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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Until the End of Our Time
I can’t remember a time when Maddie wasn’t in my life. We met as toddlers, our parents were next-door neighbors, and we spent almost every day playing together. Many children drift apart once they start school, but not Maddie and me. We attended the same grammar school, had the same teachers, and helped each other with homework. Inseparable, joined at the hip, two peas in a pod and all those other tired clichés were used to describe us by the adults. That’s how it was right up to the day her father got promoted and the family moved to another state.
By Mark Gagnon8 months ago in Fiction
The Black Widow 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 Gagnon8 months ago in Horror
My Future Plan
I hear the other kids say, “When I grow up, I want to be a firefighter, astronaut, truck driver, doctor….” The list is endless. Most kids want to follow in their parents’ footsteps, but from what I can tell, very few do. It’s hard to know what you want to be at a young age. That’s probably why I’m having such a hard time figuring out what path I will follow.
By Mark Gagnon8 months ago in Fiction
Child's Play
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 Gagnon8 months ago in Fiction
Move to the Rhythm. Top Story - June 2025.
We are all born with a natural rhythm. It controls our actions and thoughts from birth until death. I know this sounds like an oversimplification because everyone seems so different. Some people may sing like a nightingale or croak like a frog. Others move like they are walking on air while the rest of us dance as though we are wearing cement shoes. No matter where our talents lie, the beat is in us all. Let me explain.
By Mark Gagnon8 months ago in Humans
When Reality Stops
Stan, a 55-year-old traveling salesman, is a Bostonian through and through. The Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics and Bruins are the only teams worth rooting for. In Stan’s world change can never be a good thing. His third-floor walkup apartment is the same one he and a fellow student originally rented while attending Suffolk University 35 years ago. The roommate moved on, Stan did not. Why leave a place he knows.
By Mark Gagnon8 months ago in Horror
I'm Back!
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 Gagnon8 months ago in Horror
How My World Has Changed
My life started in January 1945. I was ready to go the minute I rolled off the assembly line. The factory shipping department placed me on a train that transported me from Detroit, MI, to a dealership in Little Rock, AR, where I was parked and ignored.
By Mark Gagnon8 months ago in Wheel
From the Past to the Present
I imagine the first thing you think of as you gaze through this archway overlooking the fields below is what a beautiful view. Those were my thoughts as well the day I was locked in this room four-hundred years ago. After all, there are worse places to be held prisoner in this castle, the dungeon where many of my compatriots were held is first on my list. I’d love to share my story, but I know you can’t hear me. No one has ever heard my cries for help, not since that wicked wench cast her spell on me.
By Mark Gagnon8 months ago in Horror
Happy Birthday Mikey
Chance brought the three together, friendship formed a spiritual bond that would last throughout their lives. Dan, the son of a Boston factory worker; Mikey, whose family were Cajun shrimpers from Louisiana; and Luis, a first generation American from California, met at the Army’s AIT (Advanced Infantry Training) school. Even though they haled from different parts of the country the trio shared many similarities, including the exact same birthday. The primary reason the three had for enlisting was to create a better life for themselves and their families. If the road to accomplishing that goal wound its way through the jungles of Vietnam, then so be it.
By Mark Gagnon8 months ago in Serve
Romulus or Remus
Romulus (named after one of the mythical founders of Rome) went about his normal morning routine still half asleep. He apparently had a restless night, but didn’t remember anything out of the ordinary that would have kept him awake. Rom shrugged it off, finished his breakfast, and headed for the door. Stepping over the threshold, Rom almost tripped over a small package lying on the porch. He scooped it up and tore it open on the way to the car. The mystery package contained a pocket size notepad and a metal refillable pen. He took the package, tossed it on the passenger seat and headed for work.
By Mark Gagnon9 months ago in Horror
