior to their simu-leap in "Shock Theater". Nothing we've learned since then is included. (With the exception of the wristlink. That was too nifty to ignore. And while we do lift it from "The Leap Back", it is still very new, and even Al is surprised to find it in working order. (Although everyone—except Sam—seems very comfortable with it in "The Leap Back".)) In other words, Sam hasn't experienced the leaps of fourth and fifth seasons. He hasn't fallen for Tamlyn ("Temptation Eyes"); he hasn't been a rape victim or a research chimp; he hasn't melded with Lee Harvey Oswald, etc.

Second. As far as we're concerned, Ziggy is...has always been...and shall remain... MALE... with Sam's voice. Yes, the sultry voice (thank you, Deborah) and the 'lust' the female Ziggy had for 'her' creator—great taste in men—were a kick; but even in that episode, Sam called Ziggy a he, and in "A Leap For Lisa", Al refers to Ziggy as a he. So...

Third. Since Don Bellisario tells us on one hand that it's Sam's body that leaps and everyone simply sees the aura of the person he's leaped into (sort of like mass hypnosis is how he described it) and on the other hand it seems only Sam's essence has leaped, we use our own theory in accordance with Don's rule of WHATEVER WORKS!

If you'd like to consider this an alternate universe of sorts, feel free.

Inspired by "Shock Theater", we began work on DARE... but discovered when the new season started that if we were to take into account each new

piece of information as it was revealed in those episodes, we'd never get things straightened out! Hopefully, you'll find the story that follows interesting enough that you won't mind.

Reactions and Reviews

This epic-length novel had a lot of potential, starting with an absolutely gorgeous color cover photo of Sam and Al at the Nobel Prize ceremonies (actually, Dean and Scott at the Emmys), a photo insert of Scott looking all of eighteen years old (wonder where they dug that one up!), and a tantalizing couple of opening chapters. Unfortunately, the story bogs down through most of the middle and doesn't pick up again until its conclusion.

The story begins with Sam Leaping Home after his ordeal in Shock Theater. After the electroshock therapy and an unfortunate encounter with a new security system leave Sam both physically and mentally unbalanced, Al decides that the best treatment for his friend is a ”vacation” with Sam’s family. However, Sam’s reunion with the Beckett clan only makes him more unstable, especially when Tom shows up unexpectedly.

While, on the whole, Dare to Dance the Tide is well-written, especially its opening and concluding chapters, the whole reunion sequence between Sam and his family just didn’t work for me. Sam and Al didn't seem like, well, like Sam and Al. Al was so much in touch with his (and everybody else’s) feelings that he came off sounding like a Sensitive New Age Guy, while Sam’s utter dependence on Al seemed pathologically needy, even after he had supposedly “recovered”. I also found Sam annoyingly whiny. After a while, I felt like slapping him upside the head and saying, “Snap out of it, already!” There were only a few moments in which Sam and Al spoke and acted like the characters from QL. In a story that depends so strongly on characters its readers already know, that discrepancy was a major drawback.

Dare To Dance the Tide would have been much better if it had been written as a novella dealing with the Shock Theater Leap — Sam’s reaction to his experiences in the mental hospital, and his resolution of the Leap's loose ends formed the strongest parts of the story. While the authors’ descriptive writing is quite good, the flaws in characterization made the story only fair overall. I'm afraid I'd have to rate this one a regretful C-.