Mark Gagnon
Bio
My life has been spent traveling here and abroad. Now it's time to write.
I have three published books: Mitigating Circumstances, Short Stories for Open Minds, and Short Stories from an Untethered Mind. Unmitigated Greed is do out soon.
Achievements (1)
Stories (461)
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When Gods Die
Have you ever wondered what happens to all these deities dating back to the beginning of time when people stop acknowledging their existence? Do they simply cease to exist, evaporating into the cosmos, their immortality revoked, or are they banished to live among the mortals? If that’s how it works, imagine how a former god feels when forced to live alongside a species that once worshiped him. Life would become very complicated for the demoted celestial, having to move every ten or twenty years because your neighbors would eventually notice that you never aged while they grew older.
By Mark Gagnon3 days ago in Humans
The Barn
It’s not that I don’t like Boston; on the contrary, it’s a great city if city life is what you want. I’m just through with all the noise and inconvenience that goes along with it. I wanted quiet roads, trees, starry nights, and crickets. I wanted to build a house in Williamstown, MA. My realtor called and told me about a plot of land she felt would be perfect for me. The only extra expense I would have would be the demolition of a dilapidated barn. A fire had destroyed the house more than 100 years ago. I looked at the pictures she sent, found the location on Google Maps, and bought the plot sight unseen. The following weekend, I packed up the car and headed for Western Massachusetts.
By Mark Gagnon7 days ago in Fiction
The Guardian Chapter V . Top Story - February 2026.
Alexander left his Coming of Age ceremony with Cronos and the elders with as many new questions as he had answers for his old questions. Cronos had confirmed his suspicions were correct. Not only was there a link between the Beast Masters and the inhabitants of the Citadel, but it was the Citadel's fault that the Beast Masters existed in the first place. Instead of banishing the law breakers which allowed them to wreak havoc on the rest of humanity, the Citadel elders should have stripped them of their powers before they became too strong. Now Alexander would need to battle the Beast Masters and the Jikininki. It would be difficult for him to forgive the Citadel Elders because their poor decisions led to the deaths of his parents and more than half the planet's human population.
By Mark Gagnon9 days ago in Chapters
Salt and Sea
“Mom, how did you and Dad choose my name?” “I was wondering if you would ever ask that question, sweetie. Since your dad is a commercial fisherman and I like all things connected to the ocean, we thought we should give you a name connected to the sea. We couldn’t name you Neptune because you’re a girl, and if we named you Huixtocihuatl after the Aztec goddess of sea and salt, you’d spend the rest of your life teaching people how to pronounce your name. That’s why your dad and I settled on Maris, meaning of the sea in Latin. It’s short, easy to pronounce and spell, and pays tribute to the thing we feel a strong connection to. Maybe you’ll feel that bond someday.”
By Mark Gagnon15 days ago in Horror
The Book
There was a time when reading bored me to tears. When I was young, my mother would call me over to her and say, “Come sit next to me and I’ll read you a story.” My standard response was either “I want to go out and play,” or “I’m building something with my Legos right now.” As you might imagine, school was twelve arduous years of reprimands, poor test grades, and detentions. Had I not been such a good athlete, I would have never graduated. At least I didn’t graduate at the very bottom of my class; that distinction belonged to Jack. I was next to last.
By Mark Gagnon27 days ago in Fiction
The Guardian Chapter 4 Learning the Truth
It had been five years since Alexander and Leo had their encounter with the Cthulhu and thirteen years since the Beast Masters and their living dead army, known as Jikininki, killed his parents and decimated his hometown of Tranquility. Since Draco the Dragon had rescued him from a pack of hungry Dire wolves and brought him to the Citadel to live, he had grown from a five-year-old child to an eighteen-year-old on the verge of adulthood. He had studied hard and mastered every challenge Actus and the other elders had presented. Now, he was through with all the double talk, the evasive tactics, the “You’ll be told when you're older
By Mark Gagnon28 days ago in Fiction
Guardians of Knowledge
David continued to pump gas for the next three month while searching for work. The job market was tight for people without a specific trade. He learned quickly that the technology field had no interest in someone without a degree in electronics or coding. He considered looking for work at one of the paper mills in the neighboring town of Fitchburg, but that wasn’t any different than working in a plastics factory. He even considered rejoining the Army or maybe the Air Force because the living conditions are better. The one thing he was sure of was that time was continuing to surge ahead, and his life was at a standstill.
By Mark Gagnon29 days ago in Chapters
Epilogue
Andy looked forward to settling into his overstuffed recliner, anxiously anticipating the grand finale of the book he had been reading for the last four days. He wasn’t a slow reader; on the contrary, if left alone, he could plow through most books in two days max. The problem with this book was that every time he settled down to read it, something or someone interrupted him. Either the phone would ring or the dog needed to go for a walk. Occasionally, a friend would stop by for a visit. Once, he had to work a double shift because someone called out sick. Tonight was going to be different. He only had two chapters and the epilogue to get through, and he could return the book to the library and find a new one.
By Mark Gagnonabout a month ago in Fiction
Coming of Age
Over the last five years, life in the Bay State seemed to be in a constant state of turmoil. Tariffs on glass, lead and several other items were responded to by the colonists with boycotts. Unrest grew to a fevered pitch until, on March 5th, 1770, the Boston Massacre occurred. Three years later, a group of men dressed as Native Americans boarded a ship and tossed its cargo of tea into Boston Harbor. Their action was dubbed the Boston Tea Party. It was easy to see how a fourteen-year-old boy who lived twenty miles from the big city could be easily confused by the state of the world.
By Mark Gagnonabout a month ago in Fiction
