Please check back weekly for updates from Ward
Welcome to the weekly blog at Cry For Jerusalem!
I plan to keep readers up to speed here every week. That will include updates on the books and the many, many nuggets of information we have discovered in researching the characters and events in our epic saga. The first thing you might ask is: why are you writing this novel series? A few years ago in my interest in the history of Jerusalem I kept seeing references to the historian Josephus. Like many interested in Jerusalem, I had heard of him and knew that he wrote a lot about this history of the first century. But seeing a large volume entitled "The Works of Josephus" sitting on a bookshelf dissuaded me from further trying to read his writings. Then then I came across a modern version of Josephus's book "The Jewish Wars" translated by Bob Beasley. It was much more readable than the other current English translation from the 18th century which read like King James English. The ancient manuscript was originally written in Greek. In spite of the history-book-like feeling of Josephus's writings, the stories I came upon were incredibly dramatic. Why had I never heard such stories as these before about such an important event in history? I did not know that Josephus was an eye-witness and important participant to all of these events, I began to think: You know, if someone put these stories into historical novel form it would be an incredible series that a lot of people in the world would want to read. Over the next few months characters and plot lines began to form in my mind that had a lot of action, drama, romance, and intrigue. It seemed like such a great idea that no one had every pursued. Eventually I could resist no longer. I do not have experience in writing this style at the professional level I desired for this series, so I hired an experienced writer to help me. And so the project began. I have invested a lot of time and resources into these books, and I am very pleased with the way they are turning out. I hope you are too. Join me here every week to learn more of the details behind Cry for Jerusalem.
Cry For Jerusalem is a series of historical fiction books covering the seven years leading up to the burning of Herod’s Temple and the Siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE.
Author Ward Sanford gives this period of history new depth in Cry For Jerusalem and showcasing the works of eyewitness historian Flavius Josephus in a new way with this fictional yet fact-based dramatization.
In the CFJ blog section Ward covers subjects to do with the vast amount of research that went into the CFJ novel series, including Ancient Jerusalem, the Roman Empire, and Biblical topics and the writings of Josephus.
To learn more about the series and purchase click here or more about the history behind the series click here.