Mark Johnston is a dad and teacher from Milton, Ontario who is writing for fun.

I was never into reading or writing much as a kid, but I’ve learned to appreciate novels more since I got out of high school and realized there were books not by Shakespeare. By teaching the writing process to my elementary students, I’ve come to appreciate it and I now understand the rules much better.

I spent many many hours googling how to write dialogue correctly and when to use indents and all other manner of grammatical wonders. I think I even got some of them right!

After writing my first book as a personal challenge, I found the process very rewarding and decided to share Solar Umbrella with family and friends in late 2023. I started work on the book in summer 2022 and worked on it for those two summers before finishing up.

I generally write in the summers since teaching is a lot of work.

In September 2024, I released a sequel to Solar Umbrella called The Travelers.

I completed my third book, a YA sci-fi novel, Generations in March, 2025. I wrote this book for my own kids and students to have a book to enjoy.

My fourth book, Dragon Tongue, was completed in September 2025, just in time for summer to be over. It's my first Fantasy book, which is my favourite genre, so it was great to get into. It's a YA novel as well, so several of my students have read it.

As of January 2026, I am working on a direct Sequel to Dragon Tongue, called Peace through Fire. I hope to be done before the end of the school year, but we'll see.

My goal in writing is to create exciting works that people can enjoy reading in smaller or larger chunks, so I always try to keep my chapters short. I definitely try and put some social messages in there as well, but the overall goal is a fun read.

Outside of writing, I spend time with my wife, two daughters and my furry son (pictured).

Peace.