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 (457)
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I See You
The congregation bowed their heads in reverent reflection as the Vicar droned on about the evils of sin and the ultimate reward for the righteous. His ability to preach about topics they had recently been thinking about baffled them. This week's sermon covered infidelity and the desires of the flesh versus chastity and faithful adherence to wedding vows. As he delved deeper into the subject, several women shifted uneasily on the church pew. Multiple men adjusted their gaze to the floor and refused to look up. They all felt as though he was addressing them directly. How could he sense what was on their minds?
By Mark Gagnon9 months ago in Horror
A Gift or Curse
We left the opulent dining room and retired to a small, well-appointed library. Small is a relative term, as Jack McCabe doesn’t own anything small - why should he? Jack has the dubious distinction of being the world’s first trillionaire. No matter how much money a person can amass in a lifetime, it still comes down to how much time you have before your personal clock runs down to zero. Jack is rapidly approaching that end. His body is a weak, gnarled shell that has to be transported by a powered chair. He has lost all his hair, and his senses of smell and hearing are fading fast. Jack’s eyes, although requiring glasses to see clearly, still show the fierce determination of a world-class predator. Solving the time problem is why McCabe had his men bring me, Michael White, to his estate.
By Mark Gagnon9 months ago in Fiction
My Spidey Sense. Top Story - May 2025.
Some places just put a person’s internal alarm systems on active standby. Alma Latinas was just such a place. Sure, Mike had visited this cantina before with several friends, but never alone. Actually, Gringos never visited this part of Nuevo Laredo alone, and he knew this, so what the hell was he doing there? When you’re twenty and bulletproof, in your mind anyway, no place is off limits.
By Mark Gagnon9 months ago in Journal
Chapters 36 &37 Unmitigated Greed
Chapter 36 Frank’s flight back to D.C. from Chicago felt smoother than his trip out was partly due to less turbulent air, but mostly because he had eliminated a potential problem without anyone getting hurt. Now he would have to wait and see if the pesky mechanical problems vanished. If they did, than Chicago was permanently good to go.
By Mark Gagnon9 months ago in Chapters
Look Through My Eye
Johnathan still wasn’t sure what he was seeing was real or a bizarre hallucination being projected into his brain by this magical space orb. Perhaps if he removed it from his normally empty eye socket all these peculiar visions of Earth being consumed by a cataclysmic war and their destination world, Terminus, fighting off unknown alien invaders would vanish as quickly as they had appeared. This was truly an enigma wrapped in a conundrum.
By Mark Gagnon9 months ago in Fiction
Duty Above All Else
Time affects both humans and dragons in much the same way. It drags us along entangled in its web until we can travel no longer. No matter how large or small, weak or strong, there is no defense against time. We simply must follow its lead. Alexander was no exception.
By Mark Gagnon10 months ago in Fiction
Ragged School
The sign shows it’s proper name, Orphanage, but in Victorian England everyone calls them Ragged Schools. They’re called that because we, the poor, unkempt children, the industrial revolutions detritus are sent here to live and learn skills that will be used in the factories. The only presents we receive come on Boxing Day when the rich bring us their leftovers and a piece of coal to burn for warmth.
By Mark Gagnon10 months ago in Fiction
Duty Above All Else. Top Story - April 2025.
As dawn broke in the eastern sky, the Army of the Soulless crested the hills surrounding the village of Tranquility. When they appeared, even the area’s most dominant predator, dire wolves, moved deeper into the surrounding forest. The Army of the Soulless had only one goal—defeat and destroy every living creature in their path. The Jikininki soldiers were driven ever forward by their rulers known as Beast Masters.
By Mark Gagnon10 months ago in Fiction
Unmitigated Greed
Chapter 26 Sasha was used to being by herself, but this was the first time she was looking forward to someone coming home at the end of the day. It gave her the same giddy feeling she would get as a little girl waiting for her father to return from work so she could show him a new picture she had drawn. Crayon artwork may not impress Mike, but coming home to a completely organized house and a home cooked meal would.
By Mark Gagnon11 months ago in Chapters
View From the Other Side
“Carl, what do you mean we must leave now? What are you looking at, I need to see.” Jaylene rushed to the window Carl was fixated on and tried her best to look around his unyielding body, but try as she might, her husband remained as rigid as a pillar of granite. She eventually gave up and moved to the front door where she could peer through the sidelight into the front yard. Jaylene saw nothing on the grass or in the sky that should justify the amount of anxiety her husband was showing.
By Mark Gagnon11 months ago in Fiction
