Meet the Historian Behind the Stories

Welcome to my website. My name is Mark Macedonia, and I am an author of historical fiction. The American-British novelist Henry James once wrote, “It’s time to start living the life you’ve imagined.” Since childhood, when I was captivated by the works of Jules Verne, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Agatha Christie, I have imagined myself becoming a writer. Today, I find myself living that dream.

My first experience writing for the enjoyment of others came in grade school, when I created short stories for my classmates while growing up in Bellevue, a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The stories were well received by a small group of friends who would read them and pass them along to the next person.

At Northgate High School, I wrote for the school newspaper and covered Northgate sporting events for the local newspaper, Suburban Life. I later enrolled at St. Bonaventure University as a journalism student, eventually becoming sports editor and associate editor of the university’s award-winning newspaper, The Bona Venture. I also served as sports editor of the university yearbook, Bonadieu, and co-hosted a morning sports show on WSBU radio.

After graduating in 1982 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Communication, I was excited to begin a career in journalism. Life, however, had other plans.

John Lennon once wrote, “Life is what happens to you when you’re busy making other plans.” I discovered the truth in those words when my pursuit of a journalism career was overtaken by the immediate need to find employment. Before long, I found myself working in food service management—a career I continued for the next five years.

Aside from writing, history had always been my favorite academic subject. In 1988, I returned to school and earned a Master of Arts in Teaching degree from the University of Pittsburgh, with the goal of becoming a history teacher. Soon afterward, I was hired by the Seneca Valley School District in Butler County, Pennsylvania, beginning a wonderful 32-year career teaching high school Social Studies.

In the late 1990s, I began writing a novel inspired by my experience teaching United States History. Set in colonial New England shortly before the American Revolution, the manuscript was about one-third complete when the responsibilities of teaching and raising a family caused me to set it aside.

In 2017, I returned to the unfinished manuscript and completed it within a year. My first novel, The Soles of Cyrus Eblis, was initially published by St. Polycarp Publishing and later released by CrossLink Publishing in 2019.

More than a decade of teaching AP World History inspired my second novel, Beneath a Crescent Moon. Published by First Steps Publishing in 2022, the story unfolds within the 16th-century Ottoman Empire—one of my favorite periods to teach.

After retiring from high school teaching the following year, I found inspiration in another classroom favorite: using The Wonderful Wizard of Oz to help ninth-grade students understand events in 19th-century American history. That connection led to my third novel, Beware the Shifting Sands, published by First Steps Publishing in 2024. The novel is a murder mystery set in South Dakota in 1928—and yes, it is centered around The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

After publishing three novels, I began visiting local libraries to discuss the historical background behind each story. I quickly discovered how much I enjoyed giving these presentations—and realized that my desire to teach and share knowledge was still very much alive.

That realization led me to the Center for Lifelong Learning at La Roche University, a program that gives adults age 55 and older an opportunity to continue exploring a variety of subjects. I joined the program as a history lecturer and later became a lecturer for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Pittsburgh.

My return to lecturing also helped inspire a new historical fiction series centered around two American spies operating in Europe during World War I. What began as an idea for a single novel became a trilogy after a new publisher invited me to expand the story.

The first book in the trilogy, Silhouettes of the Dark, was published by Aionios Publishing in 2025. The second, Shadows in the Dragon’s Lair, followed in May 2026.

Today, with writing and history still very much in my blood, I continue working on the third novel in the trilogy while lecturing to adult learners. With each stroke of the keyboard, I become more convinced that I am living the life I once imagined—made possible by the encouragement of my friends, family, and my wife, Sandy.

Thank you for visiting my website and taking the time to learn more about my story. I hope you will return often to share in my love of history and follow my current and future writing projects.