Brian SpielbauerBorn in Guttenberg, Iowa, the sixth of seven children to Frank and Jackie Spielbauer, Brian Spielbauer writes from the borderlands-between myth and memory, faith and fear, light and the long night that waits beyond it.A lifelong lover of stories, Brin's journey as a writer began when a friend introduced him to The Xanth series by Piers Anthony. Soon after, he discovered J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, a work that ignited his imagination and inspired a vow: to one day create a world and characters entirely his own.While coaching basketball at William Penn University in 2009, that creative calling could no longer be ignored. He began writing The Demon's Chamber, the first novel in his Tales of Lemuria trilogy-a saga that breathed life into a world where gods whisper through ruins and heroes bear the weight of ancient secrets. Though it took nearly eight years to see that dream realized in print, it became the foundation of a new literary world.In 2015, a conversation with his father during Christmas break sparked the idea for a different kind of story. Hearing tales of his family's arrival in Iowa in the mid-1800s, and guided by the extensive genealogical research of his Aunt Hilda Brooks and Uncle Arnie Spielbauer, Brian began work on the Legacy of Faith trilogy. The series explores the fragile thread of belief that binds generations together through war, hardship, and redemption-from the Civil War to the Great Depression.As that series drew to a close, Brian found his faith deepening, and his stories turning toward the nature of forgiveness. He became fascinated by how even those seen as lost or broken carry burdens from their past-burdens that, when understood, might allow compassion to triumph over judgment.Now, with Dracula's Battle: The Cross and the Crescent Moon, Spielbauer turns his gaze toward the ultimate collision of good and evil-where the thirst for immortality meets divine conviction. It is a story where history, faith, and the supernatural converge in haunting harmony.When he isn't conjuring haunted empires or unraveling the mysteries of the soul, Brian lives quietly in Fayette, Missouri, with his wife and two daughters-though his mind rarely rests. Some say he still listens for echoes from Lemuria; others whisper that he's begun hearing wings in the dark. Read More Read Less