Michael Merriam's Blog

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Since Gadfly Theatre Productions has announced it on their website, my one-act play Out of the Woods: A Tale of Red, the Wolf, and the Woodcutter will be produced as part of their Final Frontier Festival: Fairy Tales.

Here is the link to their actor/technician call. http://www.gadflytheatre.org/audition...

Originally published at Michael Merriam. Please leave any comments there.

Where I will be this weekend at MarsCon. As always, things can change quickly.

Friday, March 3:

5:00-5:50 p.m., Krushenko’s. Panel: Anne McCaffrey and the Dragons of Pern
Posthumous GOH Anne McCaffrey (1926-2011) produced a large and diverse body of science fiction and fantasy. We’ll survey her several series, with special attention, owing to this year’s convention theme, to the Dragonriders of Pern se...

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I want to talk with you more about my previous post concerning the homeless couple having sex in the Uptown Transit Station.

Yes, the story was amusing. Yes, the story had a WOW! factor. Yes, the story was a bit shocking. Yes. All of that.

But as entertaining and amusing as the story is, it is also a story filled with terrible pathos. These are real people in this story, people who are barely hanging on, or maybe not hang...

Originally published at Michael Merriam. Please leave any comments there.

I enter Uptown Transit Station and discover what appears to be a homeless couple having sex on–and wrapped up in–a pile of old coats and rags on the floor of the transit center. Nearby is a large backpack, a pair of bags from a local fast food place, and a pair of heavy boots. Another backpack is under the woman’s head, like a pillow.

They look to be in their late twenties or early thirties and what lit...

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I climb aboard the #17 at Uptown Station. We’re sitting there stopped because the bus is running early and as we wait, a man in his twenties climbs aboard, does that thing where he starts going through all his pockets looking for money.

“Hey! Hey! Someone got fifty cents? I need fifty cents!”

Finally, someone in the back offers him the fifty cents. He pays, gets a transfer, and sits in the seat across t...

Originally published at Michael Merriam. Please leave any comments there.

Despite everything, I still managed to make a little art in 2016. Here is the round-up for posterity, if posterity was to really care.

Theatre Performance:
“Unsafe at Any Speed.” Five performances of my one-man show as part of Minnesota Fringe Festival.

Spoken-Word / Storytelling Performance:
“Ghost on Hennepin” as part of the Minnesota Speculative Fiction Writers – Word Brew Event.

“The Wa...

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So I did this podcast with Phillip Andrew Bennett Low and Ben San Del. We might have had a little too much Canadian Bourbon and a little too much fun. This podcast is definitely Not Safe For Work.

Listen Here!

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Here is the video of my performance at the Minnesota Speculative Fiction Writers Word Brew event at Acadia Cafe on November 20th, 2016. Enjoy!

Originally published at Michael Merriam. You can comment here or there.

At the end of this last election, I found myself feeling like King Theoden watching the Orc army laying siege at Helmsdeep. There he is, tired, shocked, his squire strapping him into his armor, and all he can think is, “How did it come to this?”

How did it come to this? Well, there are many reasons. Some are understandable. Someare beyond comprehension. Some are too terrible to contemplate. But we don’t n...