Tag: MAMLA

What’s On The Other Side

Eric Margerum

Newsletter 05/31/24 

This is what the other end of the table looks like. To the left of the bookmarks is my special free giveaway: a packet of four mazes. Because the Shafer family has to find their way through the giant maze if they ever want to leave the museum. The ankylosaurus from Chapters 13 & 14 is holding them down is case of a wind gust. 

Behind that are coffee mugs with the cover design on one side and a quote from Doris Weatherton on the other. “Just remember that wherever you go, that’s where you are meant to be.” They’re $13.99 just like the books. 

The clouds in the background are representing the works of Raymond the Cloud Carver from Chapter 8, and the sailboat belongs to King Cloudias. The hot air balloon is Doris Weatherton’s mode of transportation, making appearances throughout the book.

Finally, the little gold mesh globe is from the Circle Room where Ryan and his father must earn circle-related tokens to return to the museum. The plastic jar under it holds dozens of circular objects like coins, checkers, washers, and costume jewelry. 

Debbie expressed some nervousness about tomorrow’s event and told me she wasn’t a carnival barker saying, “Come one, come all…!” I said that was the job of the props, the giveaways, and the poster (see last week). She was also the one who told me 31 years ago that there was still time to elope just as we prepared to walk down the aisle. Opposites do attract. 

I’m excited to meet people and invite them into my imaginary world. Doing theatre scratched that itch for a long time—and still does—but this book is my own invention entirely and now I get to share it. Wish me luck! 

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*Indiana Book Signings

June 1 – West Lafayette Public Library Summer Reading Kickoff 11 AM to 2 PM

June 8 – Lafayette Barnes & Noble 1 -5 PM

At Home Dress Rehearsal

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – May 24, 2024

There’s no performance without a dress rehearsal. That’s something I learned from fifty years of theatre. 

The image above is one end of my book signing table set up at home in preparation for June 1st and 8th.* The poster board and pile of books are to pique the interest of passersby so they approach my table. The bookmarks are a free giveaway, and the cloud and the butterflies are elements of the novel. 

See the peach colored book behind the bookmarks? It’s a hollow book in which I’ll invite children—and the young at heart—to contribute ideas about what they would have in an amazing museum: 

“What amazing idea do you have for a museum? Write it down and put it in the Most Amazing book. I just might include it in my newsletter.”

You can play along, too, if you want to send me your amazing ideas. Just hit reply.   

I’ll show you the other end of the table next week. More clouds and butterflies, of course, and other things from the book. 

Want to help? 

You can follow me (Facebook, Instagram, Substack, and X) and share my posts about the book. 

You can forward this newsletter to someone who would enjoy subscribing. They can click on this link: https://margerumwritesfiction.ck.page/f0b8e21e7f 

You can preorder the physical book on a few different sites including The Book Baby Bookshop, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble. The ebook is available at all of those and at Apple Books, and Kobo.

TTFN!

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*Indiana Book Signings

June 1 – West Lafayette Public Library Summer Reading Kickoff 11 AM to 2 PM

June 8 – Lafayette Barnes & Noble 1 -5 PM

Love of Laughter

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – May 17, 2024

My mother loved to laugh and share funny stories. I clearly inherited that tendency with an added an emphasis on wordplay. My indulgence in this urge appears many times in The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles and your free read of “Plot Holes” is a good example. Who knows, Barry the Librarian may have additional spine-tingling adventures ahead of him. (See what I did there?)

When I was a young teen my mother came home from the grocery store with a funny story. She’d made a quick trip to buy condensed milk and found herself standing in the aisle surveying all the canned goods without finding what she wanted. A man walked up and also began scanning the shelves.

Mom apologized for standing in his way saying, “I just wanted to get a can of condensed milk, but it’s all evaporated.”

She heard the absurdity of the accidental joke as it came out of her mouth and suddenly burst out laughing. The man’s expression said he was dealing with a madwoman which only made her laugh more. He quickly found what he needed and left. She was still chuckling about it when she got home and pulled a can of condensed milk out of a bag from a different store. 

My mom’s ability to laugh at her own foibles was probably part of why Dad fell in love with her. I’m writing this on the day of their 71st wedding anniversary. They had been married for 66 years when they each passed away. Happy Anniversary you two! 

It’s just fifteen days until the Book Launch of MAMLA and my wife and I are gathering together various props and giveaways for the Summer Reading Kickoff at the West Lafayette Public Library. We ordered MAMLA coffee mugs that just arrived Wednesday, featuring the book cover on one side and a quotation from Doris Weatherton on the other. They’re the same price as the books: $13.99. 

Oh, you don’t know who Doris Weatherton is? Well, of course you don’t. She a very important part of the amazing museum.You’ll find out soon enough. 

Starcatchers

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – April 26, 2024

I mentioned in an earlier newsletter that I’ve been directing a play called Peter and the Starcatcher, which I recommend highly if you ever have a chance to see it. High schools, colleges, and local theatres have been mounting some very entertaining and creative productions in the last few years. Ours included, if I do say so myself.

If you’re not familiar with the premise, it’s a prequel to Peter Pan where we learn the origins of certain characters, and how their fates became intertwined. The pirate Black Stache is a particularly gregarious comic character who, along with his sidekick Smee, plots to steal the queen’s treasure that will make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. He doesn’t know that the treasure is, in fact, starstuff, a magical substance that gives powers to those who come in contact with it.

I don’t want to give any spoilers other than to say the ending has a very well-crafted wrap-up that answers all your questions about the Peter Pan story we all know and love. The play makes use of narration and story-telling techniques to draw in the audience and encourage them to use their imagination to fill out the picture.

In preparation for directing this play I read the novel Peter and the Starcatchers, which I also recommend. It’s a middle grade adventure like my book, MAMLA*, written by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. Yes, the same humorist Dave Barry who had a nationally syndicated column from 1983 to 2005. And Ridley Pearson who had a successful series called the Kingdom Keepers, among others. Together they weave a good yarn! 

The play version adds a little bit of music through a handful of well-placed songs and simplifies the plot effectively, like paring three sailing ships down to two. The reason for the differences in the titles is that the novel refers to the Starcatchers as a group, while the play focuses mainly on Molly, an apprentice Starcatcher and how she teams up with Peter to keep the starstuff in the right hands. The Broadway show only used 15 cast members, deciding to make Molly the only female on stage to emphasize her struggle for respect in a man’s world. You can find several productions on YouTube.

Until next week or, as they say in the play: TTFN

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*MAMLA – The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles – available for pre-order from the Book Baby Bookshop or on Amazon (just search for Margerum).