This chapbook contains nearly 30,000 words and glimpses into Caitlín R. Kiernan's novel, Threshold. Inside you'll find alternate openings, deleted chapters, nonfiction related to the novel, and short stories about the same characters, most of it unpublished.

Trilobite: the Writing of Threshold contains: 1. Author's Foreword -- An essay on the writing of the book 2. Original Unused Prologue -- '... the dead and the moonstruck... ' 3. Second Unused Prologue -- untitled 4. Original Chapter 4 -- 'Dane' (completely excised from final ms. ) 5. Excerpt from Original Chapter 1 -- untitled 6. Related Short Stories --'The Well of Stars and Shadow'--A prequel, with Dancy as a small child in the Florida swamps. (previously published only online)'In the Water Works (Birmingham, Alabama 1888)'--Essentially, a pro-prologue to Threshold, in which Chance Matthews' great-grandfater discovers the thing under the mountain. 8. Author's Afterword -- An essay on the geology and paleontology of the area where Threshold is set -- Birmingham and Red Mountain.