Franklin Posner gives readers an adventurous dark urban fantasy filled to the brim with vampires, werewolves, black-eyed kids, and even Sasquatches in his novel Suburban Vampire Ragnarok.
Here is a fully realized underworld of vampire factions and governments along with ancient organizations tasked with keeping track of the paranormal.
The story opens in the past, with Scott Campbell’s father capturing a German bunker during World War II. This section is reminiscent of F. Paul Wilson’s The Keep and Saving Private Ryan with a little taste of Indiana Jones. After they find a handful of mysterious artifacts, the story then jumps forward a generation to Scott, the suburban vampire working in tech support in the Pacific Northwest.
Scott’s life is complicated. Between a recent divorce, living with his widowed mother, and working for an over-controlling boss he has plenty to deal with.
On top of that, he is a vampire who must suppress the urge to feed on human blood.
Something sinister stirs behind the scenes of the vampire political world. Jack, the vampire who turned Scott against his will in hopes of using him in a diabolical coup, still has followers hidden in the vampire government. As Elizabeth and Jeremiah, vampire enforcers, hunt down the last of Jack’s sirelings and try to root out someone embedded within the vampire council, Scott falls deeper into the machinations of an evil plot and must fight to protect those he cares for.
Posner explores themes of coming to terms with a new life.
Scott’s life has changed drastically in many ways, and becoming a vampire is only one of them. After his divorce, his mother is encouraging him to get back out there and see new people.
Scott does slip a few times, but he learns from his mistakes and the guilt they bring him. He also learns to trust those who still want to be part of his life, even when they know the monster that he has become. He knows that to be near him is dangerous, but, ultimately, it is their choice.
There are a few spots where the tone of the story becomes a little too light in contrast to the tension of the scene, but the story and drama behind that tension are strong.
Readers will marvel at the fully realized world presented in this book.
The political complexity of the many organizations, governments, and agencies make for exciting power plays and relationships. Plus, readers will delight with the handful of cryptids who play roles, both small and large, throughout.
Readers hungry for vampires with intricate and grounded struggles will be pleased with Franklin Posner’s twisty tale of supernatural creatures in a modern world.
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.
We all know that during vacations there are disagreements, lover spats, lessons learned, stolen kisses, and many other moments for a reader to see through the eyes of the characters at Surfside Beach.
The house itself exists in the real world, as does the town of Surfside Beach. Koslosky purchased the actual house after Hurricane Hugo hit the coast of South Carolina. The short stories connect the characters through this realistic setting.
These thirteen stories are rich with emotion and relationships. Even in just one tale, two families quarrel over a better view, a better beach house, an entrée item at dinner, their kids fighting, and a lack of parental approval of the feuding families’ son/daughter Romeo and Juliet hidden romance. Human compassion shines through these conflicts, such as in a later story where a father shows his son kindness and understanding when a gang of locals leads him astray, presenting a strong faith in humanity.
Koslosky creates a believable work of fiction which flows from story to story, recreating a well-known setting of a beach house, the characters playing out a reminder that while nothing is perfect even in paradise, nothing needs to be perfect.
In Winter’s Reckoning by Adele Holmes, a mercurial new pastor in town threatens the families of two women.
Welcome to 1917. A time of suspenders for men and, in the cities, bloomers for women. Horse-drawn wagons range the landscape, stoves burn wood, and people have to use outdoor facilities. A time of few vaccines and no antibiotics. People understood little of most diseases. Germ theory still had ground to cover. Women routinely died in childbirth. Life could vanish in a moment.
In rural Jamesville, a Southern Appalachian town, Madeline Fairbanks does what she can to make the lives of friends and neighbors more comfortable. She works as the healer in this community – and has for the past quarter of a century. Madeline eases the passage into and out of life, treating aches and pains in between.
Maddie comes from a long line of healers. Her grandmother taught her, and she’ll pass along what she knows to her granddaughter in turn. Hannah already has the inclination. The time has almost come to give her the ancestral box, which holds herbal remedy recipes and sketches and notes. That box contains all the learning from the women in their family who came before them.
Maddie has also trained an apprentice, Renetta Morgan, who is just about ready to begin working in the community, her own community, alone.
Maddie is white. Renetta is Black. They walk through town together, brazenly traversing from North Main (the white section of town) to South Main (the Black) and back again. Sometimes they go to tend the sick. Sometimes, to the fields and hillsides, gathering the healing flowers and roots and herbs. Other times, they work in Maddie’s cabin, creating tinctures, potions, and ointments. When Renetta learns enough, the two of them must no longer work together.
The long-promised railroad has recently bypassed the town, spelling a slow death for the community, cut off now from the lifeline of the new transportation. With their Main Street shops shutting down, the townsfolk face hard times. In the South, rigid segregation, Jim Crow laws, black codes, and the Klan divide the community. In Jamesville, the pointy hat boys haven’t been active in recent memory, but that’s about to change. Not everyone turns a blind eye to the flagrant close fraternizing of Maddie and Ren, two uppity women who don’t seem to know their place. Tempers are fraying.
Into this small town closing in on itself rides a lone horseman one day, who, after a brief look around, announces that he’s the new pastor. Reverend Carl Howard is the match to the powder keg.
As the town adjusts to this new pastor in their midst, and Reverend Howard takes his measure of the place, we will watch events unfold from the vantage point of three characters, all of whom have secrets to keep. Secrets that could be their undoing.
With the loss of the railroad, another potential casualty looms – one of education.
The town is divided on whether to invest in secondary education or not. Currently, only the primary school offers its young charges the most rudimentary learning. Nothing to build on. With more education, Maddie thinks, real change might be possible. Greater equality between peoples, despite their gender or skin color. Greater freedom for women. Or at least a good step in that direction.
The theme of education and what it can bring – more profound understanding, greater personal freedom and fulfillment, and economic opportunities – underlies the struggle of those for and against keeping women and Blacks “in their place.” One side looks forward to what could be; the other looks back to what has been. The balance of power always tilts in favor of those who have always held it. As the tension mounts, where words fail, violence threatens.
When a severe winter storm hits, everyone’s lives are suspended.
As they wait out the freeze, rationing their supplies and tearing up the porch for firewood, Maddie and Ren will come to know things about each other and themselves. And Hannah will grow up a little.
Set in the brooding rural South, and for a good portion of the novel in the challenging and crystalline world of a deep snowstorm, Winter’s Reckoning is rich in storyline and character with plenty of mystery woven throughout. Simply put, here’s a story that takes on issues whose harm remains with us today. With a climactic pulpit scene that’s not to be missed – and one novel we can highly recommend!
Divinity’s Twilight: Rebirth by Christopher Russell is the opening of a High Fantasy epic about the rise and fall of vast empires.
The story grows from unfinished business between three brothers gifted with magic and power but chose different paths to achieve safety and security for themselves and the people who followed them.
These different paths culminated in a battle where the fate of their world is balanced precariously on a knife’s edge. Darmatus and Rabban are engaged in a war to the death with their oldest brother Sarcon. Sarcon believes the road to that safety lies in power alone, that the only way to be secure is to crush all his enemies, no matter how heinous the deeds required.
Darmatus believes that knowledge and education are the way, while Rabban advocates for engineering and artistry. But all are powerful in war as well as in peace. In the end, Darmatus and Rabban prevail, or so it seems.
But that is only the prologue to this grand saga.
This ancient battle was a projection of memory crystals. Nearly 700 years have passed since then. Sarcon, Darmatus, and Rabban are long dead, but their empires founded by their followers continue on, each espousing the brothers’ philosophies.
Sarcon is at the pinnacle of military might, while Rabban’s engineering prowess has kept their empire dogging at Sarcon’s heels. Darmatia holds the balance of power in their mercantile empire and serves as the breadbasket for all three.
But this tenuous balance will not last long; history is about to repeat itself. Sarcon is threatening war yet again, and Darmatia seems to be on the verge of throwing in their military lot with Rabban to keep Sarcon from swallowing them both whole. The action – and there is plenty of it! – follows the adventures of one very mixed group of Darmatian military cadets who may just hold the key to peace in their ill-prepared hands.
The world of Divinity’s Twilight: Rebirth is an epic, complex, and well-crafted story.
Key characters represent each of the empires, enough to give the reader an understanding of the critical differences between the three kingdoms. The story has a vast cast overall, and keeping track of all the individuals can be challenging for some.
This story moves through multiple casts; the opening prologue has one set of characters long gone by the time the story shifts to its current time frame. Yet another set pushes the story forward until we reach that group of cadets who carry the meat of the narrative. Once the tale gets to Matteo, Vallen, and their cohort, readers won’t be able to set the book down.
The scope and setting of this series opener may invoke fond memories of the Star Wars saga for many readers.
Divinity’ Twilight weaves its tale in operatic (space operatic) fashion, where mighty empires and plucky underdogs clash. In a universe of both space ships and high magic, a place where a chosen hero – or heroine – must rise from obscurity to save their world from an evil that reaches beyond death itself.
Any reader of epic fantasy, fantastic tales of politics run amuck, or epic space battles will find a lot to love in Divinity’s Twilight: Rebirth.
As a developmental editor, I help writers in many ways, including layering in sensory data to make their stories more immersive.
I’m always gleaning information and trying to understand how the brain and nervous system work. I’m learning that it’s easy to use the latest neuroscience research and you can too.
The brain works hard to protect humans from risk. Risk assessment happens via thereticular activating system, a gatekeeper between your conscious and unconscious mind. It filters through all the information coming in from your sensory organs including possible dangers, then reacts.
RAS is the GATEKEEPER between our conscious and unconscious.
Our brain is inundated with millions of messages whenever we’re awake. Without the RAS we’d be overloaded with stimulus, our heads noisy and cluttered, always on the alert, never able to focus. When messages slip past the reticular activating system, they become conscious thoughts, emotions, or both. So again, the RAS works to keep us safe and sane in a sometimes dangerous world.
What I love about studying the brain is how possible it is to change our thoughts, the way we see the world, and ultimately our brains.Because we can train and reset our brains. Another reason to learn about the reticular activating system is that it can help us focus when we most need to focus.
The RAS can filter out the white noise of your life while you write away.
Editor’s Note: An example of RAS is how parents can filter out the extremely loud noise of a plane taking off, but can hear if their baby is stirring. Or how a student can study in a loud cafeteria, but is disturbed by pages being rustled or someone tapping their fingers or clicking a pen in the next carrell while in the library.
But the RAS has many tasks. It manages what information {stimulus} you receive, arousal, and motivation. As you can imagine, is a huge job, but the brain has so many responsibilities such as regulating the body and creating memories. The RAS is located in the brain stem, the most primitive part of our brain. It is responsible for fight-or-flight responses, our wakefulness, and our ability to focus. It shapes how we perceive our world, dangers and all.
Learning about the RAS means writers can tap into its powers.
RAS can help us focus, remember, and achieve goals. One simple trick is to focus on what you want to achieve, not what youcannotdo, or what is clouding your attention. Stop worrying about the extra five pounds you’ve gained, or gray hairs and wrinkles, and how your neighbor doesn’t mow his lawn. Stop telling yourself your latest chapter or draft sucks.
The RAS listens to our signals and prioritizes the ones that are most important. If you focus on negative thoughts, the RAS will deliver more reasons to worry and fret. So, feed your RAS signals that are most helpful to your writing goals. Spend time mulling over your stories instead of fretting about them. Imagine that your characters are hanging out with you. Search for the good in your work and life and the RAS will notice. And you’ll be creating new neural pathways.
So, let me repeat this easy hack if you don’t already employ it:
Take mental snapshots throughout your days. But don’t focus on sights only–weave in all your senses. Last night I could hear the wind in the trees and smell wood smoke which has natural cozy associations which further imprinted the moment in my memory.
Let me give you a quick example.
Charles Frazier’sCold Mountain–one of the most immersive novels I’ve ever read–has two main characters separated by war. New to the Cold Mountain region, Ada, a minister’s daughter and genteel lady, is struggling to survive the Civil War after her father dies. Trouble is, she has no practical survival skills and is slowly starving, but too proud to ask for help. This is when another young woman, Ruby, comes into her life and teaches her the exhausting array of skills and tasks needed to keep them fed and warm. After Ruby’s arrival, gone are Ada’s mornings of sleeping in. Here’s a small segment of Ada adjusting to Ruby’s new regime:
So Ada would walk down to the kitchen in her robe and sit in the chair in the warm stove corner and wrap her hands around a cup of coffee. Through the window the day would be starting to take shape, grey and loose in its features. Even on days that would eventually proved to be clear, Ada could seldom make out even the palings of the fence around the kitchen garden through the fog. At some point Ruby would blow out the yellow light of the lamp and the kitchen would go dim and then the light from outside would rise and fill the room. It seemed a thing of such wonder to Ada, who had not witnessed many dawns.Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier
The Swangers notice Ada is struggling to maintain the farm so they send Ruby Thewes to help out. Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
There are only a few simple details here, yet the sense of dawn arriving is powerful, isn’t it? And it’s Frazier demonstrating the beginning of Ada’s character arc.
Think in pictures, vignettes, and scenesso you can re-create them on the page.
Strive to always capture meaningful moments. This is why it helps to stop time whenever possible by focusing your attention and deliberately storing images. Train yourself to become a visual thinker. If you’re ‘not a visual type’, then study how other people do it from advertisers to public speakers.
Pay attention to your dreams and write them down if possible. Take notes on books you read, films you watch and hikes you take.
Here is a scene from my RAS moment last winter:
Foggy, drizzly weather here in the Pacific Northwest. Last night I stepped out onto my porch to see if the moon was visible. The current moon phase is a waxing crescent. Low clouds had moved in obscuring the moon and stars, the air was cold enough to be bracing, and snow was falling in the higher evaluations. Walking into a coldish reality is such an easy jolt to the senses.
I came back indoors and sat for a minute replaying the night scene I’d just witnessed. Deliberately storing it away.
Do you do this too? Small habits and tweaks can be so useful to writers.
If you stop to focus on things that are important to you, it sharpens your perceptions and teaches your brain what you value.
And work at giving your RAS a jolt, like stepping out into a cold night or dancing in warm summer rain showers. Play music to either soothe or energize while you write. Recently I suggested here that like me, you visit a library or bookstore, go to the shelf where your future books will be housed, and imagine your titles there. It’s a simple trick to cue your reticular activating system.
Vivid, clear intentions communicate to your conscious mind which in turn speaks to your RAS and subconscious. In turn, they help you achieve goals because they expect the goals to happen.
Keep writing, keep dreaming, have heart. – Jessica
Jessica Page Morrell
Jessica Morrell is a top-tier developmental editor and a contributor to Chanticleer Reviews Media and to the Writer’s Digest magazine. She teaches Master Writing Craft Classes along with sessions at the Chanticleer Authors Conference that is held annually along with teaching at Chanticleer writing workshops that are held throughout the year.
Be sure to click on her name above to visit her website that has a wealth of writing craft advice.
Hang your disbelief by the door, pull up a chair, and prepare to step back in time to a period of unrest that would forever change the world In Dillion and the Curse of Arminius by John Middleton.
British and European legends set the stage for ancient warriors with a clarion call to re-awaken to battle—and only the innocents can intervene.
In 1936, the children of the privileged le Close family pursue their interests and enjoy their lives at their patriarchal home, gifted to the original Baron le Close by King James centuries ago. Since Oakholm Abbey lay on the border of England and Wales, everyone looked to the Baron to protect the surrounding farmlands from Welsh raiders. They would slip down from the wilds of the Welsh hills and valleys just beyond the old monastic estate and do their damage on the population.
By virtue of their lineage, the youngest generation of the le Close family, Gilbert and Emelia, have certain special abilities. Gilbert is attuned to the animal kingdom—and it to him—and wanders fearlessly into deep forests on the Welsh borderlands where he discovers magical places. These places exude an aura of intense spirituality, bringing Druids and secret ceremonies to mind. On the other hand, Emelia is percipient, although she is only just learning how to understand the meaning of her experiences.
Unbeknownst to Gilbert and Emelia, trouble brews across the channel.
They will soon become integral in saving both the lives of their good friends, Axel and Rebecca, German refugees now living in Amsterdam, and in helping good conquer evil in their part of the world.
Meanwhile, at Schloss Wewelsburg, a centuries old castle in south-western Germany, Heinrich Himmler, the commander of Hitler’s SS, has turned to the occult to realize a dream. He believes in the supernatural and wants to contact and enlist the aid of the fabled Cherusci warriors who conquered the Romans centuries ago to assist in Germany’s attempt to rule Europe.
Himmler connects with a revenant whose ancestor was second in command to Arminius, the chieftain of the fierce Cherusci tribe that freed the Germanic people of Roman rule.
What happens next, when the bucolic world of life at Oakmont Abbey collides with the occult, is the stuff of legends.
Gilbert and Amelia will discover their connections to their ancestral history, and are called upon to fulfill their predestined roles as guardians of a sacred place. They will be sorely tested, and must call upon everything in their beings to survive, to secure the survival of their friends, and to save their way of life.
In Dillion and the Curse of Arminius, author John Middleton has created a work of fantasy fiction with a plot that will appeal to pre and early teen readers. Much of the writing is lyrical with vivid imagery, creating a mystical mood—set up with a complex storyline and sophisticated language.
We are deeply honored and excited to continue to announce the 2021 Winners of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs) with our third and final of three official postings.
CIBA Grand Prize Ribbons!
The winners were recognized at the CIBA ceremonies held on June 25th, 2022 in-person and by ZOOM webinars at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether, Bellingham, Wash.
The CIBA announcements were made LIVE with Chanticleerians participating and interacting from around the globe and North America.
Raising our glasses to cheer the CIBA Winners!
We want to thank all of the CIBA judges who read each and every entry and then comment, rate, and rank within each of the 25 CIBA Divisions. Without your labors of love for books, the Chanticleer International Book Awards would not exist. THANK YOU!
We want to thank all of the authors and publishers who participated in the 2021 Chanticleer International Book Awards (the CIBAs). Each year, we find the quality of the entries and the competitiveness of the division competitions increasing exponentially. We added a new level to the judging rounds in 2019—the premier Level of FINALIST per each CIBA Division. The CIBA judges wanted to add the Finalist Level of Achievement as a way to recognize and validate the entries that had outstanding merit but were not selected for the very few First Place Award positions within each genre division.
This post will recognize the First Place and Grand Prize Winners for the
Seven Non-Fiction Divisions:
Journey, Hearten, Harvey Chute, Mind and Spirit, I & I, Military & Frontline and Nellie Bly
along with the FIRST Winners for the
Short Story, and Book Series Awards,
and concluding with the
OVERALL 2021 GRAND PRIZE WINNER
for the 2021 Chanticleer International Book Awards
J.W. Zarek will also be awarded $1,000 USD in recognition of her 2021 BEST BOOK of the YEAR – Chanticleer International Book Awards – Sponsored by Chanticleer Reviews & Media.
A Chanticleer Review ofThe Devil Pulls the Stringswill be featured in the in the Chanticleer Reviews OnWord Magazine (print and epub) along with other promotional and marketing opportunities along with an interview with the author, J.W. Zarek.
Thank you J.W. Zarek for participating in the 2021 Chanticleer International Book Awards. We look forward to receiving future work in our CIBAs.
CONGRATULATIONS J.W. Zarek!
Six Grand Prize Winners with J.W. Zarek, the 2021 Overall Grand Prize Winner!
From all of us at Chanticleer International Book Awards and Chanticleer Reviews.
Looking for your Division? Check out our previous posts:
Be sure to register early for the 11th Chanticleer Authors Conference that will start on April 23rd, 2023 with the 2022 CIBA banquet and ceremony scheduled to take place on Saturday, April 25th, 2023 at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash.
Be well. Stay Healthy. Take Care!
An email will go out to all 2021 CIBA award winners prior to October 30, 2022, with instructions, links, and more information about the awards packages. We appreciate your patience. As stated many times before “One does not need to be present at the CIBA ceremony and banquet to win. But it sure is a lot more fun!”
As always, please contact us at Chanticleer@ChantiReviews.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!
In Galdo’s Gift: The Boovie, Eleanor Long & Trevor Young create an interactive animated story that helps children learn about their unique gifts through an imaginative tale and diverse vocabulary.
The first page opens with a poem sharing a personalized gift with the reader. Then, we meet the frog King, and his kingdom Galdovia. His land is “where the wild wind whistles while the songbird sings” and he narrates the story, voiced by Brian Murphy.
The townsfolk of Galdovia move on the page in textured illustrations. They need a hero to undertake an important adventure, with the promise of a gift from the King to whoever completes this quest. Enter four great heroes who start their journeys in the hope of earning the King’s reward.
The four fearless heroes of this story are hilarious!
Any child or child at heart will notice the innocent humor in this story. Even their names (Strompoff, Brendara, Mustafo and Doogood) are silly, along with their exaggerated physical appearances.
The four are hysterical to watch as they employ clever alliteration-described skills to obtain the king’s gift. The animations show deliberate attention to a child’s curiosity and imagination. Overall, the story is a very joyful read.
By helping children to see their individual gifts, it empowers them to become better people.
We do not all share the same gifts as the fearless four, but individually we learn our strengths and purpose. Galdo’s Gift teaches us to hone our abilities while growing up.
Often adults convince children they must become something they are not capable of or comfortable with. Long & Young foster a child’s worth and esteem as inner flames which must be stoked. We all admire great heroes, but once we play to our strengths, they show us the heroes inside ourselves. This story teaches us this lesson without sounding overpowering or insensitive to a child’s curiosities and insecurities.
More importantly, by encouraging a child’s strength, we empower and boost their confidence. Galdo’s Gift encourages us to use our strengths and magical gifts, one adventure as a silly great hero at a time.
We are deeply honored and excited to continue to announce the 2021 Winners of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs) with our second of three official postings.
The winners were recognized at the CIBA ceremony held on June 25th, 2022 In-Person and broadcast live via ZOOM at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether, Bellingham, Wash.
The CIBA announcements were made LIVE with Chanticleerians flying in and watching from around the globe and North America.
We cheered on the CIBA winners with our drink of choice, whether in-person or Virtual!
Btw, Kiffer’s favorite Champagne!
We want to thank all of the CIBA judges who read each and every entry and then comment, rate, and rank within each of the 25 CIBA Divisions. Without your labors of love for books, the Chanticleer International Book Awards would not exist. THANK YOU!
We want to thank all of the authors and publishers who participated in the 2021 Chanticleer International Book Awards (the CIBAs). Each year, we find the quality of the entries and the competitiveness of the division competitions increasing exponentially. We added a new level to the judging rounds in 2021—the premier Level of FINALIST per each CIBA Division. The CIBA judges wanted to add the Finalist Level of Achievement as a way to recognize and validate the entries that had outstanding merit but were not selected for the very few First Place Award positions within each genre division.
This post will recognize the First Place and Grand Prize Winners for the Laramie, Chaucer, Goethe, Hemingway, Chatelaine, Mark Twain, and Somerset Awards.
As always, if you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions, please email us at Chanticleer@ChantiReviews.com — We will try our best to respond within 3 business days.
Thank you for joining us in celebrating the 2021 CIBA Winners! – The Chanticleer Team
We are deeply honored and excited to announce the 2021 Winners of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs). The Finalists were recognized at the Virtual Chanticleer Authors Conference and Awards Ceremonies, and the First Place Category and Grand Prize Winners were announced June 25th, 2022 at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether, Bellingham, Wash.
The 2022 Chanticleer Authors Conference and the 2021 Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards Banquet and Ceremony took place over June 23-26, 2022, with the CIBA Banquet happening on June 25th. Each year, Chanticleerians from around the globe come together to celebrate and cheer each other on at the annual CIBA banquet and awards evening at the luxuriousHotel Bellwetherthat is situated on beautiful Bellingham Bay, Washington State.
Meeting in-person for the first time since lockdown began brought such joy into our lives. The ability to celebrate, hug, and learn together with the extra space provided by the Hotel Bellwether made this a truly unforgettable experience. Champagne was poured and shared as the 2021 CIBA Grand Prize Division Award Winners were announced. Thank you to all who joined us in-person and virtually to make the CIBA Ceremonies a success!
The 2021 Grand Prize Winners in attendance!
After two virtual conferences, it was a joy and pleasure to feel the energy of an in-person crowd! It was amazing to have such a marvelous event with presenters like Cathy Ace, Judy Gaman, Betsy Graziani Fasbinder, Jessica Morrell, Nicole Evelina, Jodé Millman, Oriana Leckhert, Diane Garland, and more!
We are already excited and gearing up for our next conference in nine short months! Save the date for CAC23 April 27-30, 2023.
At the June 25th, 2021 Ceremonies, we were overjoyed to recognize the 18 Fiction and 7 Non-Fiction CIBA Divisions for the First Place Category and Grand Prize Winners!
First of all, we want to thank all of the CIBA judges who read each and every entry and then comment, rate, and rank within each of the 25 CIBA Divisions. Without your labors of love for books, the Chanticleer International Book Awards would not exist. THANK YOU!
We want to thank all of the authors and publishers who participated in the 2021 Chanticleer International Book Awards (the CIBAs). Each year, we find the quality of the entries and the competitiveness of the division competitions increases exponentially. We added a new level to the judging rounds in 2019—the premier Level of FINALIST per each CIBA Division.
The CIBA judges wanted to add the Finalist Level of Achievement as a way to recognize and validate the entries that had outstanding merit but were not selected for the very few First Place Award positions within each genre division. Promotional Stickers are available to those who have advanced in the CIBA Tiers of Achievement here.
A Recap of the CIBA Selection Process
The 2021 CIBAs have 18 Fiction Divisions and 7 Non-fiction Divisions.
First Place Category award winners were selected for each one of the 25 divisions from an overall field of titles that progressed to the Premier FINALIST Division Level from the Division Semi-Finalists positions from the Shortlists, the Long List, and the infamous beginning slush pile rounds.
One Grand Prize award winner was selected from the First Place Category Award Winners for the 25 CIBA divisions.
One Overall Grand Prize award winner was selected from the 25 divisions of Grand Prize Award Winners
This post will recognize the First Place and Grand Prize Winners for Cygnus, Ozma, Paranormal, Global Thrillers, M&M, Clue, Little Peeps, Gertrude Warner, and Dante Rossetti Book Awards.
As always, if you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions, please email us at Chanticleer@ChantiReviews.com — We will try to respond within 3 business days.
Thank you for joining us in celebrating the 2021 CIBA Winners! –The Chanticleer Team
Franklin Posner gives readers an adventurous dark urban fantasy filled to the brim with vampires, werewolves, black-eyed kids, and even Sasquatches in his novel Suburban Vampire Ragnarok.
In 
Divinity’s Twilight: Rebirth
Hang your disbelief by the door, pull up a chair, and prepare to step back in time to a period of unrest that would forever change the world In 
