Older Stories by Mark L. Stinson
Some of these stories and poems are fun to read, though I would not call all of them "amazingly good." When I relocated the folder that contained all these old stories, I was saddened that I had ever misplaced it. Reading through them I realized how much these stories (and a few poems) meant to me. I typed them up and posted them to the web without editing them or changing any of the original content. A brief description of each has been provided so you can decide which ones you want to read!
E-mail Me: Mark L. Stinson
| "The Haunted House" | I wrote this story when I was a little kid...I believe in the 2nd Grade. When I typed this story in from my scrawling print, I left all the typos and lack of punctuation! I didn't change a thing. The whole story is in printed letters, except the last four lines in cursive. PLOT: I visit a Haunted House, and a ghost chases me around.... |
| "A Metal Casket for Two" | I wrote this story for a class in High School...my Senior year, probably 1985 or 1986. I was going for a hard-boiled/detective fiction atmosphere, and perhaps over-did it a bit. PLOT: A man is hired to murder someone called the Casketmaker, and the bullets and bombs begin flying.... |
| "Dealing a Dark Death" | I also wrote this story for a class in High School during my Senior year. I was doing the hard-boiled/detective thing, but I was really going for gore and shock value. My teacher wrote a note on it scolding me for including "too much pus and blood." PLOT: A man seeks revenge against a drug-overlord when his wife dies of an overdose.... |
| "Of Crossbows and Two Myrcontorians" | This is a fantasy story about a D&D character of mine, that I had in Chris Steven's campaign world...in the City of Kern. Luckily I actually wrote a date on the story...July 27, 1985...a little less than a year before I graduated High School. Borrn, 'servant of the dark ways,' has a rather gory adventure in this one! |
| "Dire Delusion of Death" | This fantasy story was also written sometime during High School. Its set in the city of Citadel, a D&D setting Matt Johnson came up with, and used to torture our chacters! I've since borrowed the city for my own game. This story is a misadventure of sorts for a well-travelled Bard named Farlorn. |
| "At the End" | This is an apocalyptic tale that I wrote in early High School. It reflects the how much the Cold War...possible nuclear war...and the need to hope for survival in the face of all that darkness. Anyhow...its a fairly dumb story, but its kind of funny to read now. |
| "Bomb Runs Hurt" | This was a play I wrote December 13th, 1985 for Creative Writing class. Once again, I reveal my terror at the time of nuclear war...as the whole play is about an air-raid siren going off. Its fairly goofy...but I included it here to show our anxiety about the world in the mid-eighties. |
| Assorted Essays | There is an essay I wrote at twelve-years-old, describing what I wanted to be when I grew up. There is another from the 7th Grade describing how to make yourself go unconscious. I've included an odd calculation from 1983 as to how long I had to live! And finally, a list of items to gather from around the hours if a nuclear war began.... |
| Somber Poems | These poems were all written during High School, and they have all the teen-angst that should be expected from a young poet! Some are better than others, but there's a few good ones there... |
| Fantasy Poems | These poems were also written in High School, but they are influenced by that great escape...fantasy novels and D&D! |