Dan McLaughlin

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 action and words.

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 eight 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 following. With his last four books he has coauthored with Margit Elland Schmittand illustrated by Carol Shenk : Ethel the Unready an children’s tale in the style of Madeline about about how a princess and her report card are received: Lord Latimer Ladies coauthored with Margit Schmitt, a time travel novel set in Regency England, The Dragon, Lucinda and George is the story of St. George and the Dragon, which has a happy ending for all concerned; and it’s sequel Maidens Rock, which also produced a self-titled CD which Margit sang. Works he self-authored were 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 novel 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; 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.

He has also written, directed and produced 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. A version of the soundtrack can be found where much music can be found as can be the musical cd Maidens Rock by the group Cone of Magic. He has written, directed, and produced a play version of Gott Mitt Uns.

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 and distributed pod casts of The Trojan Horse, AKA The Big Horsey Ride and The Odyssey, AKA Going Home and Getting Lucky. Dan has lately ventured in the realm of podcasting with such efforts taking place in the Old West as as Dusty Cantina, Librarian, gold time California with Consuela: Bandit Queen of California: and a traditional drawing room melodrama Duck, Duck, Dead: a Victorian Mystery. These podcasts have been converted to print.He also has a non-fiction oral history podcast called Faire Folk at Work. He also converted Lord Latimer’s Ladies, Pass the Damn Salt, Ice Girls into podcasts.

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 non-fiction 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.