Anyone who has fantasized about what it would be like to be a time traveler or have had a strong desire to put on a thinking cap then solve a puzzling murder might well find both of these wishes fulfilled vicariously through Keith Tittle’s début novel, Drawn Back.
Set in Portland, Oregon, this tale of greed, corruption, ruthless murder and love that spans many decades shifts back and forth between 1929 as the stock market crash approaches and the much-less calamitous year of 1991.
A dreadful murder takes place at the beginning of the novel to kick off the action in 1929; a preamble of what’s to come. Fast-forward to 1991 as Professor Patrick O’Connell is just beginning his tenure at Portland State’s history department, with a wage that’s not quite a living wage and a desire to find a place to live while he grades papers and contemplates his failed marriage. The answer comes sooner than expected when he meets the beautiful and charming Rachel Wirth, whose wily grandmother, Julia, insists that he move into her family home gratis instead of paying rent.
In his 10-Question Author Interview, Tittle admits that his approach to storytelling is strongly influenced by his love of movies from the 1930s and ‘40s – and a very good influence indeed. Tittle weaves a solid who-dun-it character-driven story, a multifaceted mystery incorporating elements of romance and time-travel. Despite the need for one more editorial pass, Drawn Back invites the readers to “…explore its characters’ motivations and morality in the darkest of circumstances.” A Matter of Justice, the author’s second title won the CIBA 2016 Clue Awards for Mystery and Suspense novels.
Unable to truly comprehend his newfound luck with these two remarkable women, O’Connell wanders about the otherwise empty house (both women live elsewhere) and literally steps back into the same dwelling 62 years earlier and becomes the sole witness of a well-planned murder. Then, by intervening with a critical piece of “placed” evidence, the wheels are set in motion for an incredible journey through time where any wrong move by the “guest” could have disastrous ramifications in the future yet to come.
Tittle delivers a most believable narrative that finds its focus around corporate greed, villains who are willing to do whatever it takes to “win,” and two women who are waiting for their hero to uncover the truth.
The question becomes, can our hero right the wrongs of the past without destroying the future? Readers will delight in the answers.
Welcome to Lyon, France, circa 1193. Battle-hardened veterans, returned from the Third Crusade, serve as loyal guards and spies for wealthy merchants. Some have crossed into the world of the bourgeoisie.
Across Europe, monarchs are restless, the Church is ruthless, and trade is flourishing, bringing in rare, sought-after commodities from faraway markets, and fueling cutthroat competition in the burgeoning economy.
In Guillaume: Book Two of The Triptych Chronicle, Prue Batten reimagines the life of one such upwardly mobile trader/merchant who lives in this socio-political chrysalis and is unwittingly caught up in issues and events that will change the future.
Guillaume de Gisborne is an archer recently returned from the Third Crusade. He helps manage de Clochard, a small textile house struggling to survive after the death of its founder. When an arson fire threatens the property and merchandise of this already struggling business, Guillaume keeps watch over the premises and the prized, purple-dyed, velvet and fine wool fabric from Al-Andalus that is slated to go to the Holy Roman Emperor. During the night, he is attacked by strangers who are searching for something on the property.
Subsequently, Guillaume learns that a copy of the heretical Vaudès Bible, which the Church wants to destroy, may very well be hidden somewhere on the de Clochard premises. This is, perhaps, what the assailants were seeking.
Guillaume, assisted by Ariella Ben Simon, the beautiful Jewish daughter of a textile merchant in Venezia, and several of Sir Guy of Gisborne’s most trusted guards, seeks to find the book hoping to save it and return it to its rightful owners, the Poor Men of Lyon, proponents of the Vaudès’ dogma.
While working together, Guillaume and Ariella learn to understand, rely upon, and eventually love one another. They begin to plan their future—but Destiny has something else in mind.
After getting through the prologue and a long, (9,293 word) first chapter, the pace never slows. The amount and complexity of information included in chapter one may seem overwhelming, but the reward of gaining powerful knowledge that will enable the reader to relate to and understand Guillaume’s world is simply indispensable.
Overall, Batten’s rich sensory imagery, engaging characters, and authentic voice, combined with meticulous research and attention to detail add depth and dimension to a cleverly crafted, multi-layered plot. The writing is both gritty and lyrical, creating a moving, memorable story.
But wait! There’s more! Batten’s research notes at the end of the book are an absolute gift for history buffs and historical fiction fans.
Guillaume (The Triptych Chronicle, Book Two) by Prue Batten won 1st Place in the CIBA 2017 Chaucer Awards for Early Historical Fiction.
In the days when piracy was the number one concern for seafaring merchants, ships were built with one purpose in mind—to repel attacks from pirates. It was thought that a floating fortress, and a crew as ruthless as those they faced, could protect the cargo stashed in the cavernous holds.
Painting by Ambroise Louis Garneray
Bristling with cannons, the Spanish and English galleons were thought to be untakable. The pirates soon convinced them otherwise, but by the time news reached the merchant houses in both nations, ships had been lost or commandeered, and their own guns turned on newly arriving ships. Soon, the pirates had captured so many ships, their flotillas outnumbered those of their prey.
Human beings were treated and traded as cargo, just as gold or silk, sugar or tea. All were equally valued by pirates, as booty for gain.
The island of Jamaica is just one example of a place that was populated by the pirate trade. The proceeds of piracy were traded on the market until the pirated cargo could no longer be traced to the stolen goods.
Today, books are stolen, given a new title and a new cover, and then resold in the publishing industry’s market place.
Our book baby is all grown up, just waiting to be stolen away by nefarious means, and resold on some island (read market), not of our choosing. How can we, the merchant owner of our books, protect our damsel/damoiseau in distress? How can we keep the pirates from raiding our ships, and stealing our coin?
According to Investopedia “blockchain is a distributed, decentralized, public ledger.”
The block is made up of three distinct structures.
The first aspect is that the block stores information about transactions, such as the dollar amount of a purchase, and the date and time it was purchased. This information is recorded in a ledger contained within the block.
The second aspect is that the block records the ‘who’ of the transaction. It keeps a record of the purchaser as a digitally encrypted signature, which is a permanent entry on the ledger.
The third aspect is that the block records each transaction as a unique feature called a hash. Every transaction within the block has its own unique coding. No two are alike.
Why is this relevant to your damsel/damoiseau in distress, you ask?
The biggest risk factor, to the distribution of any form of electronic art, is piracy. That is the ability for that work to be stolen. The oceans of digital publishing are ripe with pirates, who are happy to steal any e-book at any time.
But they don’t even need to go that far. We practically invite the pirates to steal our work, any time we give away or sell anything on the internet because there is nothing protecting the digital rights of that book. A few words of copyright in a manuscript do nothing to prevent your work from being reproduced in any currently known format, anywhere on the planet.
Once that book is “out there” there is no getting it back. Bye, bye, sweet damsel! Dare I say it again? Not to be outdone, you send cease and desist emails to every site that has your book baby illegally uploaded for sale. Of course, they ignore you. The pirate’s code trumps all.
Blockchain.
Digitalizing your book into blocks of code, blockchain has the power to prevent your work from being stolen. That pirate ship on the horizon will smack into a reef, impossible to cross. They may try to lob a few cannon shots at your ship, to no avail.
Book Pirates be Foiled!
The only way to get to your book IS TO PAY FOR IT. Isn’t that wonderful? What a novel concept, actually being paid for your work.
“But…what will keep them from reselling it once they have a copy?” you ask.
Ah, good question. Because blockchain is an encrypted source file, your entire book is encrypted. To access that work, you must have a key, a token, to unlock it. But the token can only be used by the purchaser. It will not work for anyone else. Web-based, blockchain books are read in browsers. Currently, this means that an internet connection is required. The book is owned by the purchaser, but it still exists virtually.
A book published in blockchain cannot be copied, resold, or redistributed in any manner. It can only be read by the purchaser, using the token given to them on purchase.
Other advantages to blockchain include being able to create digital limited editions, with serial numbers attached to them to confirm they are truly limited additions. These unique books could contain anything from visual and audio art and files, interviews, etc. Anything that can be digitalized, could become part of this unique format.
So, a book in blockchain cannot ever be resold?
Ah, well that power is in your control. As the owner of the rights to distribution (by virtue of it being block chained) you can authorize a book to be resold, under rights and terms that you set. For example, let’s say that a customer bought a $50.00 limited edition from you. You could make it part of the blockchain code that resales are permitted, but that 50% of every resale comes to you. The blockchain, because of the unique coding attached to the original transaction, will know that it is that exact copy being resold and enforce the 50% deposit to your account when the transaction occurs.
If this is such a wonderful technology, why isn’t everyone using it?
Blockchain first came into being in 1991. As with all new technologies, it has to be tested and tried, before becoming mainstream. As it moves into its third decade of existence, the world of commerce is paying attention. Start-up companies, such as Bookchain, are cropping up and will be the wave of the future. As more and more of these types of companies appear in the market place, the retail organizations will be forced to adopt the technology.
I see pressure coming from the big five publishing houses, as they look for better ways to protect their investments.
Blockchain Could Put Authors At Center of Publishing Universe
The Alliance of Independent Authors (Chanticleer Reviews is a vetted partner member of ALLi) agrees:
“If this decentralized technology fulfills its promise, the outcome could be a creator-led publishing industry.
While indie authors, and the companies that serve them, are a growing presence and power in publishing, large corporate intermediaries such as Amazon still stand between authors and their readers and dominate the self-publishing marketplace. Blockchain tech may help to build the road that leads to true independence for self-publishers.” April 2018 – London Book Fair
Change comes with a cost, and the big retailers will be reluctant to embrace such technologies, as they make money off of the pirates as surely as those island ports of old. Change will have to be forced on them.
E-book piracy can be combated, we only need the sword of technology in hand and move forward.
Read the first two articles of this series by Susan Faw by clicking the links below:
Piracy—Not Just on the High Seas Part 1 of 3 by Susan Faw
The Dante Rossetti Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in Young Adult Fiction. The Dante Rossetti Book Awards is a genre division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (#CIBAs).
Named in honor of the British poet & painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti who founded the Pre-Ralphaelite Brotherhood in 1848.
Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring stories of all shapes and sizes written to an audience between the ages of about twelve to eighteen (imaginary or real). Science Fiction, Fantasy, Dystopian, Mystery, Paranormal, Historical, Romance, Literary, we will put them to the test and choose the best Young Adult Books among them for the winners of the Dante Rossetti Book Awards for Young Adult Fiction.
These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from SLUSH pile to the 2019 Dante Rossetti Book Awards LONG LIST. These entries are now in competition for 2019 Dante Rossetti Shortlist. The ShortListers’ works will compete for the Semi-Finalists positions.Semi-Finalists will be announced and recognized at the CAC20 banquet and ceremony. The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 16 CIBA divisions Semi-Finalists. We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 18th, 2020 at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash.
These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST of the 2019 Dante Rossetti Book Awards for Young Adult Fiction. Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.
Navya Sarikonda – The Enchanters’ Child
J.A. Roth – When The Bee Stings
Nick Korolev – Jerry Swift and Chiron’s Pride
Leslie Wibberley – Seriously, Universe?
Zachary Ryan – High School Queens
Veronica Myers – Winter’s Progeny
Julieanne Lynch – Beneath the Lighthouse
Jacinta Jade – Change of Darkness
Kelly Watt – The India Diaries: Book One Tiger’s Rock
Alex Paul – The Valley of Death, Book 5, Arken Freeth and the Adventure of the Neanderthals
J. Taylor Baker – The Cardorian Complex
Glen Sobey – No Fences in Alaska
Jan Von Schleh – But Not Forever
Christine Gallagher – Swimming Without Goggles
Samantha Long – Hopelessly Devoted
Michelle Rene – Manufactured Witches
Nancy Thorne – Victorian Town
Ted Neill – Jamhuri, Njambi & Fighting Zombies
Rachel VanZandt – Return of the Eagle
Thomas Corrigan – Right Now Is Worth It
A. Cort Sinnes – Quicksilver
Leslea Wahl – Where You Lead
C.R. Stewart – Britfield and the Lost Crown
Susan Brown – Twelve
Susan Brown – Catching Toads
J.T. Blossom – The Tunes of Lenore
James M Roberts – The Crossroads of Logan Michaels
Michael R. French – Beginner’s Guide to Winning an Election
Sandra L Rostirolla – Cecilia
Kristina Bak – Nowever
Zachry Wheeler – Max and the Multiverse
V. A. Givens – Sealed with a Twist
Tom Edwards – The Honourable Catherine
Michael Bialys – The Chronicles of the Virago: Book I The Novus
David Patneaude – Fast Backward
John Middleton – Dillion & The Curse of Arminius
Which of these works will move forward in the judging rounds for the 2019 Dante Rossetti Book Awards for Young Adult Fiction?
The 16 divisions of the 2019 CIBAs’Grand Prize Winners and the Five First Place Category Position award winners along with recognizing the Semi-Finalists will be announced at theApril 18th, 2020 Chanticleer International Book Awards Annual Awards Gala,which takes place at the Chanticleer Authors Conference that will be held in Bellingham, Wash.
We are now accepting submissions into the 2020 Dante Rossetti Awards Book Awards. The deadline for submissions is May 31st, 2020. The winners will be announced in April 2021.
The GERTRUDE WARNER Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of middle-grade readers, fiction and non-fiction, that compel children to read and explore. The Gertrude Warner Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (CIBAs).
Named in honor of the author of the quintessential children’s series – The Boxcar Children, Gertrude Warner.
Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring stories of all shapes and sizes written to an audience between the ages of about eight to twelve. Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery, Paranormal, Historical, Adventure we will put them to the test and choose the best Middle-Grade Books among them.
These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from SLUSH pile to the 2019 Gertrude Warner Book Awards LONG LIST. These entries are now in competition for 2019 Gertrude Warner Shortlist. The Short Listers will compete for the Semi-Finalists positions. The Semi-Finalists will be announced and recognized at the CAC20 banquet and ceremony. The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 16 CIBA divisions Semi-Finalists. We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 18th, 2020 at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash.
These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST of the 2019 Gertrude Warner Book Awards for Middle-Grade Readers. Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.
Carolyn Watkins – The Knock…a collection of childhood memories
Joyce Major – The Orangutan Rescue Gang
Nancy McDonald – Boy from Berlin
Veronica Myers – Flight of Maldar
Jason Otis – Monkey and Moose & the Pirates of Pine Point
B.L. Smith – Bert Mintenko and the Serious Business
B.L. Smith – Bert Mintenko and the Minor Misdemeanors
Jason Colpitts – Corrine and the Underground Province
Mobi Warren – The Bee Maker
Amber L. Wyss – Phoenix Rising
Wendy Leighton-Porter – The Shadow of the Tudor Rose
Sue Bough – Norman Snodgrass Saves the Green Planet
Kit Bakke – Dancing on the Edge
M.J. Evans – PINTO!
M.J. Evans – The Stone of Wisdom – Book 4 of the Centaur Chronicles
Beth Stickley – Tarnation’s Gate
Lis Anna-Langston – Maya Loop
T.X. Troan – Sophia Freeman and the Mysterious Fountain
Lexi Rees – Eternal Seas
Rachel VanZandt – P.J. O’Breslin’s Pirate Journey
Catherine Mallette – Don’t Ask Me
Wendy Leighton-Porter – The Shadow of the Volcano
O’Dempsey Rynehart – The Seeds of Stone (A Sliver of Dark and Bright Series #1)
Diane Rios – Return of the Evening Star
C.R. Stewart – Britfield and the Lost Crown
Kay M. Bates’ – ‘B’ is for Baylee
Alexander Usher – Katie Hope: Blood Bonds
Susan Brown – Sammy and the Devil Dog
Wendy Leighton-Porter – The Shadow of the Pyramid
R. B. Maxwell – The Invisible Agent
Rey Clark – Legends of the Vale
Francis B. Glad – Ernie Germy Jenkins
L.S. Barron – Harper T and the Timewave
Maria Ashworth – SUSHI KITTY
Gregory Saur – Diving Catch
Liana Gardner – 7th Grade Revolution
Liana Gardner – The Journal of Angela Ashby
Jeff Orlowski – Avery Green And The Nightmare Busters
L.M. Kemp – Skye’s Journey
Trayner Bane – Windhollow and the Axe Breaker (Windhollows, Book 3)
Leanne M. Pankuch – Dragon’s Truth
Alex Paul – The Valley of Death, Book 5, Arken Freeth and the Adventure of the Neanderthals
Which of these works will move forward in the judging rounds for the 2019 Gertrude Warner Book Awards for Middle-Grade Readers?
The 16 divisions of the 2019 CIBAs’Grand Prize Winners and the Five First Place Category Position award winners along with recognizing the Semi-Finalists will be announced at theApril 18th, 2020 Chanticleer International Book Awards Annual Awards Gala,which takes place at the Chanticleer Authors Conference that will be held in Bellingham, Wash.
We are now accepting submissions into the 2020 Gertrude Warner Awards Book Awards. The deadline for submissions is May 30th, 2020. The winners will be announced in April 2021.
Salem Grimes has a lot of goals – lose more weight than her friend Trisha, find a dress for the upcoming date she doesn’t really want to go on, and keep her dog, Stump, from throwing up on the kitchen floor. Unfortunately, solving a murder (again) isn’t on her to-do list, but Salem is thrown into another mystery completely against her will when she sees a body in a Sonic dumpster.
When her BFF Viv, an 80-ish firecracker of a woman with a penchant for expensive shoes, hears about it, she can’t wait to get started cracking the case. After all, she and Viv have already solved one mystery, and Viv is convinced their unofficial PI firm, Discreet Investigations, can find the murderer. But the ladies quickly realize they have their work cut out for them when the victim is identified as CJ Hardin, golden boy physician and local Hope for Homes organizer who recently “came out” in a very public way and stirred up a huge controversy in Lubbock, Texas.
Controversy and theories swirl since CJ was thought to have run off days earlier with the $200K in funds from a recent Hope for Homes fundraising effort. When the murder is labeled a hate crime, Salem, Viv, and their newest partner Dale find themselves in some scary situations, including an altercation with Rambo the fighting rooster. Between being laughed at by one hot police detective she’s had crushed on since fourth grade, fighting her urge to drink herself “cool” in order to keep from throat-punching Dale, Salem has to find a killer before the community implodes.
The struggles of the LGBTQ community are front and center in this novel. CJ, the murdered man, is a victim before he is the victim. CJ has spent his life as so many LGBTQ people have, playing a role, pretending to be something he is not in order to fit the required societal mold. The son of a prominent family, a prestigious doctor in his own right, and the perfect fiancé to a woman he has always been expected to marry, CJ never truly got to live his life in his own way. Not long after being caught in a passionate embrace with a man, CJ is more or less forced to come out in a very public way and then he is murdered, labeled another casualty of hate, and though his murder doesn’t quite turn out so cut and dry, his story is nonetheless tragic.
A Christian novel highlighting the struggles in the LGBTQ community is an anomaly, and Kim Hunt Harris expertly handles the issues smartly by placing them front and center in her lead character’s lap. Salem feels a strong connection with the LGBTQ message boards she studies after being swept up in CJ’s death. She understands the dark loneliness of never fitting in, of being a victim of abuse, and of hiding what she truly is, burying her true self.
Damaged by a selfish, abusive mother, Salem is determined not to let that define her anymore. After ten years of drowning her feelings in booze, she has found her footing in Christianity, but she is confused about her feelings, uncertain how to reconcile her blossoming faith with the reality around her – what she thinks and feels about the LGBT community around her.
Salem’s story is one of redemption – hers and everyone else’s. She wants to be a person who can look herself in the eye, and she fights daily to become that very person.
Through common sense, humor, and her daily prayers in her self-made devotional room (aka the guest bedroom in her trailer at Trailertopia), Salem navigates the world in a “human” way. She struggles to justify God’s love with the church’s condemnation against homosexuality. She struggles against her complete dislike of Dale with the Biblical edicts of patience and kindness. She struggles with wanting to feel God’s presence in her life versus her all too real feelings of pettiness and anger.
Salem’s battles aren’t black or white, right or wrong. She’s human and that’s why we like her so much. She understands that “contempt and disrespect for another person’s most precious beliefs” don’t make the world a better place.
Unsightly Bulges (A Trailer Park Princess Cozy Mystery Book 2) by Kim Hunt Harris took home 1st Place in the 2017 CIBA M&M Awards for Mayhem and Mystery.
The boldness of the ideas contained within this novel about cloning begins with its title. The word “apotheosis” can be freely translated as 1.a. the perfect form or example of something, 1.b. the highest or best part of something, or 2. elevation to divine status. (Merriman-Webster Online Dictionary). It is with these expectations that the book begins with a letter from John Numen, who tells us from the beginning that he is unapologetically a multifaceted scientist, medical researcher, doctor, billionaire investor, a fugitive on the FBI’s Most Wanted list, and a fledgling serial killer.
We believe him.
Numen’s trajectory from a scientist to a reclusive but fiendish killer with infinite financial resources is quite the tale. Human cloning is his obsession. He believes he has developed the science to make it easy and practical despite its medical and scientific, legal and ethical challenges. As he progresses decades into the future, he plans carefully for the lifespan he needs and the facilities he requires to develop his ideas into practical tools. He has the resources to do both and gives us a front-row seat on the often-murderous details involved in how he accomplishes his goals, whether it be on his private island in the Caribbean or at his Colorado estate.
What distinguishes Numen from many other mad scientists is his portrayal as a human being. He is as capable of loving as he is in murdering. His descriptions of both give this read a humanity most welcome in the sci-fi genre. In particular, his love affair with the wife of a business colleague and its tragic ending lend a dramatic sensibility that sci-fi books rarely achieve.
For more than half the book, the potential for it becoming the basis for a long-form television mini-series virtually leaps off the page. Then the story seems to wander a bit, shifting the point of view from Numen to a female kickboxer with dreams of MMA championships and the moxie to carry it out. Fast action sequences and brutal punches make for a great diversion.
What Darrell Lee delivers is a fast-paced thriller with a lot of tendrils that are likely to snatch readers up and keep them in the chair, a well-drawn mad scientist with a sexy kick-ass femme fatal, and an interesting story that may stay with you for a while.
All in all, we expect The Apotheosis will indeed find its fan-base among those who love fast-paced, unapologetic sci-fi thrillers.
We titled the Chanticleer International Book Awards (CIBAs) division for Western American Fiction and all things that gather around the campfire singing a lonesome tune, the Laramie Awards, after the county and city in Wyoming. You know the one, tucked into the lower right-hand corner of the state…
Yes, but why Laramie?
There are several reasons we chose Laramie for our iconically American Book Awards. For us, and those in the know, Laramie, Wyoming immediately calls to mind the image of a Wild West town filled with rough-and-tumble cowboys. At one point, the only law in Laramie was “lawlessness. Wild Bill Hickok was even known to visit from time to time.
Here’s a picture of the man, himself, on the left with his friends, Texas Jack Omohundro (center), and Buffalo Bill Cody on the right.
But that’s not the only reason we chose Laramie.
And, yes, there is yet one more reason we love Laramie!
The WOMEN!
Calamity Jane hails from Laramie, Wyoming – a skilled sharpshooter who was born to a gambler and a prostitute. She cared for her five younger siblings in Utah before traveling on to Wyoming in search of a better life. There she found work as a dance hall girl and then as a prostitute at Fort Laramie. It was there that she reinvented herself by wearing buckskins and dressing like a man. She was also known for her swearing and hard-drinking ways, but Calamity Jane was also known even more for her kind heart and helping folks out of calamities–thus her nickname.
Calamity Jane
While the men were wrestling in the streets and shooting up the place, it was really the women who brought civilization to Laramie and Wyoming Territory. They established the first school in 1869, served on a formal jury in the Spring of 1870, and were the first to gain the vote; which is exactly what Louisa Swain and 92 of her friends did on September 6, 1870 – 150 years ago!
Louisa Swain – she was made of stern stuff!
Early in the morning on September 6, 1870 in Laramie, Wyoming Louisa Swain became the first woman in the world to cast a ballot under democratically enacted laws granting women equal political rights with men. In the fall of 2008, 138 years later, the U.S. Congress passes a resolution proclaiming September 6th as “Louisa Swain Day” in recognition of this historic event. The Loiusa Swain Foundation
In 1870, Esther Hobart Morris (59 years old) became the first female Justice of the Peace. She served in South Pass City, Wyoming, which is to the northwest of Laramie.
Esther Morris “to pettifoggers she showed no mercy.” Wyoming Tribune
The Union’s first all-female jury was assembled in Wyoming in 1870.
Later, in 1894, Estelle Reel Meyer became Superintendent of Public Instruction, the country’s first female statewide elected official.
And the grand coup d’etat was when in 1889 when Wyoming vied for statehood—and refused to join the Union if the laws giving equality to women were not upheld, telling Congress (which wanted the suffrage law rescinded) via telegram,
“We will remain out of the Union 100 years rather than come in without the women.”
Wyoming is also the first state in the USA to allow women to own property and sign legal documents.
Quotes are from the Smithsonian Magazine
Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/women-voting-wyoming-150-years-here-how-state-celebrating-180971263/#6UKzMfMeCQsmbIIQ.99
Give the gift of Smithsonian magazine for only $12! http://bit.ly/1cGUiGv
Follow us: @SmithsonianMag on Twitter
That, Chanticleerians, is why we love Laramie and have championed the name for our most iconic American awards group, The LARAMIE AWARDS. There is nothing better than the Wild West, Women’s Suffragette Success stories, Cowboys and Indians, History and Adventure all coming together with a true sense of the American West!
So, it is with pride we sponsor the LARAMIE Book Awards for American Western Fiction
Painting by C.M. Russell
Charles M. Russell painted the cowboy seen on Chanticleer’s very own Laramie contest badge. It is one of many such paintings he did that encompassed the Old American Wild West. An advocate for the Native Americans, Charles M. Russell also helped establish a reservation in Montana for the Chippewa people.
The Laramie Book Awards for American Western Fiction Hall of Fame First Place and Grand Prize winners!
2018 Laramie Book Awards for American Western Fiction First in Category Winners
Living Where the Rabbits Dance by Jr. R. Collins
Promise of Tomorrow by TK Conklin
Chasing Demonsby John Hansen
A Female Doctor in the Civil War–Richard Alan
Splinteredby Curt Locklear
The 2018 Laramie Book Awards Grand Prize:
Blood Moon: A Captive’s Tale by Ruth Hull Chatlien
2017 Laramie Book Awards for American Western Fiction First in Category Winners
Want to be a winner next year? The deadline to submit your book for the 2019 Laramie awards is July 31, 2019. Enter here!
Grand Prize and First Place Winners for 2019 will be announced on April 18, 2020.
Any entries received on or after July 31, 2019, will be entered into the 2020 Laramie Book Awards. The Grand Prize and First Place for 2020 CIBA winners will be held on April 17, 2021.
As our deadline draws near, don’t miss this opportunity to earn the distinction your American Western readers deserve! Enter today!
The LARAMIE Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards – the CIBAs.
The 2019 winners will be announced at the CIBA Awards Ceremony on April 18, 2020, that will take place during the 2020 Chanticleer Authors Conference. All Semi-Finalists and First Place category winners will be recognized, the first place winners will be whisked up on stage to receive their custom ribbon and wait to see who among them will take home the Grand Prize. It’s an exciting evening of dinner, networking, and celebrations!
The M & M Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the Cozy and Not-So-Cozy Mystery & Mayhem fiction genre. The M & M Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).
Chanticleer Book Reviews is looking for the best books featuring “mystery and mayhem”, amateur sleuthing, light suspense, travel mystery, classic mystery, British cozy, hobby sleuths, senior sleuths, or historical mystery, perhaps with a touch of romance or humor, we will put them to the test and choose the best among them. (For suspense, thriller, detective, crime fiction see our Clue Awards)
These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from SLUSH pile to the 2019 M&M Book Awards LONG LIST. These entries are now in competition for 2019 M&M Shortlist. The Short Listers will compete for the Semi-Finalists positions. Semi-Finalists will be announced and recognized at the CAC20 banquet and ceremony. The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 16 CIBA divisions Semi-Finalists. We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 18th, 2020 at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash.
These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST of the 2019 M&M Book Awards novel competition for Mystery & Mayhem Novels!
Good luck to all as your works move on the next rounds of judging.
Lesley A. Diehl – Scream Muddy Murder
Susan Z. Ritz – A Dream to Die For
B. K. Stubblefield – Beneath The Surface
Michelle Cox – A Veil Removed
Chief John J. Mandeville – Sherlockito vs. The Trio From Hell
Chief John J. Mandeville – Sherlockito and the LIE Mystery
Alan Chaput – Savannah Secrets
Lucy Carol – Hit That, Madison Cruz – Mystery 4
Mary Hatakka/Mary Ragwag – Tips for Teachers
B. L. Smith – Bert Mintenko and the Serious Business
Mollie Hunt – Cat Cafe
MJ O’Neill – The Corpse Wore Stilettos
JL Oakley – Hilo Bay Mystery Collection
Kate Vale – Fateful Days
Cindy Sample – Dying for a Diamond
Henry G. Brinton – City of Peace
Kaylin McFarren – High Flying
Virginia V. Kidd – Artifacts of Murder
Janet K. Shawgo – Legacy of Lies
Kari Bovee – Peccadillo at the Palace
Kari Bovee – Girl with a Gun – An Annie Oakley Mystery
M. J. Simms-Maddox – Mystery in Harare
Carolyn Haley – Killer Heart
Wally Duff – bada-BOOM!
Sallie Barr Palmer – A Dinner to Die For
Arlene McFarlane – Murder, Curlers & Cruises
Kirk Millson – Serpents of Old
Mary Seifert – Titanic Cocktail
JG Murphy – Flipping Rich Bastard
M. K. Graff – Death at the Dakota: A Trudy Genova Manhattan Mystery
Sofie Couch – Flippin’ the Bird
Lo Monaco – Poison butterfly
Toni Kief – Mildred In Disguise With Diamonds
Vee Kumari – DHARMA, A Rekha Rao Mystery
Lori Roberts Herbst – An Instant Out of Time
Alexandrea Weis with Lucas Astor – BLACKWELL
Stephen Kaminski – An Au Pair to Remember
Mollie Hunt – Cat Call
Mary Ann Cherry – Death at Crooked Creek
D. J. Adamson – Let Her Go
Jean Rover – Ready or Not
Robert Chudnow – Brews and Stilettos
Linda Hughes – Secrets of the Island
Jane Willan – The Hour of Death
Holly Spofford – A Letter for Hoot
Dr. Sandra Tanner – Sacks of Murder
Gerard Shirar – When the Rules Don’t Apply
Susan Lynn Solomon – Writing is Murder
Which of these works will move forward in the judging rounds for the 2019 M&M Book Awards for Mystery & Mayhem?
Which author will take home the 2019 M&M Grand Prize Ribbon?
Which one will have the chance at the $1,000 Chanticleer Overall Grand Prize?
All Semi-Finalists will receive high visibility along with special badges to wear during the Chanticleer Authors Conference and Awards Gala.
The 16 divisions of the 2019 CIBAs’ Grand Prize Winners and the Five First Place Category Position award winners along with recognizing the Semi-Finalists will be announced at theApril 18th, 2020 Chanticleer International Book Awards Annual Awards Gala,which takes place at the Chanticleer Authors Conference that will be held in Bellingham, Wash.
We are now accepting submissions into the 2020 M&M Awards Book Awards. The deadline for submissions is April 30th, 2020. The winners will be announced in April 2021.
“If you’re going to have a character appear in a story long enough to sell a newspaper, he’d better be real enough that you can smell his breath.” ~ Ford Madox Ford
Newspaper Boys – New Jersey
Minor characters are too often faceless walk-ons in fiction. But that means the writer has missed a chance to create reality and complexity. ~Jessica Morrell
Here’s how it’s done in Paulette Jiles dystopian novel Lighthouse Island that takes place in the Pacific Northwest. This scene features two minor characters her protagonist Nadia Stepan is about to meet. Problem is, she’s on the lam in a hideous, nightmare society and the authorities are searching for her. And she’s an outlaw in a desiccated, chaotic world where danger lurks everywhere and the underclass people are perishing from thirst and deprivation. The government is a diabolical network of agencies that inflict senseless cruelty on most of its citizens while the one percent live in luxury.
The first character Nadia will meet for only a few minutes, the second one actually saves her and she spends maybe 5 minutes with him. Nadia’s trying to bluff her way out of capture–something she’s good at. At least so far.
Notice how Jiles instills them with just enough realism to underline their purpose. Notice how she manages this trick with only a few economical words.
Okay. The officer had tissue-engineered jaws square as a brick and eyes of two different colors and a scorpion tattoo on his neck. She saw him hesitate and so she turned and walked away down the narrow street and the biscuit-colored buildings of concrete whose dim and broken windows stared at each other across the pavement.
A hand shut on her elbow and shoved her forward. Nadia turned. A stout Forensics officer stared straight ahead and pushed her on. His gray hair shone short and clean under an old-fashioned watch cap with a bill and his body smelled of sweat and hot uniform cloth. She started to say something, to invent an objection and a story but he said Shut up. He was not much taller than she was but there was something about him of that proctor in high school so long ago but more unwavering and quiet.
Here are some tips for making minor characters count:
Anchor them to a time and place–a street cop, a waitress, a lounge singer, a Wall Street executive.
Give them at least one memorable characteristic. Mismatched eyes. Purple hair. A synthetic smile. Nasty yellow teeth. Vomit breath.
Create an interaction, however brief–a taxi ride, an insult or accusation, asking for directions, buying a coffee.
Nadia sneaks into the Ritz Carlton and makes it to the elevator. A guard came up. His uniform was sweaty and the hem of his pants legs were leaking threads like a fringe. He smiled at her.
All right, all right, he said. What floor?
Don’t worry about introducing them–they can simply appear.
Emergency workers in orange coveralls came running through the dust scrim and shouted at her to go back but she walked on toward them. The telephone poles were down and electrical wires curled in the rubble.
Imbue them with meaning to your protagonist. In Nadia’s world—guards, troops, cops are the enemy. And they’re everywhere.
Give them a voice if possible.
In a crowd of people who had lined up for something she saw a woman with a toddler in one arm.
Cute kid! Nadia said and slipped the badge into the toddler’s baggy pants.
The woman glared at her. Get one of your own, she said.
Jessica suggests:
Pretend that you’re walking into a room and seeing your character for the first time.
What are your firstimpressions?
Can you feel the force of his or her personality? Does he or she remind you of a celebrity? Or someone you know?
It’s not all about the specifics of appearances—some people arrive on the scene full of confidence, some are hesitant or nervous. Why? Some people stand erect, some slouch. Some have lovely voice qualities, some people bray. Some wear too much cologne, some smell of fresh air or machine oil. Use clothes, setting, and possessions, including large possessions such as cars to reveal characters.
What to AVOID!
Avoid thumbnail sketches or police blotter descriptions whenever a new character steps into your book.
(The suspect was a Latino male, 6 feet, medium build, scar on the left cheek, a tattoo of a snake on the right shoulder, wearing a black jacket, jeans, and sneakers).
This technique tends to feel contrived especially if used too often.
Also, a character doesn’t need to be described all at once, you can layer his or her appearance into the story in increments.
Avoid heavy-handed effects and characterizations. You want enough nuance to make the reader pay close attention and to enjoy discerning subtle clues. Find ways to insert subtext—the unspoken, between-the-lines innuendo.
Avoid piling it on. Here is an example of what not to do:
“Allison, a 30-something, 5 foot 8 redhead, with heavily-mascaraed blue eyes and legs for days strolled into the restaurant her green eyes flashing. Her hair was shoulder-length, her figure striking, her fingernails painted a garish purple. She wore what looked like a real mink jacket over a tight, black dress and teetered on dangerously high heels.”
Kate Pierson of the B52s
A character doesn’t need to be described all at once. Instead, try to layer details in throughout the story in increments—as one might adjust the seasonings while cooking. It is better to err on the side of less than too much. You can always add a little more “spice” if needed…
Here is the link to Part One of MINOR CHARACTERS – the SPICE of FICTION
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 at the Chanticleer Authors Conference that is held annually along with teaching at Chanticleer writing workshops that are held throughout the year.
Did you know that Chanticleer offers editorial services?We do and have been doing so since 2011.
And that our professional editors are top-notch and are experts in the Chicago Manual of Style. They have and are working for the top publishing houses (TOR, McMillian, Thomas Mercer, Penguin Random House, etc.). If you would like more information, we invite you to email Kiffer or Sharon at KBrown@ChantiReviews.com or SAnderson@ChantiReviews.com.
We work with a small number of exclusive clients who want to collaborate with our team of top-editors on an on-going basis. Contact us today!
Salem Grimes has a lot of goals – lose more weight than her friend Trisha, find a dress for the upcoming date she doesn’t really want to go on, and keep her dog, Stump, from throwing up on the kitchen floor. Unfortunately, solving a murder (again) isn’t on her to-do list, but Salem is thrown into another mystery completely against her will when she sees a body in a Sonic dumpster.
The M & M Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the Cozy and Not-So-Cozy Mystery & Mayhem fiction genre. The M & M Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).
