Gerald W. McFarland

I'm basically a 19th-century fellow, but my wish to get my novels is forcing me to try social media to publicize them. I'm unsure about the results. Twitter folks are friendly, but they're selling not buying. Goodreads, which I checked last night, might help some. The Literary Net seems like Twitter. Lots of self-published books and their authors.  Read More 

"The Book Marketing Bible," a very useful eBook by Norm Schriever, urges authors to post frequent blogs. Resolution for 2016: Post blogs more frequently.

2015 was a good year (except for a few short-term health problems). Best of all, the Buenaventura Series trilogy was completed, and the second volume was a finalist in a competition. Some readers found the series delightful. Now the problem is how to bring the trilogy to the attention of other prospective readers. Any suggestions?

One problem with having a protagonist with superpowers is how to make him human. Probably in most fantasy fiction that's not a problem. The hero is either physically all-powerful or, like Gandalf, so wise he or she is perfect or nearly so. But I didn't want Carlos to represent either of those extremes. His task is learning to live in the world, not holding himself aloof from it. Read More 

There was no September blog post because I spent the last ten days of the month in the hospital recovering from surgery.
Good news! WHAT THE OWL SAW has been named by the New Mexico Book Co-op as a finalist for its Best New Mexico Adventure Novel of 2015 award. The NM Book Co-op is an organization dedicated to promoting communication among authors and readers of books in every genre dealing with the Southwest. Read More 

Stay tuned. Yesterday I signed up for a Twitter account. Now I need to learn how to use it successfully. My Twitter address is @BrujosWay08sW.

Recently I sent the manuscript for "The Last of Our Kind," the final volume in the Buenaventura Series trilogy, to Sunstone Press. No formal publication date has been set, but some time this fall is likely. Presently I'm drafting short stories. See my June 4th post for instructions on how to obtain your free copy of the first such story  Read More 

Some readers have had trouble getting copies of MONTEZUMA'S EMERALD, a short story in which Don Carlos meets his mortal enemy, Don Malvolio, face to face. To obtain a FREE copy, simply email geraldm3@verizon.net/ and you'll receive the story as an attachment to a return email.

From A SCATTERED PEOPLE (pg. 1). "Every May when spring at last comes to western Massachusetts, a small batch of phantom lilies [narcissus] blooms in my garden near the swamp."
Today these bulbs--carried by generations of women in my family from East to West and now by me back to New England--are in full bloom. Read More 

A glimpse of THE LAST OF OUR KIND, vol. 3 of the Buenaventura Series.

The year is 1706. Santa Fe is threatened by Comanche war parties and French traders, and agents of the Spanish Inquisition have arrived in town in search of a brujo suspected of residing in Santa Fe.

That brujo, of course, is Don Carlos, who has been living in Santa Fe for two years under the name Don Alfonso Cabeza de Vaca, his true identity known to only a few close friends. Given the many dangers that threaten the town, will he be able to bring his brujo powers to bear for good and still keep his true identity secret? An amazing story with a spectacular ending is coming later in 2015. Read More