The Shafer family has no idea what adventures are in store when they enter The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles. They are quickly separated by pairs in The Howl of Mirrors and thrust into exhibits where they must solve puzzles, brave dangers, restore magic, and even find their way back through time. When they end up in a giant maze they must find one another or risk becoming a permanent display in MAMLA.
I’ll send you a free copy of my story “Plot Holes” when you sign up for my newsletter. Just follow the link below: https://margerumwritesfiction.kit.com/f0b8e21e7f Just Book Club The Best 10-Minute Plays 2024, Smith & Kraus Originally produced by the Greater Lafayette Civic Theatre in May 2023, this play shows a pivotal moment in the lives… Continue reading Writings
Newsletter – December 19, 2025 PHOTO CREDIT UNKNOWN One camera, two actors, a director, and a camera operator stood in front of a little A-frame bungalow in the middle of Oxnard Beach, California. “That’s Burl Ives!” I said to my cousin Doug. Our Grandpa shushed me. Maybe he didn’t want us to ruin the shot,… Continue reading Margerumalia – A Holly Jolly Christmas
Newsletter – December 12, 2025 CREDIT: PHOTOFEST Ed Asner stood at the end of my gurney and put his hand on my ankle by way of encouragement as he was talking to someone else. He moved on before I could thank him but I sure appreciated the warm assurance. You may remember Ed Asner from… Continue reading Margerumalia – A Moment With Santa Ed
Newsletter – December 5, 2025 That’s me pushing my snow blower down the length of the driveway—the longest driveway in the neighborhood, thanks Dad—for the second time in one day. The photo credit goes to Debbie who had the good sense to stay inside and take pictures from a warm cozy room. I heard a… Continue reading Margerumalia – Gratitude
Newsletter – November 28, 2025 “We had eight cats,” my wife said, “now we’re down to two! Can you believe it?” A few days after the four kittens (huddled in the bathroom sink last week) went to The Humane Society, their fifth littermate walked into our cage and spent a night in the same bathroom… Continue reading Margerumalia – Giving Thanks
Newsletter – November 21, 2025 HEADLINE: He got cuffed after playing the ‘Imperial March’ at National Guard. Now, he’s suing. [https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/11/10/star-wars-imperial-march-national-guard-washington-dc-first-amendment/87064239007/] In my October 24 newsletter I invented a phone conversation between a National Guardsman and the DC Metropolitan Police. Turns out that my version of the story is not how the incident played out.… Continue reading Margerumalia – The Rest of the Story
Newsletter – November 14, 2025 Well these weren’t here when I walked down this path on the way to the park. I wonder if someone dropped them or just abandoned them… I wonder. That’s what I do. I wonder. And ideas begin to take shape. I showed this photo to my wife—the photographer—and she complimented… Continue reading Margerumalia – Getting Ideas
Newsletter – November 7, 2025 I had the pleasure of going to see twelve high school students perform a one hour version of this play on Sunday. I had directed all of them in junior high or high school plays over the past seven years. Some backstage students, too, and several more who were in… Continue reading Margerumalia – What I Learned In Kindergarten
Newsletter – October 31, 2025 Here’s a bit of a fright: five more kittens! Three torties (tortoise shell markings), one tabby (already looking like her mother), and one black cat (a Halloween kitty). If you’re thinking you only see four in the photo, zoom in on the black kitten in the middle of the kittenkaboodle*.… Continue reading Margerumalia – Halloween Kittens
Newsletter – October 24, 2025 A Phone Call I had a good laugh recently when I saw this sequence on line. A citizen of DC decided that he would protest the unnecessary invasion of the military into his city by following around the National Guard playing “The Imperial March” on his phone. Sergeant Beck here… Continue reading Margerumalia – Assault By Music
Newsletter – October 17, 2025 Ray Bradbury. On campus. In person! It was my first semester at the University of Southern California where I was working on my Master’s Degree, and one of the great icons of science fiction was coming to campus to speak! The man who wrote Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, Something… Continue reading Margerumalia – Encountering Bradbury