A Nightmare On Manitou Island Front

INTRODUCTION: The complete text of A Nightmare On Manitou Island. This story is a departure from most of my writing in that I collaborated on it with my friend Mya (referred to in other stories). We came up with the seeds of this story on an earlier visit to Mackinac Island's Haunted Theater, a wax museum with scary displays including the wolf demon Ocryx, the GeeBee, and the Mitchi Manitou. It wasn't the first time I'd gone there, but it was the first time I really paid attention to everything, and actually took down these characters' names. (I had to ask the theater attendant how to pronounce "Ocryx." Nonetheless, I kept misspelling his name as "Orcyx" in this story!) Mya and I returned home and, after a lot of excited talking and some last-minute playing, decided to start a story set on a fictional counterpart of the island, known as "Manitou Island," after one of the main displays in the theater. I knew absolutely NOTHING of the mythology I was borrowing from here until years later...in 2001, when I began writing what's since become my biggest serials yet, the Manitou Island serials. This cheesy little unfinished story is what directly inspired the original Manitou Island, which ran from 2001-2003 and reached 110 chapters; Return To Manitou Island, which ran from 2003-2005 and reached 139 chapters; and Escape From Manitou Island, which is currently in progress and has reached almost 200 chapters. In addition, it inspired over a dozen short stories/novellas since 2001, as well as two older sets of short stories, The Legends Of Manitou Island and its sequel (whose exact name escapes me, but was likely something like The Further Legends...) Unfortunately, the text of Legends is missing, and I have been unsuccessful in finding it anywhere. Only a few of its twenty-plus stories, in copied format, remain. I've located the second, unfinished set in its totality, and hope to find the first someday, though if it ended up in the basement, chances are it has been completely destroyed. (Please wish me luck.)

Anyway. The Manitou Island series has REALLY come a long way since this first effort, but I still owe it all to this. This story, oddly, is a triple crossover, as it features characters from the D Is For Damien, Kemet, and Manitou Island storylines, all in one. It's in the same five-subject notebook as "Howwwll!" and features an illustrated cover, done with pencil and colored marker. The story itself was also illustrated. Despite it being a collaboration and me giving Mya top billing, I remember that I actually did all the writing itself (I'm selfish that way), while Mya contributed input. She may also have done part of the cover illustration as her character, Sandy, seems to be done in her style while the rest is in my style. I'm guessing the approximate date of this text to be 1989, though it could also be 1990. (I'm HOPING it's 1989, as that gives Legends a slight chance of having survived the basement...please wish me luck!!)

Front, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3

---

A Nightmare on MANITOU Island

written by:

M. S. [last name omitted]
&
R. H. [last name omitted]

[Cover illustration: Trees, with the moonlight shining down through them; the characters Sandy and Fluffy (a female tiger and a female sheepdog) are standing off to the right, Fluffy glancing skeptically over her shoulder while Sandy taps her and fearfully points toward one of the trees ahead. A hand is clawing the bark, and a face with a glowing eye and a moose antler peers out from behind it (compare to the illustration for the poem "The Manitou Song"); only Sandy sees him. A tiny glowing red gem lies in the grass.]