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 (451)
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A Fresh Start
Living in the year 1819 meant only one thing for a large segment of the population—poverty, and despair. There were no government subsistence programs, unemployment checks, or homeless shelters. During this time in our history, the country was in the middle of a severe depression and everyone had to fend for themselves. It was certainly not a good time to be a ten-year-old boy abandoned by his parents and living in the streets of Boston. That, however, was the situation young Raymond was in. Added to his problems was that he was born with a club foot.
By Mark Gagnon3 years ago in Fiction
What Goes Up
Alan left the sixth-floor law offices of Swindell and Shyster and walked to the elevator at the end of the long empty hallway. It was late and all the other offices on the floor were already locked for the weekend. He and his now ex-wife, Maggie, had spent the last three hours hammering out the last details of a very contentious divorce. By leaving first, Alan would avoid riding in an elevator with the woman who had just tried to take everything he possessed—both now and in the future.
By Mark Gagnon3 years ago in Humans
The Guardian
Chapter I The marauding hordes of Jikininki, dead humans who still had partial brain function, were approaching. They possessed an insatiable hunger for living flesh. The Jikininki throng, driven forward by humans called Beast Masters who controlled them, crested the hills protecting Tranquility. Only the Indestructible Legion was powerful enough to repel the Army of the Soulless, and no one had seen them near Tranquility in decades.
By Mark Gagnon3 years ago in Fiction
Ring Around the Rosie
Mystifying Marvin and his assistant, Bodacious Brenda, worked the senior circuit, which consisted of 55+ and assisted living communities. The duo, whose shows never lasted past 9:00p.m., bewildered and impressed their audiences with sleight of hand and Marvin’s specialty, hypnosis. Brenda would meander through the crowd, selecting unsuspecting and relatively spry audience members to take part in the hypnosis segment of the act.
By Mark Gagnon3 years ago in Criminal
The Clan
The Clan has existed in this remote valley for a thousand years. There was enough land to farm, game to hunt, and stay totally isolated from the rest of the planet. Clan members resembled early pioneers in dress, housing, and way of life. Their government is like an oligarchy, minus the royal titles and trappings, but keeping all the brutality and iron-fisted rule. Four families controlled all government functions:
By Mark Gagnon3 years ago in Fiction
Reason Prevails
To the untrained eyes of uneducated earth dwellers, it simply looked like the gathering of storm clouds, and they would be partially correct. There was a storm brewing, but not the kind most people were expecting. This storm would determine the very existence of not only humanity but the Gods themselves. Since Earth was part of the nine realms, it was a given that what happened in another realm almost always affected this planet.
By Mark Gagnon3 years ago in Fiction
Too Late Now
Okay, I’ll admit it. I enjoy being the center of attention, but this is plain nuts. If there was ever a time when I wished I could fly, this is it. It must be a hundred feet from the top of this cliff to the water below, and everyone is waiting for me to jump. Don’t they know I was just kidding when I said I’d do it? Guess not, because they’re all floating around in their kayaks cheering me on.
By Mark Gagnon3 years ago in Humans
The Dobbs House
I am now the proud owner of this Federal-style house and barn that was built two years before our country was born. Over time, it’s been added to and updated somewhat, but the original structure still stands. Of course, it’s not in move-in condition since the last resident died twenty years ago and the current occupants—spiders, bats in the attic, and a family of raccoons don’t perform maintenance. It will take time and money to restore, but I have plenty of both after winning the lottery.
By Mark Gagnon3 years ago in Horror
Reincarnation Art
My name is Jack McDougal, the great, great, great, (maybe one more great) nephew of Phineas McDougal, one of the country’s first robber barons. Unlike the Rockefellers, Carnegies, and Melons, Uncle Phineas outlived most of his money. At the time of his death, all that was left of his fortune was a Victorian-style mansion on twenty acres of land in Greenfield, Massachusetts. It was the house Phineas was murdered in. He was hit over the head with an iron fireplace poker on October 31, 1879, Halloween. He was not a popular man!
By Mark Gagnon3 years ago in Horror
Fix It Again Tony
It was the middle of 1972 when my new wife and I decided we should buy a new car before my enlistment in the Air Force was up. A year earlier, we had driven her 1965 Plymouth Fury to Laredo, Texas, where I was stationed. It made the trip with no issues, but I wasn’t sure it was up for the trip back to Massachusetts. Just like every other car that has spent most of its life in New England, body rot from road salt was taking a toll. The engine was leaking oil, and the transmission slammed instead of sliding into gear. We needed a new ride to bring us home.
By Mark Gagnon3 years ago in Wheel
