Chanticleer Book Reviews

Author: chanti

Film Techniques for Fiction Writers by Jessica Morrell and Other Advanced Writing Class Sessions at CAC 22
The 2022 Chanticleer Authors Conference is offering Advanced Writing Craft Sessions!

Learn from the Best!

CAC22 is offered In Real Life and Virtually, June 23rd – 26, 2022.

Headlining the sessions is:

Master Writing Class – Film Techniques for Fiction Writers with Jessica Morrell

Fiction and memoir need to be cinematic—there’s no getting around that fact.

Especially in this saturated, reality-dominated, and competitive media landscape. Creating cinematic fiction makes great demands on writers—there’s no gigantic screen, no darkened theater to enchant a reader, no actors prancing around a stage, their body language and costumes signaling meaning and subtext. But many film techniques can be translated onto the page from viewpoint to mastering props and subtext. It begins with making powerful choices and identifying key moments that need emphasis, when to whisper and suggest, and when to stage and let the camera roll.

Topics we’ll cover:
- Using viewpoint to establish camera angles and narrative distance, especially bringing your ‘camera’ in close for potency and impact.
- Borrow method acting techniques to create immersive viewpoints.
- Using wide angle or establishing shots to nail down scenes and place.
- Zooming for impact.
- Factoring in the subliminal with sounds, subtext, color, and texture.
- Lighting to create mood, atmosphere, resonance, and obstacles.
- Using props to ground the story and create subtext.
- Scene cuts and cliffhangers to keep suspense percolating.
This workshop will available LIVE and VIRTUALLY for those who register

The inimitable, always-in-demand, Jessica Morrell

One of the primary contributors to the Chanticleer writing blog, Jessica’s tips and advice are invaluable lessons that benefit all authors. Each year we offer writing craft sessions from the best editors and authors in the publishing industry.

Don’t Miss Out!

Jessica will be teaching two classes over the course of three sessions LIVE at CAC22

Your Brain on Writing: How Neuroscience Research Can Make You a Better Writer (2 Sessions)

Writing is a complex process and these days information gleaned from cognitive neuroscience can make a powerful difference in how much you accomplish and how your words affect readers. While writing, all regions of your brain are engaged and on the job. That’s why the more you write, the more neural connections you’re growing. The latest science-based information gives insights on how to form connections and develop powerful habits as you train and strengthen your brain. Reading is also a complex act so we’ll delve into what goes on in readers’ minds and how to capture their interest and keep them captivated. Or should we say captive?

Topics we’ll cover:

An easy-to-understand overview of brain structures and functions. This includes learning the roles of key neurotransmitters, our billions of neurons, and how to better implement them in writing and life.
- Neuroplasticity and how you can change your brain’s structure and function by rewiring neural pathways.
- Understanding the function of the RAS (reticular activating system) and how it helps us achieve goals and leads our future self forward.
- Put your subconscious and unconscious to work by reprograming generating ideas and breakthroughs.
- The function of the vagas nerve, the longest cranial nerve running from your brain to your stomach, and how it affects major body functions from breathing to blood pressure to heart rate. Then we’ll discuss simple practices to stimulate it to support overall and emotional health.
- Practical habits and exercise to put this knowledge into practice.
AND

Dangerous Women with Jessica Morrell

Vampire Juliette and Vampire Hunter Cal — Two Dangerous Women from Netflix’s First Kill

Dangerous women can occupy so many roles in fiction, film, and television. With their complex moralities and motivations, they defy expectations, and can be strong, fearless, and inspiring. Then there are the ones who scare us. Because one bad woman is worth five bad men, so when women plot and scheme and break bad, the results are often disastrous for whoever she’s got in her crosshairs. Because social norms have taught us that women are the gentler and nurturing sex, when they defy norms, the results are combustible.

With that in mind, we’ll talk about female anti-heroes in all their fierceness and intriguing capabilities and how to make their stakes personal. We’ll cover unlikable protagonists, villains, and rule breakers who sizzle on the page, reflect the realities of their society or culture, or are deliciously out of sync. We’ll also discuss roles in fiction such as femme fatale, divas, mommy dearest, and power behind the throne. Characters we’ll analyze characters from well-known tales such as Annie Wilkes of Misery, Sula, Nurse Ratchet, Mrs. Danvers, Rebecca DeWinters, and Mrs. Bennet of Pride and Prejudice.

The workshop will review contemporary women found in TV series and films because in recent years an explosion of strong and norm-defying females are everywhere—including Claire Underwood from House of Cards, Eve Polastari and Villanette from Killing Eve, Cersei Lannister and Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones, Queen Elizabeth in The Crown—disrupters all.

Other Sessions at In Real Life CAC 22
- Why Acting Classes Make You a Better Writer – Nicole Evelina – USA Bestselling Author
- Seven Advanced Techniques for Deeping Characterization – Diane Garland (Continuity Editor) and Jacquie Rogers – multi-award winning author
- Five Things You Need to Know About POV – Amy Peele, Medical Mystery Author
- Writing Intimacy Scenes – Betsy Fasbinder, Writing Coach & Author
- Story Bibles and Continuity – with Diane Garland (World Builder and Continuity Editor)
- and more!
Plus, sessions on the business and marketing side of being a writer!

Register Today!

In addition to Morrell’s LIVE Master Class, you can sign up for her other sessions and the full Chanticleer Authors Conference here.

Reach out to us at info@ChantiReviews.com with any questions!
June 15, 2022
The BOY WHO WROTE POETRY by Judy Taylor – Poetry, Family Memoirs, Artist Biographies

The Boy Who Wrote Poetry is a heartwarming and inspirational work about Mark Ford, a promising young poet and writer who died a tragic and premature death at the age of eighteen. This collection is the poetry he left behind.

Judy Taylor, Mark’s sister and the author of the book, tells the story of her brother’s short life and their family, the circumstances in which he grew up, and how he began to express his creativity at a very young age. The examples of Mark’s poetry and general writings that the author presents are remarkable and moving. Considering the tender age at which Mark wrote the poetry, the sophistication and insight revealed in the work are astonishing.

Despite the sometimes perplexing narration and lack of photograph captions, leading to confusion about who’s who in the images presented, the pictures of the family growing throughout the years give a touching clue to the close-knit family and the seven children, of whom Mark was the eldest and the author, his sister Judy, was the youngest. The photos, even without clarity on which child is which (the glasses at least make clear which is Mark Ford), make for warm reminiscences and give a clue to how the young poet lived and grew.

What is of particular note is the degree to which the self-awareness is evident in Mark’s work. “Please excuse the misspelled words,” he requests in the introduction to a collection of his poetry. “It was meaning, not grammar I strove (and am still striving) for.”

There are glimpses of what kind of storyteller that Mark would have developed into with offerings like “What do you use/To keep out the night? Try to conceal/Your delicate fright. Don’t call for help/For nothing is worse/Than wounded dignity/Innerness unhorsed.” A little trepidation, a little humor.

Mark, according to the author, went through phases including fantasy (in particular The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien) and Bob Dylan’s work, and produced imagery that reflects the prose of the time:

What changes in a day?
What makes the sky so grey?
What takes the wind and makes it so alone?
What breaks the earth and scatters senseless stone?
On the horizon, the bare brown
Horizon, glowing with the last of life,
Glowing with the last of life.
What changes in a week?
What makes it easier to speak
The words I should have said but could not say
And now that day has joined the past days
Littered in a pile.
A useless pile of days.
A useless pile of days.
A lightning tears the sky in two.
Another moment it is through
And sky is whole.
Beating down your wincing brow
The rains betray your wisdom now.
Alone the storm.
You, your trials, disappear
For who will equal or compare
Its tear-born ire?
The weeping storm screams out aloud.
Its tears are naked, bare and proud,
Anew for each departed leaf.
The sky lays down and cries its grief.

Not only that, more than a bit of insight amid the darkness, in his final poem before his death:

Guilt drops hawklike on suspecting man
And plummets toward his silent, secret sin.
The soul is pierced in vain; no talon can
Remove the stain when it is held within.
The grace of God, when sought, can dull
The beak and claws of guilt. A man can pray
And ease the burden in a heart too full
To bear, although the pangs of failure stay;
For God is God above us all and draws
Us up to Him, but man is man and shall
Persist in needing comrades in the pause
Between the ultimate rise and the ultimate fall.
God’s gifts uplift, but cannot be compared
In saving strength to sadness equally shared.

Mark Ford’s poetry and creative writing, the focus of the piece, were truly outstanding, and his early demise heartbreaking.

June 13, 2022
SCROOGE and CRATCHIT DETECTIVES: The Dark Malevolence by Curt Locklear – Victorian Mystery, Victorian Cozy, Holiday Fiction
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.

He does not shy away from the economic classes fraught with double standards, scandals, and social injustice. The story unfolds in upholding the Victorian penchant for complicated plots and stories and along with timeless investigative techniques as used by Sherlock Holmes. A compelling combination for lovers of classic mysteries.

The historical period comes to life under the author’s deft crafting, and his characters fill the pages with high-stakes chases, shootouts, brawls, and mad dashes to safety.

Lockie uses skills from his former life along with his knowledge of the criminal mind to help uncover leads his upstanding colleagues wouldn’t even recognize. Scrooge, a man trying to mend his uncharitable ways, uses his quick wit and abilities to judge character as they pursue one lead after another, and Cratchit uses his benevolent nature to bring all the talents together to help solve the crimes.

Locklear introduces complication after complication and with it come characters from Grimm’s fairytales, namely Snow, alluding to Snow White, and her seduction and disappearance from her home with a family of little people who will do everything in their power to save her.

Buckle up – there’s more!

Add in a crime ring and new medical technology for Victorian times, and you have the elements for the darkly compelling work. Locklear creates a sinister world where evil reigns in the back streets and alleys, and the success of our heroes is uncertain.

Locklear has done his research and the glossary of terms at the end of the book comes in handy for the language and terms used by the characters. The mystery builds and builds even as one murder is solved, and another begins.

Shining a light on issues of the time, such as human trafficking, illegal human experimentation, and hypnotism – a very popular medium for the Victorian era – Locklear kept this reader immersed and turning the pages of this well-crafted murder novel.

The characters become embroiled in and expose these issues. At times we cringe, but Locklear always holds out hope and optimism, even when Cratchit is afraid to sleep, and Scrooge dreads the wee hours of the night when Marley pays his visits.

The complex subplots create tension and intrigue as we follow our heroes through the dark seamy alleys and warehouses of London to solve murder and mystery.

The historical aspects lend a wonderful period flare, and the suspense and plot twists keep the tension high from beginning to end. Locklear’s Victorian mystery, a four caper in one book, has Lockie, Scrooge, and Cratchit rushing to solve each murder and put bad guys behind bars, but can they catch them all? The Dark Malevolence is a page-turner extraordinaire, a captivating read from beginning to end, and one we highly recommend.
June 10, 2022
Rebecca Dwight Bruff – Chanticleerians in the News! Award Winning Trouble the Water to be preformed July 9-Oct 2

We expect great things from our authors, and they always deliver!

Trouble the Water by Rebecca Dwight Bruff with the Overall Best Books of 2020 Grand Prize Ribbon

Overall Grand Prize Winner for her wonderful book Trouble the Water, Rebecca Dwight Bruff’s work now comes to life on stage!

Trouble the Water follows the incredible Robert Smalls who was born enslaved. He liberated himself and others, served five terms in the US Congress, and introduced compulsory public education. He changed countless lives.

Want to compete for the prestigious CIBA grand prize? Enter today!

His story – his life and legacy – is inspirational and aspirational. And mostly unknown.

Bruff reveals the true story of the life of Robert Smalls. Set in the Civil War era, we follow Smalls as he navigates through a life of enslavement, the dangers of war, and a desperate attempt at escape. Trouble the Water is a moving tale of slavery, perseverance, war, freedom, and love.

Rebecca Bruff earned her Bachelor’s degree in education (Texas A&M) and Master and Doctorate degrees in theology (Southern Methodist University). In 2017, she was a scholarship recipient for the prestigious Key West Literary Seminar. She volunteers at the Pat Conroy Literary Center in Beaufort, South Carolina. She’s published non-fiction, plays a little tennis, travels when she can, and loves life in the lowcountry with her husband and an exuberant golden retriever.

Her play opens at Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum where it will run from July 9th – October 2nd. Freely Adapted by Ellen Geer and Directed by Gerald Rivers. If you’re in the area of Topanga, California during its run, we recommend checking it out!

If you can’t make it to the play, the book and audiobook is now available wherever books are sold! The audiobook, narrated by Director Gerald Rivers, is worth giving a listen!

We hope that, like us at Chanticleer, you will be moved by Robert Smalls’s courageous life of thoughtful, compassionate leadership

Why did Bruff write this story?

I’m a writer. I believe that the stories we read and write and tell have the power to shape and change our lives. I believe that – because a story changed my life.

Nine years ago, when I lived in Texas, I visited the lowcountry. It was my first experience here, and it was brief, but we made time for a carriage tour through the historic district of Beaufort. And that’s when I heard a little bit of the story of a man named Robert Smalls. I’d never heard his name, and I’d never heard the story. But he intrigued me. His courage, and his heroism, and his contributions, and legacy intrigued me.

His story ignited my curiosity. Curiosity led to exploration, and exploration led to discovery, and I discovered how little I knew about our history. I discovered how little I understood about the experiences of enslaved people in our country. I discovered that some stories get amplified, while other stories get silenced.

Click here to read the rest on her website

Congratulations once more to Rebecca Dwight Bruff on her Overall Grand Prize Win, and we’re delighted to crow with you about this most recent accomplishment! We look forward to what’s next!

***

“The must-read story of Robert Smalls. An Inspiring story of courage that we need today. It rings with heroic action along with thoughtfulness and sincerity that will keep you going until the end. A must read! Five Stars!”
– Chanticleer Book Reviews

June 9, 2022
HEALING OUT LOUD: How to Embrace God’s Love When You Don’t Like Yourself by Sandi Brown & Michelle Caulk, PhD, LPC – Christian Counseling, Memoirs, Friendship

Two writers – friends, and former counselor and client – combine forces to create Healing Out Loud, a dynamic book aimed at understanding and overcoming the deficits that life hands us.

Sandi Brown, a radio personality with more grit than she realizes, seeks professional help. Michelle Caulk’s therapeutic methodology perfectly suits this case. The two offer examples of wishing for and finding true mental health through the development of a remarkable communicative relationship.

Each chapter of the pair’s psychological explorations begins with a memory from Sandi, accompanied by her expanded view of incidents from childhood and beyond. These ruminations are then matched by counselor Michelle’s personal grasp of Sandi’s specific dilemmas, and well-constructed guidelines for a healing process that readers can incorporate into their own lives. Sandi, grappling with low self-esteem, was traumatized as a child when her father left her mother and brother, loudly and finally, with no explanation.

This was followed by her mother’s marriage to a gruff and unloving stepfather who abused the little girl starting when she was six.

As Sandi opens up to Michelle about this period of her life, she remembers once refusing to properly excuse herself from the supper table, simply sitting there for a protracted period in silent defiance. To this, Michelle declares that Sandi was “a fighter,” and this becomes a working theme in their therapy sessions as Sandi’s emotional grasp expands.

She begins to realize she can confront and overcome her long held shame; she has a voice and she is loved, not only by those in her current life, but by God, who has a plan for her success. At each stage of her self-discovery, Sandi is offered another step in “The Unpacking Process with Dr. Michelle.” The day Sandi buys make-up is a notable turning point, since previously she considered herself too unattractive to draw undue attention to her features.

Sandi and Michelle, whose relationship gradually enters the realm of friendship as both reveal their deepest aspirations, have constructed this vibrant manual to help others take on the task of self-healing.

Part of the process, as is made clear in a variety of ways, is to speak out and invite others to share their own inner doubts and fears. The writing is both educated and plain, emphasizing their shared drive for outreach and their common Christian outlook. Useful metaphors include taking the plunge off a high diving board, throwing unwanted feelings off a bridge, and Sandi’s youthful memory – expanded now to include her greater understanding – of being a kite, learning to fly past her problems, accept life’s inevitable scars, and share her experiences with other battered flyers.

Healing Out Loud is a most unusual literary experiment that combines a woman’s need to find a better path and greater fortitude, and another woman’s wish to help her see that the positive qualities she seeks already dwell within her. The resulting work has the power to evoke threads of memory and longing for improvement among its readers and can doubtless serve in both individual and group contexts.

June 8, 2022
Celebrating Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards Program Levels of Achievement

The 2024 CIBAs Ceremony is April 5, 2025 at CAC25!
Don’t miss out!

Congratulations to each and every one of the Authors

whose works advanced to the

FINALIST Level of Achievement

in the 2024 Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards program!

Now let’s look at where we came from to make this happen.

Everyone who made it to the Long List had something that our readers saw as worthwhile, a reason to lift them out of the slush pile and post them to our site. The competition becomes steeper every year and any bit of the way up this pyramid is something to celebrate!

Making it to the FINALIST Level is indeed something to crow about!

Be sure to share your advancement on social media, as well as tagging us (@ChantiReviews) to help increase your digital footprint. This is our Twitter and this is our Facebook.

We have notified each FINALIST by email, by posts on the Chanticleer website, and on social media. Digital badges are available starting with the Short List. If you need a digital badge reflecting your tier level, please email info@ChantiReviews.com with your division and rank, and we will send you one as soon as possible.

Congratulations to the FINALISTS!

Advancing to the prestigious FINALIST stage is a huge accomplishment!

Being a Finalist means that your book truly stands out. The decisions of who moves on here are always difficult as the quality is so readily apparent. Thank you to everyone who is a Finalist for making the CIBAs a joy and a delight with your incredible words!

Now that is something to CROW ABOUT!

Make sure your Awards gets the attention it deserves on Goodreads.com

In the Librarian Manual on Goodreads, you can go to your Book Edit Page — Literary Awards.

You want to list the Award for Chanticleer International Book Awards (CIBA) Winners, and be sure to include the year and what place you received. For example:

The year Long List, Short List, Semi-Finalist, or Finalist.

Note from Goodreads: “To add a new award or edit an existing award, you’ll need

help from one of our volunteer librarians or a staff member.” For assistance, post in the Goodreads Librarians Group.

Always double check that you’ve written everything correctly before posting it. The search function for Awards on Goodreads is both case and punctuation sensitive.

Remember, you don’t have to be present to win, but it sure is a lot more fun!

Join us! Register Today! Seating is Limited!

The official lists for First Place and Grand Prize Winners will begin posting on April 29th, 2025 after one more sweep.

Why wait? Register today!

June 7, 2022
BLOOD In The LOW COUNTRY by Paul Attaway – Religious Mysteries, Action & Adventure Literary Fiction, Southern Literary Sagas

Are the sins of the father destined to burden the children? Or is it the sins of the mother that create a child’s worst nightmare? Find out in Paul Attaway’s riveting Southern mystery, Blood in the Low Country (The Atkins Family Saga).

Rose Atkins is weighed down by a lifetime of desperate secrets. The mother of two teenage sons and wife to a lawyer, Monty, Rose goes to great lengths to keep her past hidden. Her attempts to conceal all details about this sordid history may bury both of her sons. With the passage of time, secrets become harder and harder to keep. The pressure builds and leads to cracks in the foundation that Rose carefully manufactured for her life. If she falls through, it may be her family that will pay the heaviest price.

Rose’s brutal efforts to maintain a blissful family illusion is designed so she will be admired by all in the community.

Behind closed doors their dysfunctional home life erupts. Rose idolizes her younger son, Walker and loathes her older son, Eli. Both extremes are destructive. Her misguided actions reflect her feelings about their different fathers.

Despite their mother’s constant interference, sons Eli and Walker develop a close bond. They work to brighten their futures, creating their own secrets as they try to live undetected by their mother’s intrusive radar. At the same time, they can’t help but engage in a never-ending series of individual attempts to earn love from Rose and Monty. All their efforts end in disappointment. Rose and Monty always want more.

The boys become discouraged and distraught by the pressure of their parents’ requirements of acceptance – of earning their love. Why does love have strings attached? Eli and Walker are caught in a sad cycle. If only Monty could find a way to unite the family, but he is mystified by his wife’s actions and unsure what he can do.

Catastrophe strikes when Eli’s girlfriend, Kimberly is found murdered.

Last seen in an argument with Eli, the boy becomes the prime suspect in her murder. Eli declares his innocence and naturally seeks support from his mother. She coldly turns her back on him. Abandoned, can her desperate son find justice on his own?

The shock of this tragedy has forever altered the lives of Eli, Walker, his parents, and all those in Kimberly’s family. In the meantime, there is a killer on the loose who is emboldened knowing that all accusing eyes are distracted by Eli.

Author Paul Attaway creates intriguing characters with complex interrelationships, presented in such a realistic way readers will find it difficult to put the book down.

The characters’ reactions to their situations as the plot moves forward is compelling and heartbreaking. In short, those who enjoy their Southern Mysteries with an intricate plot and highly relatable characters will line up for more. Blood in the Low Country is one mystery we highly recommend.

Author Paul Attaway is a master at showing a series of events from such varying characters’ perspectives. It’s so intriguing to discover the motives and actions of the different personalities when confronted by the same events. The writing is artfully paced, stimulating the reader with a constant curiosity of what can happen next.

These characters, often at cross purposes, drive circumstances forward to an inevitable, explosive conclusion. The author ignites this climax by skillfully revealing surprise twists. While presenting this enticing drama, the story also contains a thrilling mystery and hunt for a killer. Readers follow the clues as they are uncovered, finding themselves caught up in the case and cheering for the families, and for justice. But, once Blood in the Low Country is spilled, can secrets be forgiven, love triumph, and trust be restored?

June 6, 2022
Join Us for the 2022 Chanticleer Authors Conference and the 2021 CIBA Banquet and Ceremony – Kiffer Brown
Have you registered yet for the 2022 Chanticleer Authors Conference?

Don’t miss out on Learning From the Best!

June 23 – 26, 2022

Learn from the BEST at CAC 22!
- International Bestselling Crime Author Cathy Ace with 2 TV shows in production
- KickStarter Fundraising Sessions by Oriana Leckert, Director of KickStarter Publishing
- Protecting Your Artistic Rights by Jode Milman, Atty. and Founder of Writer’s Law School
- How to Grow Your Audience
- Multi-channel Marketing
- Podcasting As a Platform
- Creating Award-Winning Audio-Books on a Budget
- TikTok and BookTok – Primer Sessions
- Advanced Writing Craft Sessions to Take Your Works to the Next Level
- Alphabet Soup for Authors – SEO, AISEO, Meta Data, Keywords, BISAC Codes, and more
- And MUCH, MUCH MORE on the Business and Marketing Side of Being an Author!
CAC 22 will be held at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether at Squalicum Harbor, Bellingham, Wash. June 23 – 26, 2022!

CAC22 has THREE In-Real Life Registration Options Available!
- Inclusive 3-Day Registration with 2 Luncheons with Keynote Speakers, 2 Cocktail Parties, 2 Seated Dinners (including Saturday Evening’s CIBA Banquet and Ceremony, and Two After-Parties in the Ballroom along with Books By the Bay Book Fair. The 3-Day Registration Package comes with a Companion Option and Guest of Attendee CIBA Banquet Ticket Option.
- 2- Day Saturday and Sunday Weekend Inclusive Registration includes all sessions and kaffeeklatsches on Saturday and Sunday along with 1 Luncheon, 1 Cocktail Party, the CIBA Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday Evening, the After Party on Saturday Evening, and participation in the Books By the Bay Book Fair. The Weekend Pass comes with a Guest of Attendee CIBA Banquet Ticket Option.
- 1-Day Saturday Only Registration – Saturday Sessions & Kaffeeklatsches along with Saturday Luncheon with Keynote Speaker , Cocktail Party, CIBA Banquet and Ceremony, and the After Party in the Ballroom. The Saturday Only Registration has a Guest of Attendee Banquet Ticket option for the CIBA Banquet and Ceremony.
- Upgrade VIRTUAL ONLY to In REAL LIFE – 3 Day Registration with 2 Luncheons with Keynote Speakers, 2 Cocktail Parties, 2 Seated Dinners (including Saturday Evening’s CIBA Banquet and Ceremony, and Two After-Parties in the Ballroom along with Books By the Bay Book Fair. The 3-Day Registration Package comes with a Companion Option and Guest of Attendee CIBA Banquet Ticket Option.
VIRTUAL OPTION VIA ZOOM is also available

CLICK HERE to REGISTER for VIRTUAL REGISTRATION
- VCAC 22 will include
  - Virtual Sessions will include Key Note Presentations
  - Virtual Presentations by Remote Presenters
  - IRL Presentations by CAC Faculty
  - The 2021 CIBA Awards Presentation & Ceremony on Saturday Evening (PST) as it happens LIVE and Zoomed from the Hotel Bellwether Ballroom on Saturday, June 25, 2022.
THE EXCITEMENT BUILDS

for the

2021 Chanticleer International Book Awards

Announcements!

Who will take home the coveted Chanticleer Blue Ribbons for First Place Category Division Winners?

Who will take home the DIVISION GRAND PRIZE CIBA Blue Ribbons?

Who will take home the OVERALL BEST BOOK Blue Ribbon?

Join in on the fun! On the Excitement! And On Learning From the Best!

Discover why the annual Chanticleer Authors Conference is considered to be one of the best conferences to attend by the esteemed and venerable The Writer Magazine (founded in 1887).

Don’t Delay! Register Today!
June 3, 2022
The BIBLE for ME: Bible Stories and Prayers by Mike Nawrocki and Amy Parker – Christian Children’s Books, Christian Children’s Early Readers Books, Children’s Devotional Christianity Books

The Bible for Me: Bible Stories and Prayers by authors Mike Nawrocki and Amy Parker is a brightly illustrated, highly readable and listenable collection of fifty stories drawn from the Holy Bible and specifically geared for children of all ages.

The collection moves through the Bible from Old to New Testaments, with twenty-five stories from each. In the first half readers will see, through simple words and vivid pictures styled to the text by artist Taylor Thompson, how the universe was created, and the Jewish people were chosen to carry God’s word throughout the known world in their time. The language is frank and will appeal to young readers, as we learn for example, how in the Garden of Eden “Adam and Eve Mess Up.”

In “Three Friends in the Hot Seat” we see how three spiritual heroes – Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego – are punished by King Nebuchadnezzar for refusing to worship idols; they are thrown into a fire but are saved by an angel of the Lord.

The special place of girls and woman is extolled, with the account of Esther, “The Girl Who Saved Her People,” and later through the story of young Mary, and her role in God’s plan as the mother of Jesus. Thorny issues such as Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his own son for God are treated with wisdom and appropriate tact, as the authors follow the story with an ameliorating prayer in which the child reader may ask God “to put You first and to be willing to give up even our favorite things to follow you.”

With the advent of Jesus in the book’s second segment, the traditional biblical stories are again accompanied by these prayers that help to make the meanings clearer. When Jesus is tempted by Satan, the prayer forthrightly thanks God “for showing us how to deal with the devil.”

Both composers of these short, educational offerings have a background in writing and producing: Parker has authored more than sixty Christian-themed children’s books, and writer Nawrocki works in film and other media to provide Bible-based allegorical texts for youthful readers, watchers, and listeners, and of course was one half of the well-loved Veggie Tales creative team. Together with Thompson, whose pictorial interpretations range from puckish to powerful to awe-inspiring, a wide-ranging panorama of Christian history springs to life to help youngsters develop a grasp of higher truths.

The authors begin by informing readers (and those who may read to them) that the stories they have chosen are aimed at speaking directly to their audience. They conclude with a closing prayer and brief “sermon” to encourage young people to accept Jesus and his saving grace.

The Bible for Me by Nawrocki and Parker could be used in a Sunday school or other group context, as well as within a family, and may serve to inspire teachers, parents, and grandparents as well as their young listeners.

June 3, 2022
Spotlight on Seán Dwyer, Award Winning Author of Quest for Tears, Professor, and Community Leader

Award-winning Author, Professor, and President of Whatcom Writers and Publishers

Seán has been a writer since he discovered that people strung words together to tell stories. He is also a polyglot and has written creatively in Spanish, German, French, Portuguese, Latin, and Irish. Sean has finished three novel projects and published stories in several journals, anthologies, and Chanticleer Magazine. A native of Gary, Indiana, and Dwyer teaches Spanish, German, and Portuguese at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA. The author of over 100 songs, Dwyer is also an active member of Red Wheelbarrow Writers, Whatcom Writers and Publishers, and Upstart Crows.

Seán Dwyer’s collection Voices I Hear was a Finalist for the innaguaral Shorts Awards, and his book A Quest for Tears won First Place in the Journey Awards. Read the 5 Star Book Review of A Quest for Tears here.

Still thinking about registering for the 10th Anniversary Chanticleer Authors Conference?

Now’s the time!

We have a stellar line up of speakers for CAC22, with options to attend in person and virtually. Find out why The 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. Join us June 23-26, 2022 at the beautiful Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, WA.

June 2, 2022