John Robert McFarland’s stories, articles, poems, essays, comic strip gags, scripts, reviews, and columns have appeared in newspapers, magazines, radio shows, web sites, anthologies, encyclopedias, dictionaries, hardback, audio, paperback, Czech, and Japanese. He wrote for Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion radio show and for Bob Thaves’ Frank & Ernest comic strip, Scribners’ Dictionary of American History and Scribners’ American Lives, plus the famous Frosty and the Babe poem for the celebration at Hofstra University of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Babe Ruth.

His first oncologist said he would be dead “in a year or two.” That was twenty years ago. Instead of dying, he had in-body experiences. You can read about it in NOW THAT I HAVE CANCER I AM WHOLE: Reflections on Life and Healing for Cancer Patients and Those Who Love Them (AndrewsMcMeel & HarperAudio, plus Czech and Japanese editions). Paul K. Hamilton, MD, the founder of CanSurmount, called it “The best book by a cancer patient, for a cancer patient, ever.”

McFarland plays third base and charges every grounder [bad arm]. He is equally adept at going left or into foul territory. He has earned several graduate degrees but is most proud of his honorary contract with the Cincinnati Reds.