Pain_Beneath's Reading List
4 stories
Evasion by Mark_Leslie
Evasion
Mark_Leslie
  • Reads 223,388
  • Votes 5,365
  • Parts 36
There's nowhere to hide when everybody you know or meet is trying to kill you. Scotty Desmond's day begins like any other until his boss calls him into the office, pulls out a gun and starts shooting at him. Scott manages to escape the surprise assassination attempt, but everyone else he meets, colleagues, friends and strangers alike are all similarly obsessed with killing him. Will Scott survive long enough to understand what is behind the relentless attacks and how it might relate to the investigation into his father's mysterious death?
Prospero's Ghost by Mark_Leslie
Prospero's Ghost
Mark_Leslie
  • Reads 1,533
  • Votes 71
  • Parts 13
A dead professor stalks the campus, seeking revenge on those who dare taint the sacred nature of a beloved classic play. Renowned Shakespearean scholar Dr. Marshall Emerson whose specialty was the bard’s The Tempest could never be spotted walking the grounds of McMaster University without the precious 1861 folio edition of Shakespeare’s works clutched in his hands. Decades after his death, when McMaster University library and bookstore staff begin producing replica versions of the text on a newly acquired Espresso Book Machine, Emerson, who was also known as Professor Prospero, returns, intent to put a stop to this “desecration” of his precious text. This short story of approximately 6000 words originally appeared in the book CAMPUS CHILLS (2009) and was written by McMaster Graduate Kimberly Foottit and Mark Leslie, whose alter ego ran the Espresso Book Machine at the McMaster bookstore from 2008 until 2011.
I, Death by Mark_Leslie
I, Death
Mark_Leslie
  • Reads 20,768
  • Votes 2,064
  • Parts 132
WARNING: CONTAINS GRAPHIC HORROR & DEPICTIONS OF ADULT SEXUAL SITUATIONS THAT ARE LIKELY TO BE DISTURBING TO SOME. DEFINITELY NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART. READER DISCRETION IS STRONGLY ADVISED. -- "I, Death is a death rattle coming of age story; it is a song, and it is the world's funniest dirty joke - all rolled into one." - Steve Vernon, author of RESURRECTION, FIGHTING WORDS and MARITIME MURDER. -- Peter O’Mallick isn’t just having a bad day; he’s having a bad life. It’s bad enough when your girlfriend suddenly casts you a cold shoulder, your grades are slipping and those around you no longer understand what it’s like to walk in your shoes; but walking around with the innate power to end lives—something Peter begins to realize he has had since birth—takes the angst to a whole new level. And Hamlet thought he had it bad. Encouraged by his guidance counselor, the suicidal seventeen year old begins to blog about his experiences in order to try to understand this power and himself. The self-directed therapy helps, and strangers who follow his online story virtually befriend him, as it appears that his curse is mostly limited to those he is in close contact with. However, there is one stranger secretly following his story who isn’t there to understand, help or cheer him on; just as Peter begins to understand that being born as a harbinger for death might actually be a blessing rather than a curse, this stranger is intent on finding a way to use Peter’s power for nefarious purposes.
In The Company Of Monsters by ChrisKohout
In The Company Of Monsters
ChrisKohout
  • Reads 426,990
  • Votes 5,359
  • Parts 19
What if the person you trusted the most suddenly became a stranger, who desperately wanted you dead? And if an hour later, they were back to normal? Detective Jack Arnette was a respected cop, before a hostage situation went horribly wrong. Victor Slade is a meditating, hedonistic cop-killer. When Victor makes a pickup at the Seattle docks, Jack sees a chance for redemption. A simple arrest. Respect regained. But events spin out of control when Jack and Victor are quarantined with the dock workers and a virus that can make anyone go temporarily homicidal. Trapped by a SWAT team with orders to shoot anyone who leaves the building, Jack must deal with a cop-killer who has little to lose, and a group of innocents who could become just as dangerous. Who would you trust when anyone could become a killer?