Welcome to the Media Kit page for An Unhappy Country. If you have further questions or need more information, please do hesitate to contact me at Loretta@LorettaMilesTollefson.com.
An Unhappy Country, Palo Flechado Press, ISBN: 978-1952026126, $18.99 paperback, $5.99 ebook. Release date: April 18, 2025
Press Release
Book Summary
Book Cover Images
Author Bio
Short version: Loretta Miles Tollefson was born and raised in the American West and lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is the author of seven Old New Mexico novels and two short story collections.
Long version: The history of the American West is in Loretta’s blood. Her grandfather was born in Oklahoma Territory and spent his childhood moving west. His family ended up on a farm in the mountains of the Olympic Peninsula. Later, he cleared the forested land that would become the farm where Loretta was raised. After he died, she inherited a collection of first-hand accounts of the 19th century Pacific Northwest.
When Loretta moved to New Mexico as an adult, those reminiscences and her love of history went with her. In the Southwest, her interest expanded to include the many small towns, pueblos, and land grants she encountered during her 20-plus years as a public servant. Wherever she went in New Mexico, she was exposed to its tri-cultural (Native, Hispanic, and Anglo) experience and saw how much its past influenced the present.
After she retired, Loretta began to explore New Mexico’s history more deeply, honing the research skills she’d developed while obtaining two Masters of Arts degrees. The result is her Old New Mexico fiction—deeply researched, firmly and accurately set in the past, and brimming with historical characters. She posts short pieces about what she discovers at LorettaMilesTollefson.com, as well as some short fiction, book reviews, and announcements about her books.
Other Books
Old New Mexico Fiction: Not Just Any Man, Not My Father’s House, No Secret Too Small, There Will Be Consequences, The Texian Prisoners, The Pain and The Sorrow, Old One Eye Pete (short stories), Valley of the Eagles (micro fiction)
Other Fiction: The Ticket, The Streets of Seattle
Poetry: But Still My Child, Mary at the Cross, And Then Moses Was There
Awards/Endorsements/Praise
Awards: New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards Finalist, 2015 and 2023; Goethe Late Historical Fiction Award Short List, 2023
Endorsements: No Secret Too Small is “a master work that is a joy to read as it enlightens the reader on the background of the 1837 rebellion and life and customs in northern New Mexico. This story has an emotional arc that is as relevant and instructive today as it was in 1837…. No Secret Too Small deserves a place in anyone’s library.” — W. Michael Farmer, author of The Odyssey of Geronimo and Apacherioa: True Stories of Apache Culture
“Tollefson paints a collage of sometimes true, sometimes fictitious, but always lifelike stories. It’s poignant, dramatic, and eye-opening.” — Diane Holguin-Balogh, author of Rosary Without Beads
In Not My Father’s House, “Tollefson gives us a realistic, unusual and original take on a frontier woman battling unromantic enemies – as well as the human menace that threatens her family – and her quiet heroism in doing so.” — Andrew McBride, author of The Peacemaker
Praise: “The author’s love of Nuevo Mexico history is evident in her deeply researched portrayals of historical figures and events …The prose is direct with a pleasing rhythm, … physical descriptions of period detail, … are presented with care and a sense of authenticity. … Tollefson handles suspense well through an ebb and flow of tension.” Historical Novel Society
“Loretta Miles Tollefson masterfully paints a visual picture for the mind’s eye, bringing historical times and events to life with brutal clarity…. A well-crafted story that holds the reader’s interest until the last page has turned, Tollefson draws you into the story and takes you back with her characters into times long past with period details that have obviously been well researched.” — Writing To Be Read
In Not Just Any Man, “Loretta Miles Tollefson has written an absorbing tale that follows in the tradition of Cormac McCarthy, but also shows the town life of this territory on the northern edge of Mexico.” The Pain and The Sorrow provides “…a vivid, pull-no-punches trip to the 1860s “Wild West.” — Historical Novel Society
Images and Other Information
KOB4 Video: https://youtu.be/qpdLqE53ia4
Fiction and Fact From Old New Mexico 