Two Tales of Terrorism
“Egoless” and “Strapped” and New Year’s Day terrorist attacks in adult playgrounds
With proximity to two New Year’s Day terrorist attacks on American adult playground cities, two of my terrorism-themed stories were published for the adult audience.
As an author who’s writing a novel about a family, free speech and finding the good, I’m discovering that I can’t write fast enough because the fiction I’m writing is coming true every other day. Unfortunately, this applies to my short stories as well.
The stories, “Egoless” and “Strapped,” were separately conceived without regard to one another. There are similarities and differences, however. “Egoless” depicts and dramatizes a boy’s self-abnegation as he chooses to become a terrorist. The story unfolds with the boy as narrator. I created the story after contemplating what makes an innocent child choose to become a monster. The protagonist, as the story opens, lies in wait wearing an explosive vest in an unspecified location he seeks to destroy.
In “Strapped,” the protagonist is also fitted with an explosive and terrorism psychology is also part of the plot. But this is not what moves the plot, let alone theme, which is about an artist—a dancer who is gay—forced to “dance or die” after being seized, tackled and fastened with a low-grade, motion sensory nuclear bomb. If he stops dancing, the city explodes and he dies.
“Egoless” dramatizes having faith in its purest, vilest form as the horror and tragedy of innocence lost becomes clear. My goal is to demonstrate both the child as being born tabula rasa while unmasking the forces that push him toward acts of evil. This tale was rejected by literary scholars and editors more times than I can count until it was finally accepted by New Orleans artist and founding editor Jonathan Penton of Unlikely Stories in New Orleans. When I learned of the New Year’s Day attack on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter, I reached out to Mr. Penton to express my empathy and offer moral support and encouragement. We both thought of my story.
Last week, Libretto magazine published “Strapped.” This Nigerian media, publishing my first fiction in Africa in its 12th issue themed to “Unwanted Seasons”, featured and introduced “Strapped” (also often rejected by U.S. literary editors) as its leading prose:
In Strapped by Scott Holleran, we step into a cosmopolitan bar—a microcosm of global perspectives—where a mix of intriguing characters converges. At the center is Sammy, the captivating dancer everyone came to watch, including two bearded foreigners who observe not just Sammy but the crowd’s obsession with him. The story unfolds into a thought-provoking dance of morality and terrorism.”
I’m struck by the parallels between the new year’s terrorist attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas and twin publications of my terrorism-themed short stories. (Incidentally, I forewarned of this deadly trend on my non-fiction media, Autonomia, when I named the assassin as 2024’s man of the year). But note that “Strapped” unspools the tale of the dancer as a hero who chooses to turn the terrorists’ motives against them by refusing to accept their estimate of his sexuality and dance. Its theme—which applies to America under siege from within and from afar—is what one can do.
Read “Egoless” here. Read “Strapped” here. Both stories, which are free to read, are scheduled for podcast episodes this year. Please support, subscribe to and gift my story podcast. I’m convinced storytelling can save civilization and make a better world. To paraphrase Taylor Swift, I can “do it” and write and dance with a broken (or aching) heart—but I’d rather not have to go it alone. Please help. Thank you.
Related Stories and Links
“Allegheny Lane” by Scott Holleran
Become a paid subscriber to listen to the whole story, “Allegheny Lane,” a story about a boy and his dog walking by a mysterious house down the hill. This story is currently scheduled for publication in the debut edition of Blackbriar Literary Review.
The First Year
Those of you who read Autonomia, my non-fiction podcast and publication, know I’ve had a challenging year of loss. Indeed, I’m at a loss for words to describe the depth and scope. Know that I’m making progress. This roundup of the first year of my story podcast accentuates the good, the gratitude and the gain. I’ll also ask for help.
I especially enjoyed "Strapped," a short story by Scott Holleran. It’s one of the most cinematically visual pieces I’ve read in a long time. The setup is outrageous but handled with total conviction: Sammy, a gay dancer at a rooftop bar, is abducted mid-routine and strapped with a nuclear bomb by Islamic terrorists. Dance or die, they tell him — and Sammy dances.
But "Strapped" doesn’t stop at the premise. Holleran builds momentum as Sammy’s improvised command performance spirals outward, drawing in friends, strangers, world leaders, and a watching public trying to make sense of joy under threat. The tone walks a wire between pulp and parable — like "Die Hard" choreographed by Jerome Robbins and scored by international news coverage.
This isn’t just an action story. Holleran laces in satire, politics, media spectacle, and unapologetic romanticism. The tension is real, the stakes are absurdly high, and the payoff lands. Does Sammy survive? Do the terrorists get their mushroom cloud? I won’t spoil the ending, but the last few lines are pure cinematic catharsis.
"Strapped" is bold, brisk, and weirdly inspiring. It practically storyboards itself. I won’t be surprised when someone in Hollywood picks it up. It’s that good.