Marianne Marlowe’s memoir, Portrait of a Feminist, reveals the evolution of her feminism through a collection of thought-provoking essays.
“I would say, if it were possible, I was born a feminist” is at the heart of Marlowe’s story. She relates to this defining identity throughout years spent in Peru, California, and Ecuador, where she navigates childhood, marriage, motherhood, and a professional career.
The section titles reflect periods in Marlowe’s life that correspond to nature’s rhythms—“Seeds Planted”, “The Growing Years”, “Maturation”, and “Harvesting”—and maintain strong connections between her thematically-linked experiences.
As a Peruvian American woman, Marlowe navigates the concepts of gender, race, and culture from a personal and critical point of view.
In one instance, Marlowe feels pressured by her family to adopt the perspective that men can’t be expected to be faithful. When her adulterous cousin attempts to buy back his wife’s affection with a gold Rolex, the wife divorces him. Although Marlowe feels guilty for betraying her family’s beliefs, she ultimately finds satisfaction with this conclusion to her cousin’s marriage. Marlowe’s use of Spanish dialogue also lends authenticity and cultural flair to her work.
Marlowe approaches meaningful topics from domestic abuse and inequality in marriage to definitions of beauty and women’s rights—or lack thereof—in patriarchal religions, contextualizing them within her observations and her interactions with family, friends, and strangers. This grounded approach makes her writing both candid and intimate.
As teacher and mentor to a new generation, Marlowe’s ideals come full circle as she challenges readers to reflect on the principles of feminism and their continued evolution in today’s society.
From deciding whether or not to take her husband’s surname in marriage to the stress of raising two boys who will eventually leave home to face a world enmeshed in inequality, Marlowe’s smart and sobering writing urges us forward to fight for an important caus`e.
For those drawn to deeply personal memoirs that evoke a nuanced understanding of male and female equality, Portrait of a Feminist proves a rich and rewarding experience.”
For many generations of children, their first introduction into the world of the Western genre is through The Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Born in the “Big Woods” of Wisconsin, Laura spent her youth traveling across the great American prairie in a covered wagon. She watched as her father was the first to break ground on their Kansas farm and followed the construction of a railroad across the Dakotas. Laura lived an iconic American life, and lucky for us, she created stories from those memories and gave us a beloved children’s series.
Laura Ingalls was born on February 7, 1867. Today, that would make her 158 years old. Our own Dena Weigel was one of the children influenced and inspired by Ingalls, and we are delighted to have her share what she learned about the Western genre from Ingalls’ work. So cozy up around the fire and join us as Dena takes us back in time to see the world as it once was when a child crossed the country in the back of a covered wagon.
Dramatic Surroundings
For me, the most meaningful part of Laura’s writing comes through in her talent for setting the stage. Colorful sunsets, the smell of an approaching storm, or the screech of a panther as it pursues it’s prey—Laura had a special talent for describing her surroundings. Likely, that comes from years of “being the eyes” for her blind sister, Mary.
Perfect for young readers, she wrote simple sentences that didn’t condescend, and sprinkled them with slightly uncommon, but more specific, words for them to learn. It wasn’t just a pink sky; it was a salmon-colored streak across a lavender sky. For a young reader and future writer, this illustrated that word choice is impactful in both meaning and substance. It adds to the meaning of the sentence, but it also adds to the feeling the sentence provokes in the reader.
The Ingalls Family (left to right): Caroline, Grace, Laura, Charles, Carrie and Mary
Colorful Characters
The cast of characters in Laura’s stories follow the traditional hallmarks for the Western genre, enhanced by the unique voice of the protagonist.
Until this point, most imagery for the Wild West featured cowboys, gunslingers, and bounty hunters, but in the Little House series it is Laura, a girl the age of four to around eighteen throughout the series, who offers a new voice and a new perspective. That’s just the start of what makes her Little House books so special.
Given the time period, most Westerns have limited space for female characters. Teachers, wives, sex workers, and the stray “wild” woman are about all the fairer sex can claim in this genre that’s frozen in time. Laura offers something new. The main protagonist is a spunky girl with complex thoughts and a yearning for adventure. Through her experience we get a new perspective in this very familiar genre.
Ingalls rethought more than just women on the page. Other more typical Western characters set the stage for interesting challenges and interactions. Settlers, Native Americans, and townspeople bring a variety of conflict, wants, and needs that make Westerns so relatable more than a century after the era.
The differences in society’s understanding of prejudices do stand out at times in Laura’s books, and there is much worthwhile commentary on her writing. While they undeniably exist, during Laura’s day they were, sadly, common. She wrote about these controversial moments in a way that doesn’t question it, but she does present the separation of cultures that were a part of our country’s commonly accepted ethics at the time.
Exciting Plotlines
Raging rivers, fierce tornados, and roving bandits all show up in the Little House series. Always miles from the civilized world, there is plenty of opportunity to up the ante with intense plotlines. But there’s also the gentle spirit of a loving family to be a counter balance to the sudden, jarring, dangerous experiences each book brings to the table.
Reading them as a child, I often missed the level of danger Laura and her family experienced, but as an adult I understand the seriousness of the glances her parents shared when they talked of a week long blizzard or their rush to put out a prairie fire. The family was nearly murdered, almost starved to death, and much worse during their nomadic years, and Laura handles all these events with the soft truth a child requires.
Action! Action! Action!
When you think of Westerns, you think action. In the saddle, in the saloon, and on the farm. While Laura doesn’t take us into the saloon, she does provide us with the action you’d expect from a Western. Her father stands up against an angry mob while working as a railroad paymaster. A bully gets what she deserves when Laura drives her into a leech infested creek. And we see Laura racing at breakneck speed on a bareback horse across the open prairie. If your child likes the freedom you’d expect in the Wild West, Laura’s stories are a great choice. She’s bold, she’s adventurous, and she represents a childhood that both boys and girls will be excited to read about.
Just like Laura, I grew up on the Kansas prairie and the Little House series often captured many of the things I experienced there. The sound of a meadowlark in the morning, cooking over campfires, and watching as a sunset lights up the evening sky. For young readers, the Little House series continues to open the door to the beautiful landscapes, wily characters, and amazing adventures that fans of the Western genre yearn for as they ride off into the sunset.
Happy birthday, Laura Ingalls Wilder!
Thank you for introducing me to the beautiful, untamed world of Western literature.
Are you looking for a reading adventure for your children? We encourage you to dig into stories written by these Chanticleer authors.
Exostar Rae Knightly
Grand Prize Winner of the CIBA Gertrude Warner award
It has been said that “the Golden Age of Science Fiction is twelve.” Rae Knightly’s Sci-Fi adventure,Exostar,embodies this childlike sense of wonder that the best of the genre evokes in its readers.
Twelve-year-old child-robot Trinket takes off on a rocketing spaceship straight towards danger and excitement, with the mostly able assistance of the blue-furred spy and saboteur Woolver Talandrin. Trinket is searching for identity—as all the best young science fiction protagonists do. Woolver is trying to bring down an evil empire—as all the other best science fiction protagonists do.
Together they’ve been thrust into the kind of epic tale that is guaranteed to keep young readers on the edge of their seats—including the twelve-year-old that lurks inside every science fiction fan.
In Alisse Goldberg’s engaging young adult mystery, The Ghost in the Garden, a curious 11-year-old must face the challenges of moving to a new city, losing old friends, making new ones, and encountering historic specters in her new home.
Sophie Madison seems none too happy about her recent move from the bustling city of Calgary, Ablerta to the smaller, quieter landscape of Stratford, Ontario. But upon arrival with her parents, she begins noticing the charm of the place, appearing like a step back in time. Their new house in particular catches her interest, with its tall turret topped by stained glass window panes where Sophie’s bedroom will be. In addition, the wild beauty of the backyard garden draws her in.
Soon, a mysterious blonde-headed girl named Tabitha appears in the garden.
Tommy Rocket and the Goober Patrolby Thomas R. Kuhn follows Nate, a young boy growing up in the 1970s, whose friendship with the kid genius robot builder, Tommy Rocket, leads him into mysterious adventures.
Tommy’s father invented the Prometheus chip that gives sentience to robots, and from a young age Tommy started creating a gang of robots called the Goober Patrol. Eccentric and wheelchair-bound, Tommy prefers to tinker with his robots at home. But he befriends Nate after he saves Tommy from bullies.
When Tommy’s aptly named ‘Monster-bot’ gets loose, Nate is tasked with finding and securing the rogue bot before anyone finds out. But the two boys soon find out there is more at work than one missing robot. There’s another tinkerer in town and they’re building their own special group of robots—which look just like one of Tommy’s creations. Nate and Tommy have to find out who has gotten their hands on the Prometheus chip before it’s too late.
In Sue C. Dugan’s middle grade adventure,Mayday: Land, Sea, and Air Series Book 2,thirteen-year-old Jessie and her father, Adam, take an unexpected detour when their plane crashes on a secluded island.
On their final vacation before Adam begins chemotherapy for thyroid cancer, Jessie and her father take off in their Cessna aircraft over the boundless, azure Atlantic Ocean. Jessie’s anxiety about her father’s health is on high-alert during the trip, especially when she remembers her mother’s cancerous death.
Twenty minutes into their flight, the sky grows gloomy, and the wind picks up speed from all sides.
If you’d like to loose yourself in tales of the Old West, we suggest these Chanticleer authors.
A Grave Every Mile, Book One of the Ghosts Along the Oregon Trail David Fitz-Gerald Grand Prize Winner of the CIBA Series award
Each day’s trumpet blasts the predawn quiet of the sleeping wagon train, demanding that its migrating families face what’s ahead, whether incredible scenery or mortal danger, in David Fitz-Gerald’sA Grave Every Mile.
This beautifully told story mixes adventure, survival, community, and history, all shown through the eyes of Dorcas, a feisty mother of four. She’s dreamed of hitting the trail to the storied West for so long, but much about this trip and their destination remains unknown.
Another wagon travels alongside hers. Who are they? Will they remain strangers, or become friends? Now that Dorcas stands with her family at the trail’s starting point and on the brink of changing their lives forever, a tremor of doubt surfaces about what lies ahead. Is her family strong enough to face their future? Will it be everything she and her husband hoped for? That future is 720,000 turns of the wagon wheels away, and there may beA Grave Every Mile. It all starts with that first pull by the team of oxen.
Guarded Hearts T.K. Conklin Grand Prize Winner of the CIBA Laramie award
Guarded Heartsby T K Conklin is a sensual romance in the Wild West, with all the passion and excitement natural to the setting.
Sparks fly between a man with an outlaw past and a woman with a terrifying gift to heal or harm. Strykes is a man haunted both by a violent childhood and his time in an outlaw gang. But he has found a place in Rimrock, where he met LaRisa, an auburn-haired woman whom the townspeople have labeled a “witch” due to her healing herbs and rumors of her “powers”.
LaRisa has kept her distance from people, afraid of her gift of healing touch that can turn dangerous, even deadly. But, when she comes to town to deliver her medicinal herbs, she makes her way to the livery with tasks for Strykes such as shoeing her horse or fixing a spring in her wagon. He is only too happy to oblige the auburn-haired beauty. The attraction between them is instantaneous, yet they both are hesitant to act on it, fearing they would hurt the other– he from his violent past, and she from her “witch” power.
Thank you for joining us in celebrating the legacy of Laura Ingalls Wilder!
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Thank you again to the authors who wrote these wonderful books!
In I Used to Be Shy, from the Carla Stories by Mike Mirabella and Lenny Lipton, Carla meets a nervous boy with physical disabilities at Camp Allbelong. Through their friendship, Carla helps him become confident enough to join in the camp games in this compassionate illustrated story about inclusion told through song.
We begin with Carla’s bright yellow light contrasting with the boy’s deep, lonely blue representation. As their friendship grows, those two colors begin to mix, becoming a vibrant green that paints the heartwarming, pastoral scenes of Camp Allbelong. When the boy joins his peers in the center of these illustrations, his blue color takes on a new tone that reflects the expansive sky in the background.
Amy O’Hanlon’s delightful illustrations show how one friendship can bloom to become a garden full of many relationships.
As Mirabella notes, children with disabilities, such as his and Lipton’s own two daughters, are often left out of social activities. The story’s message of making space for everyone shows through Carla, who befriends the boy and encourages him to open up to the other children. As a result, we can see how quickly his mood changes to excitement and friendliness. With the compassion of his fellow campers and accommodations made by the staff, he even joins games like kickball that could otherwise prove difficult for someone who needs crutches to walk.
I Used to Be Shy encourages readers to sing along with the playful lyrics by Lenny Lipton, composer of the classic Puff the Magic Dragon, as they follow this meaningful story of acceptance.
Written as a duet, this song is shown in easy-to-read colored text that reflects the characters’ emerging friendship, with each singer trading verses, then as alternating lines as the two characters connect with one another. Mirabella & Lipton’s lyrics create a back-and-forth rhyming scheme which makes this song particularly fun to sing with old or new friends. Sheet music in the back of the book provides readers with a way to learn this song– as well as a bonus song called “Little Brown Pony” using instruments.
I Used to Be Shy is a sweet tale about opening up to those around you and finding friendships that extend well beyond words alone. Inspired by the daughters of Mirabella & Lipton, this book is for any child who might share the boy’s shyness. A must-read showing how wonderful it is when we all belong.
From its very first page, Red Herrings Radio, from Gail Hulnick’s Media Mysteries series, evokes the classic mystery novels of days gone by. We meet protagonist Lillian on September 7, 1964, in the pre-dawn hours as she heads to work. The early shift at a bustling radio station may seem like excitement enough, but soon Lillian’s faced with unexpected and unpleasant thrills: there’s a dead body at work, and it’s one of her best friends.
Red Herrings Radio uses many elements of classic mystery, even down to the noir lighting of the early-morning streets. Yet it also diverges from mystery-novel tradition in interesting ways.
Unlike many older mystery books, it has not only a female sleuth, but a focus on the challenges and barriers faced by a woman in the 1960s. The book is studded with authentic period details, from Beatles mania and folk music to the Royal Tour and the World’s Fair. It also doesn’t shy away from the weightier topics of the era. As Lillian investigates Susan’s death, she finds herself grappling with looming issues like abortion and gender equality. Author Gail Hulnick gives these issues their due complexity, painting a realistic picture of the 1960s as an era of global change and growing pains.
Red Herrings Radio also breaks from mystery tradition by featuring a reluctant and inexperienced sleuth. Lillian’s no cop, though she’s certainly willing to work with the police if it’ll help her get answers about Susan’s untimely end. She doesn’t like being mixed up in the drama of investigating what’s starting to look like a murder. Still, her sense of duty to Susan’s memory overcomes her reluctance. When everyone else seems to be giving up on finding the answer, Lillian never quite lets go of hope.
The search takes Lillian to unexpected places and introduces her to unusual suspects. The doctor is hiding something, and the professor and ex-boyfriend too. Now her coworker is suddenly acting suspicious. Red Herrings Radio lives up to its name as it introduces a growing list of suspects, each with complex motivations. The more Lillian learns about Susan’s life, the stranger things get. As it turns out, her close friend wasn’t really that close after all. Did Susan’s own secrets lead to her murder?
Alongside the mystery, this is also a tale of female friendship.
Lillian starts enlisting her and Susan’s mutual friends in the investigation but starts to feel resentful as she learns she’s been left out of Susan’s major life events. Susan even had a mysterious new boyfriend who Lillian didn’t know about. As she navigates both betrayal and loss, Lillian must grow through these challenges. For her, forgiving the friends who’ve apparently shut her out is almost as big a challenge as the unofficial murder investigation.
Along the way, Lillian’s career grows too. She deftly navigates barriers at work, beginning to outshine her more-experienced colleagues and landing choice reporting assignments. Readers get a fascinating inside look at the 1960s media industry.
As the radio station sends Lillian to exciting places like the New York World’s Fair, she sneaks in opportunities to continue sleuthing. Cold War tensions are running high, and the appearance of several stern and mysterious Russians further complicates Lillian’s investigation. She has countless leads, but no certainty. Though she finds a helpful police officer who’s willing to listen, she has little to offer him. In the end, Lillian must face the fact that she cares more about the investigation than anyone else, even the professionals.
Maybe it’s because she saw Susan’s lifeless body that morning at work. Maybe it’s a desire to redeem her place in a circle of friends who have grown apart. Whatever it is, Lillian can’t quite bring herself to let go.
This book moves fast. While there are points where it would have been nice to slow the action and delve deeper into Lillian’s complex life, Red Herrings Radio rewards its readers well in the end. When things look most hopeless for her investigation, the novel takes an unexpected leap.
Lillian’s answers don’t come when she wants them to, but through patience, attention, and a willingness to forgive, she at last has a chance to put the pieces together. What she discovers is shocking, yet strangely inspiring: solving the mystery also reveals something crucial about Susan’s character. Red Herrings Radio by Gail Hulnick is an excellent read for anyone looking for approachable thrills, unexpected twists, and an intelligent lens on history and human connection.
Albert Jung’s What’s Your Name?, subtitled How to Write Your Name in Han’gŭl Without Learning the Korean Language, is more than a primer for learning how to write in the Han’gŭl script — it’s a study of the evolution of the Korean writing system and, through it, the history of Korea itself.
What’s Your Name? offers a crash course in how to write your name in Han’gŭl for anyone who attends international conferences, hosts Korean exchange students, or simply has Korean speakers in their social sphere. Although the reader quickly plunges into the components of the Han’gŭl alphabet, Jung suggests a light read for the basics, and a comprehensive read for those seeking a deeper understanding of Han’gŭl and its evolution.
From absolute beginners to linguistics scholars and students, readers will find valuable reference material and guidance for practice in this extensive text.
Roughly half the book is made up of alphabetical diagrams, charts, examples, and comparisons, along with illustrations of the five main vocal organs used to pronounce the sounds and how to position them. Tables list common names and Han’gŭl characters side by side with their counterparts in English, French, German, Spanish, and Russian.
At the end of each section, Jung includes a handy pop quiz. These will help readers to cement the information for each letter of the Han’gŭl alphabet and build the confidence to forge ahead.
Here’s a brief look at the fundamentals: The vocal organs — molar, tongue, lip, tooth, throat — create top, middle, and bottom sounds, each of which are represented by symbols. Where the top sound symbol represents the shape and movement of the vocal part used, the middle sound symbol describes the sound’s quality: deep, flat, or shallow. Bottom sounds serve to stop the middle sound, either abruptly or slowly. Put together, the three sound symbols create a single character. Repeating this process for each letter in your name, you can transcribe it into Han’gŭl.
After mastering the top, middle, and bottom sounds, the reader moves into an intermediate stage to learn sounds that are more difficult to convey, such as r, l, th, v, f, sh, j, ch, and z, as well as pair letters which combine to make a single bottom sound.
Once readers get the hang of the modern script, they can move on – and back in time – to the earliest form of Han’gŭl, created in the 15th century by King Sejong the Great.
This version incorporated more sound letters, many of which don’t appear in the modern script, and differences with those letters that did survive the centuries are nuanced and subtle. Readers who want to delve deeper into the subject will find tables that show comparisons of names using the 15th-century script with those in modern Han’gŭl. Jung charts the fascinating development between these two forms.
Responding to the intricacies of both the original and the modern writing system, Jung presents the concept of a potential third form: Multiverse Han’gŭl, in which the best of both old and new are combined with global and cultural influences.
The last section of the book expands beyond a focus on linguistics, as Jung contextualizes the founding of Han’gŭl by sharing beautiful woodblock prints of correspondence and other texts, with translations provided.
This section could easily feature in an art history or anthropology class, or a course on the history of Korean literature. Within this section, the footnotes reveal the timeline of the script’s evolution through peeks into the country’s past, including politics, diplomacy, trade, and evangelism, each of which added its own influence to the Korean writing system.
What’s Your Name? by Albert Jung is a comprehensive guide for novices and intermediaries to not only learn how to write their name in Han’gŭl, but to also gain an appreciation for the evolution of a language and a culture that has withstood the test of time.
A Huge Congratulations to all of the Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards (CIBAs) Shorts, Series, and CCDA Finalists!
Every tier of the CIBAs is an important one, though few manage to rise this far in the ranks.
For our Shorts and Series Authors, this post has links to all of the Finalist Awards for the 3 CIBA Division Lists we have for Longform work like collections, anthologies, and novellas; Short Prose like Short Stories and Essays; and Series. We will have a separate post for Fiction and Non-Fiction.
All Finalists in attendance will be recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference, and we will announce the Winners at the CIBAs Ceremonies on Saturday, April 5th at the Chanticleer Banquet. We can’t express how excited we are to be able to do this in person with our fully vaccinated and boosted staff in a healthy metro area.
Now let’s take a step back and look at where we came from to make this happen.
The remaining tiers are the First Place Winner, the Grand Prize Winners, and finally, the coveted Overall Grand Prize Winners. The Overall Grand Prize Winner takes home the $1000 and more! See the Book Award details here.
Now, presenting the links to the CCDAs, Series, and Short Awards Finalists
The Official 2024 CIBA Lists of the First Place and Grand Prize Winners for all Divisions of the CIBAs will start to be posted after April 8th, 2025.
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 2023 CIBA Grand Prize Winners!
The Annual Chanticleer Authors Conference is April 3-6, 2025
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, or Finalist.
Note from Goodreads: “To add a new award or edit an existing award, you’ll need help from one of our volunteer librarians or a staff member.” For assistance, post in the Goodreads Librarians Group.
Always double check that you’ve written everything correctly before posting it. The search function for Awards on Goodreads is both case and punctuation sensitive.
Remember, you don’t have to be present to win, but it sure is a lot more fun!
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.
Three Cheers for for the CIBAs 2024 Non-Fiction Book Awards Finalists!
Every tier of the CIBAs is an important one, though few manage to rise this far in the ranks.
For our Non-Fiction Authors, this post has links to all of the Finalist Awards for the 7 CIBA Divisions we have for Non-Fiction. We will have a separate post for Fiction and one more post for the Shorts Awards and Series Awards.
Now let’s take a step back and look at where we came from to make this happen.
The remaining tiers are the First Place Winner, the Grand Prize Winners, and finally, the coveted Overall Grand Prize Winners. The Overall Grand Prize Winner takes home the $1000 and more! See the Book Award details here.
Now, presenting the links to the Non-Fiction Awards Finalists
The Official 2024 CIBA Lists of the First Place and Grand Prize Winners for all Divisions of the CIBAs will start to be posted after April 8th, 2025.
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 2023 CIBA Grand Prize Winners!
The Annual Chanticleer Authors Conference is April 3-6, 2025
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, or Finalist.
Note from Goodreads: “To add a new award or edit an existing award, you’ll need help from one of our volunteer librarians or a staff member.” For assistance, post in the Goodreads Librarians Group.
Always double check that you’ve written everything correctly before posting it. The search function for Awards on Goodreads is both case and punctuation sensitive.
Remember, you don’t have to be present to win, but it sure is a lot more fun!
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.
Give a huge round of applause to all of the Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards (CIBAs) Finalists!
Every tier of the CIBAs is an important one, though few manage to rise this far in the ranks.
For our Fiction Authors, this post has links to all of the Finalist Awards for the CIBA Divisions we have for fiction. We will have a separate post for Non-Fiction and one more post for the Shorts Awards and Series Awards where you can find all the 2024 Finalists!
All Finalists in attendance will be recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference, and we will announce the Winners at the CIBAs Ceremonies on Saturday, April 5th at the Chanticleer Banquet. Banquet Only Tickets will open soon, and a limited number will be available!
Now let’s take a step back and look at where we came from to make this happen.
The remaining tiers are the First Place Winner, the Grand Prize Winners, and finally, the coveted Overall Grand Prize Winners. The Overall Grand Prize Winner takes home the $1000 and more! See the Book Award details here.
Now, presenting the links to the Fiction Awards Finalists
The Official 2024 CIBA Lists of the First Place and Grand Prize Winners for all Divisions of the CIBAs will start to be posted starting on Wednesday, April 9th, 2025.
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 2023 CIBA Grand Prize Winners!
The Annual Chanticleer Authors Conference is April 3-6, 2025
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, or Finalist.
Note from Goodreads: “To add a new award or edit an existing award, you’ll need help from one of our volunteer librarians or a staff member.” For assistance, post in the Goodreads Librarians Group.
Always double check that you’ve written everything correctly before posting it. The search function for Awards on Goodreads is both case and punctuation sensitive.
Remember, you don’t have to be present to win, but it sure is a lot more fun!
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.
Sister Butterfly from Mike Mirabella’s Carla Stories shares the crucial message that communication comes in many forms. Even for those who struggle to be understood, connection is always possible.
Told through song lyrics and charming illustrations, a young girl with Down Syndrome on a walk through a verdant garden. Eventually, they encounter a group of other kids, who come to see the flightless blue butterfly she has found.
True to its title, this book creates a lyrical parallel between the little girl and the butterfly.
Both the girl and the butterfly use unique ways to interact with the world that make them easy to be overlooked. The butterfly must walk on the ground and is only found because the girl searches a quiet corner of the garden. In turn, her “secret world is hidden in the silence of her eyes.” When the other kids take an interest in what she has found, they find she’s happy to show them her special butterfly friend.
Illustrator Amy O’Hanlon’s pastel drawings perfectly match the tone and meaning of the heartfelt lyrics.
Double-page spreads of a vibrant garden fill this book. The characters are largely rendered in soft hues, with their eyes and the world around them standing out in a rainbow of brilliant color. A matching shade of blue emphasizes the bond between the little girl and the butterfly, standing out brightly among the greenery. The beautiful composition of shapes and colors on each page makes Sister Butterfly a treat to read.
Sister Butterfly contains the poetic lyrics of a song of the same name, written by author and musician Mike Mirabella about his daughter Carla, who like the little girl in the book, also lived with Down Syndrome. This provides him with a unique insight into the little girl’s special world.
The book comes with a download of a recording of Sister Butterfly, as well as sheet music for anyone– child or adult– who wants to learn the song themselves. The format of this book would make it easy for young children to try singing along and contains a bonus song, I Am So Like You, also by Mike Mirabella.
With its touching message of empathy, gorgeous illustrations, and an invitation to explore its inspired music, Sister Butterfly makes for an excellent read that can be enjoyed by both the young and the young at heart.
Spring Cleaning includes Hardware, Software, and Password Management
While many of us look to closets and drawers we store things we never expect to see again, there are few who think about the hidden corners of our technology where dust, dirt, and crummy things (like destructive viruses) can live in wait for their turn to take down our work. We’ll help you with best practices for keeping your passwords and technological life in tip-top shape!
A clean sweep for your computer is a must-do for authors
Every writer should start off the year knowing their work is protected and their work tools are ready and able to take on the job of creating the worlds we imagine. So, in the spirit of getting ready to meet those 2025 writing goals, we offer these tips on the cleaning and maintenance of your equipment.
Your computer needs your loving care, too!
Computers are arguably the most important tool in our toolbox. It stores your intellectual property, aids in transforming words from your brain into little alphabet letters that add up to a story. For most of us, our computers enable us to create what we love most—books and stories!
Whether it is a desktop, laptop, pad, or your own Mad Maxx creation of technologies (like Argus’s), your computer deserves a little bit of attention.
Computer Care for Authors and Publishers
We often forget how important it is to maintain a clean computer on the inside and outside, even if our desk and the surrounding area is spotless. Here are a few tips to get you started. And, yes, this is your annual reminder!
1. Clean your keyboard
If you don’t want to be like the person in this XKCD comic, you might want to clean your keyboard. Luckily, this is an easy task you can do once a week. Or at least once a year…
Ewwww!!
Wipe it down with a slightly damp microfiber cloth, dry it with a different cloth, and then use a disinfectant wipe or a cloth just damp with rubbing alcohol to finish it out (do not use bleach!). It is probably best to do this when your computer and keyboard are unplugged because keyboards are actually quite delicate inside.
Gross stuff under the keycaps? Maintenance will prevent your computer keyboard from getting to this state.
Also, turn your keyboard or laptop upside down and give it a gentle shake or two about once a week. Gentle being the operative word. You may be surprised to see what falls out of it.
Especially if you have a cat for an intern. Here’s looking at you, Janet Oakley!
Janet’s intern, Kinky Boots, hard at work.
We’ve even seen Argus vacuum his keyboards. But, that is up to you.
Really consider giving this a try. Your keyboard will feel cleaner. All the bits of dust and crumbs of food you’ve learned to ignore will be gone, and it will be such a pleasant experience for your hands.
Clean your screen
We’ve all had that experience of editing and suddenly an errant apostrophe or period appears where there ought not to be one. We click on it to edit it, but something about the way it appears doesn’t quite make sense, and then we can’t delete it from the page. That’s when it clicks. The screen is just dirty.
To clean it, a microfiber cloth is always the recommendation. Always dab any cleaning solution (Windex and/or a little bit of mild soap and water are recommended but check before trying anything else!) onto the cloth, not directly on the screen itself.
Password Management
Over 353 million passwords are hacked in 2023, according to Statista, and this number has continues to grow substantially each year.
The concept of a healthy mind, healthy body can be applied to healthy software, healthy hardware, too. Now that you have a clean machine, make sure you have a good password system. While two-factor authentication (such as when you need to type in a code from your phone or email as well) can seem like a hassle but is also another key factor in security. For reliable password managers, see the following.
We use these here at Chanticleer—but use caution and be prepared!
Using numbers, characters, and upper and lower cases matters when it comes to password security.
Make sure the password you decide on for your managers is something that is memorable to YOU. The only other person who should have it is your estate executor or life partner or someone that you would trust with your bank accounts and credit cards.
If you happen to momentarily forget your master password, because someone was talking to you while you were creating it – you will need to start over. There is no way to recover your account, unless you happen to find the random piece of paper you scribbled your master password on… Experience is a cruel teacher…
IMPORTANT: DO NOT USE THE SAME PASSWORD for your business/work accounts and your personal household accounts or publishing accounts. This is how hackers can take people down by infiltrating a business password—harder to do, but they have access to so many personal accounts because so many people use the same password for home and personal accounts.
After hearing from several authors whose computers were hacked, bank accounts taken over, ransomware remotely installed, and other malicious activity that drained their credit card balances and credit ratings, and stole their intellectual property (as in books – published and unpublished), we suggest you go directly to a password manager. Do not go another day without a password manager!
You can do it! There are several excellent password managers that are FREE or as little as $36 per year.
For more information here are three links to articles about password managers from reliable sources:
Here is a link from CNet on the Best Password Manager companies
[Note from Editor: Do NOT proceed to this step until you have your Password Manager project all sorted out. ]
As we barrel forward into the future, there’s so much in our cache that this has become a bigger and bigger project. Luckily, PC Mag has a great article about how to clear your cache on any browser. While this can be a little tricky to navigate, it can be worth it for the faster computer speed. PC Mag also focuses on the security risks of the cache, but chances are most of us don’t have to worry too much about those.
WHY SHOULD YOU CLEAR YOUR CACHE from COOKIES?
This is called “Browser Hygiene.” Really.
Browsers tend to hold onto information and like a clogged drain, after a while, it will slow down the speed and performance of your computer. Where your browser holds onto this information is in its “cache.”
A computer’s cache (pronounced ‘cash’) is also where websites that you visit implement their “cookies”—that bread crumb trail that rambles through the internet linking your computer to the websites you visit. Each and every website uses cookies—even yours is guilty of it. It is the nature of the internet…
Have you ever had this happen to you?
“I don’t see the change. You said you updated on your web page.”
That is because your computer is storing and showing you the previous cache of the website it stored in its cache. You aren’t seeing the latest and greatest of the website you are revisiting, but rather a “shadow” of it.
To see the latest version of a website or webpost, you will probably have to clear your computer’s cache, which will delete cookies at the same time.
Each computer and browser has a different system, so we advise you to search on your browser (i.e. Google it) on how to clear the cache for your particular system.
Also, you can decide how much of the cache you want to clear. All of it? Only the cookies? Save the passwords? Clear the passwords? (the reason to do #2 Password Management first). It is probably a good idea to clean the password cache at least once a year. But remember that you will need to do a fresh login for each website that you visit. See #2 Password Management.
We clear our caches here at Chanticleer at least every three months or as needed to access new data from websites that we visit.
More info:
Remember all that fuss about Data Privacy back in May 2018? Cache and Cookies are what that was and is all about. Here is a handy link to Chanticleer’s blog post about it. Are you ready for the GDPR? (General Data Protection Regulation)
Virus Protection
What are the odds of becoming a victim of a cyber attack? One in Five
Any highly rated anti-virus and anti-malware program will update itself on a daily basis for latest hacking techniques, Trojan horses, phishing methods, ransomware, adware, spyware, and worms (I shudder to think about this one), and other malicious activity. This is different than updating the program itself. Is your antivirus program a couple of years old? If so, time to do some research.
Again, we’re going to turn to the experts here and look at CNET’s best Windows antivirus Protection. A good antivirus keeps your computer running in top shape, and it keeps your data and writing easy to access for yourself, so you don’t end up like one of the characters in Neal Stephenson’sReamde who end up with all their files locked away by ransomware.
Now for some potentially bad news.Ifmalware has made it into your computer, you will need to have it professionally removed or contact the family and friends computer geek to save your computer and your sanity. If you are computer handy, then you have probably already taken steps to rid your computer of it.
The scary thing about malware is that once it has infiltrated your computer, it may be hard to detect even by anti-virus protection. That is how sneaky and underhanded malware can be.
Some symptoms that your computer may be infected with malware:
Your computer is slowing down
Your computer crashes more often or “locks up”
Your friends and contacts receive strange messages from you
Suddenly you do not have any storage space available
Your homepage changed itself without you changing it.
PUPs show up. These are Potentially Unwanted Programs that have infiltrated your system when you give your consent to install additional tools on your computer. We think “barnacles” would be a better name.
Make sure that your computer (and smart phone) has the latest anti-virus and anti-malware programs protecting it.
Now for some definite good news!
Highly rated by independent and professional reviewers of Anti-Virus and Anti-Malware programs are available from free to $59 a year. A small price for piece of mind.
Don’t think that it can’t happen to your computer. Computer viruses and malware are prevalent and widespread. Once they find a home, they tend to go systemic in a very sly and under-the-radar kind of way. Your screen will not flash or start posting pictures of Moriarty when your computer has been invaded. Today’s hacks tend to be silent but deadly.
That’s what we want you to see! That you are safe!
Back up your files
Anything that you’d have trouble replacing, it’s worth backing up. There are several places like One Drive, Dropbox, or Google Drive that will let you store files for free, up to a certain point. Luckily, external hard drives are getting cheaper all the time, and you can always do both. Whenever one of my free online drives fills up, I move anything I’m not currently using onto my external hard drive. I also make sure to periodically back up my writing.
This is such a great fear of mine that on my fire list (list of things that I need to grab immediately in case of fire) I have my external hard drive above everything else. I’m sure if you aren’t someone who has lost data, you know people who have, and I dearly hope you never have to worry about that.
Cyber Threats STOPS with each of US!
Once your computer and files are all protected, you’ll be free to write without any anxiety hanging over your head. Like cleaning and maintaining most things, a routine means you only need to do a little work when the time comes to get everything squared away.
We hope these were handy reminders. Everybody gets busy and can easily procrastinate about taking care of these mundane but vital tasks. We certainly do!
If there is something we should add to this blog post or you have an experience that you would like to share or a question that you would like to ask about the cleaning and maintenance of your writing tools, please contact us at Chanticleer@ChantiReviews.com
We’d love to hear from you!
Thank you for joining us and please stay tuned for the next Business and Marketing Tools and Tips for Writers Article!
Thank you for joining us for this Writer’s Toolbox Article!
Writer’s Toolbox
Thank you for reading this Chanticleer Writer Resolutions article.
Our Annual Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC25) will be April 3-6, 2025, where our 2024 CIBA winners will be announced. Space is limited and seats are already filling up, so sign up today! CAC25 and the CIBA Ceremonies will be hosted at the Bellingham Yacht Club Event Center located on the shore of beautiful Squalicum Harbor in Bellingham, WA.
In I Used to Be Shy, from the Carla Stories by Mike Mirabella and Lenny Lipton, Carla meets a nervous boy with physical disabilities at Camp Allbelong. Through their friendship, Carla helps him become confident enough to join in the camp games in this compassionate illustrated story about inclusion told through song.
