Mary Pagones
Equestrian Fiction
THE Fortune's Fool Series
Follow salty-tongued Simon O' Shaughnessy through the exciting equestrian sport of eventing.
Fortune's Fool (Book 1)
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"Ma, I just kind of accidentally bought a horse so I’ll need the trailer." Simon has always struggled--with fitting in, with being a poor boy in a rich man's sport, and also with being a gay man. To be a rider, after all, is to be...Fortune's Fool.
Quick Bright Things Come To Confusion (Book 2)
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"I've always said if you can't pick a stall with one hand while eating a slice of pizza, you're not a real horse person." Simon has never shied away from hard labor. But being a working student at a German eventing barn has meant more time behind a wheelbarrow with a pitchfork than in the saddle.
Stars Hide Your Fires
(Book 3)
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"It was no one's fault. It was just one of those things. It is the sport. It happens." Simon O' Shaughnessy's life revolves around eventing. But when a freak, tragic accident takes the life of his friend and mentor, he finds himself struggling to defend the sport he loves.
Give and Hazard All
(Book 5)
Eventer Simon O’Shaughnessy is known for his willingness to take risks. But when his boyfriend and assistant rider Phillip Stone begins exercising horses at a local timber racing barn, Simon is troubled. Has Phillip taken on a challenge that is too much for him? Even by Simon's standards?
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Courage to the Sticking Place
(Book 6)
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"Winners never quit. Quitters never win."
Eventer Simon O'Shaughnessy's horse Morrissey is just as temperamental as the former lead singer of The Smiths. After Simon is forced to temporarily hand over the reins to his boyfriend Phillip Stone, can Simon forgive Phillip for winning on the horse--when Simon failed to do so himself?
Teach Me How to Rage Correctly
(Book 7)
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"I’m not in horses to be a better person, just to be a better horseman."
Simon O'Shaughnessy, professional eventer, has always defined his worth by his ability to ride horses. Then his boyfriend and longtime business partner Phillip Stone left him for a job in the non-horse world. After not getting the ride on one of the top up-and-coming Advanced-level horses due to the prejudices of a prominent owner, the usually irrepressible and ambitious Simon has become discouraged about his future, romantically and professionally.
Simon can get by without a significant other, right? All he needs is another good horse, not another man.
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The Art of Losing
(Book 8)
"Horses only spook at two things—things that move and things that don’t."
Eventer Simon O'Shaughnessy always prided himself on his lack of fear. After a his friend Lena Roberts, a talented young showjumper has a nasty fall, however, Simon is forced to question his conviction that good riders never feel fear.
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Love Not Wisely
(Book 9)
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"Horses get used as medicine for messed up people. But I want to fix horses, not people. More often than not, messed up people get in the way of good horses."
Simon O' Shaughnessy, professional eventer, prides himself on being able to train difficult horses. When he buys a nervous mare on impulse, he is confident he can win her trust.
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Born Broke
(Book 10)
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​Ainsley Ashcroft can ride any horse and win blue ribbons at every horse show. But she has never held on to a steady riding job—or a steady boyfriend. There is a brokenness inside of her that only horses can fix, and, even then, for only a short while. Ainsley is convinced she was “born broke,” but not broken like a horse—rather, that something is wrong with her spiritually (and financially). She’s burned every bridge on the A-circuit. Will a new job leading trail rides in Vermont and a new horse named Hershey turn her life around?
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Fit and Full of Running
(Book 11)
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"The horse does all the work."
Fighting words for professional horseman Simon O' Shaughnessy! When a personal trainer insults Simon's beloved equestrian sport of eventing, Simon can't resist challenging the fitness guru to a running race--on his own two feet. But is Simon as fit and full of running out of the saddle as he is mounted on horseback?
Other Works
In addition to The Fortune's Fool series...
The Horse Is Never Wrong (Prequel)
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Autism may have trouble speaking, but Asperger’s won’t shut up. Things aren’t going well for fifteen-year-old Heather during her sophomore year of high school. After Heather begins to take riding lessons at a local stable, things begin to change. But can she continue to improve enough to become a really good rider?
Pride, Prejudice, and Personal Statements (JAFF, Jane Austen Fan Fic)
Rosewood South high school senior and Jane Austen superfan Elisa "Liss" Tennant just wants to study literature at a small liberal arts college. But as difficult as securing a marriage to a man with a large fortune may have been during the Regency, the college admissions marketplace of the twenty-first century may prove to be even more perilous to navigate...
