Mark    Johnston

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Mark Johnston

Goodreads Author


Born
in Canada
Website

Genre

Influences

Member Since
December 2019


Mark Johnston is a teacher who lives in Milton, Ontario.

He wrote his first book, Solar Umbrella, as a challenge to see if he could do it. After sharing with close family and friends, he self-published it to share with others. Solar Umbrella was released late 2023 and was written and edited over two summers.

The Travelers, a sequel to Solar Umbrella, was released a year later. For this novel, Mark wrote multiple POV's and in multiple time periods to mix things up a little.

Generations, a YA sci-fi novel about a boy who wakes up on a generation ship was completed in March 2025. Mark wrote this to have a story to share with his own kids, as well as his students.

Dragon Tongue, a YA fantasy novel was completed late August 2025, right before schoo
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Mark Johnston Sorry, I just realized there were questions here. I'm not sure what inspired the creation of the device exactly. It's something I've thought about for…moreSorry, I just realized there were questions here. I'm not sure what inspired the creation of the device exactly. It's something I've thought about for a while. As a kid, I had thought about a "shield" of some sort that surrounds the planet, but that's not very permeable or useful for coming and going. It's also more likely to be one sort of "type" I suppose - a specific tint or whatever. I remember watching Snowpiercer (where they have tinted the atmosphere in an attempt to stop climate change) but it's backfired on them, hence the ice and snow all over the planet. It got me thinking about being able to control the level of tint and the places that get what amount, etc. I do remember "controlling" the sun with my fingers as a kid, which is what Parker does early in the book. I guess it all built from there. I researched where something like the umbrella would work best and started learning about Lagrange points (I remember reading about them in another book at some point too where they use them for a telescope or something - three body problem maybe?). Anyways, it all comes from those sorts of things!(less)
Mark Johnston I would travel to Robert Jordan's "Randland" from the Wheel of Time. If I have trouble sleeping, I imagine myself as a side character in the book help…moreI would travel to Robert Jordan's "Randland" from the Wheel of Time. If I have trouble sleeping, I imagine myself as a side character in the book helping the characters along their journey. Jordan's writing describes the world and characters so well and is one of the reasons I love Fantasy. You can spend hundreds of words talking about cities and characters and no one minds.(less)
Average rating: 5.0 · 29 ratings · 15 reviews · 5 distinct works
Solar Umbrella (The New Enl...

it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 19 ratings — published 2023 — 3 editions
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The Travelers (The New Enli...

it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 5 ratings2 editions
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Dragon Tongue

it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 3 ratings2 editions
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Generations

it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings2 editions
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Peace Through Fire

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More books by Mark Johnston…

I am done!*

I wrote the last word of Peace Through Fire today. The final word is peace which seems fitting.

Obviously I have an enormous amount of editing to get to. Besides typos and other errors, there are some minor changes I want to make. It will take a while.

Final stats!

March 22 to today (April 3)
64 -> 74 chapters (a few longer ones in there too)
80k -> 96,060 words (longer than I thought)
229 -> 275 pages Read more of this blog post »
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Published on April 03, 2026 17:14 Tags: dragons, fantasy, peace-through-fire, ya
Solar Umbrella The Travelers
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it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 24 ratings

The Faith of Beasts
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by James S.A. Corey (Goodreads Author)
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The Boy in the St...
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The Ruins of Gorlan
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Mark’s Recent Updates

Mark Johnston and 9 other people liked Hugh Howey's blog post: Silo Season Three!
"Apple just announced the premiere date for Silo season three! The first of ten episodes drops on July 3rd. This is, by far, the best season yet. You all aren’t ready.The post Silo Season Three! appeared first on Hugh Howey."
Mark Johnston made a comment in the group Goodreads Librarians Groupincorrect author topic
" The book, Peace Through Fire, is mine
book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
my author goodreads account: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show.
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Mark Johnston is 50% done with Hatchet
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
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Mark Johnston started reading
The Faith of Beasts by James S.A. Corey
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Memory's Legion by James S.A. Corey
Memory's Legion
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The Faith of Beasts by James S.A. Corey
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Mark Johnston rated a book it was amazing
Dragon Tongue by Mark    Johnston
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As always, I will happily rate my own book if Goodreads is going to let me.

I think this book is the book I wish I had been given when I was 12.

- fast paced
- short chapters allow the reader to pick their pace
- interesting characters and growth
- the
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Mark Johnston and 8 other people liked Hugh Howey's blog post: Before We Go
"I dream about space a lot. I was obsessed with NASA as a kid. I used to build model rockets and see how far I could shoot them into the sky. My obsession with the cosmos in high school is the reason I majored in physics in college. Han Solo was my..." Read more of this blog post »
Dragon Tongue by Mark    Johnston
" rererereading before I edit book 2 "
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Topics Mentioning This Author

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Goodreads Authors...: Sci-Fi Adventure // Climate Change book series 2 9 Oct 06, 2024 09:00AM  
George R.R. Martin
“I think there are two types of writers, the architects and the gardeners. The architects plan everything ahead of time, like an architect building a house. They know how many rooms are going to be in the house, what kind of roof they're going to have, where the wires are going to run, what kind of plumbing there's going to be. They have the whole thing designed and blueprinted out before they even nail the first board up. The gardeners dig a hole, drop in a seed and water it. They kind of know what seed it is, they know if planted a fantasy seed or mystery seed or whatever. But as the plant comes up and they water it, they don't know how many branches it's going to have, they find out as it grows. And I'm much more a gardener than an architect.”
George R.R. Martin

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