Reviews of Cressler’s Shadows in the Shining City
My second novel, Shadows in the Shining City, book two in the Anthems of al-Andalus Series, is now safely at the printer and will be released on July 22, 2014…
Historical Primer for Shadows in the Shining City
In the Islamic world, the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632 C.E. without a chosen successor led to several decades of bloody internal power struggle, the remnants of which…
Shadows in the Shining City – Book Two in the Anthems of al-Andalus Series
The Golden Age of Moorish Spain was during the 10th century, a time when the benevolent Syrian Arab Caliphs ruled Iberia from Córdoba, the site of the iconic Great Mosque…
Convivencia (Coexistence) – Did You Miss the Boat?
History is my second love, right after my wife. So how is it, then, that my history teachers managed to omit a fact so breathtaking and so relevant to this…
A Collision of English History with Medieval Muslim Spain
The following article appeared in the English Historical Fiction Authors Anthology on July 1, 2013 at http://englishhistoryauthors.blogspot.com/2013/06/a-collision-of-english-history-with.html. --- Imagine a time when Muslims, Jews, and Christians found a way to…
Tips on How to Sell Your Novel
I thought it might interesting to share my experiences between finishing my debut novel, Emeralds of the Alhambra, and actually selling it to Sunbury Press. The process took…gulp…nearly one full…
Interview with John D. Cressler
One doesn't normally put 'engineering professor' and 'historical fiction author' in the same sentence. How did Emeralds of the Alhambra come about? No argument there! I have always enjoyed writing,…