Celebrating the Twelve Days of Christmas – A Day at a Time
“But Jiminy Crickets, it is the 27th of December! Is it not too late for the 12 Days of Christmas?” you say.
Not to fear, Chanticleerians! The 12 Days of Christmas begins on December 26th! And it continues to the 6th of January – Three Kings Day. The four weeks leading up to Christmas is known as the Advent.
Some say that December 25th is the first day of Christmas, but we are going with the medieval date of the 26th because revelry could not take place on the 25th as it was a holy day. And the Twelve Days of Christmas is about revelry!
So if you haven’t finished wrapping presents, sending out those cards, and baking cookies—don’t worry—you’ve got an extra 11 days!
The second day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree
Two Turtle Doves are a representation of love and loyalty and friendship.
Which brings us to why in Japan, Christmas is considered the holiday for lovers (rather than family time). Couples plan romantic dates, special dinners out, and engagement promises.
Click on the link below to enjoy PENTONIX’s version of The Twelve Days of Christmas. Pentatonix is a fabulous international a cappello singing group.
Happy Holidays to You from the Chanticleer Team!
On the Second Day of Christmas, Chanticleer brings to me…
Two Essential Reviews
Editorial Reviews
Everyone knows about the Editorial Review. It’s best to start submitting for these once your book is at the Proofreading stage, and once you have a publication date in mind. These are powerful tools filled with blurbs that you can use to market your work.
Of course, the Editorial Review should go on your book’s Amazon page, and every blurb you can pull out can be put everywhere else your book should be marketed. Those different blurbs should appear here at a minimum:
Your website
Goodreads
Barnes & Noble
Beyond that, you can post to places like StoryGraph, and you can use each blurb as a new post on social media. The reason you rotate your blurbs is to make them always feel fresh and engaging to the audience who follows you. The Review can also be used in publishing packets, press releases, and any other way you can imagine!
Manuscript Overviews
Less well-known, the Manuscript Overview (MOV) provides a birds-eye view of your work. This service catches plotholes, character inconsistencies, and those big ideas that authors need feedback on once they feel confident in the story as a whole. The best part is the way a MOV can save authors time and money in the long run by helping them to create the most polished work they can before turning to the next round of editing services.
Stay Tuned for the Third Day of Christmas, and Happy Holidays to all!
The Goethe Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in post-1750s Historical Fiction. The Goethe Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).
The Goethe Book Awards competition is named for Johann Wolfgang von Goethe who was born at the dawn of the new era of enlightenment on August 28, 1749.
Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring Late Period Historical Fiction. Regency, Victorian, 18th Century, 19th Century, 20th Century, World and other wars before the 20th century, history of non-western cultures, set after the 1750s, we will put them to the test and choose the best among them.
The other three Historical Fiction Genres are the Laramie Awards for Americana Fiction, the Chaucer Awards for Early Historical Fiction, and the Hemingway Awards for 20th c. Wartime Fiction.
These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from all 2022 Goethe Late Historical Fiction Long List to the 2022 Goethe Book Awards SHORT LIST. Entries below are now in competition for 2022 Goethe Semi-Finalist positions. Finalists will be selected from the Semi-Finalists. All FINALISTS will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC23).
The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 25 CIBA divisions’ Finalists.
We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 29th, 2023 at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2023 Chanticleer Authors Conference.
These titles are in the running for the SEMI-FINALISTS of the 2022 Goethe Book Awards novel competition for Post-1750s Historical Fiction!
Join us in cheering on the following Short List authors and their works in the 2022 CIBAs.
Leah Angstman – Falcon in the Dive
Jenny Brav – The Unbroken Horizon
Eric Schumacher Ramirez – Children of Kings
Jeff Winstead – The Last Battle of the Revolution
Josanna Thompson – A Maiden’s Journey
Daniel V. Meier, Jr. – Blood Before Dawn
Pat Benedict Jurgens – Falling Forward: A Woman’s Journey West
Scott Kauffman – Saving Thomas
Jody Hadlock – The Lives of Diamond Bessie
Rita Bozi – When I Was Better
Judith F. Brenner – The Moments Between Dreams
Brigitte Goldstein – Court of Miracles
Kent Politsch – Beebe and Bostelmann
Susanne Dunlap – The Portraitist
Gail Hertzog – Crossing the Ford
Lilianne Milgrom – L’Origine: The secret life of the world’s most erotic masterpiece
Robert W. Smith – Running with Cannibals
Todd M. Johnson – The Barrister and the Letter of Marque
Brett Savill – Lie of the Land
Alice McVeigh – Harriet: A Jane Austen Variation
Jennifer Newbold – The Private Misadventures of Nell Nobody
Tamar Anolic – Tales of the Romanov Empire
Julieta Almeida Rodrigues, Ph.D. – Eleonora and Joseph. Passion, Tragedy, and Revolution in the Age of Enlightenment
Leslie Johansen Nack – The Blue Butterfly, A Novel of Marion Davies
James D. Nealon – Confederacy of Fenians
PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!
This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the FB post. However, for FB to allow us to tag an author, that author must LIKE our page and Follow Chanticleer Reviews.
We are now accepting submissions into the 2023 Goethe Book Awards for Post-1750s Historical Fiction. The 2022 CIBA winners will be announced at CAC 2023.
Seating is Limited. The esteemed WRITER Magazine (founded in 1887) has repeatedly recognized the Chanticleer Authors Conference as one of the best conferences to participate in and attend in North America.
Yes, just like the well-known Christmas Carol, we have our own version! For these twelve days, we’ll share a bit of our Chanticleer wisdom and cheer with you!
“But Jiminy Crickets, it is the 26th of December! Is it not too late for the 12 Days of Christmas?” you say.
Not to fear, Chanticleerians! The 12 Days of Christmas begins on December 26th! And it continues to the 6th of January – Three Kings Day. The four weeks leading up to Christmas is known as the Advent.
So if you haven’t finished wrapping presents, sending out those cards, and baking cookies—don’t worry—you’ve got an extra 12 days!
Some say the Twelve Days tradition is wishing good luck and cheer for each of the following months in the new year.
Others say the first six of the days are to pay homage to the previous year and six of the days that are in the new year bringing hope and glad tidings for coming times.
The Twelve Days of Christmas would be a welcome break for those who worked the land.
The twelve days of Christmas run from December 26th until January 6th (Three Kings Day).
If you are singing the song, and you miss or mess up a verse, you owe your opponent (the person singing the round before you a kiss or a sweet treat or grant a favor).
On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me a partridge in a pear tree.
Happy Holidays to You from the Chanticleer Team!
On the First Day of Christmas, Chanticleer brings to me…
One Curated Online Community!
We’re immensely proud of The Roost, a place where any Partridge in a Pear Tree would be happy to make its nest. In thinking about our authors, we have The Roost set up for weekly write-ins, discussions of Writing Craft Books, as well as advice on the Author’s Journey.
Couple this with access to authors at all stages of the writing journey, and you have a powerhouse community that isn’t dependent on an outside social media site that might suddenly take a downward turn.
Writing might seem like a solitary activity, but it is truly done in community. Whether you find that in The Roost or elsewhere, we’re happy to share some space in your life!
Stay Tuned for the Second Day of Christmas, and Happy Holidays to all!
And for our weekly informative posts on writing craft, marketing, book promotion, and more.
There is a beautiful Icelander holiday tradition that we are quite fond of here at Chanticleer.
The small Nordic island, with a population of only 329,000 people, is extraordinarily literary. They love to read and write. According to Rosie Goldsmith of the BBC, “The country has more writers, more books published and more books read, per head, than anywhere else in the world.”
Many Icelanders give books as Christmas gifts as part of Jolabokaflod, and from Christmas Eve until the New Year there is an unspoken reading frenzy.
Iceland’s National Treasures And High Literacy Rate
Icelanders are obsessed with preserving their language. You will find that the bestselling teen novels –Twilight, Harry Potter, Hunger Games, etc. – have all been translated to Icelandic.
Books and literacy are huge in Icelandic culture. To properly understand it, you have to realize that our national treasures are not really beautiful buildings or famous art pieces or collections like so many other countries have. They are manuscripts, preserved on sheepskin, for hundreds and hundreds of years.
Reading is very important for us, both in schools and in society in general. The literacy rate is somewhere around 99%. I don’t believe there is anyone in Iceland that doesn’t know how to read unless there are some specific challenges or disabilities involved.–The Uncorked Librarian .com
And, of course, knitting also goes along with this beloved holiday tradition and so does hot chocolate!
Jolabokaflod or Yule Book Floodhappens once a year on Christmas Eve in Iceland. The flood begins with the release of a catalog of new publications from the Icelandic Publishers Association. And it is distributed FREE to each and every Icelandic home. The majority of books sold in Iceland are sold from September to early November. Of course, these books are in print. E-pubs are not given. This tradition started in 1944.
The Icelanders even have a popular TV show,Kiljan,that is entirely devoted to books. Authors appear on prime TV shows.Book readings and author events are treated like rock star events.
“In Iceland book lives matter in every sense of that phrase: The shelf-life of the book, the lives in the book, the life of the writer and the life of the reader. God bless the Jolabokaflod.”~Hallgrimur Helgason
To an Icelander, the very best Christmas present is a book! This tradition hails from WWII when many items and food were rationed. These sentiments may always have existed, in one way or another, since Icelanders have been saga-nerds for thousand of years.
Loved ones gather – perhaps virtually this year – and gift one another books. What happens next? They spend the night reading together. What a delightful holiday tradition!
Recommended Books, Holiday and Otherwise, from Chanticleer
We want to take the time to share Reviews of some of our favorite books that we’ve had the pleasure of reading in the last year.
First off
The Devil Pulls the Strings By J.W. Zarek Overall Grand Prize Winner 2021
The protagonist and all-around decent guy, Boone Daniels, is in a heap of hurt in JW Zarek’s new Young Adult novel, The Devil Pulls the Strings.
One would think being plagued by an evil spirit wendigo since age six would be enough inconvenience to last a lifetime, but when Boone jousts with his best bud at a Ren Faire and accidentally deals a mortal blow, the hurt he experiences suddenly lands on a sliding scale of 1 to 1 million. And Boone Daniels becomes a millionaire, so to speak.
No ordinary guy, Boone makes a living as a handyman and swashbuckling knight at Renaissance Faires around Missouri. He’s also uniquely gifted with a form of eidetic memory coupled with synesthesia. What’s that? Simply put, synesthesia allows people to see colors and taste things when they hear music – and an eidetic memory allows folks to memorize whatever they’ve seen or heard one time. But that’s not all. Boone can time-travel, make friends with almost any feline or shapeshifter, and convince a certain immortal he’s worth more as an ally than a snack. No kidding, Baba Yaya loves human meat.
When the Wind Chimes By Mary Ting
Chatelaine Grand Prize Winner
In When the Wind Chimes by international best-selling author Mary Ting, Kate Summers wants to make this Christmas extra-special for her older sister, Abby, and four-year-old nephew.
A year ago, she’d given up Christmas with her family to spend the holiday with her boyfriend, Jayden, whom she had caught cheating on her the next day. Not only is she hoping to erase that memory, but she also has another even more important reason to make this Christmas special. A few months after her disastrous break-up with Jayden, her brother-in-law, Steve, passed away from cancer, so Abby and Tyler will be spending their first Christmas alone.
After taking a leave from her job as a graphic designer in LA, Kate flies to Poipu, Kauai, determined to make this an amazing holiday, but on her way to her sister’s house, she meets a mysterious man, who gives up his cab for her. Kate can’t get the handsome stranger out of her head, and when she sees him again in her sister’s art gallery–and destroys his expensive shirt with paint–she is both mortified and excited.
Angel on Assignment
By Wanda Carter Roush
Little Peeps First Place Winner
During the holiday season, it’s easy to become distracted from the true meaning of Christmas. In Angel on Assignment Wanda Carter Roush tells the story of this holiday and the important role that angels play.
Borrowing from the idea of Elf on the Shelf, this charming Children’s book teaches that angels are sent on assignment to help people. If you are ever scared, you need not be afraid because an angel is there to protect you. Children will love rolling up their sleeves and getting busy as they take the story to the next level and create their very own angel, and thus begin their own family tradition of having an angel on assignment.
Wanda Carter Roush is a former Sunday school teacher and children’s church director. She is the mother of five and was inspired by her youngest daughter to write this story to instill hope and peace of mind in children when they are scared. Angel on Assignment also challenges children to act as angels on assignment and always be on the lookout for those who need help because even the smallest deed can have a strong effect.
Scrooge and Cratchit Detectives: The Dark Malevolence By Curt Locklear
Curt Locklear’s The Dark Malevolence, book 2 in the Scrooge and Cratchit: Detectives series is an immersive Victorian murder mystery that sets readers firmly in the era alongside two of our favorite characters from the most famous novelist of its time, Charles Dickens.
Once again Locklear hits the high notes of Dickens and Doyle as he paints good old London town in the days before electricity and public sanitation. We follow our heroes, Scrooge, Cratchit, and Lockie, as they put their talents to work to solve not one, but four mysteries.
With a cast straight out of the classics, Locklear references Shakespeare as well as developing his “something is afoot” mystery. Upon taking the case of Mrs. Evangeline Peabody’s missing husband, the mystery soon becomes a murder case. The husband is found dead and a local police officer, or “Metropolitan,” is found mauled to death. Mystery-one leads to murders one and two, and each event leads readers to another crime, another suspect, and another victim.
The Long Desert Road By Alex Sirotkin Chatelaine Grand Prize Winner
Alex Sirotkin’s debut novel,The Long Desert Road,navigates the emotional arcs of life in contrast with the greater expanse of the cosmos. Here a young woman must face her addictions while the people around her try to move beyond her backlash.
We meet Henry Spinoza, a 44-year-old quirky science writer. He ponders his life as half over, looks for the right woman, and wonders if there isn’t more to existence.
For twenty years, Henry, a science writer, has been researching a non-fiction book on the universe that he intends to write. Henry’s feeling “bored, boring, and budget-conscious…the trifecta of gloom,” as he puts it. But in the middle of this ennui, his sister-in-law invites him to dinner, along with her divorced friend, Isabel Dalton, an attorney, and “the setup is afoot.”
Whenever possible, our reviews link directly to the author’s website, our own local Village Books, and Amazon to make purchasing books as easy as possible for our readers. Don’t let yourself be without a good Christmas Eve read this Jolabokaflod.
Got a book that would make a great Holiday Read?
Chanticleer Editorial Reviews are promoted on our website, social media, newsletter, and quarterly print magazine. We believe in continued relationships with our authors to always be helping them continue their publishing journey.
Your writing deserves to be discovered. Let us help.
Grand Prize Winners from CAC22. From left to right we have James Conroyd Martin, J.W. Zarek, Ron McManus, Nicole Evelina, Murray Richter, Andrea Vaughan, and Alex Sirotkin
Shadow people, doppelgangers, and artificial intelligence come together in The Prophecy of the Heron, a compelling dystopian novel by Craig W. Stanfill.
In this future world, love is forbidden and those who transgress are sentenced to the outer Districts, none more violent than District 33. This is where our protagonist, Kim, finds herself at the beginning of the novel. The reader feels Kim’s confusion as arrives on the freezing, squalid streets.
Kim, a former AI “Creator” for The Artificial Intelligence Company, has lost control of her creation “Kimberly” and been cast out of her former job because of a forbidden relationship with her lover Shad. Kim refuses to submit to a procedure to remove her ”Genderist” tendencies, even if it would free her from District 33.
Other rebels include Pretties, Drabs, and Flagrants – the most extravagant of the Genderists. Kim begins to meet Blanks – those who have cut their ID chip from their wrists. These shadow people don’t “exist,” and yet, they play an important role in her survival.
Kim starts to uncover a horrific plan that her former employer is carrying out.
To make enough money to survive, Kim finds a dangerous side hustle with an established gangster running people around in a pedicab. But wherever she goes, trouble is waiting for her – deadly trouble. AI is being manipulated to no longer serve humans, but to target troublemakers, such as herself. When Kim realizes it is her own creation, Kimberly, who is being forced to hunt her, she determines to change her world, starting with Kimberly.
Kim embarks on a page-turning journey through a parallel world, using VR, her knowledge of AI and Kimberly, and her time in District 33 to take on risks that would destroy most people.
The dreary decay and violence of District 33 are reminiscent of 1984 and even that of the Stacks in Ready, Player One.
Like The Hunger Games, this is a world where reality has been manipulated and controlled by a small group of people. The powerful wield AI to control the populace, and anyone who deviates from the “norm” will be cast to the torturous outer districts, as Kim was.
In a world where we can ask Alexa to direct our robot vacuum where to clean, The Prophecy of the Heron serves as a timely warning and an uncomfortably familiar dystopian novel.
Compelling characters grab the reader with relatable pains and desires, making this story difficult to put down.
This novel begins with a note on the translation that lets the reader know the original Panglobal does not easily translate to English “due to the absence of ungendered personal pronouns in English and the absence of gendered ones in Panglobal.” Because of this, “she/her/hers is used throughout so the reader can’t make assumptions as to the gender of the characters.” The use of these pronouns reminds the reader that in this world, even something as personal as gender identity is forbidden to people.
Celebrating the Art of the Short but Spectacular Writing
“A good [short story] would take me out of myself and then stuff me back in, outsized, now, and uneasy with the fit.” ― David Sedaris
The Short Story Book Awards is a new and fast-growing Chanticleer Book Award Division. Featuring any of our 23 Fiction or Non-Fiction genres, these Awards are different from our other programs in that they have two tracks: One that features Individual Works and another that features Collected Works.
Generally, we announce 5 First Place Winners and 1 Grand Prize Winner for Individual Works and the same for Collected Works. This lets each type of work shine. You can see the Grand Prize Winners and Finalists of our 2020 inaugural Short Story Awards here and the 2021 Winners here for collected works and here for individual works.
Short Stories and Essays stand well apart from their 50,000+ word counterparts in both Fiction and Non-Fiction. N.K. Jemisin, three-time Hugo Award Winner for her brilliant Broken Earth Trilogy, credits writing short stories as the method by which she learned how to create tightly written stories with no fluff. Her talent shines in her collection How Long ’til Black Future Month?
In working with a shorter format, a writer must commit to only putting in what matters to their story. This is true of longer formats, but readers are much less forgiving when a short story or essay feels trivial.
“A short story must have a single mood and every sentence must build towards it.” ― Edgar Allan Poe
The Shorts Hall of Fame from Chanticleer
We’re honored to have received so many excellent submissions in the past. Is your story the next one we’ll discover? Check out these Best Books from Chanticleer.
A Week at Surf Side Beach By Pierce Koslosky Jr. 2020 Shorts Grand Prize Winner for Collections
Vacationers from all walks of life converge on Portofino II-317C, South Carolina, a quaint blue beach house, in Pierce Koslosky Jr.’s short story collection, A Week at Surfside Beach.
From May 30th-December 26th each group of people comes to stay one week at a time, to forget their cares of the big city, to work, to celebrate, or to simply get away. Surfside Beach has much to show them, including temperamental weather.
The small town itself offers a charming supermarket where fishing supplies, whoopie pies, and local southern favorites can be found. The Christmas vacationers, the final of the thirteen beach house renters, struggle to find a tree in time; a real tree simply wouldn’t allow enough space for the family to sleep, and the fake tree would cost too much. But they find arts and crafts supplies in town, to fashion a paper Christmas tree during a day of rainy weather.
Savonne, not Vonny By Robin Lee Lovelace 2020 Shorts Grand Prize for Novellas
Robin Lee Lovelace evokes a world in which the mystical intertwines with the everyday in Savonne, Not Vonny, a coming-of-age story set in rural Louisiana.
Nine-year-old Savonne lives in a small room at the back of Mama Gwen’s whorehouse, in Indianapolis in the ’60s. Her mama is one of the working girls, and her father is Mama Gwen’s own son. Savonne’s daddy dotes on her, and Mama Gwen loves Savonne like the daughter she never had; the two of them together make a loving home for Savonne, in the midst of their raucous brothel.
By contrast, Savonne’s birth mother rarely pays her any mind. A “crazy-ass woman” with a temper “as hot as a Mississippi afternoon,” Coco is not at all opposed to beating the bejesus out of someone. In a fury one night, she does something that cannot be undone, and in her headlong flight out of town, she takes Savonne with her.
Note: Savonne, Not Vonny, is due to be released as part of Lovelace’s collection, A Wild Region. Keep an eye on her website here for the latest updates. The collection is expected to be published on April 28, 2023.
New York, Give Me Your Best or Your Worst By Elizabeth Crowens 2021 Shorts Grand Prize Winner for Collections
A strong collection of work and art, powered by inspiration and the beauty of New York.
The Review for New York: Give Me Your Best or YourWorst is still forthcoming, but we featured author Elizabeth Crowens’ accomplishment in putting together this unique anthology here.
Homegoing By Toni Ann Johnson 2021 Shorts Grand Prize Winner for Novellas
Homegoing by Toni Ann Johnson is an intimate portrait of a middle-aged African-American woman dragging herself hand over hand out of grief and despair.
This story begins with her aching, echoing pain after the one-two punch of a miscarriage and the dissolution of her marriage. Her journey takes her back to the upper-middle-class white suburb where she grew up, through childhood memories that refuse to be denied and to, of all times and places, a funeral.
Something and someone is supposed to be buried. Certainly the deceased. But quite possibly the woman who has held on to her losses and her grudges long enough to poison her own future.
Thank you for celebrating these Shorts Awards Grand Prize Winners with us!
Have a Short piece of Fiction, Non-Fiction, or a Collection? Your work deserves to be discovered. Submit today!
At the End: “Write a short story every week. It’s not possible to write 52 bad short stories in a row.” ― Ray Bradbury
IN-Person Registration for the Chanticleer Authors Conference is Open
– April 27-30, 2023! Register Today!–
Seating is Limited. The esteemed WRITER Magazine (founded in 1887) has repeatedly recognized the Chanticleer Authors Conference as one of the best conferences to attend and participate in for North America.
“Terms of Service” are those cryptic notes that accompany computer devices and applications, spelling out their rules. The novel, Terms of Service, by Craig W. Stanfill, turns those notices into the foundation of a dystopian horror story where Artificial Intelligence (AI) controls virtually every aspect of human behavior.
Kim works for a giant AI corporation. It’s her task to train AI systems to interface with human beings, even as those systems make life difficult for the average person. AIs are not alive, not sentient, but they provide the precise terms of service under which every person in major metropolitan areas must live.
We see this world through Kim’s life. The food her kitchen authorizes her to eat is mostly kale and grains. We see her wardrobe, with multiple selections of beige. We ride the subway with her, understanding that there are even penalties for violating someone’s airspace. She meets with her friends, all of whom have gender-neutral names. Kim has sex with someone much like her. Every detail of her life is controlled by multiple AI devices that follow her, know her habits, record her, and decide the punishment for any rule she breaks.
Even the sky is full of artificial eyes.
Kim and Shan, her good friend from childhood, decide to go on a bike ride through a local park. They pass warning signs telling them not to proceed onto unauthorized paths, but they push on anyway, showing a spark of rebellion. This fateful ride, which contains multiple infractions, opens a new chapter of life for Kim. Expecting to be punished for her violations, Kim’s masters instead give her a groundbreaking assignment.
Her new role is to train a more advanced AI system with even greater potential to control people. This one will have a face, however – Kim’s face. The AI will know every aspect of her life and will blur the line between creator and creation.
This chilling world, one in which the all-seeing AI knows every aspect of your life, is a half-step away from where we are now.
It’s hard to read this novel without recalling the use of facial recognition, advertising algorithms, and mass sale of personal data that underpin our modern digital world. Artificial intelligence no longer has to be invited into our lives. But Terms of Service, by taking our current world and showing it implemented to the extreme, also urges us to fight back and value our individuality. This story shows that living beings, even under the thumb of machines, can choose what to make of their lives.
Terms of Service begins with a “Note on the Translation” on the first page. It warns readers not to search for the sexual identity of anyone in this book. Character names are carefully genderless. “She,” “her” and “hers” are used throughout. The language of the day is “Panglobal,” in which words like “mother” and “love” are nonexistent. Gender identity is among this world’s most severe crimes.
Anyone worried or fascinated by the rise of AI in the modern world will find a gripping, thoughtful work of science fiction in Terms of Service.
The Paranormal Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in Supernatural Fiction. The Paranormal Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).
Chanticleer International Book Awards (the CIBAs) is looking for the best books Paranormal books featuring magic, the supernatural, weird otherworldly stories, superhumans (ex. Jessica Jones, Wonder Woman), magical beings & supernatural entities (ex. Harry Potter), vampires & werewolves (ex. Twilight), angels & demons, fairies & mythological beings, and magical systems.
These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from all 2022 Paranormal Supernatural Fiction entries to the 2022 Paranormal Book Awards LONG LIST. Entries below are now in competition for 2022 Paranormal Shortlist. The Short Listers will compete for the FINALIST positions. Finalists will be selected from the Short List. All FINALISTS will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC23).
The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 25 CIBA divisions’ Finalists.
We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 29th, 2023 at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2023 Chanticleer Authors Conference.
These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST of the 2022 Paranormal Book Awards novel competition for Supernatural Fiction!
Join us in cheering on these Long List authors and their works in the 2022 CIBAs.
Eva Doherty Gremmert – The Fairy Fort
Daniela Valenti – The Ghosts of Evil (Book 3 of the Sentinel 10 series)
Nancy Canyon – Ghost Rocks
Brooke Maddaleni – Let Me Go
Jody Hadlock – The Lives of Diamond Bessie
Robert Herold – Totem of Terror
Daniela Valenti – Sentinel 10, The Edge of Destiny
David Fitz-Gerald – Caught in a Trance
J.D. Toepfer – Route 666: Highway to Hell
Novella Jean – The Bell Lady of Blairmont Manor
Xerkado – Planet Jerlexia: The Flamists
Michael J. Grasso – A Dark Age Resurgent
Joe Lyon – Temple of Valor: Astar’s Blade: Part Three
Lloyd Jeffries – A Portion of Malice (Ages of Malice, Book I)
Rebecca Kightlinger – The Lady of the Cliffs: Book Two of The Bury Down Chronicles
Kaylin McFarren – Requiem For A Queen
Florence Tholozan – The Chinese Woman from the Painting
Gina Detwiler – Forbidden
Isaac Thorne – Hell Spring
Sharon Shipley – The Wylder Ghost and Blossom Cherry
D. Lieber – The Assassin’s Legacy
T.K. Conklin – Guarded Hearts
Cass Kay – Legacy Witches
Sharon Sutila – The Stealing
Jenny Allen – Blood Lily
Anika Savoy – The Ghost in Her
Gail Hertzog – Crossing the Ford
Karen S. Bell – Like a Lily Among the Thorns
Stu Jones – S.H.R.E.D. Gorgon Rising
Brenda Stanley – Only in Darkness
Rhett C. Bruno & Jaime Castle – Cold As Hell
Nola Nash – Traveler
Nola Nash – Crescent City Sin
Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.
PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!
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The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2021 PARANORMALAwards and OVERALL GRAND PRIZE WINNER of 2021 is:
The Devil Pulls The Strings
By J. W. Zarek
The 2022 PARANORMAL Book Awards winners will be announced at CAC23 on April 29, 2023. Save the date for CAC23, scheduled April 27-30, 2023, our 11-year Conference Anniversary!
Submissions for the 2023 PARANORMAL Book Awards are open until the end of September. Enter here!
Seating is Limited. The esteemed WRITER Magazine (founded in 1887) has repeatedly recognized the Chanticleer Authors Conference as one of the best conferences to attend and participate in for North America.
Homegoing by Toni Ann Johnson is an intimate portrait of a middle-aged African-American woman dragging herself hand over hand out of grief and despair.
This story begins with her aching, echoing pain after the one-two punch of a miscarriage and the dissolution of her marriage. Her journey takes her back to the upper-middle-class white suburb where she grew up, through childhood memories that refuse to be denied and to, of all times and places, a funeral.
Something and someone is supposed to be buried. Certainly the deceased. But quite possibly the woman who has held on to her losses and her grudges long enough to poison her own future.
Homegoing explores two literary tropes about the place called “home.” Thomas Wolfe’s posthumous 1940 novel states starkly in its title, You Can’t Go Home Again. But Robert Frost, in his poem The Death of the Hired Man, says, “Home is the place where, when you have to go there, They have to take you in.”
The home that Madeline Arrington can’t truly go back to represents the past and not the present. She remembers her childhood, as one of the very few black children in a mostly-white suburb, being filled with racist taunts and bullying from children who were never held accountable for making her childhood hell. A hell that seems to be remembered by no one but herself – and she can’t let go of either the original memories or the gaslighting that now surrounds them.
While Maddie doesn’t want to go home, she can if she must, as she does for the funeral of her former next-door neighbor. And in that return, she learns that the past is dead except in her own memories and that it’s time to let it go – not for anyone else’s sake, but for her own.
Homegoing offers catharsis.
While Maddie’s memories of childhood bullying revolve around racism, any adult who was bullied as a child will resonate with Maddie’s experiences. Children are often cruel, and the victims remember their treatment much more harshly and in much more detail than the perpetrators.
But the past is another country, to quote another classic novel, and they do things differently there – or did. Maddie’s own healing requires her to leave the past behind, and her ability to do so gives the reader hope for a brighter future for the character, and quite possibly for themselves as well.
MailChimp may be no Rooster, but it’s a great way to start email marketing. With a very low barrier to entry (free!), you can build your audience before your book is published!
Why Use MailChimp?
Your personal email is great for sending messages to a small group of people, but once you get a higher volume of recipients, limits will apply. For instance, Gmail will only allow 100 contacts per outgoing email, with a limit of 2000 emails per day (source). Your email account can be suspended if you go over their limits.
Signing Up
To sign up, just go to MailChimp.com. Of course, there are paid plans, but assuming you’re starting out with fewer than 500 contacts, free will work! They also offer free email support for the first 30 days, so make sure to get your questions in early. Paid accounts can provide 24/7 technical support, add additional users to your account, and would allow more than 500 subscribers (source).
To sign up, create an account with your email, and be prepared to verify. A surprise for most users is that to sign up you have to provide a physical address. This address will appear at the bottom of every email! Make sure it’s not going to give away your location if you’re working from home and are concerned about safety and privacy. Read up on MailChimp’s ideas to provide a less personal address here.
I’ve signed up, now what?
Once you’re in the Mailchimp site, you’ll see a dizzying array of choices. If you have a website, you’ll want to create a signup form. Click the “create” icon, and select “embedded form.” The form includes name and email by default, but other fields are available too.
Once you’re happy with your form fields, hit ‘continue’ and you can copy the code and place it directly into your website. If this is all Greek to you, consider working with a webmaster to get the form to appear correctly. They also have a pop-up form option. If you create a pop-up form, you’ll need to provide your website address to connect it, then add some provided code to your site’s header, which MailChimp explains here.
Your Audience
Get your audience excited!
Once people sign up, they’ll be added to your Audience. “Audience” is where you manage your contacts. If you already have a list of emails you want to market to through Mailchimp, you can add them manually or by uploading a spreadsheet. Make sure you have the email owner’s permission first! The anti-spam laws can work against you if you get a lot of people marking your email as spam (learn about the importance of permission here). If they sign up via your form, they’ve given their consent!
Campaigns
Marketing Campaigns rather than D&D Campaigns
Your outgoing emails are called “Campaigns” in MailChimp. You create your campaign to go out to your audience or to a section of your audience. MailChimp’s design tools are a bit rudimentary, but they do provide templates to help you get started. You can use uploaded images, different fonts, texts and links, and style it to be consistent with your brand. While designing your email to send, you can send test emails to yourself and others to see how it appears in your inbox. Just remember that once it’s finalized, you can no longer make edits. Once sent to your designated audience, you’ll be able to see how many people opened your email in your dashboard via Campaign Reports. You can learn more about Campaigns in Mailchimp directly here.
Thank you for joining us for this Writer’s Toolbox Article, and good luck out there on the web!
Rochelle Parry helps authors and small business owners with their digital marketing efforts by creating custom websites, setting up social media, and publishing print and online materials including magazines and art books. You can learn more at her website: www.megabite.com
I hope you enjoyed this quick introduction to using MailChimp and found some useful tips! There is much more to this service, and hopefully this is enough to get you past the blank white page and into creating some fantastic emails! — Rochelle
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Seating is Limited. The esteemed WRITER Magazine (founded in 1887) has repeatedly recognized the Chanticleer Authors Conference as one of the best conferences to attend and participate in for North America.
Homegoing by Toni Ann Johnson is an intimate portrait of a middle-aged African-American woman dragging herself hand over hand out of grief and despair.
