Statistics say you’re far more likely to be assaulted, raped, kidnapped or killed by someone you know, than by a stranger.
Sorry, how rude of me. Welcome to Thursday at Threat Quality Press.
Archive for September, 2008
Spite Fatalism
Posted in Jeff Holland with tags Jeff Holland, monsters on September 18, 2008 by braakThe Industry of Magical Thinking (TQP0086)
Posted in Braak, poetics with tags Braak, poetics on September 17, 2008 by braak
I want to talk about advertising, but first, to do that, I have to talk about superstition.
About a hundred years ago, a zany character named Sir James “Smokin’ Jim” Frazier wrote a book called The Golden Bough. It is a massive and extensive survey of “primitive” religion, magic, and supersititon. I highly recommend it to anyone that has two or three weeks of free time, and nothing to do but sit around reading (the books is LONG, and exhaustive). Read more »
Monsters! (TQP0085)
Posted in Jeff Holland with tags Jeff Holland, monsters, Teh Goofy on September 16, 2008 by braak
Now that I have your attention, let’s talk about fiscal responsibility.
Nah, just screwing with you, let’s talk about….Monsters!
Threat Quality Re-Design!
Posted in Braak with tags Braak on September 15, 2008 by braakWe have now exceeded a hundred blog posts, so Jeff and I thought that maybe it’d be okay to do a bit of a redesign. We’ve switched from Blogspot to WordPress, because WordPress is just a generally more robust platform.
We Are Shepherds, Part 5: Conclusion
Posted in Braak, Short Fiction with tags Braak, Short Fiction, We Are Shepherds on September 12, 2008 by braak[The finale of the story that began here, and which you have been reading for the past week. Haven't you? --ed]
[Art by David Frankel, DDS]
V
With the building above me gone, the army of placid-seeming synthetic men could point their double-barreled rifles directly at me. I leapt back from the stairway as a wave of bullets rained down, chipping stone, ricocheting around the chamber. They bounced harmlessly off the black fullerene rappresses, which continued to manufacture more deadly un-men, even as the motile ones were after me.
We Are Shepherds, Part 4: How Do I Get Out?
Posted in Braak, Short Fiction with tags Braak, Short Fiction, We Are Shepherds on September 11, 2008 by braak[The story begins here. It is a product of a powerful Science.]
[Art by David Frankel, MFA]
IV
The countermeasures appeared as a stroke of lightning and a sound like the world had cracked in half. By the time the coloured pinwheels of the afterimages had cleared from my eyes, the synthetic woman had been charred to a crisp, and lay canted at a strange angle on the ground. All that was left were blackened acrylic-polymer bones.
“What the hell was that?” I asked my gun.
We Are Shepherds, Part 3: The Plot Thickens
Posted in Braak, Short Fiction with tags Braak, Short Fiction, We Are Shepherds on September 10, 2008 by braak[For your enjoyment, "We Are Shepherds" part THREE! Its power cannot be contained. --ed]
[Art, as always, by David Frankel, MTS.]
III
I threw my forearms over my face, just fast enough that my own knife struck sparks against them. There was armor, grafted to my skin, but I was far from invulnerable. If I stayed still, I’d surely take the weapon in a soft spot, like my throat or my empty eye socket.
We Are Shepherds, Part 2: Shepherd Town
Posted in Braak, Short Fiction with tags Braak, Short Fiction, We Are Shepherds on September 9, 2008 by braak[Here is the second part of "We Are Shepherds" the Rough Cut. --ed]
[Art by David Frankel, OSA.]
II
Hide. Run. Shoot. Nothing. My body wasn’t responding. I looked desperately around for cover, but could do nothing more than slowly crumble into the rusty dirt as the black spot grew larger on the face of the sun.
We Are Shepherds, Part 1: the Desert
Posted in Braak, Short Fiction with tags Braak, Short Fiction, We Are Shepherds on September 8, 2008 by braak[Here is another short story that will be offered up in sections. It's a little less polished than some of our pieces in the past. Think of it as a dirty sketch of a thing, a great piece of epic sci-fi that's still nascent and looking for its feet. --ed]
Art by Dave Frankel, PhD.
We Are Shepherds
I
There was no question: I was going to have to kill the horse.
A nasty tangle of red and blue wire had erupted from her stomach, and was now clutching, twisting, heaving in a grotesque parody of her own labored, blood-flecked breathing. She lay on her side, screaming piteously, her eye rolling so I could see the white. She must have picked up a Morgellon’s parasite somewhere; probably before I bought her in that little half-assed shanty town that was now a hundred miles south.
An Acceptable Female Candidate (TQP0084)
Posted in Politics, Sarah Crane with tags God-damned Republicans, Politics, Sarah Crane on September 5, 2008 by braak[Brought to you today by special Threat Quality guest columnist Sarah Crane, who I think is pretty rad. --ed]
Shrill, emasculating, ball-busting, feminazi, lesbian, calculating, ugly, fat, bitch.
For decades, Republicans (and some Democrats and apolitical folks) have used these slurs against Senator Hillary Clinton. During the 2008 primary season, the media treated her as a side-show freak: a woman who came very close to becoming the Democratic nominee for president of the United States.
