Joan Fallon
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Combining a full-time career, family and being a successful novelist: meet John D Cressler

10/5/2018

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Good morning John. Well I suppose my first question is a little self-evident. How did a Schlumberger Chair Professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering decide to become a historical novelist?

Thanks for having me, Joan, it is a real pleasure. Funny! Yeah, I get it. Professor and novelist? WHAT?! Not a typical combination, that much is certain. My training is in physics, and I am a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech, where I lead a large research team focused on what comes next in the world of electronics and nanotechnology. BUT, for my entire life I have almost exclusively read fiction for pleasure, and have always dreamed of writing fiction since I was a kid. For me, fiction is one of the very finest and important forms of artistic expression. I wanted to be a part of that. Experience it firsthand, and engage both my imagination and creativity. It has turned out to be everything I dreamt of, and more!
Your first published book was in 2003 when Silicon-Germanium Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors was published. How did you progress from academic writing to writing a novel?

Beyond physics, my great love is history, especially medieval history (another crazy combination, I know!). After six non-fiction books, ranging from graduate and undergraduate level textbooks to books intended for general audiences, I decided to take the plunge and go after my first novel. A dream come true. Given my love of medieval history, writing historical novels was thus a natural fit. I have not looked back since!
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From reading your webpage I see that you have a very busy life, with family, work at Georgia Tech and numerous hobbies. How do you find the time to write historical fiction as well?

Hehe. Yep, way too many hobbies! Finding the time to write is always the challenge, and routine and constant contact with my characters is key. Fortunately, I was gifted with being an early riser and a morning person. Sunrise is when my creativity is highest! So I am up at 5:00am each morning, and after my shower, coffee, meditation/prayer time, and breakfast, I retire to my study, close the door, and step into medieval Spain. I am a consummate compartmentaliser! I write Monday-Friday from about 7:30am to about 10:00am. I then step out of Spain, close the door, and head to work. Fortunately, my graduate students are all late-nighters, so I still beat my research team into work! I find that writing five days a week for several hours a day is enough to move the story along. I am averaging a novel every two years or so, which I can live with.
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What was it about Moorish Spain in particular that appealed to you?

Simply stated, my ignorance of it. Loving history as I do, and knowing quite a bit about medieval Europe, somehow I missed the boat on the magic of Muslim Spain. Who knew?! I recall the day well when I was web-searching for a suitable location for my first novel and stumbled across 10th century Córdoba and Madinat al-Zahra. Riveting stuff, and a history I knew very little about. I was hooked, and began to devour everything I could lay my hands on. It was a joyful, exciting process doing the background research for my novels. Still is.
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You live in Georgia in the USA, a fair distance from Spain. Did you do all your research through books about the period or did you have the opportunity to visit Andalusia?

For each novel I have traveled to Spain and spent 2+ weeks doing research on the locations I write about. Because my time window is narrow, I do all background research/reading/digging/plotting prior to the trip, so that when I arrive on location I am more focused on sensations which will aid my creative writing: sight-lines, sounds, the moon, the light, landscapes, architecture, and especially spending quiet time visualising the action I intend to write about, living the history of my characters. Being alone when doing this is key, so that I can seamlessly enter the creative zone, that magical zone of imagination, so to speak. My trips to Andalusia have been very special, one and all. I have been to Andalusia now five times.
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Your third book in the series was published in April.  Can you tell us a little about it.

Yes, Fortune’s Lament was released in April. Hooray! This third novel took me almost four years (I had to complete a 2nd edition of one of my non-fiction books in the middle of writing), so it is deeply satisfying to have it finally out. Let me give some background on the time period in which I write, and then I will zoom-in on each of my three novels in the Anthems of al-Andalus Series. As you know well, much of modern Spain was under Muslim control for nearly 800 years (from 711 to 1492 C.E.). Medieval Islamic Spain was deeply influential in world history, for a multitude of reasons, including the rediscovery, translation, and dissemination of the lost works of medicine, science, and philosophy of the ancient Greeks. The Muslim Umayyads (with roots tracing back to Syria) were lovers of books and learning, and helped launch a cultural revolution in Córdoba, which transformed the western world. An exceptional 200-plus-year period of peaceful coexistence occurred between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam under Muslim Umayyad rule, providing a powerful lesson in the practice of multiculturalism for our twenty-first-century world. This time period was both deeply influential in world history and riveting, and I have fallen in love with all-things-al-Andalus! All three of my novels are love stories interwoven into this rich history.
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Emeralds of the Alhambra, my first release, is a love story set in the resplendent Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain, during the Castilian Civil War (1367-1369 C.E.), a time when Muslims took up their swords to fight alongside Christians. Emeralds tells the story of William Chandon, a Christian knight captured and brought to the Alhambra to be used by the Muslim sultan as a political pawn, and the Sufi Muslim princess Layla, daughter of the sultan’s chief counsellor. As Chandon’s influence at court grows, he becomes trapped between his forbidden love for Layla and his Christian heritage, the demands of chivalry and political expediency. Chandon and Layla must make choices between love and honour, war and peace, life and death, choices which ultimately will seal Granada’s fate as the last surviving stronghold of Islamic Spain.
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Shadows in the Shining City, my second release, is a prequel to Emeralds of the Alhambra, and immerses the reader in Islamic Spain’s Golden Age. Shadows tells the story of the forbidden love between Rayhana, a Muslim princess of the royal court, and Zafir, a freed slave. Young love blossoms in 975 C.E. in Madinat al-Zahra, the Shining City, Caliph al-Hakam II’s magnificent royal palace located just outside of Córdoba. Their love story is set against the backdrop of the epic rise to power of Rayhana’s ruthless father, Ibn Abi Amir, a man history will come to both celebrate and revile for the role he plays in the collapse of Islamic Spain.
Fortune’s Lament, my latest, is again set in Granada, 120 years after Emeralds of the Alhambra, and sets the stage for the final collapse of Muslim Spain. It tells the story of Danah, a young Muslim woman who aspires to be the first female physician in the city. Love unexpectedly blossoms between Danah and Yusef, a valiant prince of court from a rival clan, during the bloody final conquest of Granada by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Christian Spain. As the light of Islamic Spain dims, the Inquisition looms large on the horizon, as does the coming voyage of Columbus to discover the Americas.
Do you plan to write any more books in the Anthems of al-Andalus series?
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Most definitely! There will be a sequel to Fortune’s Lament, and I am set to begin writing, hopefully this month. Can’t wait! The sequel will complete the story of Danah and Yusef, and the final collapse of al-Andalus. Beyond that, who knows?! BUT, I am having great fun, and there are 800 years of riveting history to choose from, so we’ll see what comes next!
Thank you so much for talking to us John and sharing the secrets of your writing life.
To find out more about John and his books you can visit him on social media:
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http://johndcressler.com
https://www.facebook.com/BooksByJohnDCressler/
@JohnDCressler
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As a thank you for taking an interest in his books, John has generously offered to give away a Kindle version of one of his novels to the first TEN people who leave a comment on this post! So, please do let us know what you think and don’t forget to INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS so we can send it to you and which one of his books you would like to receive.
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At the court of Felipe IV of Spain

2/5/2018

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Welcome to JG Harlond, author of the best selling historical novel series THE CHOSEN MAN. Today she tells us about Book Two, A TURNING WIND, and the historical background to it. It's set in 1640 in the royal courts of Spain and France.
PictureKing Felipe IV of Spain painted by Velasquez
Felipe IV of Spain, nicknamed el Rey Planeta by his contemporaries, presided over a court that was both pious and secretly decadent. A ‘lazy king’, he was said to have ignored the good government of his country by relying too heavily on his valido, the infamous Conde-Duque de Olivares, and devoting his time to collecting Old Masters, being painted himself by Velázquez, hunting, theatre-going and womanising. Felipe also presided over the beginning of the decline of the Spanish empire, and watched his children die until there was but one in-bred drooling son to follow him. Felipe himself was the son of Felipe III of Spain and Margarita Teresa of Austria, and already the product of Habsburg endogamy before he married a wife with Habsburg blood, and then when she died, his niece. ​
PictureQueen Isabel de Borbon painted by Velasquez
Felipe’s first wife was Elisabeth of France, daughter of Henry IV and the odious Marie de Medici, and sister of Henrietta Maria, who at the time of my new novel, A Turning Wind, was Queen of England. Elisabeth, or Isabel as she came to be known, despaired of her husband’s over reliance on the dubious Conde-Duque de Olivares and constantly urged him to take charge of his country and its affairs as a good king should. After years of nagging and getting nowhere, Elisabeth resorted to conspiring with other Spanish nobles to remove Olivares as Chief Minister altogether. The Queen, who was renowned for her beauty, intelligence and ‘noble’ character, was very popular with the Spanish people, but this may have had a lot to do with the fact that she openly opposed the much hated valido. Eventually, by allying herself with Olivares’ nephew and successor, Luis de Haro, Elisabeth succeeded in ousting Olivares and for a brief period Elisabeth held considerable influence over Felipe and his empire. This is the background to my new novel, A Turning Wind, the second story in The Chosen Man trilogy. ​
PictureEl Escorial
A great deal has been written about what was going on in both Spain and England during this period, which is the run up to the English Civil War. What is less well known is that Spanish and English ambassadors were drawing up a treaty to allow Spanish tercios (fighting to recover the Spanish Netherlands) to use southern England as a land bridge to Flanders. This was needed because French ships were constantly sinking Spanish troop vessels in the English Channel despite the Queen of Spain being French, and the Queen of France being Spanish. Basically, all of Europe was at each other’s throats in the early seventeenth century – but Felipe IV of Spain tried not to let it worry him too much. Like the King of England, who was trying to ignore an elected Parliament and gathering internecine war clouds, Felipe focused on hunting and art. Collecting Old Masters was seen as an important part of a monarch’s reign for it showed their power and good taste.
The background reading and research for A Turning Wind took a long time because before writing a story involving the Queen of England and the Queen of Spain I needed to sort out who was where and why, before I could even get down to who was doing what between 1639 and 1641. But it was fascinating; and having access to Henrietta Maria’s letters to her husband made it that much more personal, although that part comes into the next book By Force of Circumstance, out later this year.
In A Turning Wind, the wily merchant-rogue Ludo da Portovenere is taking secret messages from the British monarchs to Madrid. Here is a scene set in El Escorial, which I knew pretty well having lived nearby for many years. ​
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Ludo, who is in Spain on a secret mission for England which he intends to turn to his own advantage, is in the studio of Diego Velázquez.
(Ludo) was interrupted by voices from behind him, the King’s slow drawl – a voice that suggested the speaker was almost too lazy to talk – and another, deeper, more resonant voice. He turned back to face the room. Felipe was holding a swarthy man of middle years by the arm and pointing with his other hand at a half-completed brown horse prancing away from the viewer. The artist, whose jet-black hair and moustache contrasted sharply with his surprisingly clean smock, responded cautiously but firmly. Felipe wasn’t going to get his own way by the sound of it.
Deciding not to listen for fear of being dragged in as adjudicator, Ludo began looking at portraits in various stages of completion, noting how the Habsburg jaw ruined gentle brows above smiling blue eyes; how the present queen was painted into an armament of upholstery; how – and this could be useful – how the artist Velázquez had recreated the faces of his sitters to perfection, but had been unable to capture any semblance of equine beauty in the equestrian portraits. Prince Balthasar, for example, a good-looking boy despite his lineage, had been saddled with, literally, various lumps of bay rump and diminutive hooves pawing the air. The ‘draft’ for the latest portrait – Ludo had no idea of the terminology but these were evidently practice runs – lost any intimation of forthcoming majesty in its subject as the eye was drawn to the over-fed quarters of a barrel-bellied hack.
Lost in his musing, Ludo failed to see Doña Isabel enter the long studio with a young lady-in-waiting. When he noticed her, she was already at his side.
“Your Majesty,” he blustered, “forgive me. I was thinking about the paintings.”
“Don Ludovico what a pleasure, we did not know you were here. You are admiring Don Diego’s work.”
It was a statement not a question, and indeed, who could not admire the man’s work, or that of his apprentices mixing paints and preparing palettes further down the open studio.
“I am Your Majesty, although . . .”
“Although?” Doña Isabel’s pleasant tone with its slight French accent rose questioningly. “You find something at fault?”
“No, indeed, Your Majesty, I was merely lamenting . . . No, that is not the correct word. To be honest, I was regretting that the young prince, as heir to the throne, could not have been seated on one of my special Arab horses. They are so fine, so exquisitely designed they would – erm – lend more grandeur to his youthful nobility.” Ludo found himself running out of imagination . . . He could not recall a woman with such dark perceptive eyes, except Leonora in Goa, about whom he chose not to recall anything if he could help it.
“Arab horses, you say? Do we have these horses in Spain? We must for the Moors were here for many generations.”
“I cannot say, ma’am. I first encountered them in a country across the other side of the world. They are exquisite.”
“And how do they differ, please, from my son’s mount here? How are they better?”
“I would not say they are ‘better’, ma’am, but they are more beautiful. They have big, honest eyes; a face that is appealing, attractive; they are not large, as our working horses here are large, or broad as is the Prince’s mount here, but they are immensely strong, and so full of life . . . Let me tell you a refrain, a proverb about the Arab horse: God spoke to the south wind, saying: ‘I will create from you a being which will be happiness to the good and misfortune to the bad. Happiness shall be on its forehead, bounty on its back, and joy in the possessor.’”
The Queen stared into Ludo’s eyes. A smile formed about her small, full mouth. Ludo had to school himself not to take her hand. To cover his feelings he added, “‘Bounty on its back and joy in the possessor’, this would be a mount worthy of a future king and emperor.”
“If he has an empire over which to rule,” murmured the Queen quietly.
“Everything you do is for your son?” Ludo ventured, playing his second card according to his discussion with Henrietta Maria and his subsequent commission.
“Everything.”
“Could you not use your son to maintain what is his?” Ludo half-turned so anybody watching them could not see what he was saying. “Take the Prince with you to the King and let him show or explain to His Majesty how his country is being wracked by continual wars, how he might lose his birthright and suffer because of . . .” Ludo dropped his voice even lower, “your enemy.”
“Use a child as a pawn?” The Queen snapped, her voice now sharp with disgust.
Heads turned. Surreptitiously, Ludo moved her on to another painting and they stood as if observing its lines and colours. “Tell me,” he said, “why such a simple honest strategy would not influence the King? Surely he must think of the Prince’s future above all.”
“Yes, of course he does, but our son is still under the Countess-Duchess Olivares’ tutelage. For this approach I must wait until he is free of her control.”
Ludo recognised the excuse: Isabel was more afraid of the dragon-wife than the gargoyle husband. “Might I remind Your Majesty that in Florence it is said a true Florentine’s first waking thought is ‘who can I dupe today’ – I say ‘dupe’, ‘cheat’ is too strong and I cannot find a good translation for the Spanish word engañar. But my point is that you are of Medici blood, madonna. Use your wiles to obtain what you seek.”
“My mother is a Medici, and all her life she has done exactly what you have described. And what has she obtained? Exile, ignominy and poverty. I also have proud, noble Habsburg blood, Don Ludovico: I will not be seen to be meddling in His Majesty’s affairs.”
So you want me to do it, Ludo thought, inclining his head as if accepting Isabel’s reasoning. Expecting to be dismissed, he bowed again, ready to leave.
To his astonishment, the Queen placed her hand on his arm, saying for anyone to hear, “I would speak of this more – and other matters related to your more recent travels – attend us this evening after the siesta hour.” She then turned and went to her husband’s side, saying, “Don Ludovico promises to tell us of his travels this afternoon.”
Ludo stayed rooted to the spot, unsure, for a very rare moment in his life, what to do next. Then he gave a mental skip and a jump: the seeds of his release had been sown. Isabel had rejected his logical strategy too quickly; she would be thinking about it for the rest of the day. Thinking about it and realising, consciously or not, that he was not in Spain to murder her enemy. Henrietta Maria had told him to ‘get rid of’ her sister’s enemy and there were various ways that could be achieved without violence.
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​(From, A Turning Wind, Penmore Press, 2018 © J.G. Harlond)

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The Chosen Man and A Turning Wind are available from book stores and on-line retailers. Her is the Amazon UK link for books by J.G. Harlond.
You can find out more about the author on: www.JGHarlond.com
Or visit her blog ‘Reading and Writing’:


Find Jane on Twitter: @JaneGHarlond ​
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What was like to be a concubine of the Royal harem in Moorish Spain?

27/4/2018

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PictureIn the Harem by Fillippo Barratti
My name is Najm. I belong to the most powerful man in the world. His name is Abd al-Rahman III, caliph of al-Andalus. It is the year 950 AD and I have been one of his concubines for the last fifteen years. How did I end up here? The truth is that I do not really know. One day I was living with my family in a village in Saxony when we were attacked by Viking raiders. They killed many of the villagers but most they captured. I was very frightened because I had no idea what they would do with me. I was only ten years old and I’d never even been out of the village before.
After a long, frightening journey we reached a big city. I had never seen anything like it before. The houses were enormous and built of stone, not wood and mud like in my village. And the streets were paved with stone blocks and at night you could see where you were going because there were oil lamps burning at every corner. The slavers told us we were in Cordoba. I had never heard of this city before.
I was sold the next day in the slave market. I was terrified. I had no idea where my parents were or what had happened to my brothers and sisters. What was my life going to be like as a slave? I was sure it would not be good. I expected to be working in the kitchens or looking after the animals on a farm, but the man who bought me was a servant of the Caliph. He said I was a pretty little girl and that the Caliph would like my golden hair. So that was how I came to live in the Royal harem.
PictureAfter the Bath by Rudolf Ernst
I couldn’t believe it. So much luxury. The first thing they did when I arrived was give me a name. I was to be called Najm. They explained that the Caliph didn’t like the harsh sounds of the northern names so I could no longer be called Gerda. They stripped off my old clothes and two of the maids bathed me and washed my hair and rubbed my skin with sweet smelling ointments. I was given such beautiful clothes. At first the other concubines were curious to know about me and where I had come from. Some were nice to me but the others soon left me alone. They weren’t really interested in the newcomers. At first I was very lonely and cried myself to sleep every night, but then one of the nicer concubines said that if I continued like that I would be punished. I must keep my sorrow inside me, like everyone else. The Caliph didn’t want a harem full of weeping women. So I did as she said and gradually I began to forget about my old life.
For the first few years I lived in the constant hope that the Caliph would send for me—it was considered a blessing if that happened—but he never did. If he sends for you—they call it being noticed—then you’re rewarded with their own rooms and servants. If you have a female child you are given larger quarters and can remarry on the death of the caliph. If the child is male then you move up through the ranks to become one of his wives. But none of this will happen to me now; I'm too old. I'll be twenty this year.
PictureThe Guard of the Harem by Rudolf Ernst
You might think that life in the harem was idle, that all we do is lie about all day looking beautiful, but you’d be wrong. It is very strict and we have to work hard. The Chief Eunuch is in charge of all the concubines and nobody dare disobey him.
Of course all the women in the caliph’s harem are also slaves, many brought from the north of Spain, from Africa, and some from northern Europe, like me. But there are distinct divisions within the harem. First of all there are two categories of female slave:
  1. the domestic servants who are not allowed to marry while they are in the harem but have the option to leave and marry if they wish.
  2. the concubines
Then there are the black eunuchs who are the guards of the harem and the white eunuchs who are administrators and teachers. The eunuchs are castrated male slaves but some of them have enormous power.
Within the harem there is a very strict hierarchy.
First there is the Queen Mother. She is the mother of the reigning caliph and the head of the harem. She runs the harem and exercises power over the caliph and his wives. No concubine can leave or enter the harem without her permission and she literally holds the power of life and death over them.
Next in line is the Royal Wife. She is the wife who gave the caliph his first son, the heir to the throne. Then come the other official wives, who have given him children—princes and princesses. All the wives live in the greatest luxury.
After them come the favourites; these are the concubines who are particularly beautiful and whom the caliph sees regularly.
Then it’s the concubines “who’d been noticed”—that is sent for by the caliph on at least one occasion.
After that we have the graduates from the harem school. That’s me, I’m a graduate and it looks as though I’m going to spend my whole life here without once being sent for by the caliph.
At the very bottom of the pile are the pupils at the harem school. They’re the newcomers, bought for their youth, beauty and intelligence and once in the harem they’re schooled by white eunuchs to become concubines.
PictureThe Harem by Frederick Arthur Bridgman
I remember the harem school well; we worked very hard. We had to learn everything necessary to please the caliph: singing, poetry recitation, dancing, the art of seduction and the erotic arts, how to play a musical instrument—I learnt to play the lute— and not only how to speak Arabic, but also how to read and write it. Those that have been lucky enough to see the Caliph and share his bed say that he particularly likes his concubines to tell him stories.
I sometimes get lonely, which you might think is strange because there are hundreds of women here, and I do have some special friends. There is a lot of envy and jealousy when someone gets promoted to  a ‘favourite’ or becomes pregnant, but generally everyone gets along reasonably well. Any ill-feeling has to be well concealed because no-one wants the Queen Mother to find out. She can be quite ruthless. Sometimes women fall in love with each other and then they have to be very careful because it is forbidden to have a sexual relationship with any of the other concubines.
If I’m honest I sometimes wonder what my life would have been like if I hadn’t been sold to the Caliph. Maybe I would have married and had lots of lovely children. Who knows? Instead I spend my days reading poetry, playing chess or chatting to my friends. I have no freedom but then I have no worries either.
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More than one way to be a pilgrim

11/4/2018

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Now is the time of year when people start thinking about walking the Camino de Santiago. In summer it's very hot and in the winter it rains; the higher roads can even be blocked by snow. So Spring and Autumn are the ideal times to walk across northern Spain.
In the recent TV travelogue, The Pilgrimage, the seven pilgrims taking part—an actor, an ex-soldier, a priest, a singer, a TV presenter, an investigative journalist, and a comedian--started at the French border at St Jean Pied de Port, but didn't walk the entire 800 km to Santiago de Compostella - they walked part of the way.
26 km to be exact and then they took a bus. Finally they resumed their walk to complete the last 100 km. Cheating? Not really. After all they only had two weeks in which to complete the journey and make the programme. They did carry their own luggage all the way however and they stayed in the local hostels, sharing dormitories and showers, and eating with the rest of the pilgrims. Having watched the programme, I'd say that only two of them would have liked to walk the entire distance; the others were more than thankful when it was over.

A woman I know walked the whole 800 km and it took her five weeks. An incredible feat for someone who was in her seventies at the time. Like the pilgrims mentioned above, she stayed in the local hostels, only twice treating herself to a room in a small hotel so that she could recharge her batteries and soak in a hot bath. She told me of the bed bugs and the blisters, of sleep broken by the snores of other pilgrims and of the camaraderie between the pilgrims, and said she would do it all again in a heartbeat.

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A good friend of mine walked the Camino a few years ago in the company of some friends and work colleagues. They decided to do the de-luxe version starting at Sarria which was 115 km from Santiago de Compostela. They only had a limited time as work, family and other demands on their busy lives meant it was impossible to do the entire 800 km. The majority of pilgrims like to be awarded the certificate which states that they have completed at least the last 100 km of the Camino and they must produce their pilgrim passports which have been stamped at all the hostels where they have stayed the night. Except when you do the de-luxe version as my friend did, you don't stay in hostels sharing dormitories and bathrooms with strangers, you stay in modest but comfortable hotels with your own bedroom and en-suite bathroom. And you don't have to lug all your belongings on your back, you can have your rucksack sent on each day to the next hotel. A much more carefree and relaxed way to walk the Camino. But you still get the blisters and the aching legs. 
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Most people consider their pilgrimage over when they reach the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela but some, like a few of the pilgrims in the TV travelogue decided to continue walking until they reached Finisterre - the ends of the earth. A fitting end to a walk that takes you through some spectacular countryside, over mountain ranges, through woodlands, across an arid heartland and then through the lush and often wet but always beautiful Galicia.
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My novel SANTIAGO TALES was written in 2011 after I had spent some time talking to those who'd experienced the pilgrimage for themselves.

It is available on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com in paperback and as an ebook.
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FOUR HEADS ARE BETTER THAN ONE

6/4/2018

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Writing is a solitary business. It is rarely a group effort. The writer needs to immerse him or herself in the story, live with the characters, breathe the air that they breathe. There is no room for team talks. Yes, the writer can bounce ideas off other people and ask for opinions, but basically it is down to one person—the author.
So I was rather surprised, but pleased, when I received an email from two novelists who also write historical fiction, suggesting we get together to do some cross-promotion. Wonderful idea. Especially so because they also write about Moorish Spain, an area of fiction that is largely neglected in the English speaking world of the historical novel.
Then a fourth writer joined us and now we are a band of four. They say two heads are better than one, well four heads are definitely much better. And I love working in a team. So the next few months should be fun. Maybe it will boost all our sales, maybe not. But it should be an enjoyable and creative experience.
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So who are these lovely people? The idea originally came from Lisa Yarde, author of a six-part series on the Nasrid dynasty of Granada, a family that has been an obsession of hers for the last twenty-three years. Now that she has completed THE SULTANA SERIES she is turning her attention to a different part of Moorish Spain.
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The idea of cross-promotion was quickly taken up by John D Cressler. He is Schlumberger Chair Professor in Electronics at Georgia Tech in Atlanta and also a writer of historical fiction. His series of books is called ANTHEMS OF AL-ANDALUS and his third book in the series, entitled FORTUNE’S LAMENT, is due to be launched in a couple of weeks, on the 18th April.
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The next person to join us was David Penny, an established writer who in recent years has taken to writing historical fiction set in Granada at the end of the Moorish occupation. He has just released the fifth book in his series THE THOMAS BERRINGTON HISTORICAL MYSTERIES. ​
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So that just leaves me, Joan Fallon. My own AL-ANDALUS SERIES covers a narrow window in time, from 940AD to 1013AD and the action for all three books is set in either Córdoba or the ruined city of Madinat al-Zahra, which is only five miles outside it.
Between us, we cover a great deal of the 700 years when Spain was under the rule of the Moors and explore all aspects of that rich and exotic life, from the political to the domestic, from the gradual reconquest by Christian forces to the internal power struggles between the Moors, from the early convivencia between Jews, Moors and Christians to the final expulsions. Our novels are written to inform but also to delight the reader, through love stories, intrigue and mysteries, with characters that will stay with you long after the book is closed.
So you can expect to hear more from the al-Andalus team over the next few months. Watch this space.
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PLEASE NOMINATE MY LATEST NOVEL "LOVE IS ALL"

21/3/2018

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My latest novel is finished and ready to be published. But this time I am going to try something different. I'm hoping to publish through Kindle Scout. Never heard of it? Neither had I until recently when I read an article by a fellow member of the Alliance of Independent Authors. After ten years of writing I have grown to realise that one of the keys to success is getting your book known. After all nobody is going to read it if they have never heard of you or your book. And like it or loathe it, Amazon is currently dominating the market as far as book sales go. So a book promoted by Amazon has much more likelihood of success.
What is Kindle Scout? It's a system where Amazon offer your book to readers, who vote on whether it deserves to be published through Kindle Press.
 


So I'm asking you if you would be kind enough to go to this link 
https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/3JRK0DDK0DDLI 
​and nominate my novel LOVE IS ALL for Kindle Press.
If it is selected then you will receive an early free copy.Thank you for your support.

 LOVE IS ALL
by JOAN FALLON
When Mark tells his wife that he has been having an affair with her oldest and dearest friend, he sets off a chain of events that reverberates throughout his whole family and changes the lives of those he loves forever.
Love Is All tells the story of a family still grieving after the death of the youngest son, five years previously. Teresa, Mark and their two grown-up sons are at last coming to terms with a life without little Peter, when the harmony of their home is shattered by Mark’s confession. Distraught with grief and rage, Theresa runs out of the house and drives off into the night; she crashes her car and is seriously hurt.
Months later, when she eventually comes out of a coma, her family are devastated to hear that the damage to her brain has caused a condition known as Locked-In Syndrome. She is effectively locked inside her own body and unable to communicate with anyone.
For Teresa it is a nightmare from which she cannot wake. When she realises the enormity of her plight she is unable to accept it and decides to seek refuge in an imaginary parallel world, a world where she is a desirable woman again. She refuses to acknowledge either the doctors or her family, but Ian, her younger son, will not let her go; he persists in every way he can to give her back the will to live. 



​
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Why do you use Facebook?

18/3/2018

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Why do you use Facebook? Personally I use it mainly as a marketing tool. With around a billion users, it is a great way to bring my latest books to the attention of readers. However, now that I live in Spain, it is  also a good way to keep in touch with old friends and family members. For example I am now in touch with lots of my Scottish cousins, whom I hadn't heard from in years.
According to Ingram Spark's March newsletter, Facebook have recently changed the way in which users receive news. The founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg wants Facebook to be more family and friends  orientated. He thinks people don't want to spend hours scrolling through hundreds of posts that do not interest them and I admit I have to agree with him.
So what happens if posts I want to see just don't show up on my newsfeed? Well I can prioritise the people whose posts I want to see. All you have to do is go to the navigation menu on the left hand side of your FB page and find Newsfeed. Next to it are three dots. Click on them and chose Edit Preferences. Then you  select 'Priorities - who to see first.' You can choose up to 30 of your friends.

But how can I continue to use Facebook as a marketing tool? How can I ensure that fans of my books will receive my posts? Well I can, of course, pay to promote my posts or ads. But I can also let people know that if they want to receive my latest posts then they need to go to their newsfeed and prioritise which posts they receive.
So, if you haven't heard from me lately, it could be that your Facebook page is ignoring my posts. If you'd like to change that then just follow the simple steps above.
 https://www.facebook.com/joanfallonbooks
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My latest novel, due out in the summer.
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A TURNING WIND

16/3/2018

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JG Harlond has a close affinity with the sea, having grown up in north Devon and this is plain to see in her  second book in The Chosen Man Trilogy. As she openly admits, it took her two years to write A Turning Wind, but she feels it has been well worth it. It follows on from the adventures of the charismatic and roguish hero of The Chosen Man, the merchant Ludo da Portovenere. ​

From the 17th century trading colony of Goa to the royal courts of England and Spain, Ludo endeavours to fulfil dangerous secret commissions on his own terms, and for his own reasons. But as these tasks bring him closer to personal success, Ludo is forced to confront a secret of his own. Accompanying Ludo on her own highly delicate commission for the English queen, Alina, Baroness Metherall, faces challenges and dangers of her own. She, too, must confront a private secret.
As people in high places dictate their lives, Ludo and Alina have to decide to what extent the past should influence their future.

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Harlond's brilliantly realised portrait of the sea-trade in 17th century is a gem. I loved the sweet-talking pirate Ludo, and his traffic in gems, spices and even Arabian horses. Impeccably researched, expect to be educated as well as entertained.'
Deborah Swift: author of ‘Pleasing Mr Pepys'
 
J.G. Harlond's plots play out in the complex and surprisingly sophisticated globalised economy of the seventeenth century. The scene may shift from India to Europe, and religious and political factors may bring nations to war, but commercial concerns always lie heavy on the mind of her protagonist and drive the action. Ms. Harlond details a credible, intricate world of deals and alliances, threats and opportunities, uncertainty and trust, in which her hero, the wily Genoese merchant Ludo da Portovenere, must tread with extreme caution. Let's hear yet more of him!
Antoine Vanner: author of the "Dawlish Chronicles" series

Ms Harlond has already started work on Book 3 in the trilogy. Let's hope it doesn't take her another two years to complete because we're all impatient to know what ultimately happens to this likeable rogue who doesn't shy away from danger.

Available now from Amazon
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How Resilient are You?

15/3/2018

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I realised the other day that I have completed twelve books during the time I have been writing professionally—now ten years—and that my books fall neatly into two separate categories. There are those that look to the past and those that are firmly grounded in the present. What is more, I seem to have spent a great deal of my energy promoting the former to the detriment of the latter. I enjoy writing historical fiction and have found pleasure in reading books by Hilary Mantel, Anna Belfrage and am now looking forward to JG Harlond’s latest novel in The Chosen Man Trilogy, A TURNING WIND—due out next month. However, to be honest, most of what I read is contemporary or literary fiction—or, in other words, it doesn’t seem to slot into any particular genre.
So I had a hard look at the six books I have written which aren’t historical fiction. They all have one thing in common—they are about women. Women are resilient. I won’t go so far as to stick my neck out and say ‘more so than men’ but without a doubt they are resilient. You can throw anything at them—divorce, abuse, a glass ceiling, the loss of a child, death of a spouse—and most women will fight back. They will take up the challenge and refuse to be cowed. And that is what I portray in my contemporary novels. These are stories of transformation, women rebuilding their lives and their relationships.​

In LOVING HARRY, the story of two women who love the same man, Barbara’s life is shattered when her husband leaves her and her two children for Carla. But she rebuilds her life, changing from a stay-at-home housewife into a successful business woman. Carla, on the other hand finds that life with Harry is not what she expected. After they move to Spain, he begins to drink heavily and she has to cope with his transformation from a fun-loving companion into a morose alcoholic. Both women, in different ways, bounce back from the adversity in which they find themselves.
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​Beth, the main protagonist in SANTIAGO TALES, has cancer, her job is going nowhere and her husband has been leading a double life. What does she do? She decides to leave everything behind and go on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, in northern Spain. The people she meets on her journey help her to get her own life in perspective and she returns stronger and ready to face the future.
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The novel THE THREAD THAT BINDS US is the story of a woman approaching retirement. On the face of it, she has everything—a loving husband, a son, three grandchildren, a lovely home and a successful career. But she is unable to enjoy it all. Her boss, who is half her age, wants rid of her. Her son finds her cold and aloof. Her life seems empty. Then she finds that her parents had been keeping a secret from her all her life and that she has a half-brother she had never heard about. She becomes obsessed with finding him and when she does all their lives are changed.
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Nancy is an old woman, whose memory is failing her. Once she was a famous artist and lived a glamorous life. Now she sits in her flat in Marbella, looking at the sea and waiting to die. PALETTE OF SECRETS is the story of her life, much of which was far from glamorous, and how she escaped from an abusive husband to build a new life for herself and her son.
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In my latest novel, LOVE IS ALL—due to be published in the summer—Teresa has even more to contend with. After a serious car accident she awakes from a coma to discover she has Locked-In Syndrome and is unable to communicate with any of her family. Not only that, she is unable to move, to eat, to speak or do any of the things she could do before. All she can do is blink. She doesn’t want to live, but she is unable to die. She withdraws into a private world where she can pretend that life continues as before and she ignores those who are trying to help her. Although she has shut them out, her family won’t give up on her. Teresa has a secret that her family know nothing about and when her son discovers it she finds herself being brought into the real world once more. It is love, in all its forms, that finally saves her.
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The last book I want to mention is not a novel. DAUGHTERS OF SPAIN is a collection of interviews with Spanish women, people I met and who were happy to tell me about their lives. I started this blog by speaking about resilience, well these women showed plenty of resilience in the face of adversity. I spoke to a woman who wasn’t even allowed to put her name on her child’s birth certificate because she wasn’t married to the father; she had no rights over her own daughter. They lived at a time when women’s rights were few; women were under the control of either husbands or fathers. In the period after the Spanish Civil War everyone’s lives were strictly regulated by the power of the State, the Church and social mores. But few of the women I spoke to had bad memories of that time. They had survived.

​The emancipation of women didn’t begin and certainly didn’t end with the Suffragette movement. You only have to turn on the television or read the newspapers to see that it is still going on.

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UK to pay compensation to surviving child migrants

3/3/2018

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The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse has published its findings into the abuse of British children who were sent to Australia under the Child Migration Programme. It heard from 48 witnesses and studied over 30,000 pages of relevant documents. It examined not only the experiences of the children but also the extent to which those in charge took care to protect the children from abuse of any kind. It also looked into how much the authorities knew about the abuse that occurred and what reparations had been offered. Its results are pretty damning, placing the final blame on the British government for what was allowed to happen to the children.

Over many years the UK government had allowed children—mostly from deprived homes—to be taken from their parents, orphanages or foster parents and sent overseas to institutions and families in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Rhodesia—some 7,000 child migrants were sent to Australia alone. This migration of British children continued after World War II and didn't end until 1970. Even then it was not a conscious decision by the governments involved to end it—it simply petered out because the supply of children ran out. Local authorities and childcare specialists no longer supported the policy.

Most of the child migrants were sent to farm schools or orphanages by voluntary organisations such as Barnados and the Fairbridge Society and a few by local authorities. But once sent, no effort was made to check on their well-being or offer them any kind of protection. For some organisations the children were regarded as commodities and the Inquiry reports that one even issued requisitions for specific numbers of children.

Many witnesses at the Inquiry reported physical and emotional abuse, sexual abuse and general neglect. They were often hungry, poorly clothed and sometimes lacked medical attention. One child was reported as losing an eye because no doctor was asked to treat him. Many received poor or no education. Children were beaten for misdeeds, locked up and starved. They lived in fear of reprisals and worst of all many were lied to about their families. They were told their families were dead when in fact some were not only alive, but looking for their children. Many institutions failed to keep adequate records of the children in their care and so the children had no hope of ever finding out who they were or where they were from. Some of these children were under five years old.

One of the most shocking results from this report is the fact that the British government knew about the suffering of these children as early as 1946 when the Curtis report set out clear guide lines for the care of children, including child migrants. The Home Office sent out a memorandum that the care of migrated children would be the same as that of children in the UK. Sadly nothing was done to implement this. The government had access to many critical reports on child migration during the 1950s but still did nothing to change the situation. In 1956 the Ross report stated how it had visited 26 institutions in Australia where child migrants were routinely sent and that they were so bad that no more children should be sent there. Still the government did nothing.

The Inquiry’s conclusion was that the British government’s attitude was determined by politics—it did not want to upset the Australians by withdrawing from the scheme or alienate itself with the charitable institutions, many of whom had powerful and influential patrons. The avoidance of embarrassment and risk to its reputation carried more importance than the fate of the child migrants.

It is sad to reflect on how long it has taken for this Inquiry to be set up and to produce its results, but the government’s position throughout the 1990s and 2000s remained—as stated by John Major—that they were “aware that there were allegations of physical and sexual abuse of a number of child migrants some years ago, but that any such allegations would be a matter for the Australian authorities.”

Then, at last, in 2010 Prime Minister Gordon Brown made a public apology to the surviving child migrants and set up the Family Restoration Fund.

But why had it taken so long? Many of the survivors have since died. One witness at the inquiry had been looking for his family since 1964. The only people he could turn to for help were the Child Migrants’ Trust. Through them he found his mother and she died this year, aged in her nineties.

Thanks to the Child Migrants’ Trust, set up in 1986 by a social worker, Margaret Humphreys, many child migrants managed to trace their families—although sometimes the parents they had been looking for all their lives were by then dead. Director and founder of the Child Migrants' Trust, Mrs Humphreys, has worked tirelessly to help these former child migrants find surviving members of their families. Her book EMPTY CRADLES tells of the first seven years of her struggle to bring this knowledge out into the open and to help those involved.

The Inquiry’s final recommendations focussed on the need for the British government to pay financial compensation to the 2,000 surviving child migrants and it emphasised IMMEDIATELY. Surely these children have waited long enough for someone to listen to them and accept responsibility.
If you want to read the Inquiry's full report you can find it here. REPORT
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I first learnt about the child migrants when I read a short article in a magazine in 2012 and that inspired me to write a novel based on child migration during WWII. THE ONLY BLUE DOOR is available in paperback and as an ebook.
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    Joan Fallon is a writer and novelist living in Spain.

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