Chanticleer Book Reviews

Author: chanti

The 2024 CIBAs Grand Prize Winners for Non-Fiction, Shorts, Series, and the Brand New CCDAs!
A Huge Congratulations to all of the Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards (CIBAs) Division Non-Fiction, Book Series, SEA Shorts, and CCDAs Grand Prize Winners!

Every tier of the CIBAs is an important one, though few rise to be one of the coveted Division Grand Prize Winners!

All First Place and Grand Prize winners were announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference at the CIBAs Ceremonies on Saturday, April 5th at the Chanticleer Banquet.
- See Fiction Grand Prize Winners here!
- See the Official Overall Grand Prize Winner Post here!
Let’s take a step back and look at where we came from to make this happen.

Want to join in the fun? Submit to the 2025 CIBAs today!

Now, presenting the Non-Fiction Awards Grand Prize Winners!

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 I&I Awards is:

Success with Hydrangeas

A Gardeners Guide

Lorraine Ballato

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 NELLIE BLY Awards is:

The Sing Sing Files

One Journalist, Six Innocent Men, and a 20 Year Fight for Justice

Dan Slepian

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 HARVEY CHUTE Awards is:

Stop Worrying about Money

by Jacqui Clarke

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 MIND & SPIRIT Awards is:

Naked in the Now

Juicy Practices for Getting Present

By Marijke McCandless

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 HEARTEN Awards is:

Elk Love

A Montana Memoir

By Lynne Spriggs O’Connor

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 MILITARY & FRONT LINE Awards is:

Memoirs From The Frontlines

Four States, Two Years, One Pandemic

by Kim Sloan

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 JOURNEY Awards is:

Unfollow Me

by Kathryn Caraway

Now, presenting the Shorts & Series Awards Grand Prize Winners!

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 SHORTS Awards for Novellas and Long Prose:

Something About Lizzy

by Robin Elizabeth Kobayashi

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 SHORTS Awards for Short Stories and Essays is:

Dream Rut

Navigating Your Path Forward

by Dr Yumiko Shimabukuro
illustrated by Jieyu Deng

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 SERIES Awards is:

A Vengeful Realm

by Tim Facciola

Last, but certainly not least! The DEBUT Chanticleer Cover Design Award Winners for Fiction and Non-Fiction!

Our First ever Grand Prize Cover Design Award Winner for Fiction is

Luna

By Strider S.R. Klusman

Our First ever Grand Prize Cover Design Award Winner for Non-Fiction is

Teaching in the Dark

By Genét Simone

We have badges 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.

The 2024 CIBA Grand Prize Winners!

Make sure your Award 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, Finalist, First Place, Division Grand Prize, or Overall Grand Prize Winner

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.
The Overall Grand Prize Winner for the 2024 CIBAs was Reenita Malhotra Hora‘s Book Vermilion Harvest: Playtime at the Bagh

The esteemed WRITER Magazine (founded in 1887) has repeatedly recognized the Chanticleer Authors Conference as one of the best conferences to attend and participate in for North America.

See Non-Fiction, Series, and Shorts Grand Prize Winners here!

See the Official Overall Grand Prize winner Post here!

You can see all our Amazing Finalists below:

2024 Fiction Finalists

2024 Non-Fiction Finalists

2024 Shorts and Series Finalists

Well done climbing the CIBA Levels of Achievement!

PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!

Attn CIBA Winners: More goodies and prizes will be coming your way along with promotion in our magazine, website, and advertisements in Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards long-tail marketing strategy. Welcome to the CIBA Hall of Fame for Award Winners!

This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the Facebook post. However, for Facebook to allow us to tag an author, that author must LIKE our page and Follow Chanticleer Reviews.

Please click here to visit our page to LIKE, COMMENT, and SHARE on Facebook.

A Note to ALL the WINNERS: The coveted CIBA Blue Ribbons will be mailed out starting in May. We will contact you with an email to verify your mailing address and other items. You will receive an OFFICIAL EMAIL NOTIFICATION with Digital Badges and more information.

Thank you for participating in the 2024 CIBAs! We are looking forward to reading your future entries.

The Chanticleer Team
April 25, 2025
The 2024 CIBAs Grand Prize Winners for Fiction!
A Huge Congratulations to all of the 2024 Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards (CIBAs) FICTION Division Grand Prize Winners!

Every tier of the CIBAs is an important one, though few rise to be one of the coveted Division Grand Prize Winners.
- See Non-Fiction, Series, Shorts, and brand new Chanticleer Cover Design (CCDA) Grand Prize Winners here!
- See the Official Overall Grand Prize Winner Post here!
This post has links to each of the 16 individual CIBA FICTION Divisions’ Grand Prize and First Place Category Winners. We will have a separate post for Non-Fiction Award Winners which will include the Shorts Awards, and the Series Awards’ winners.

All First Place and Grand Prize winners were announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference at the CIBAs Ceremonies on Saturday, April 5that the Chanticleer Banquet. It is a huge honor for us to have the opportunity to recognize all Finalists, First Place Winners, and Grand Prize Winners with you live and in-person!

Let’s take a step back and look at where we came from to make this happen.

Want to join in the fun? Submit to the 2025 CIBAs today!

Now, presenting the links to the 2024 CIBA Fiction Division Awards Grand Prize Winners!

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 CYGNUS Awards for Science Fiction is:

Ares

By Jayson Adams

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 OZMA Awards is:

A Circle of Stars

By Erin Lark Maples

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 SHELLEY Awards is:

The Time-Marked Warlock

By Shami Stovall

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 GLOBAL THRILLER Awards is:

A Blanket of Steel: The Rise of Oceania

By Timothy S. Johnston

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 CLUE Awards is:

Enemies Domestic

By John DeDakis

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 Mystery & Mayhem Awards is:

If Two Are Dead

by Jeanne Matthews

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 DANTE ROSSETTI Awards is:

The Realm of Gods

by Glen Dahlgren

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 GERTRUDE WARNER Awards is:

Back to Bainbridge

by Norah Lally

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 LITTLE PEEPS Awards is:

Island Moon

by Ruth Amanda

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 LARAMIE Awards is:

Sarita

by Natalie Musgrave Dossett

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 CHAUCER Awards is:

Maid of Honour

Anne Boleyn at Margaret of Austria’s Court

by Rozsa Gaston

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 GOETHE Awards is:

Abigail’s Song

by Alina Rubin

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 Hemingway Book Awards is:

Of White Ashes

by Constance Hays Matsumoto and Kent Matsumoto

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 CHATELAINE Book Awards is:

The Key

by Jo Morgan Sloan

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 HUMOR & SATIRE Awards is:

The Man Who Saw Seconds

by Alexander Boldizar

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 SOMERSET Awards is:

Vermilion Harvest: Playtime at the Bagh

by Reenita Malhotra Hora

We have badges 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.

Make sure your Award 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, Finalist, First Place, Division Grand Prize, or Overall Grand Prize Winner

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.

The Overall Grand Prize Winner for the 2024 CIBAs was Reenita Malhotra Hora‘s Book Vermilion Harvest: Playtime at the Bagh

The esteemed WRITER Magazine (founded in 1887) has repeatedly recognized the Chanticleer Authors Conference as one of the best conferences to attend and participate in for North America.
See Non-Fiction, Series, and Shorts Grand Prize Winners here!

See the Official Overall Grand Prize winner Post here!

You can see all our Amazing Finalists below:

2024 Fiction Finalists

2024 Non-Fiction Finalists

2024 Shorts and Series Finalists
Well done climbing the CIBA Levels of Achievement!

PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!

Attn CIBA Winners: More goodies and prizes will be coming your way along with promotion in our magazine, website, and advertisements in Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards long-tail marketing strategy. Welcome to the CIBA Hall of Fame for Award Winners!

This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the Facebook post. However, for Facebook to allow us to tag an author, that author must LIKE our page and Follow Chanticleer Reviews.

Please click here to visit our page to LIKE, COMMENT, and SHARE on Facebook.

A Note to ALL the WINNERS: The coveted CIBA Blue Ribbons will be mailed out starting in May. We will contact you with an email to verify your mailing address and other items. You will receive an OFFICIAL EMAIL NOTIFICATION with Digital Badges and more information.

Thank you for participating in the 2024 CIBAs! We are looking forward to reading your future entries.

The Chanticleer Team
April 25, 2025
STAYING MARRIED Is The HARDEST PART: a Memoir of Passion, Secrets and Sacrifice by Bonnie Comfort – Memoirs, Marriage, Family

In her stunning and intimate memoir Staying Married is the Hardest Part: A Memoir of Passion, Secrets and Sacrifice, Bonnie Comfort takes readers on a decades-long journey of deep love, laughter, and the challenges of a long-term marriage, from first meeting her husband Bob in the late 1970s until his death in 2010.

Throughout their life together, Bonnie and Bob have their fair share of disagreements—including where to live—but the main conflict within their marriage centers around their conflicting sexual needs and preferences.

As a professional psychologist, Bonnie shows the highs and lows of her marriage to Bob, contrasted by her job of helping others with their emotional and relationship problems. Bonnie and Bob’s committed love for one another makes staying married both the hardest and easiest part of their lives regardless of what challenges come their way.

Staying Married is the Hardest Part also follows the complicated relationship between a mother and a daughter, and how it intersects with Bonnie’s marriage.

Bonnie’s mother struggles to come to terms with her own decision to move from her beloved Southern California home to Canada in 1934 for the sake of her marriage. The disappointment Bonnie’s mother feels in her life choice creates conflict when Bonnie moves to Los Angeles as a young adult to follow her own dreams.

Over the years, mother and daughter come to slowly understand each other, especially when Bob decides he wants to move and Bonnie fights to stay in LA. When the move doesn’t happen, Bob spends more and more time in a small town in Oregon.

Bonnie recounts both marriage and maternal bonds beautifully in a way that touches many families’ experiences.

The passages on Bonnie’s relationship with her mother are extraordinarily moving, as any child can relate to comparing their life to a parent’s, and the sacrifices made to follow a dream.

Bob comes off as quite the character, fitting someone who worked in Hollywood. His infectious humor and love for life fill the pages with engaging levity. But what Bonnie illustrates throughout the memoir is that everyone has flaws, and the choice to stay with someone means asking yourself if you can accept those flaws for the sake of the love and laughter that comes with them.

Bonnie Comfort’s Staying Married is the Hardest Part: a Memoir of Passion, Secrets and Sacrifice navigates the wild seas of married life to reveal its profound rewards. Avid readers of memoirs and contemporary fiction will find much to love about this engaging journey.

Also available at: Simon & Schuster, Barnes & Noble, Target, Bookshop.org and Apple Books

April 25, 2025
The 2024 SOMERSET Book Award WINNERS for Literary and Contemporary Fiction
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 final judging rounds.

1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners were announced at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony by Alexander Boldizar on Saturday, April 5th, 2025 at the Bellingham Yacht Club in Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2025 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

This is the OFFICIAL 2024 LIST of the SOMERSET BOOK AWARDS First Place Category Winners and the SOMERSET Grand Prize Winner.

Join us in celebrating the following award-winning authors and their works in the 2024 CIBAs.
- Robert Gwaltney – Sing Down the Moon
- Ann Bancroft – Almost Family
- Christina Boyd – Woman in the Painting
- Kay Smith-Blum – Tangles
- Anthony Horton – Unpaved
- Erika Shepard – Abomination Child
- Leslie DeBrock – The Frog-Eyed Gospel, A Texas Exodus
The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 SOMERSET Awards is:

Vermilion Harvest: Playtime at the Bagh

by Reenita Malhotra Hora

You can see all of our amazing 2024 Somerset Finalists! Congratulations to all and thank you for submitting!

Well done climbing the CIBA Levels of Achievement!

PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!

Attn CIBA Winners: More goodies and prizes will be coming your way along with promotion in our magazine, website, and advertisements in Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards long-tail marketing strategy. Welcome to the CIBA Hall of Fame for Award Winners!

This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the Facebook post. However, for Facebook to allow us to tag an author, that author must LIKE our page and Follow Chanticleer Reviews.

Please click here to visit our page to LIKE, COMMENT, and SHARE on Facebook. Our handle is @ChantiReviews

A Note to ALL the WINNERS: The coveted CIBA Blue Ribbons will be mailed out starting in May. We will contact you with an email to verify your mailing address and other items. You will receive an OFFICIAL EMAIL NOTIFICATION with Digital Badges and more information.

NOTE: We will post at least two 2024 CIBA Divisions’ OFFICIAL Winners per business day starting April 14, 2025. We do a final sweep and reconciliation prior to making the Official CIBA Posts for the 2024 First Place and Grand Prize Winners. We thank you in advance for your patience and understanding. There are many moving parts involved with the Chanticleer International Book Awards Program.

Thank you for participating in the 2024 CIBAs! We are looking forward to reading your future entries.

The Chanticleer Team
April 24, 2025
The 2024 JOURNEY Book Awards WINNERS for Overcoming Adversity in Narrative Non-Fiction
The Journey Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Overcoming Adversity in Narrative Non-Fiction and Memoir. The Journey Book Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (CIBAs).

Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring true stories about adventures, life events, unique experiences, travel, personal journeys, global enlightenment, and more. See our full list of Non-Fiction Divisions here.

1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners were announced at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony by Erika Shepard on Saturday, April 5th, 2025 at the Bellingham Yacht Club in beautiful Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2025 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

This is the OFFICIAL 2024 LIST of

the JOURNEY BOOK AWARDS First Place Category Winners

and the JOURNEY Grand Prize Winner.

Join us in celebrating the following award-winning authors and their works in the 2024 CIBAs.
- Kirsten Throneberry – Guided: Lost Love, Hidden Realms, and the Open Road
- Jennifer Gasner – My Unexpected Life: Finding Balance Beyond My Diagnosis
- Anne Gately – Sunburnt: A Memoir of Sun, Surf and Skin Cancer
- Rachael Siddoway and Sonja Wasden – An Impossible Life: A True Story of Hope and Mental Illness
- Lindsey Henke – When Skies Are Gray
- Claudia Marseille – But You Look So Normal: Lost and Found in a Hearing World
The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 JOURNEY Awards is:

Unfollow Me

By Kathryn Caraway

You can see all of our amazing 2024 Journey Finalists! Congratulations to all and thank you for submitting!

Well done climbing the CIBA Levels of Achievement!

PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!

Attn CIBA Winners: More goodies and prizes will be coming your way along with promotion in our website, social media posts, and advertisements in Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards long-tail marketing strategy. Welcome to the new CIBA Hall of Fame for Divsion Award Winners!

This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the Facebook post. However, for Facebook to allow us to tag an author, that author must LIKE our page and Follow Chanticleer Reviews.

Please click here to visit our page to LIKE, COMMENT, and SHARE on Facebook. Our handle is @ChantiReviews

A Note to ALL the WINNERS: The coveted CIBA Blue Ribbons will be mailed out starting in May. We will email you in the next few weeks with an email to verify your mailing address and other items. You will receive an OFFICIAL EMAIL NOTIFICATION with Digital Badges and more information. To receive your CIBA Blue Ribbon Package, you must reply to the email that verifies your address and contact information.

NOTE: We will post at least two 2024 CIBA Divisions’ OFFICIAL Winners per business day starting April 14, 2025. We do a final sweep and reconciliation prior to making the Official CIBA Posts for the 2024 First Place and Grand Prize Winners. We thank you in advance for your patience and understanding. There are many moving parts involved with the Chanticleer International Book Awards Program. If you have any questions, please email either Kiffer Brown at KBrown@ChantiReviews.com or DBeaumier@ChantiReviews.com. We also have a Support Desk at Info@ChantiReviews.com

Snail Mail:

Chanticleer Reviews, LLC

1050 Larrabee Ave
Suite 104 #334
Bellingham, WA, 98225
United States

Thank you for participating in the 2024 CIBAs! We are looking forward to reading your future entries.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Team Chanticleer
April 24, 2025
The 2024 Book Series Award WINNERS for Genre Fiction
The CIBA FICTION SERIES Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in any of our 16 Fiction Divisions where the author has written a series. The Fiction Series Book Awards is a division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (CIBAs).

Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs) is seeking for the best book series in all of its fifteen fiction divisions: Mysteries, Suspense Thrillers, Espionage/High Stakes, Young Adult, Middle-Grade Readers, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Supernatural and Paranormal, Romance, Historical Fiction.

1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners were announced at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony by David Fitz-Gerald on Saturday, April 5th, 2025 at the Bellingham Yacht Club in beautiful Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2025 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

This is the OFFICIAL 2024 LIST of the SERIES BOOK AWARDS First Place Category Winners and the M&M Grand Prize Winner.

Join us in congratulating the following award-winning authors and their works in the CIBAs

Middle Grade Fiction
- Karen Inglis – Secret Lake Mystery Adventures
YA Fantasy
- Glen Dahlgren – The Chronicles of Chaos
Late Historical Fiction
- Sandra Wagner-Wright – Salem Stories
Historical Young Adult
- Taryn R. Hutchison – A Cold War Trilogy
Cozy Mysteries
- Kari Bovee – The Pryce of Murder
20th Century Wartime Fiction
- J.L. Oakley – The Jossing series
High Stakes Suspense
- Ralph R. “Rick” Steinke – Jake Fortina Series
HUMOR & SATIRE
- Mike Murphey – Tales of Physics, Lust and Greed
Romantic Fiction
- Rose Prendeville – Brides of Chattan
The Grand Prize Winner for the 2024 SERIES Awards is:

A Vengeful Realm

by Tim Facciola

You can see all of our amazing 2024 Series Finalists! Congratulations to all and thank you for submitting!

Well done climbing the CIBA Levels of Achievement!

PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!

Attn CIBA Winners: More goodies and prizes will be coming your way along with promotion in our magazine, website, and advertisements in Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards long-tail marketing strategy. Welcome to the CIBA Hall of Fame for Award Winners!

This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the Facebook post. However, for Facebook to allow us to tag an author, that author must LIKE our page and Follow Chanticleer Reviews.

Please click here to visit our page to LIKE, COMMENT, and SHARE on Facebook. Our handle is @ChantiReviews

A Note to ALL the WINNERS: The coveted CIBA Blue Ribbons will be mailed out starting in May. We will contact you with an email to verify your mailing address and other items. You will receive an OFFICIAL EMAIL NOTIFICATION with Digital Badges and more information.

NOTE: We will post at least two 2024 CIBA Divisions’ OFFICIAL Winners per business day starting April 14, 2025. We do a final sweep and reconciliation prior to making the Official CIBA Posts for the 2023 First Place and Grand Prize Winners. We thank you in advance for your patience and understanding. There are many moving parts involved with the Chanticleer International Book Awards Program.

Thank you for participating in the 2024 CIBAs! We are looking forward to reading your future entries.

The Chanticleer Team
April 23, 2025
The 2024 HEMINGWAY Book Awards WINNERS for 20th Century Wartime Fiction
The Hemingway Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works for 20th Century Wartime Fiction. The Hemingway Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).

The Hemingway Book Awards competition is named for Ernest Hemingway who was born July 21, 1899

Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring 20th Century Wartime Fiction in Historical Fiction; Romance and Romantic Fiction; Mysteries, Thrillers, and Suspense Fiction of the time; Literary works and Satire and anything else that author imaginations can dream up for the HEMINGWAY Book Awards division. For Post-1750s Historical Fiction, see our Goethe Awards here.

1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners were announced at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony by Conan Parks on Saturday, April 5th, 2025 at the Bellingham Yacht Club in Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2025 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

This is the OFFICIAL 2024 LIST of the HEMINGWAY BOOK AWARDS First Place Category Winners and the HEMINGWAY Grand Prize Winner.

Join us in celebrating the following award-winning authors and their works in the 2024 CIBAs.
- R L Pace – Rising Son
- Katherine Koch – The Sower of Black Field: Inspired by the True Story of an American in Nazi Germany
- Tim Turner and Moisey Gorbaty – The Reluctant Conductor
- Kay Smith-Blum – Tangles
- Kathryn Gauci – Midnight in Istanbul
- Travis Davis – One of Four: World War One Through the Eyes of an Unknown Soldier
- Bharati Sen – My War, My Child
- H. W. “Buzz” Bernard – When Heroes Flew
The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 Hemingway Book Awards is:

Of White Ashes

by Constance Hays Matsumoto & Kent Matsumoto

You can see all of our amazing 2024 Hemingway Finalists! Congratulations to all and thank you for submitting!

Well done climbing the CIBA Levels of Achievement!

PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!

Attn CIBA Winners: More goodies and prizes will be coming your way along with promotion in our magazine, website, and advertisements in Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards long-tail marketing strategy. Welcome to the CIBA Hall of Fame for Award Winners!

This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the Facebook post. However, for Facebook to allow us to tag an author, that author must LIKE our page and Follow Chanticleer Reviews.

Please click here to visit our page to LIKE, COMMENT, and SHARE on Facebook. Our handle is @ChantiReviews

A Note to ALL the WINNERS: The coveted CIBA Blue Ribbons will be mailed out starting in May. We will contact you with an email to verify your mailing address and other items. You will receive an OFFICIAL EMAIL NOTIFICATION with Digital Badges and more information.

NOTE: We will post at least two 2024 CIBA Divisions’ OFFICIAL Winners per business day starting April 14, 2025. We do a final sweep and reconciliation prior to making the Official CIBA Posts for the 2024 First Place and Grand Prize Winners. We thank you in advance for your patience and understanding. There are many moving parts involved with the Chanticleer International Book Awards Program.

Thank you for participating in the 2024 CIBAs! We are looking forward to reading your future entries.

The Chanticleer Team
April 23, 2025
The 2024 CIBAs I&I WINNERS for Instructional and Insightful Non-Fiction
The I & I Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in Instruction and Insight non-fiction that are self-help, how-to, guides, or explanatory. In non-fiction works, the author assumes responsibility (in good faith) for the truth, accuracy, people, places, or information presented. The I & I Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).

Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best Instruction and Insight books featuring How-To, Guidance, Travel Guides, Cookbooks, Self-Help, and more. We will put books about true and inspiring stories to the test and choose the best among them. See our full list of Non-Fiction Divisions here.

1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners were announced at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony by Leslie Liautaud on Saturday, April 5th, 2025 at the Bellingham Yacht Club in beautiful Bellingham, Wash. The CIBA Banquet and Ceremonies were sponsored by the 2025 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

This is the OFFICIAL 2024 LIST of the I&I BOOK AWARDS for Instruction & Insight First Place Category Winners and the I&I Grand Prize Winner.

Join us in celebrating the following authors and their works in the 2024 CIBAs.
- Margaret C Beeler – Tropetails: A Cocktail and Mocktail Book for Bookworms
- Tania Israel – Facing the Fracture How To Navigate the Challenges of Living in a Divided Nation
- Katherine Fabrizio – The Good Daughter Syndrome: Help For Empathic Daughters of Narcissistic, Borderline, or Difficult Mothers Trapped in the Role of the Good Daughter
- Bob Dahms, MBA, CPA, CMA – Let’s Talk About This: 50 Things You Need to Know About Starting and Managing a Small Business
- Douglas A. Burton – The Heroine’s Labyrinth: Archetypal Designs in Heroine-Led Fiction
- Jacqui Clarke – Stop Worrying about Money
The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 I&I Awards is:

Success with Hydrangeas a Gardener’s Guide

by Lorraine Ballato

You can see all of our amazing 2024 I&I Finalists! Congratulations to all and thank you for submitting!
Well done climbing the CIBA Levels of Achievement!

PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!

Attn CIBA Winners: More goodies and prizes will be coming your way along with promotion in our magazine, website, and advertisements in Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards long-tail marketing strategy. Welcome to the CIBA Hall of Fame for Award Winners!

This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the Facebook post. However, for Facebook to allow us to tag an author, that author must LIKE our page and Follow Chanticleer Reviews.

Please click here to visit our page to LIKE, COMMENT, and SHARE on Facebook. Our handle is @ChantiReviews

A Note to ALL the WINNERS: The coveted CIBA Blue Ribbons will be mailed out starting in May. We will contact you with an email to verify your mailing address and other items. You will receive an OFFICIAL EMAIL NOTIFICATION with Digital Badges and more information.

NOTE: We will post at least two 2024 CIBA Divisions’ OFFICIAL Winners per business day starting April 14, 2025. We do a final sweep and reconciliation prior to making the Official CIBA Posts for the 2023 First Place and Grand Prize Winners. We thank you in advance for your patience and understanding. There are many moving parts involved with the Chanticleer International Book Awards Program.

Thank you for participating in the 2023 CIBAs! We are looking forward to reading your future entries.

The Chanticleer Team
April 23, 2025
CLEAVE The SPARROW by Jonathan Katz – Political Satire, Existentialism, Absurdist Fiction

Cleave the Sparrow by Jonathan Katz blends political satire, existential philosophy, and absurd humor to immerse readers in a complex, surreal dystopian narrative.

Tom is a reluctant political candidate stuck on the blurred line between truth and power. His mentor, Crick—a controversial figure for his political views—has an ultimate goal in mind that pulls Tom into its wake. Believing in the limitation of human perception and the illusory nature of the world, Crick endeavors to destroy a ‘cosmic projector’ that he supposes fabricates this false reality.

Cleave the Sparrow charts a course where Tom, as Crick’s successor, follows his holotapes to carry out this dream, plunging into political and scientific conspiracy and moral dilemmas—opening an unexplored trail to time travel, quantum mechanics, and existential dread.

With Crick’s plan thrusting Tom onto a risky and unpredictable path, he scrambles to navigate fanatical beliefs and ideological purity, which ominously signal self-destruction.

Plato’s allegory of the cave is the foundation behind Crick’s philosophy. Crick embodies Plato’s escaped prisoner, emphasizing the fluidity of reality and challenging social constructs and enforced limitations. Crick’s beliefs invite one to reimagine reality, to step beyond and explore the unknown.

Cleave the Sparrow is a powerful and darkly comedic critique of modern politics and media.

Politicians prioritize public perception and media manipulation over forming policies. Characters such as First Lady Kardashian, along with several over-the-top scenarios—a candidate’s affair with a coffee machine and robot President Microchip—satirize the current absurdity of politics and society.

A constant tug-of-war between free will and fate stands out among this story’s themes, explored through concepts of time travel and quantum mechanics.

Tom is aware that his every action and decision is part of a predetermined cosmic design. But with the equally forceful presence of time travel, is he capable of altering his destiny.

Stream-of-consciousness prose provides an intimate window into Tom’s psyche, whose inner monologues—filled to the brim with nervous energy and wry observations—add to his persona as a relatable but unreliable narrator. The growing complexity of Tom’s journey, political machinations, and betrayals mirror the story’s surreal, fragmented intensity.

Existential horror, political satire, and absurd comedy in perfect harmony, Cleave the Sparrow pulls readers out of their comfort zone into a realm demanding constant introspection.

Along the lines of George Orwell’s 1984 and Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Jonathan Katz’s Cleave the Sparrow is an entry into a whirlwind of philosophy and science—a cosmic dystopia that oscillates between dread and contemplation, or both in tandem.

April 23, 2025
Using Subtle Character Development Hints to Bring your Story to LIFE from the desk of Dena Weigel

Hands down, my favorite introduction to a character in film is The Dude in the Cohen Brother’s movie The Big Lebowski.

Every writer loves a well-rounded, compelling character—someone who leaps off the page and sticks with readers long after they’ve finished the book. One of the best examples of effective character development comes from The Big Lebowski. Picture The Dude strolling through a Ralph’s grocery store, dressed in a rumpled bathrobe and flip-flops, sipping from a carton of half-and-half to complete his White Russian. In just a few moments, we learn so much about him: his unapologetically laid-back attitude, his focus on his own rules, and his quiet contentment. All this information comes to us without a single word of backstory—just actions and subtle hints.

This is the magic of character development—the small gestures and details that reveal volumes about who your character is, what they want, and how they’ll react to the world. The best characters are those whose personalities are woven into every action, interaction, and detail of their lives, making them feel real and relatable to your readers.

Subtle hints provide big insights into your character development

Small details often provide the biggest insights into your character’s psyche, helping to flesh them out and give them a depth that pulls readers in. These subtleties don’t just make a character more intriguing—they’re also key to driving your plot forward. The more authentic these details feel, the more invested readers will become.

When done well, these tiny shifts in behavior create momentum, showing the growth or change of a character throughout the story. As a writer, learning to incorporate these subtle cues is an essential tool in your character development toolkit.

Here are six ways you can use subtle character hints to bring your characters to life:

The hidden story elements you can use to elevate your character development

1. Micro-Expressions

A character’s fleeting facial expressions, like a twitch of the lips or a nervous glance, reveal deeper emotional layers. Holden Caulfield, in The Catcher in the Rye, provides a prime example of this. He describes giving “one of those small, tight smiles” that he uses when feeling depressed. This simple smile conveys more than words could—an inner turmoil, a quiet judgment. Readers understand immediately that Holden’s smile isn’t friendly, but one of disapproval, adding to the complexity of his character.

2. Body Language

Body language can speak volumes about a character’s true intentions. In The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby’s posture—always confident, open, and engaging—helps him project the image of wealth and success he craves. His body language becomes a mask for the character’s insecurities and hidden desires, which is later revealed throughout the story. This subtle communication between the character’s physical presence and the story’s underlying themes enhances the depth of the narrative.

3. Vocal Cues

The way a character speaks—whether their pitch rises in excitement or drops with dread—can provide a clear indication of their emotions and intentions. In Lord of the Flies, Jack’s chilling chant “Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood,” escalates as he and the others embrace violence. The shifting rhythm in their chant exemplifies their descent into savagery, a profound transformation in character and group dynamics.

4. Choice of Words

A character’s speech patterns reveal their background, social status, and education level. In The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain’s use of dialect and slang not only brings his characters to life but also defines the social boundaries within the story. By using specific phrases and informal speech, Twain highlights the differences between his characters, revealing much about their social class and personalities.

5. Habits and Mannerisms

Every character has habits or quirks that can offer insight into their personality. Whether it’s a nervous tick or a consistent routine, these traits can help define who they are. In Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the White Rabbit is always checking his watch, embodying the character’s anxiety and obsession with time. This simple habit reinforces his role as a frantic, disorganized figure, adding another layer to the story.

6. Reactions to Others

A character’s response to someone else can be just as telling as their actions. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Nurse Ratched’s subtle shift in her facial expression—a tightening of the mouth and a sharp look—signals that Randle McMurphy has crossed a line. His own response—initial shock followed by anger—reveals the underlying tension in their relationship and foreshadows the power struggle to come.

Final Thoughts: Layering Character Development Subtext

Subtle details make your character development more engaging and dynamic. The magic lies in how these hints are carefully woven into the fabric of your story. Each gesture, word, or expression adds depth and complexity, bringing your characters to life and allowing readers to connect with them on a deeper level. By understanding the nuances of character development, you’ll be able to create unforgettable characters that linger in the minds of your readers long after they turn the final page.

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Writer’s Toolbox

Thank you for reading this Chanticleer Writer’s Toolbox article.

Writers Toolbox a few more Helpful Links:

The INCITING INCIDENT: STORY, SETBACKS and SURPRISES for the PROTAGONIST – A Writer’s Toolbox Series from Jessica Morrell’s Editor’s Desk

ESSENCE of CHARACTERS – Part One – From the Jessica Morrell’s Editor’s Desk – Writer’s Toolbox Series

April 22, 2025