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Dan McLaughlin

Goodreads Author

Genre

Fantasy, Humor and Comedy, Fiction

Influences

Terry Pratchett, Adam Long, Mark Sellin, David Springhorn

Member Since

October 2010

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Dan McLaughlin was born in Hollywood during halftime of a Rams - Colts game. Although the Rams scored a touchdown soon after his birth to tie the game, the Colts then scored 17 points to win. This, along with multi-decade stints at UCLA and as a government bureaucrat, has given Dan an appreciation for the subtle and sometimes capricious agency of wishes, words, actions, and consequences.

Among his philosophical influences he cites Thomas Kuhn, David Springhorn, Paul Feyerabend, the Reduced Shakespeare Company, and Bullwinkle the Moose. Recently retired as the local history reference librarian at the Pasadena Public Library, Dan can be found working merrily in the garden, pacing nervously during any UCLA game where the lead or deficit is les Dan McLaughlin was born in Hollywood during halftime of a Rams - Colts game. Although the Rams scored a touchdown soon after his birth to tie the game, the Colts then scored 17 points to win. This, along with multi-decade stints at UCLA and as a government bureaucrat, has given Dan an appreciation for the subtle and sometimes capricious agency of wishes, words, actions, and consequences.

Among his philosophical influences he cites Thomas Kuhn, David Springhorn, Paul Feyerabend, the Reduced Shakespeare Company, and Bullwinkle the Moose. Recently retired as the local history reference librarian at the Pasadena Public Library, Dan can be found working merrily in the garden, pacing nervously during any UCLA game where the lead or deficit is less than 25 points, or walking sedately the beloved puppies with his even more beloved wife, Vendi.

Dan has written six novels, two nonfiction works on the history of Pasadena, one musical, and a play. In reverse chronological order, his works of fiction have been: The Dragon, Lucinda and George, a novel he co-authored with Margit Schmitt which is the story of St. George and the Dragon which has a happy ending for all concerned; WereKitty, a work which considers what happens 20 years after a torrid love affair between a normal human and a member of the differentially animated community when the WereKitty's father is trapped in a Chevy Cruze; Gott Mit Uns, a play that tells the story of an 8-½-foot penguin, a goddess pursued by two bureaucrats through today's America to keep her paperwork correct; Mime Time, a murder mystery about a mime about to be nominated as the Republican Presidential candidate of 2012 and the people who want to kill him; Gott Mit Uns, the novel which is the source of his recent play; Pass the Damn Salt, Please, a novel which explores the importance of language and politeness in relationships, told entirely in dialogue; ICE Girls, an award-winning novella which examines the story of the Little Match Girl from the point of view of management; and the award-winning musical Oh No, Not Emily, an operetta in which a modern fake Emily Dickinson poem is sold to a post-modern college English Department.

Two of Dan's works have been nominated for Just Plain Folks awards: Oh No, Not Emily! for Best Theater Album, and ICE Girls for Best Storytelling Album.

Before that he and Mark Sellin were "2 Guys from the 70's". Also with Mark and other friends, Dan wrote, directed, and acted in several plays at the Renaissance Faire in Southern California, including their greatest hit, Ye Olde Tale of Goode King Arthur. He also has created radio play versions of The Trojan Horse, AKA The Big Horsey Ride and The Odyssey, AKA Going Home and Getting Lucky.

In terms of his nonfiction, Dan has been the local history librarian at the Pasadena Public Library for over 25 years. He has designed and contributed content to two local history resources: The Pasadena Digital History Collaborative and the Pasadena News Index. His two nonfiction works are Pasadena History Headline Quiz, which consists of 690 Pasadena history trivia questions with online clues on how to answer them, and Pasadena: A Mystery and a History You Can Explore, which presents the reader with literally thousands of mysteries taken from Pasadena history and the means to solve them. These two books both provide a fascinating look at the history of Pasadena and give the reader the instruction to research online topics in Pasadena history that interest them.

He has also edited Animation Rules!, a two-volume work written by his late father, noted independent filmmaker and head of the UCLA Animation Workshop, Dan McLaughlin.

Margit and Dan

Margit and Dan met at the Renaissance Faire at Black Point in Northern California, about 30 years ago. Dan really doesn’t remember the event, but apparently he accosted Margit and her friends in the guise of a peasant huckster selling pieces of the New World real estate with his frien ...more

Combine Editions
Dan McLaughlin’s books

Average rating: 4.43 · 14 ratings · 9 reviews · 22 distinct works

	Ice Girls: What Managers Can Learn From The Story Of The Little Match Girl By One Who Was There 3.50 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 2008 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Oh No, Not Emily!: An Operetta of Academia, Fraud & Emily Dickinson by Dan McLaughlin (Goodreads Author), Vendi Elmen (Contributor), Mark Sellin (Contributor) it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2012 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	WereKitty it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2013 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Gott Mit Uns: A Play it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2013 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Pasadena A Mystery and a History You Can Explore it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2015	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Gott Mit Uns: Adventures of a Paleolithic Goddess in the Modern World really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2010 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Pass the damn salt, please: A comedy of manners, language and relationships 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2009 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Mime Time: A Political Mystery 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2011	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Mime Time: A Political Mystery 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2011 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Animation Primer 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2001	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Dan McLaughlin rated a book it was amazing Oh No, Not Emily!: An Operetta of Academia, Fraud & Emily Dickinson by Dan McLaughlin (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Apr 25, 2025 08:14PM · like

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