Mark Gardner

US Navy veteran & former radio broadcaster. Writes fiction in Arizona with wife, children, & spoiled dogs. Works in disability services. AAS, BAS, MA. (he/him)

[Mark Gardner @Article_94]

Updated for 2026. Links to my books and series:
My stories are available in EN, ES, PT, DE, IT, FR & CN.

#MYSTERY: https://t.co/seldD8ik5J

#superhero: https://t.co/KT6pzeVtRi

#scifibooks: https://t.co/ec4VsndyFZ

#audiobook: https://t.co/ND26n40iTd

[Mark Gardner @Article_94]

What’s with people?

You’re bragging about how many books you read… why?

You’re bagging on someone reading a particular number… why?

100 books a year is like two books a week.

Criticizing the genres read… why?

Gatekeeper behavior like calling reading performative…why?

[Mark Gardner @Article_94]

Yup

[Bite-Sized Nostalgia @landofthe80s]

When I was in elementary school we had to practice our cursive writing. 🖊️

[Mark Gardner @Article_94]

Working on the chapter pages for America 2076.

[Mark Gardner @Article_94]

I do all right…

[DanNeo S.S. ✮ 𓂃🖊 @DanNEO_SS]

Every now and then, someone says that the number of readers is decreasing year after year. Sometimes I check the data and find contradictory figures because of the way the numbers are measured.

But what about you? What’s your average reading rate per year? 📚

[Mark Gardner @Article_94]

My #game cupboard is getting very full. It might be time to cull soon…

[Mark Gardner @Article_94]

Love it! Erika is a children’s book author, but she’s totally my thesaurus—when I over use a word, she’s there to help me brainstorm a synonym (and which instance to replace)!

[K.T. Carlisle @KT_Carlisle]

When you married a writer and you’re too deliriously tired to do your own research so you vaguely mumble your way through what you need over dinner and they find the answer to your plot problem and now you’re ready to write the scene of the century.

[Mark Gardner @Article_94]

Woo hoo! Book Twinsies! I’ve got a Five by Five too!

[Claire Wilson @ByClaireWilson]

Another day, another scam. Stay safe out there, guys.

[Mark Gardner @Article_94]

Gonna be very telling. 10 bands I’ve seen live;

1. Weird Al
2. Metallica
3. Megadeth
4. Pantera
5. GWAR
6. Aerosmith
7. Anthrax
8. Sepultura
9. Slayer
10. Morbid Angel

Most at the Star Lake Amphitheater south of Pittsburgh, PA, & so many smaller bands at the Electric Banana.

[Anthony LaFauci @AnthonyLaFauci]

Introduce yourself with 10 bands you’ve seen live:

1. Coheed and Cambria
2. Bayside
3. Nofx
4. Reel Big Fish
5. Alkaline Trio
6. Blink 182
7. Senses Fail
8. Alexisonfire
9. La Dispute
10. Thursday

[Mark Gardner @Article_94]

In the dead space under the (occupied) mount for a GE LM-2500 gas turbine on the USS Elrod (FFG-55).

[Stephen Black @stephenRB4]

Where’s the strangest place you’ve ever fallen asleep? 😴

[Mark Gardner @Article_94]

Witches. In a biker gang. In 1894 Arizona. Trying to stop a railroad from being built through sacred land before magic disappears from our world forever…

[Mary York @Mary_ork]

Tell me your book's genre without actually naming the genre. Best reply gets a retweet.

[Mark Gardner @Article_94]

Super secret, don’t tell anyone. I needed a dude name for the partner to my female sleuth MC. I was driving down the highway, stopped at a traffic light, and a car pulled up next to me with an insurance placard on the door. That became the name immediately.

[Diane Nichols @DNicholsAuthor]

I once saw a town called Fort Lonesome on a weather map on TV and the name struck me so deeply that I wrote a YA witchy creepy thriller centered around it.

What sparked the idea for your latest book?

#WritingCommunity

[Mark Gardner @Article_94]

All the #magicthegathering dudes in my playgroup are the damage control crew from the USS Raconteur. I use their real names and likenesses, and the characters are their exaggerated personalities.

I hope Operation: We Meant to Do That will be out in 2027…

[Lee Hall @lhallwriter]

Writers, have you ever based a fictional character on someone real?

[Mark Gardner @Article_94]

In 1894 Arizona, a biker gang of witches must stop a railroad from being built through sacred land before magic vanishes from our world forever.

[Tony Henandez | The Editor 🇿🇦 🇪🇸 🇬🇧 @tonyhenandez790]

Writers! What the plot of your WIP

[Mark Gardner @Article_94]

100%

[DanNeo S.S. ✮ 𓂃🖊 @DanNEO_SS]

Well, I don't need to read any studies to know there's something special about handwriting. The act of picking up a pen and gliding it across the paper is a smooth, magnetic gesture.

I still do calculations and take notes on paper. What about you?

[Mark Gardner @Article_94]

A lot of tracking is a holdover from trad days.

Some publishers wanted chapters to be uniform length.

For multi-POV or character, ensuring that each POV/character gets equal “page time.”

Tracking allows you to predict when the story would conclude vis-a-vis total word count.

[Peter Crerar @realPeterCrerar]

Why do writers track the number of words they've written?

That's like a painter counting brushstrokes.

[Mark Gardner @Article_94]

#writingcommunity It’s interesting, how many times I edit/proofread a paragraph, only to find an error later in life.

Some people recommend reading it out loud, but I wanted to try just writing it out long-hand.

Found an error as I was writing it out…

#amwriting #amediting

[Mark Gardner @Article_94]

When I signed the contract for 2 mysteries, the publisher said there was a serial killer with my name. I said, “cool,” & they said, “No we want you to go by something different.”

I ended up just using my initials. My wife, Erika, calls me “Ma Gardner,” because she’s very funny.

[Diane Nichols @DNicholsAuthor]

Hey, fellow writers...

How many of you use a pen name and why did you decide to do that?

#WritingCommunity

[Jessica Piro | Indie Author @AuthorPiro]

New character artwork for Thieving Shadows, a steampunk mystery thriller!
Genevieve (the thief) and Matthew Tilcott (the man walking).

Link in bio

#indieauthor #amazonbooks #kindleunlimited #steampunk #mystery #thriller #romance #standalone #nospicebooks

[Mark Gardner @Article_94]

ColecoVision. Played the heck out of my Buck Rogers tape.

[Stephen Black @stephenRB4]

My first computer was a Sinclair Spectrum, where you used a tape recorder to load games and hoped for the best they didn’t get chewed up.

What was your first computer?

[Mark Gardner @Article_94]

Thanks, man!

[J.R. Larriba @JRLarriba]

The nominees are too many and task too great.
@ToraBrinn @sixdoomlit @JasonWMizer @TAR_Kirk @kathrynhall_ @Article_94 @CollingsMaccrae @mickeyblackpens There are just too many.