Chanticleer Book Reviews

Author: chanti

The 2020 CYGNUS Book Awards for Science Fiction – The Semi-Finalists for the CYGNUS Division of the 2020 CIBAs
The Cygnus Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Science Fiction, Steampunk, Alternative History, and Speculative Fiction. The Cygnus Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (The CIBAs).

Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring space, time travel, life on other planets, parallel universes, alternate reality, and all the science, technology, major social or environmental changes of the future that author imaginations can dream up for the CYGNUS Book Awards division. Hard Science Fiction, Soft Science Fiction, Apocalyptic Fiction, Cyberpunk, Time Travel, Genetic Modification, Aliens, Super Humans, Interplanetary Travel, and Settlers on the Galactic Frontier, Dystopian, our judges from across North America and the U.K. will put them to the test and choose the best among them.

The Semi-Finalists’ works will compete for the Finalists positions. Finalists will be announced and recognized at the CAC21 banquet and ceremony. The Finalists will be selected from the Semi-Finalists.

Register today!

The 22 divisions of the 2020 CIBAs’ Grand Prize Winners and the Five First Place Category Position award winners will be announced at the April 25th, 2021 Chanticleer International Book Awards Annual Awards Gala, which takes place at the Chanticleer Authors Conference that will be held in virtually Bellingham, Wash.

Congratulations to the 2020 Cygnus Book Awards SEMI-FINALISTS!
- Brent Golembiewski –Flat Earth
- Jonas Saul –The Immortal Gene
- Mark T. Sneed – Bully Nation
- Brooke Skipstone – Some Laneys Died
- B.T. Keaton – Transference
- Mark D. Owen – Impact
- JL Morin – Loveoid
- Charis Himeda – CRISPR Evolution
- Bryan K. Prosek – Paradoxal
- R.S. Harmon – Captain’s Covenant
- Jim and Stephanie Kroepfl – Merged
- Timothy S. Johnston – The Savage Deeps
- Alex McIntosh – Upstream Revolt
- Mike Meier – JoinWith.Me
- Palmer Pickering – Moon Deeds
- Ted Neill – Reaper Moon: Race War in the Post Apocalypse
- Dr. Anay Ayarovu – STAZR the World Of Z: The Dawn of Athir
- PA Vasey – Trinity’s Fall
- Rhett C. Bruno & Jaime Castle – The Luna Missile Crisis
- Denis Olasehinde Akinmolasire – The Mission to End Slavery
- J.T. Blossom – Lenore and the Problem With Love – When You Go to College Save the Planet
- Russ Colson – The Arasmith Certainty Principle
- Zach Fortier – Volk: Book one of The Overseer series
- Cary Allen Stone – SEEDS: The Journey Begins
- Susan Wingate – The Lesser Witness
- Dennis M. Clausen – The Accountant’s Apprentice
- Courtney Leigh Pahlke – Life Force Preserve
- Marc Corwin – The Optical Lasso
- Alan J. Steinberg – To be Enlightened
Good luck to all as your works compete on the next rounds of judging.

The next round of judging will decide which books move on to the Finalist positions for the 2020 CYGNUS Book Awards for Science Fiction novels.

The Semi-Finalists’ works will compete for the First Place Winner positions, and then all will be recognized in the evenings at VCAC21 April 22-24th from 6-8 p.m. PST.

The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 23 CIBA divisions Finalists. We will announce the 1st Place Category Winners and Grand Prize Division Winners the CIBAs Ceremonies June 5th, 2021 virtually (Free) and LIVE at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash.

Register Today!

We are now accepting submissions into the 2021 CYGNUS Awards writing competition. The deadline for submissions is April 30th, 2021. The winners will be announced in April 2022.

Don’t wait! Click here to enter today!
April 2, 2021
The 2020 SOMERSET Book Awards for Literary and Contemporary Fiction – the Short List
The SOMERSET Book Awards recognize emerging talent and outstanding works in the genre of Literary and Contemporary Fiction. The Somerset Book Awards is a genre division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).

Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring contemporary stories, literary themes, adventure, magical realism, or women and family themes. These books have advanced to the next judging rounds. The best will advance. Which titles will be declared as winners of the prestigious Somerset Book Awards?

These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from SLUSH pile to the 2020 Somerset Book Awards LONG LIST and now have progressed to the 2020 SHORTLIST.

Congratulations to the following titles who have advanced to the 2020 SOMERSET Book Awards SHORTLIST!
- Susan Dobson – Boomerang
- Sara Stamey – Pause
- R Barber Anderson – Jumeau
- Gregory Erich Phillips – A Season in Lights
- Candi Sary – Magdalena
- Kathleen Reid – Sunrise in Florence
- Ivy Cayden – Everything All At Once (Book 1, Chorduroys and Too Many Boys™)
- Lauren J. Sharkey – Inconvenient Daughter
- Amy L Cleven – Look Up
- Kasie Whitener – After December
- T P Graf – As the Daisies Bloom
- Patrick M. Garry – The Donor
- Katherine Johnson – Grit & Granite
- Jennifer Gold – Keep Me Afloat
- Catherine Hamilton – Victoria’s War
- Jessica O’Dwyer – Mother Mother
- Lauren J. Sharkey – Inconvenient Daughter
- Pierce Koslosky Jr. – A Week at Surfside Beach
- John Danenbarger – Entanglement: Quantum and Otherwise
- Julie Weary – Knowing Marjorie Thane
- B. K. Stubblefield – Scars of the Past
- Dan V. Jackson – Rainbow Bridge
- Kathleen M. Rodgers – The Flying Cutterbucks
- Abbe Rolnick – Founding Stones
- Liana Gardner – Speak No Evil
- Susan Wingate – How the Deer Moon Hungers
- Lainey Cameron – The Exit Strategy
- Barbara Linn Probst – Queen of the Owls
- Alice Early – The Moon Always Rising
- Judy Keeslar Santamaria – Jetty Cat Palace Cafe
- Joanne Kukanza Easley –Sweet Jane
NOTE: Some titles have been transferred to the Mark Twain Book Awards for Satire, Allegory, Humor, and Alternative Histories (non-SciFi).

These titles are in the running for the Semi-Finalists of the 2020 Somerset Book Awards for Contemporary and Literary Fiction.

Which of these works will move forward in the judging rounds for the 2020 Somerset Book Awards for Contemporary and Literary Fiction?

Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.

The ShortListers’ works will compete for the Semi-Finalists positions. Finalists will be selected from the Semi-Finalists, and then all Finalists will be recognized at the VCAC21 ceremonies. The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 22 CIBA divisions Finalists. We will announce the 1st Place Category Winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Ceremonies April 21-25th, 2021 live at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash.

We are now accepting submissions into the 2021 Somerset Awards Book Awards. The deadline for submissions is November 30th, 2021. The winners will be announced in April 2022.

Please click here for more information.

Don’t Delay! Enter Today!

As always, please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions, concerns, or suggestions at Info@ChantiReviews.com.
March 31, 2021
The 2020 GOETHE Book Awards for post 1750s Historical Fiction – the Short List – 2020 CIBAs
The Goethe Book Awards recognize emerging new talent 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, history of non-western cultures, set after the 1750s, we will put them to the test and choose the best among them. The Short Listers’ works will compete for the Semi-Finalists positions. Semi-Finalists will be announced and recognized at the CAC21 banquet and ceremony. We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremonies April 21-25th, 2021 at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash. at the 2021 Chanticleer Authors Conference–whether virtual, hybrid, or in-person.

These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from SLUSH pile to the 2020 Goethe Book Awards LONG LIST and have now progressed to the 2020 SHORTLIST.

The 2020 Shortlist for the Goethe Book Awards
- James Hockenberry – Send The Word
- Helena P. Schrader – Where Eagles Never Flew: A Battle of Britain Novel
- Conor Bender – Jubilee
- Linda Ulleseit – The Aloha Spirit
- Eileen O’Finlan – Erin’s Children
- Jon Duncan – Heart of the Few
- Grahame Shannon – Bay of Devils
- Leslie K. Barry – Newark Minutemen
- T. Matt Ryan – One Hell of a Shipmate
- Richard Alan Schwartz – Wind Chimes, War and Consequence A Novel of the Vietnam War Era
- Kari Bovee – Folly at the Fair
- James Padian – A Patriot’s Challenges
- Betty Bolte – Becoming Lady Washington
- Kit Sergeant – The Spark of Resistance: Women Spies in WWII
- J.P. Kenna – The Anarchist Girl’s Confession
- Jomo Merritt – Sons of a Mauffen King
- J.L.Oakley – The Quisling Factor
- Brigitte Goldstein – Babylon Laid Waste-A Journey in the Twilight of the Idols
- D.V Chernov – Commissar
- Gail Noble-Sanderson – The Lavender Bees of Meuse
- Michelle Cameron – Beyond the Ghetto Gates
- Kathryn Gauci – The Poseidon Network
- Dorothea Hubble Bonneau – Once in a Blood Moon
- Nancy H. Wynen – We Did What We Could
- Pamela Jonas – Beneath a Radiant Moon
- John Hansen – Secrets of the Gros Ventre
- Eileen Harrison Sanchez – Freedom Lessons – A Novel
- Elizabeth St. Michel – Lord of the Wilderness
- Donna Scott – The London Monster
- Jerena Tobiasen – The Crest, Book I of The Prophecy
- James Ross – Hunting Teddy Roosevelt
- Jule Selbo – Breaking Barriers: A Novel Based on the Life of Laura Bassi
- Linda Stewart Henley – Estelle: A Novel
- Gregory Erich Phillips – Guilty as Angels
- Vicky Oliver – Love and Suffrage in Manhattan
- Roger Newman – Will O’ the Wisp: Madness, War and Recompense
- Theo Czuk – Hastings Street: Boulevard Of Blues
- Sandra Perez Gluschankoff – Thorns for Raisel
- Ben Wyckoff Shore – Terribilita
- Carmela Cattuti – Between the Cracks: one woman’s journey from Sicily to America
- Wendy Long Stanley – The Power to Deny
- David Selcer – The Old Stories, a.k.a Da Alt Geshikhtem
- Pyram King – Destiny’s War – Part 1: Saladin’s Secret
- Lucinda Brant – Deadly Kin: A Georgian Historical Mystery
- Cris Harding – Red Wing
These titles are in the running for the Semi-Finalists of the 2020 Goethe Book Awards for post-1750s Historical Fiction.

The 22 divisions of the 2020 CIBAs’ Grand Prize Winners and the Five First Place Category Position award winners will be announced at the April 25th, 2021 Chanticleer International Book Awards Annual Awards Gala, which takes place at the Chanticleer Authors Conference that will be held in virtually Bellingham, Wash.
Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.

The ShortListers’ works will compete for the Semi-Finalists positions. Finalists will be selected from the Semi-Finalists, and then all Finalists will be recognized at the VCAC21 ceremonies. The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 22 CIBA divisions Finalists. We will announce the 1st Place Category Winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Ceremonies April 21-25th, 2021 live at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash.

We are now accepting submissions into the 2021 Goethe Book Awards for post-1750s Historical Fiction. The deadline for submissions is July 30, 2020. The 2021 winners will be announced in April 2022.
March 30, 2021
Cathy Ace | VCAC21 Headliner Crime and Mystery

Cathy Ace | VCAC21 HEADLINERS

Crime and Mystery Writer

Cathy Ace is an entertaining speaker; over the years she’s chatted engagingly, made complex Powerpoint presentations, and read her work or hosted and been Master of Ceremony for various events and conferences. She’s done this at venues as diverse as a plant nursery in Canada, a dazzling Livery Hall in the City of London, and a grade 12 schoolroom.

Having run her own post-graduate marketing communications training company in the UK for a decade, and having traveled the world as a management trainer, she’s now able to take all that experience and be an “edu-taining” speaker who is funny, insightful, knows her stuff and can speak about topics ranging from the broad base of The History of Mystery, to more intimate and personal topics such as how she plans, plots and writes her bestselling mysteries.

BIG NEWS FOR CATHY…Her Cait Morgan Mysteries have been optioned for TV by the UK production company Free@Last TV, which is responsible for the hit TV series based on MC Beaton’s Agatha Raisin books (Hamish MacBeth series). The same company has optioned The Wrong Boy, with plans for it to be broadcast as a three-part miniseries, in Welsh and English.

Below are the titles for the Cait Morgan Mysteries in all their glory! A fraction of the books Cathy Ace has written!

And forthcoming from Cathy Ace: Book 10 of the Cait Morgan Mysteries, The Corpse with the Iron Will

From the website of Cathy Ace:

Welsh criminal psychologist and globetrotting sleuth, Cait Morgan, and her retired-cop husband Bud Anderson, are enjoying some well-deserved peace and quiet at home, in moody, mountainous British Columbia. The sudden death of a neighbor is a significant loss for them both, so Cait’s honored when Gordy Krantz’s “unusual” will requests that she eulogize him at his memorial.

However, delving into the dead man’s background becomes a pressing priority when a puzzling theft, and some surprising discoveries, put our favourite sleuths on high alert. Might someone living in their seemingly tight-knit – and certainly off-beat – rural community have wanted their neighbor dead? And if so, are more people they know at risk?

The tenth Cait Morgan Mystery from Bony Blithe Award-winning author Cathy Ace, The Corpse with the Iron Will, forces Cait and Bud to use the skills they’ve honed tackling cases around the world to unmask a killer who’s too close to home for comfort!

ISBN print: 9781999223076 (will be available for pre-order from your local bookstore or library from mid-May 2021)

ISBN e-book (all platforms): 9781999223083 (will be available for pre-order for platforms other than amazon from late-March 2021)

Click here for more information about the 2021 Chanticleer Authors Conference and Int’l Book Awards Banquet and Ceremony.

March 26, 2021
The 2020 Laramie Book Awards for Western/Pioneer Fiction – the Short List
The Laramie Book Awards recognize emerging talent and outstanding works in the genre of Western, Pioneer, & Civil War Historical Fiction and First Nation Novels. The Laramie Book Awards is a genre division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).

Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring, the wild west, pioneering, Civil War, North American History, and First Nation Novels.. These books have advanced to the next judging rounds. The best will advance. Which titles will be declared as winners of the prestigious Laramie Book Awards?

These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from SLUSH pile to the 2020 Laramie Book Awards LONG LIST and now have progressed to the 2020 SHORTLIST.

Congratulations to the following titles who have advanced to the 2020 Laramie Book Awards SHORTLIST!
- Fred Dickey – Days of Hope, Miles of Misery
- David Fitz-Gerald – She Sees Ghosts? The Story of a Woman Who Rescues Lost Souls
- DL Fowler – The Turn
- JR Collins – Legend of Swell Branch
- John W. Bebout – The Cause of Darkness- A Story of the Civil War
- Eileen Charbonneau – Mercies of the Fallen
- James Kahn – Matamoros
- Gerry Robinson – The Cheyenne Story
- J. Palma – The Chaffee Sisters
- Susan Higginbotham – The First Lady and the Rebel
- Barbara Salvatore – Magghie
- J.C. Graves – Death is a Sharpshooter
- J.B. Richard – Jesse
- Terry D. Heflin – Scarlet Hem
- Mike Shellenbergar – Quail Creek Ranch
- Mike Shellenbergar – Refuge
- T.K. Conklin – Promise of Spring
- Van Temple – Whisperwood: A Confederate Soldier’s Struggle
- Rebecca Dwight Bruff – Trouble the Water, a Novel
- John Hansen – Elk Meadows
- E. Alan Fleischauer – Hunted
- Daniel Greene – Northern Wolf
- W. Hock Hochheim – Rio Grande Black Magic
- Elizabeth St. Michel – Surrender to Honor
These titles are in the running for the Semi-Finalists of the 2020 Laramie Book Awards for Western, Pioneer, & Civil War Historical Fiction and First Nation Novels Fiction.

Which of these works will move forward in the judging rounds for the 2020 Laramie Book Awards for Western/Pioneer Fiction?

Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.

The ShortListers’ works will compete for the Semi-Finalists positions. Finalists will be selected from the Semi-Finalists, and then all Finalists will be recognized at the VCAC21 ceremonies. The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 22 CIBA divisions Finalists. We will announce the 1st Place Category Winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Ceremonies April 21-25th, 2021 live at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash.

We are now accepting submissions into the 2021 Laramie Book Awards. The deadline for submissions is July 31st, 2021. The winners will be announced in April 2022.

Please click here for more information.

Don’t Delay! Enter Today!

As always, please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions, concerns, or suggestions at Info@ChantiReviews.com.
March 22, 2021
ABIGAIL’s WINDOW by Susan Lynn Solomon – Romantic Fantasy, Paranormal & Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance

Katy Novacs is haunted, both by her past and the laughing specter that reminds her of it. When her friends bring her to Niagara-on-the-Lake in the hopes of lifting her spirits, she finds that their inn has a ghost of its own who has a tale that might save her.

Katy comes to the Niagara Inn in a mire of sorrow, fear, and trauma. Though her friends try to help her move forward with her life, to fall in love and open herself up to other people again, Katy’s stay at the inn only seems to drain her further. Both she and her friends question her sanity as she becomes certain that she’s sharing a room with the spirit of a dead woman, but when Abigail eventually reveals herself, it is to tell Katy a story that she needs to hear—that of Abigail’s life.

One hundred and fifty years ago, Abigail Kirby finds her own love in Will Bender. They cross the lines of class to be together, but Abigail’s story doesn’t end when she wins Will’s heart; there are far greater struggles, sorrows, and the dark shadows of the past waiting to fall upon her. What strings have fate wrapped around Abigail, and will Katy be able to find the message that she so desperately needs?

Abigail’s Window is threaded through with evocative descriptions. The cold and snow of Niagara-on-the-Lake surrounds the Niagara Inn, which is built up with foreboding and emotional energy that suffuses parts of the old house. Abigail’s story is even more expansive in its description, building the whole town as it was long in the past; this old picture gives the reader a strong sense of Abigail and the world that she lived in, from the small social circles of Niagara-on-the-Lake to an exploration of the far-reaching American Civil War.

Susan Lynn Solomon creates animated, complex characters whose personalities show through in everything they do and say. Katy’s emotional exhaustion is palpable on the page, shading the entire beginning of the story; her narration is intimately understandable even at its most troubled. Her experiences show a deep alienation from the people around her and draw the reader into her world which is, at least early on, truly private. Among that fear and isolation from Katy’s struggles, the story introduces a slow, powerful development of the friendship and emotional connection that Abigail and Katy share as they tell each other what they’ve both been through; their life stories carry parallels that help them understand one another while remaining distinct characters with their own voices and ways of seeing the world.

The reader learns the mysteries of Katy and Abigail at the same time the two women learn them, their stories interwoven. The pacing of Abigail’s Window is excellent. The story takes its time revealing Abigail, giving space for Katy to settle into the house and teach the reader about herself. Katy’s fear of the ghost doesn’t change to comfort all at once, but over time as Abigail becomes more and more present. Once they begin sharing, both of their stories are given the space they need to be told, to explore the feelings within them and show the reader who these characters were before they came to share a bedroom in the Niagara Inn. Those stories come together as Abigail’s Window picks up the pace for a tense and affecting climax.

Common themes connect Abigail and Katy. Abigail’s story is marked by fate, how what happened to her before could only have led to what came after, and how she tried to fight against it. Katy struggles to accept the love that’s waiting for her because of her own past. Abigail’s Window doesn’t shy away from the deep emotional pain of its characters, but the story is strung together with the idea that a true connection with someone else has the power to heal the soul, and the trust that love will survive, no matter what else.

Abigail’s Window is a touching, fascinating story of two wonderful characters, and the connection they form across a century and a half. This novel by Susan Lynn Solomon won Grand Prize in the CIBA 2019 Paranormal Awards for supernatural fiction.

March 22, 2021
The YOU BEYOND YOU The Knowledge of the Willing by Ramzi Najjar – Personal Transformation, Motivational, Spiritual Growth Self-Help

In The YOU beyond you – The knowledge of the willing, Ramzi Najjar addresses his audience with the contemplative calm of a mystic guru and the fervor of an old-time evangelist, in a how-to guide to good health, happiness, and inner peace as a personal philosophic treatise addressing the physical and spiritual quality of life in the 21^st century.

In the Preface, Najjar quickly captures readers’ attention with the question, “In a chaotic world, and a life of prevalent restlessness, how can we make sense of the non-sensical [sic]?”

Who doesn’t relate to that?

In seeking an answer to that question, rather than asking the who, what, when and whys of traditional philosophy, Najjar accepts that negative and “nonsensical” life conditions are a given and asks the question how.

How can one change the negative impacts of these conditions upon one’s own being?

Najjar contends, “… you become what you perceive … and what you permit to enter your body…,” and this is the underlying premise upon which the book is based.

The author developed the rationale for his guide from personal experience, learning, observations, and understandings, along with widely accepted, common-sense information, uncited hypotheses, and research from various disciplines. In addition to ideas borrowed from areas of psychology, metaphysics, and epistemology, the author includes some concepts found in Eastern religions. The author weaves these bits and pieces together to create a new paradigm for 21st-century spiritual enlightenment.

At 137 pages, The YOU beyond you is not a long book or a difficult read.

Ramzi Najjar provides detailed explanations, relevant metaphors, and personal anecdotes to support his conclusions. Along with a preface, lengthy forward, and conclusion, he presents his ideas in six chapters: “Body Pollution; Mind Pollution; Restoring our body and mind; Getting imprinted with the correct memory; The Source and how to access it; and, Letting the right Memory run our life.”

The first three chapters are relatively short and provide a fairly comprehensive review of the benefits of common-sense behaviors and choices, and of proven healthy practices that can pave the way to personal transformation. The latter chapters dip into metaphysics and spiritualism integrated with historical and current scientific thought regarding genetic memory found in contemporary neuroscience, energy medicine, and integrative physiology. If one follows the suggestions in Najjar’s latest guide, there is no doubt the outcome will lead to motivational and spiritual growth.

The YOU beyond you may appeal to a varied audience. While at times verbose and loquacious, the intensity of Najjar’s arguments keeps the reader engaged. Many readers will relate to his friendly sometimes pedagogical, first-person voice and will find the book motivating and inspirational. All in all, The YOU beyond you is an interesting and provocative read.

March 15, 2021
The 2020 Ozma Book Awards for Fantasy Fiction – the Short List – a division of the CIBAs
The OZMA Book Awards recognize emerging talent and outstanding works in the genre of Fantasy Fiction. The OZMA Book Awards is a genre division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The #CIBAs).

Chanticleer International Book Awards discovers the best books featuring magic, the supernatural, imaginary worlds, fantastical creatures, legendary beasts, mythical beings, or inventions of fancy that author imaginations dream up without a basis in science as we know it. Epic Fantasy, High Fantasy, Sword and Sorcery, Dragons, Unicorns, Steampunk, Dieselpunk, Gaslight Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, or other out of this world fiction, they will be put to the test and the best selected as winners of the prestigious CIBAs.

The following fantasy fiction works have advanced from the Long List to the Shortlist of the 2020 OZMA Book Awards:
- Christopher Leibig – Almost Damned
- Susannah Dawn – Battle for the Armor of God
- Christopher Russell – Divinity’s Twilight: Rebirth
- T. Cook – Shin
- Brooke Skipstone – Someone To Kiss My Scars
- David Fitz-Gerald – She Sees Ghosts: The Story of a Woman Who Rescues Lost Souls
- Michelle Rene – The Canyon Cathedral: The Witches of Tanglewood, Book Two
- Amy Wolf – The Twelve Labors of Nick
- Robert C. Feol – A Journey to Mouseling Hollow
- MG Wilson and Phil Elmore – Ninja Girl Adventures
- J. Nell Brown – Orphan Tree and the Vanishing Skeleton Key
- Gordon Preston – Zendragon
- H.J. Ramsay – Ever Alice
- Alison Levy – Gatekeeper: Book One in the Daemon Collecting Series
- Jeny Heckman – The Warrior’s Progeny
- Sandra A. Hunter – Daughter of Earth & Fire, The Fledgling
- James G. Robertson – Afterworld (Next Life, #1)
- LaVerne Thompson – Wild Child
- D.L. Jennings – Awaken the Three
- Derrick Smythe – The Other Magic
- Brian Phillips – A Necromancer’s Apprentice
- K.N. Salustro – Cause of Death
- KC Cowan & Sara Cole – Everfire
- Jacob Andrew Emrey – Inferno Dawn
- Dr. Anay Ayarovu – STAZR The World Of Z: The Dawn Of Athir
- Glenn Searfoss – Cycles of Norse Mythology: Tales of the AEsir Gods
- T. K. Thorne – House of Rose
- Lee Hunt – Dynamicist
Shortlist stickers are available

Good Luck to all of these works as they compete for the Semi-Finalists positions!

These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from SLUSH pile to the 2020 Long List (aka the Slush Pile Survivors) and have now advanced to the SHORTLIST. These entries are now in competition for the 2020 OZMA Semi-Finalists positions.

The coveted First Place Category Winners of the 2020 OZMA Book Awards will be selected from the Semi-Finalists in the final rounds of judging. The First Place Category Winners will be announced at the Chanticleer Awards and Ceremonies.

The ShortListers’ works will compete for the Semi-Finalists positions. Finalists will be selected from the Semi-Finalists, and then all Finalists will be recognized at the VCAC21 ceremonies. The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 22 CIBA divisions Finalists. We will announce the 1st Place Category Winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Ceremonies April 21-25th, 2021 live at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash.

We are now accepting entries into the 2021 OZMA Book Awards for Fantasy Fiction, a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards. Please click here for more information and to enter.
March 13, 2021
The 2020 CHAUCER Book Awards for pre-1750s Historical Fiction – the Short List
The CHAUCER Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in pre-1750s Historical Fiction. The CHAUCER Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).

The Chaucer Book Awards competition is named for Geoffrey Chaucer the author of the legendary Canterbury Tales. The work is considered to be one of the greatest works in the English language. It was among the first non-secular books written in Middle English to be printed in 1483.

Chanticleer International Book Awards is seeking for the best books featuring Pre-1750s Historical Fiction, including pre-history, ancient history, Classical, world history (non-western culture), Dark Ages and Medieval Europe, Renaissance, Elizabethan, Tudor, 1600s, we will put them to the test and choose the best among them.

These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from SLUSH pile to the 2020 Chaucer Book Awards LONG LIST and now have progressed to the 2020 SHORTLIST.

These titles are in the running for the Semi-Finalists positions of the 2020 CHAUCER Book Awards for pre-1750s Historical Fiction. Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.
- James Hutson-Wiley – The Travels of ibn Thomas
- Patrick E. Craig – The Mennonite Queen
- Regan Walker – Summer Warrior
- N.L. Holmes – Bird in a Snare
- Leah Angstman – Out Front the Following Sea
- Thoren Syndergaard – Ripley of Valor
- Seven Jane – The Isle of Gold
- Edward Rickford – The Bend of the River: Book Two in the Tenochtitlan Trilogy
- Helena P. Schrader – The Emperor Strikes Back
- B.L. Smith – The Fall of the Axe
- Dave & Steve Curliss – To Give Thanks – Our Pilgrim Ancestors
- Brook Allen – Antonius: Son of Rome
- Sherry V. Ostroff – Caledonia
- Amy Wolf – A Woman of the Road and Sea
- Marilyn Pemberton – Song of the Nightingale: a Tale of Two Castrati
- Robert Wright – The Stone Gardner’s Fire, Second Book of the Before They Awaken Trilogy
- Jim Fuxa – At War with Mars
- Wendy J. Dunn – Falling Pomegranate Seeds: The Duty of Daughters
- Denis Olasehinde Akinmolasire – The Mission to End Slavery
- Indra Zuno – Freedom Dues
- Janet Wertman – The Path to Somerset
Which of these works will move forward in the judging rounds for the 2020 Chaucer Book Awards for pre-1750s Historical Fiction?

Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.

The ShortListers’ works will compete for the Semi-Finalists positions. Finalists will be selected from the Semi-Finalists, and then all Finalists will be recognized at the VCAC21 ceremonies. The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 22 CIBA divisions Finalists. We will announce the 1st Place Category Winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Ceremonies April 21-25th, 2021 live at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash.

We are now accepting submissions into the 2021 CHAUCER Book Awards for pre-1750s Historical Fiction. The deadline for submissions is July 31, 2021. The 2021 winners will be announced in April 2022.

As always, please contact us at Chanticleer@ChantiReviews.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!
March 13, 2021
TOMORROW’s END (Book One) by G.R. Morris – Cyberpunk Sci-fi, Horror Literature & Fiction, Philosophy

A cosmic force of evil is rising, come to consume whole worlds and plunge them into darkness. Earth is next, and the only chance for humanity to survive is a pair of young, destined heroes who have no idea what dangers lurk in their future.

Kevin Knight is a sixteen-year-old savior, the warrior foretold in an alien prophecy who will combat the Dragon. He’s also afraid of the dark and suffers the routine abuse of his stepdad. Though his mother Sara insists her son will have a bright future, Kevin refuses to believe it until the day his life is shattered. Kevin comes face to face with aliens, monsters, and a staggering truth about humanity. He must follow Robert’s teachings, an alien Changeling who reveals just as much as he keeps hidden. Oh, Kevin must also face down the very forces of Hell.

At the same time, an orphaned Changeling girl named Daren tries to find her place amongst the children who shun her and the adults in her life who have anything but her best interests at heart. As Daren grows and stumbles into the powers of her species, her desires are simple: to protect her only friend, Thomas, and find a mysterious figure whose destiny is bound to hers. But the more powerful she becomes, the more significant her trials, and the danger surrounding her surrounds the orphanage as well. Can she muster her strength fast enough to keep the powers of darkness at bay?

The characters of Tomorrow’s End are vibrant, each one driven by their own desires and philosophies. Kevin and Daren’s stories are focused on their internal struggles, with the fate of the world resting on their shoulders. Kevin must decide who to trust when he’s surrounded by mysterious people and morally dubious mentors. Daren must make do with no teachers at all. In time, both Kevin and Daren fight against bombastic, over-the-top enemies with ties to demonic power.

G.R. Morris fills this story with fantastic descriptions. The aliens and monsters are painted with inventive designs, creating visuals that are wholly unique and distinctive. The creatures, in particular, and the places they come from are visceral depictions of roiling, hellish things, all cast in darkness. The villains of Tomorrow’s End are intensely evil characters who commit graphic violence against nearly everyone around them—even innocent children, which Morris never shies away from showing.

The characters create and break illusory worlds, intricately shown in displays of light and color. These surreal mindscapes help illustrate the thoughts and desires of those meeting within them. Despite all of the otherworldly imagery in this dark science fiction, the regular lives from which Kevin and Daren originate are built with just as much care. Within the settings, expansive action scenes stretch for pages on end, mixing advanced technology with dangerous supernatural power, creating fight scenes larger than life.

Tomorrow’s End sets up its bizarre settings quickly, giving the characters space to breathe and ask questions ─ and their questions abound. This story’s world is full of mysterious societies and convoluted plans that stretch back and forth through time, involving cosmic beings, societal control, and Matrix-like technological constructs. Morris painstakingly develops the storyline, and, at times, the pacing of the novel seems to slow a bit. Things pick back up when the villains make their appearance. Morris shows the turmoil of individual characters as they understand what they should do and who they should choose to be.

Tomorrow’s End centers on a philosophy of free will and choice in every conflict. Evil and good are chosen rather than innate, and situations that appear random are always driven by earlier choices. Kevin must choose truth and have faith in his own purpose if he will have any chance to win the battle against the darkness. Daren learns that she’ll have to fight, to be defiant if she wants to keep those around her safe. And they both will have to understand that belief can change reality, that the choice to suffer could teach them the lessons they need, and that it’s not always so easy to pick light over darkness. All in all, readers will more than likely line up for Book II!

March 13, 2021