1. At the Moon by shadesmaclean [ - ] (164 words)
howling at the dark side of the moon

2. Ghost Towns by shadesmaclean [ - ] (504 words)
I didn't try my hand at songwriting until I was in college. Sadly, I have all the musical talent of a stump (Okay, I lied, the stump has more musical talent than me :( ), but when a friend of mine tried to start a band, I experimented with writing lyrics. Sadly, nothing ever came of it, as he was never able to get a solid crew together, but I still believe the experience helped me become a better writer. (For what it's worth, years later, he did get something off the ground. If you're ever in Washington state, keep an ear out for the Walking Talls. :) ) This is something I wrote back then:

3. Insomnia by shadesmaclean [ - ] (420 words)
Life gets strange without sleep...

4. Slippage by shadesmaclean [ - ] (702 words)
What happens when reality itself starts forgetting how to keep it real...

5. Lost Verse (Silent Hill) by shadesmaclean [ - ] (166 words)
the first of the Lost Verses...

6. Lost Verse (Raccoon City) by shadesmaclean [ - ] (211 words)
another Lost Verse

7. Lost Verse (The Nameless City) by shadesmaclean [ - ] (252 words)
One Night Only!
MC Lovecraft, waxing arcane on why we're all insignificant specks crawling on a pale blue dot, spinning through a cold, indifferent universe! Good night! Sleep tight! Don't let the Nightgaunts bite! :D

8. Twilight by shadesmaclean [ - ] (990 words)
Flashlight: "Submitted for your approval: the story of Darek Chambers, age 19. A young man who, tired of driving in circles, took off on the ultimate road trip in search of a little adventure. Little does he know that he is about to get more than he bargained for. For at the last turnoff, he made a wrong turn, driving off the map and onto the endless highway of the Twilight Zone..."

9. Enter Ye the Spooky Door by shadesmaclean [ - ] (347 words)
Fragments of this poem appeared in Tradewinds 9: "The Building is Hungry!" Here is the piece in its entirety:

10. Dark Reflection by shadesmaclean [ - ] (103 words)
One day, I was digging through some of my old notes, I stumbled across this previously untitled poem:

11. Dead End Drive by shadesmaclean [ - ] (354 words)
This was something else I wrote, around the same period I wrote "Ghost Towns"

12. Hallmark Holiday by shadesmaclean [ - ] (294 words)
Something I freestyled one afternoon, years ago, dreading the traditional Last Minute Christmas Shopping Expedition I was going on later that night.

13. I'll Be Staggerin' Drunk for Christmas by shadesmaclean [ - ] (195 words)
A country-fried ode to Holiday stress...

14. Flawed Logic (a Rant) by shadesmaclean [ - ] (345 words)
Years ago, a friend of mine tried to start a band while I was in college, and I took some time out from writing fiction (in the couple year gap between the older Tradewinds manuscripts and The Book of Hondo) to write song lyrics. A lot of what I wrote was pretty lame, though it did yield a few that had a chance of becoming songs if the actual band itself had ever managed to fully form. This was a fragment of something I wrote, what was supposed to be a multi-part piece, though, looking at it years later, this was the only verse I think is actually worth anything.

15. Losing It by shadesmaclean [ - ] (235 words)
Exactly What It Says On the Tin

16. Follow the Leader by shadesmaclean [ - ] (323 words)
The chase is on...

17. Pass It On by shadesmaclean [ - ] (1002 words)
The Revolution is still on...

18. No Way Out (The Empty Set) by shadesmaclean [ - ] (593 words)
Monotonous Phenomenon

19. Wrong Track by shadesmaclean [ - ] (401 words)
catching the Mystery Train...

20. Give 'em Hell! by shadesmaclean [ - ] (358 words)
take a stand

21. Without a Trace by shadesmaclean [ - ] (358 words)
when you look back on your life, and start to see too much of it as DBZ time-skips... :(

22. I Want My Country Back by shadesmaclean [ - ] (1089 words)
One September night, I fell asleep in the United States of America, and I've spent many years trying to figure out where the hell I woke up... :(

23. That Monkey Is Not Your Friend by shadesmaclean [ - ] (151 words)
Thank you for smoking. :/

24. P.O.W. (Prisoners of War) by shadesmaclean [ - ] (829 words)
If you don't speak up for others, who'll speak up for you?

25. What You Are In the Dark by shadesmaclean [ - ] (423 words)
always an interesting question...

26. Forever War by shadesmaclean [ - ] (548 words)
If you didn't have to be a soldier, what did you want to be when you grew up?

27. One Trademark to Rule Them All by shadesmaclean [ - ] (231 words)
on Comic-Con trademark bullying