Author: chanti

  • TAX MYTHBUSTERS: Don’t Fall Prey to the Tax Misconceptions by Lily Tran – Money Management, Taxes, Essays

    TAX MYTHBUSTERS: Don’t Fall Prey to the Tax Misconceptions by Lily Tran – Money Management, Taxes, Essays

     

    Tax MythBusters: Don’t Fall Prey to the Tax Misconceptions, compiled by tax professional Lily Tran with essays by other financial, tax, and accounting professionals, gives valuable insight into the myths of what can and cannot be claimed as a deduction for small businesses and entrepreneurs.

    This work provides tips and strategies to optimize tax planning and make the most of available deductions. As the foreword reminds the reader, “Knowledge is power when it comes to taxes,” adding that gaining a better understanding of the tax rules and regulations will allow you to “make smart financial decisions and protect yourself from unnecessary risks.”

    The essays that make up this work are short, succinct, and to the point about the pitfalls and challenges that face small business owners, framing these dangers as “myths.”

    Some of them are old myths disguised as new enticements, and Tran and her authors keep the reader wary about how fast money online works, the truth about influencer deductions, tax write-offs, and vehicle deductions. Knowing how these popular myths have transformed for the modern age is a must.

    The more intensive essays focus on complex and misleading parts of the tax code. Highlights include understanding the rules around reporting losses on the stock market (capital losses), issues around hiring contractors over employees, and even working to understand common myths found on TikTok. There are even myths discussing even including how to deal with cryptocurrency transactions. A better understanding of this collection will help anyone with questions get started on the right track.

    The essays in Tax MythBusters are both clear and comprehensive, offering knowledge that small business owners can use and understand comfortably.

    This collection avoids complex equations that might put off those who are less math-oriented, instead focusing on sage advice. Staying down to earth, all the advice and warnings that these professionals impart can be taken to heart. The information provided by Lily Tran’s Tax MythBusters: Don’t Fall Prey to the Tax Misconceptions will be invaluable for those seeking tax clarity.

     

    5 Stars! Best Book Chanticleer Book Reviews

  • The 2023 DANTE ROSSETTI Book Awards Short List for YA Fiction

    The 2023 DANTE ROSSETTI Book Awards Short List for YA Fiction

    Dante Rossetti Awards for YA FictionThe Dante Rossetti Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in Young Adult Fiction. The Dante Rossetti Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The 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, and 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. For Middle Grade Fiction check out our Gertrude Warner Awards and for Children’s Literature see our Little Peeps Awards.

    These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from the 2023 Dante Rossetti Book Awards Long List and have advanced to the SHORT LIST. Entries below are now in competition for 2023 Dante Rossetti Semi-Finalists. Finalists will be selected from the Semi-Finalists.  All FINALISTS will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC24).

    The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 25 CIBA divisions’ Finalists.

    We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 20th, 2024 at the Four Points by Sheraton in beautiful Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference

    These titles are in the running for the SEMI-FINALISTS of the 2023 Dante Rossetti Book Awards novel competition for Young Adult Fiction!

    Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works in the 2023 CIBAs.

    • Trish MacEnulty – Cinnamon Girl
    • Lou Dischler – Locking Up Daddy
    • Marie Powell – Spirit Sight (Last of the Gifted: Book 1)
    • Rande Goodwin – The Witchfinder’s Serpent
    • J.A. Nielsen – The Claiming
    • Lynn Yvonne Moon – Mirrors: Book 2 of Journey’s Travels
    • B. Lynn Carter – The Eyes Have It
    • Jack O’Brien – The Last U-Boat
    • Lou Dischler – Jokes to Tell When You’re Dead
    • Stephen Haunts – Diary of a Martian: Soul Soldiers
    • M.J. Evans – Finding Fionn – A Mystery Inspired by the Kidnapping of the Irish Racehorse Shergar
    • Maryanne Melloan Woods – Sour Flower
    • S.P. Somtow – Club X: Vampire in the Closet
    • Robert Wright Jr – Red Snow – A Twisted Fairy Tale
    • Brendan Corbett – The Thief and the Historian
    • George R. Wolfe – Into the River of Angels
    • Art Lionson – Woodland
    • Brooke Maddaleni – Let Me Go
    • Michele Kwasniewski – Falling Star: Book 3 of The Rise and Fall of Dani Truehart
    • Liz Alterman – He’ll Be Waiting
    • S.R. Klusman – Luna: Book 2 of The Adventures of Rhone & Stone
    • Janilise Lloyd – The Whisperer’s Wish
    • Yun Johnson – The Book of Lost Spirits
    • V. Romas Burton – Fortified
    • Joan Wright Mularz – Slate
    • Aurora Winter – Magic, Mystery, and the Multiverse: The Marvelous Multiverse App
    • W.W Marplot – Time Story
    • Kerry Chaput – Chasing Eleanor
    • Lynn Yvonne Moon – Fish Scales
    • Addison Martinez – Astro
    • K.M. Messina – Gemja – The Message
    • Tamar Anolic – Two Sisters of Fayetteville
    • Vincent J. DeVito – Where the Crane Lands
    • Michael J Cooper – Crossroads of Empire
    • W.T. Kosmos – Blaze Union and the Puddin’ Head Schools
    • M.J. Evans – The Stallion and His Peculiar Boy
    • John Blossom – The Last Football Player
    • Jennifer Haskin – Hierarchy of Blood
    • Jennifer Haskin – The Clockwork Pen
    • Sophia Krich-Brinton – A Song Like the Wind
    • Rae St. Clair Bridgman – The Kingdom of Trolls
    • Susan Dwyer – Strangers Saints and Sinners

    PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS! 

    This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the FB post. However, for FB 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.

    Additionally, we also post on Twitter. Chanticleer Twitter’s handle is @ChantiReviews

    Or click here to go directly to Chanticleer’s Twitter feed.

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

    The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2022 DANTE ROSSETTI Awards is:

    Wages of Empire

    by Michael J. Cooper 

    Wages of Empire Cover by Michael J. Cooper

    The Dante Rossetti Grand Prize Badge for Wages of Empire by Michael J Cooper

     

    The 2023 DANTE ROSSETTI Book Awards winners will be announced at CAC24 on April 21, 2024. Save the date for CAC24, scheduled April 18-21, 2024, our 12-year Conference Anniversary!

    Submissions for the 2024 DANTE ROSSETTI Book Awards are open now. Enter here!

    Don’t delay! Enter today! 

    Winners will be announced at the 2023 CIBA Awards Ceremony, sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference April 18-21, 2024! Register Today!

    The Chanticleer Authors Conference

    Featuring authors like D.D. Black, book doctor Christine Fairchild, and Mark Berridge, our twelfth annual conference is shaping up to be excellent! You won’t want to miss out on the best tips around the business of being an author!

    Seating is Limited. 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.

    Join us for our 12th annual conference and discover why!

     

    As always, please contact us with any questions, concerns, or suggestions at info@ChantiReviews.com. 

  • The Chaucer 2023 Book Awards Short List for Early Historical Fiction

    The Chaucer 2023 Book Awards Short List for Early Historical Fiction

    A picture of Geoffery Chaucer as a white man with a gray goatee with the words "Chaucer Awards" across the bottomThe Chaucer Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in pre-1750s Historical Fiction.  The Chaucer Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).

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

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

    These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from the 2023 Chaucer Early Historical Fiction Long List to the 2023 Chaucer Book Awards SHORT LIST. Entries below are now in competition for the 2023 Chaucer Semi-Finalists. All FINALISTS will be selected from the Semi-Finalists. Winners will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC24).

    We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 20th, 2024 at the Four Points by Sheraton in beautiful Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference

    We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on April 20th, 2024, in Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference

    These titles are in the running for the SEMI-FINALISTS of the 2023 Chaucer Book Awards novel competition for Pre-1750s Early Historical Fiction!

    Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works in the 2023 CIBAs.

    • Cryssa Bazos – Rebel’s Knot
    • Craig H. Bowlsby – The Cyrano Solution
    • Gail Avery Halverson – A Sea of Glass
    • Gina Buonaguro – The Virgins of Venice
    • James Hutson-Wiley – The Merchant from Sepharad
    • Regan Walker – The Strongest Heart
    • Juliette Godot – From the Drop of Heaven
    • Stefan Scheuermann – Kyra
    • Griffin Brady – The Hussar’s Duty
    • Kelly Evans – Turning the World to Stone – The Life of Caterina Sforza Part One 1472 – 1488.
    • Yvonne Korshak – Pericles and Aspasia: A Story of Ancient Greece
    • Robert S Phillips – Elodia’s Knife
    • C.V. Lee – Token of Betrayal
    • Rebecca D’Harlingue – The Map Colorist: A Novel
    • Cindy Burkart Maynard – Esperanza’s Way
    • Rozsa Gaston – Margaret of Austria
    • Mary Pat Ferron Canes with JR Foley – Dark Queen of Donegal
    • Kerry Chaput – Daughter of the Shadows
    • Margaret Porter – The Myrtle Wand
    • Anthony R. Licata – Caesar Obsessed: Passion, Conquest, and Tragedy in Gaul
    • Rebecca Kightlinger – The Lady of the Cliffs: The Bury Down Chronicles, Book Two
    • Adrienne Dillard – Keeper of the Queen’s Jewels: a novel of Jane Seymour
    • Brigitte Goldstein – Princess of the Blood-A Tapestry of Love and War in 16th-Century France
    • Adam Alexander Haviaras – Sincerity is a Goddess: A Dramatic and Romantic Comedy of Ancient Rome
    • K.M. Butler – House Aretoli
    • David Tory – Exploration: The Stanfield Chronicles
    • A. L. Kucherenko – Knight’s Pawn

    PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS! 

    This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the FB post. However, for FB 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.

    Additionally, we also post on Twitter. Chanticleer Twitter’s handle is @ChantiReviews

    Or click here to go directly to Chanticleer’s Twitter feed.

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

     

    The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2022 CHAUCER Awards is:

    Mack Little, author of

    Daughter of Hades

     

    Click here to see the 2022 Chaucer Book Award Winners for Early Historical Fiction.

    We are now accepting submissions for the 2024 Chaucer Book Awards for Pre-1750s Early Historical Fiction. The 2024 CIBA winners will be announced at CAC 2025. 

    Please click here to submit to the 2024 Chaucer Awards

    For our other Historical Fiction Awards, please see the following:

    Winners will be announced at the 2023 CIBA Awards Ceremony, sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference April 18-21, 2024! Register Today!

    The Chanticleer Authors Conference

    Featuring authors like D.D. Black, book doctor Christine Fairchild, and Mark Berridge, our twelfth annual conference is shaping up to be excellent! You won’t want to miss out on the best tips around the business of being an author!

    Seating is Limited. 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.

    Join us for our 12th annual conference and discover why!

     

    As always, please contact us with any questions or suggestions at info@ChantiReviews.com. 

  • PATIENCE INSANITY And WISDOM by Anna Casamento Arrigo – Poetry, Family & Relationships, Mental Health

    PATIENCE INSANITY And WISDOM by Anna Casamento Arrigo – Poetry, Family & Relationships, Mental Health

    Patience Insanity and Wisdom, Anna Casamento Arrigo’s poetry collection, dances seamlessly between reflective, philosophical, whimsical, colorful, and especially therapeutic.

    In her author bio, Arrigo shares that she turned to poetry as part of her recovery from a stroke. This gives a glimpse into the true depth of these poems, which offer healing to the reader as well. Arrigo deals with issues of love and loss, depression and survival, and life itself. Her poems carry the echo of her struggle, softly alluded to, but not blatantly laid bare.

    Arrigo’s poems take the reader through our shared human experiences. “I am enough” and “I am here” lay between “In Silence”. “Insanity” shares a painful childhood, “A constant stream of hateful words/slurred/rising from a golden whiskey tumbler.” “Wizard Wings” reflects on growing up, “From my toddler years/Through that period when neither girl nor woman be-.” “One soul” shares the joy and bittersweetness of the parent-child relationship, “it was not too long ago You held my hand/ Precious memories and hugs/One Soul We two/Divided in half.”

    “Just Another Birth Day” brings full circle the impact of the loss of one’s mother, “yesterday a mom celebrated her 68th birthday in heaven,” and yet, her continued presence in her children’s lives continues on, “Listen my dear children to the sound of the wind/ I’m there./Watch as dawn sips the darkness away./ I’m there/ Reach out and touch the roses-/comforted in essence of their being/ I’m there. I’m there/Speak my name/ Mom?/’I’m here’.”

    Patience Insanity and Wisdom does not shy away from the realities of grappling with life.

    “Depression” has this subtitle: “A dedication to the far too many who wear the mask. You are NOT alone,” empathizing with this common, yet hidden experience, “Waiting for those daily doses of ‘Happy Pills’/To bring my soul back to me-/For year/So many years…” and “Depression is not contagious-/Remove your mask!”

    “Hold On!” is a shout of encouragement, acknowledging the struggle for some with suicide awareness, “days when everything hurts -Wishing you would disappear…There will be day/ Of fighting back/Standing up/Holding on.”

    “Holding on Letting go” starts with the line, “It hadn’t been an easy death. But the will to die was less than my will…to survive […] Holding on/Letting go/A separation/Decisive/And in eternities bound…/Where my projected self-free falls/Letting go.”

    The poems share pages with Arrigo’s art, mostly impressionistic compositions with a wonderful mingling of bright and cool colors.

    To add to this experience, Arrigo partnered with musician Paul Simeone, setting some of these poems to music videos which can be found on YouTube and SoundCloud. Patience Insanity and Wisdom is like a dessert cart in a favorite restaurant, with poems that should be taken in small portions and savored to enjoy them fully.

     

    5 Star Best Book Chanticleer Reviews round silver sticker

  • The 2023 CLUE Book Awards Short List for Suspense/Thrillers

    The 2023 CLUE Book Awards Short List for Suspense/Thrillers

    Thriller Suspense Fiction AwardThe Clue Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in Suspense and Thriller Mysteries. The Clue Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).

    Chanticleer International Book Awards is seeking the best books featuring suspense, thrilling adventure, detective work, private eye, police procedural, and crime-solving, we will put them to the test to discover the best! (For lighter-hearted Mystery and Classic Cozy Mysteries please check out our Mystery & Mayhem Awards, and for High Stakes Suspense Novels please check out our Global Thriller Awards).

    These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from the 2023 Clue Suspense/Thriller Fiction Long List to the 2023 Clue Book Awards SHORT LIST. Entries below are now in competition for 2023 Clue Semi-Finalist positions. Finalists will be selected from the Semi-Finalists. All FINALISTS will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC24).

    The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 25 CIBA divisions’ Finalists.

    We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 20th, 2024 at the Four Points by Sheraton in beautiful Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference

    These titles are in the running for the SEMI-FINALISTS of the 2023 Clue Book Awards novel competition for Thriller/Suspense Fiction!

    Join us in cheering on the following Short List authors and their works in the 2023 CIBAs. 

    • Roxana Arama – Extreme Vetting: A Thriller
    • Nancy Adair – The Appearance of Guilt
    • Margaret Mizushima – Standing Dead: A Timber Creek K-9 Mystery
    • Joanne Jaytanie – Retrieving Remy, The Winters Sisters Book 5
    • Jeremy Gluck – Face Value
    • Ana Manwaring – Backlash Venom and Vendetta from ‘Nam
    • Chuck Morgan – Crime Scene, A Buck Taylor Novel
    • Linda Moore – Five Days in Bogotá
    • Jonny Thompson – Atlantis
    • Kevin G. Chapman – The Other Murder
    • T.O. Paine – The Excursion
    • Corey Lynn Fayman – Gillespie Field Groove
    • Paty Jager – Damning Firefly
    • Mary Desch – Tangled Darkness
    • Jonny Thompson – Ash and Sun
    • Charlotte Stuart – Forget or Forgive? NEVER
    • Jim Nesbitt – The Dead Certain Doubt: An Ed Earl Burch Novel
    • Frederick Douglass Reynolds – Saint Bloodbath
    • Joshua Cohen – Past Imperfect
    • Jacqueline Boulden – Her Past Can’t Wait
    • E. Alan Fleischauer – Sherlock and the Tiger
    • J. Luke Bennecke – Echo from a Bayou
    • Mark James – Friendship Games
    • Steven Mayfield – The Penny Mansions
    • Dave Lager – Sniper’s Day
    • Daniel V. Meier Jr. – Guidance to Death
    • Michelle Cox – A Haunting at Linley
    • Anne Moose – When You Read This I’ll Be Gone
    • Jode Millman – The Empty Kayak
    • Alexandrea Weis & Lucas Astor – River of Ashes
      Kamille Roach – Pine Creek
    • Justin M. Kiska – Fact & Fiction
    • Melissa L. Berger – What Mae Brings: A Novel
    • Mike Van Horn – Controlled Flight
    • Decima Blake – Hingston: Smoke and Mispers
    • Cathi Stoler – With A Twist: A Murder On The Rocks Mystery
    • Richard C. Brusca – The Time Travelers
    • Bill Mesce, Jr – Median Gray
    • Kathryn Lane – Missing in Miami
    • Leslie Kain – Secrets In The Mirror
    • D. R. Berlin – The Third Estate: Secrets of the Manor
    • Lisa Towles – The Ridders
    • Rita M Boehm – The Price of Revenge
    • Philip Derrick – Saigon Spring
    • Tejas Desai – The Dance Towards Death
    • Martha Crites – Danger to Others
    • Raymond Paul Johnson – The Raven Society: Conspiracy Ignited
      Chris Chan – Ghosting My Friend
    • Nina Romano – Dark Eyes
    • Mary Keliikoa – Deceived
    • McKinley Aspen – Praesidium
    • Robert W. Smith – Long Way From Clare
    • Jason Kapcala – Hungry Town
    • V. S. Anderson – Three Strides Out: A Horse Show Novel of Suspense
    • Howard Berk and Peter Berk – TimeLock
    • T.E. Lane – The Cornbread Letters
    • Mary Keliikoa – Hidden Pieces

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

    PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS! 

    This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the FB post. However, for FB 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.

    Additionally, we also post on Twitter. Chanticleer Twitter’s handle is @ChantiReviews

    Or click here to go directly to Chanticleer’s Twitter feed.

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

    The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2022 CLUE Awards is:

    Have You Seen Me?

    By Alexandrea Weis

     See the Full List of 2022 Clue Award Winners here!

    The 2023 CLUE Book Awards winners will be announced at CAC24 on April 21, 2024. Save the date for CAC24, scheduled April 18-21, 2024, our 12-year Conference Anniversary!

    Submissions for the 2023 CLUE Book Awards are open until the end of September. Enter here!

    Don’t delay! Enter today! 

    Winners will be announced at the 2023 CIBA Awards Ceremony, sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference April 18-21, 2024! Register Today!

    The Chanticleer Authors Conference

    Featuring authors like D.D. Black, book doctor Christine Fairchild, and Mark Berridge, our twelfth annual conference is shaping up to be excellent! You won’t want to miss out on the best tips around the business of being an author!

    Seating is Limited. 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.

    Join us for our 12th annual conference and discover why!

  • CHOP THAT SH*T UP!: Leadership and Life Lessons Learned While in the Military by CSM Daniel L. Pinion – Memoirs, Military Life, Military History

    CHOP THAT SH*T UP!: Leadership and Life Lessons Learned While in the Military by CSM Daniel L. Pinion – Memoirs, Military Life, Military History

      In Chop That Sh*t Up: Leadership and Life Lessons Learned While in the Military, Daniel L. Pinion reminisces about his experiences in the US Army, both good and bad, before he retired as a Command Sergeant Major.

      Some of the stories and lessons he offers are heartbreaking, some are horrifying, and some are insightful. As it turns out, some are even heartwarming.

      The author explains his origins: a quiet and uneventful childhood that did not give him much idea of what he should do with his life. Some counseling and a few incidents led Pinion, after high school, to the National Guard and eventually the US Army, where he found his life’s calling.

      He learned life lessons through a series of supervisors (noncommissioned officers for the most part) and fellow soldiers, from whom he discovered what to do and when (and predictably, what not to do and when). As Pinion comments, occasionally, one of his supervisors “was tough but fair, and I modeled a lot of my leadership style on what I learned from him.” But occasionally the soldier “rocked the boat and got in trouble.” Despite this, the author tells us, he would “still smile every time” he remembers those events.

      Chop That Sh*t Up! details the soldiers Pinion served with and some of the more extraordinary things they experienced. The book closes with photographs of these soldiers and what happened to them—some heartbreaking, some comforting, all memorable.

      These fascinating stories range from Daniel Pinion being dragged into a hunt for evidence of infidelity that involved climbing to an upper-story balcony, awkward spying techniques, and cumbersome recording equipment; a malfunctioning toilet (the details are a bit much, but perhaps entertaining to those who have similar memories in the service); and superior officers with attitude (and perhaps more than a bit of a need for psychotherapy) versus those who truly earn the loyalty of their soldiers.

      What remains with readers at the end are the mentions of the author’s fallen fellow soldiers after describing each one and their eventual fate: “I will see you in Valhalla, my friend, and recount the fun times we had together.”

      Overall, CSM Pinion’s work runs the reader the gamut of what life has in store for a soldier, and what can be learned from all of its challenges. Judging by the accounts of this book, the military life is not one for everyone, but clearly, it’s a life that worked for Daniel Pinion.

      Chop That Sh*t Up has received multiple literary awards including that Military & Front Line Book Award from the Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards.

       

      5 Stars! Best Book Chanticleer Book Reviews

    • Series Award 2023 Long List for Genre Fiction

      Series Award 2023 Long List for Genre Fiction

      A stack of books flying into the blue sky for the Book Series Awards

      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. These books have advanced to the next judging rounds. We will put them to the test and choose the best among them.

      These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from the 2023 Series Book Awards Entries to the 2022 Series Book Awards Long List. Entries below are now in competition for 2022 Series Short List. Semi-Finalists are chosen from the Short List. Finalists are then chosen from the Semi-Finalists. All FINALISTS will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC24).

      The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 25 CIBA divisions’ Finalists.

      We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 20th, 2024 at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

      These titles are in the running for the Short List of the 2023 Series Book Awards novel competition for Genre Fiction!

      Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works in the 2023 CIBAs.

      • David Fitz-Gerald – Ghosts Along the Oregon Trail
      • Eric J. Gates – The Cull
      • CK Van Dam – On the Dakota Frontier
      • Michele L. Sayre – Darke Realms
      • Chuck Morgan – Crime
      • Jode Millman – The Queen City Crimes Series
      • John J Spearman – Perseverance Andrews
      • John J Spearman – Halberd
      • Sharon Michalove – Global Security Unlimited
      • McKinley Aspen – Shadows in the Wind
      • James Hutson-Wiley – The Sugar Merchant
      • Holly Brandon – Chastity Series
      • Mary Seifert – Katie and Maverick Cozy Mysteries
      • Jeannée Sacken – The Annie Hawkins Series
      • Ralph R. “Rick” Steinke – Jake Fortina
      • Amy Wolf – The Spinners of Time
      • Laura Teste – Book of Bad Manners Series
      • Jodi Lea Stewart – Silki, the Girl of Many Scarves
      • Mark A. Gibson – Hamilton Place
      • KD Sherrinford – Sherlock Holmes and Irene Adler romantic mysteries
      • Murray Pura & Patrick E. Craig – Islands Series
      • Tiffany Kahapea – Magic and Prophecies
      • Vincent M. Miceli – The Last Triceracorn
      • C.K. Donnelly – The Kinderra Saga
      • McKinley Aspen – Praesidium
      • Alice McVeigh – Warleigh Hall Press Jane Austen Series
      • Michele Kwasniewski – The Rise and Fall of Dani Truehart
      • Hari Hyde – The Honeygate Chronicles
      • Elizabeth R. Jensen – The Three Brothers Trilogy
      • Sophia Alexander – The Silk Trilogy
      • Rae St. Clair Bridgman – The MiddleGate Books
      • AG Flitcher – Boone and Jacque
      • Brooks Olbrys – The Adventures of Blue Ocean Bob
      • Lucinda Brant – Roxton Foundation Series
      • S. Lee Fisher – The Women of Campbell County
      • Andrew Sweet – Reality Gradient
      • Frank F. Weber – The Jon Frederick series
      • E. Alan Fleischauer – How the West was Won then Lost Annihilation
      • Elizabeth Woolsey – The Travels of Dr. Rebecca Harper
      • Tom Burkhalter – No Merciful War
      • E. Alan Fleischauer – Invisible Death
      • Dave Lager – The Ro Delahanty Novels
      • John J. Spearman – FitzDuncan
      • James T. Hogg – Girl with a Knife Books
      • Marieke Lexmond – The Madigan Chronicles
      • Tony Johnson – The Story of Evil

      PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS! 

      This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the FB post. However, for FB 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.

      Additionally, we also post on Twitter. Chanticleer Twitter’s handle is @ChantiReviews

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

       

      The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2022 Series Awards is The Curtis Jefferson Series By Vince Bailey

      The Series Grand Prize for the Curtis Jefferson Series by Vince Bailey

      Click here to see the 2022 Series Book Award Winners for Genre Fiction.

      We are now accepting submissions into the 2024 Series Book Awards for Genre Fiction. The 2024 CIBA winners will be announced at CAC 2025. 

      Please click here for more information.

      Winners will be announced at the 2023 CIBA Awards Ceremony, sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference April 18-21, 2024! Register Today!

      The Chanticleer Authors Conference

      Featuring authors like D.D. Black, book doctor Christine Fairchild, and Mark Berridge, our twelfth annual conference is shaping up to be excellent! You won’t want to miss out on the best tips around the business of being an author!

      April 18-21, 2024! Register Today!

      Seating is Limited. 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.

      Join us for our 12th annual conference and discover why!

      A Collage of Speakers and Blue Ribbon Winners for CAC23

    • COLD As HELL: Black Badge Book 1 by Rhett C. Bruno and Jaime Castle – Supernatural Western, Mystery, Action/Adventure

      COLD As HELL: Black Badge Book 1 by Rhett C. Bruno and Jaime Castle – Supernatural Western, Mystery, Action/Adventure

       

      2022 Grand Prize Paranormal Cold as HellJames Crowley isn’t your average, run-of-the-mill cowboy. Nor is Cold as Hell, by Rhett C. Bruno and Jaime Castle, your typical gunslinging western.

      Although he’s got all the right characteristics – tough exterior, snarky personality, and commitment issues – Crowley is much more than he appears. Resurrected to immortality straight from death’s “sickly sweet aroma,” Crowley is duty-bound as a Hand of God to serve the White Throne in its shadow war against demonic presences called the nephilim unleashed by freezing hell.

      But it’s not all ‘good guys versus bad guys’. As Crowley learns, “good choices don’t always mean doing right or wrong things. Especially when it comes to serving a Master like [the White Throne].” Forced to be the middle man between God and the Devil, Crowley has to decide for himself how to care for the people around him and bring true justice to fruition. Forced to be the middleman between God and the Devil, Crowley has to make his own choices about how to care for the people around him and bring justice to fruition. 

      Jam-packed with simmering romance, evil yetis, reckless bar fights, and other outlaw shenanigans, Cold as Hell will warm readers’ hearts as it freezes them to their seats with anticipation.

      When a band of demonic hell creatures begins robbing a chain of banks owned by resident millionaire Dufaux and devastating towns full of innocent civilians in their wake, Crowley teams up with his trusty mare Timperina, nagging angel handler Shar, and dim-witted yet dependable Deputy Dale to hunt down the vile nephilim and help those in need. Along the way, he runs into old acquaintances such as the beautiful, revenge-driven Rosa and his worst enemy and murderer, Ace.

      In the end, it’s up to Crowley to get to the bottom of the mystery and wreak revenge on the monsters – both hellish and human.

      Despite his icy attitude, Crowley captures readers with his personal values to defend the oppressed and the defenseless. His unique ability to relive the last moments of the recently killed urges him to resist violence whenever possible, making him an empathetic renegade and, at times, more human than the real human characters.

      As Crowley uncovers layers of obscured atrocities during his quest, he sympathizes with the brutality and injustice of colonization, racism, enslavement, sexual violence, and much more, elevating this feel-good read to the status of a social commentary.

      Castle’s and Bruno’s strange, action-packed supernatural western leaves nothing to be desired. Steeped in witty sarcasm, the easy-to-follow prose is immersive and thrilling. Gritty, colorful, and at times deeply moving, the first installment of the fantasy-western Black Badge series envelops readers in the cowboy blues and horrors of the otherworldly.

      Cold as Hell by Rhett C. Bruno and Jaime Castle won Grand Prize in the 2022 CIBA Paranormal Awards for Supernatural Fiction.

       

      5 Stars! Best Book Chanticleer Book Reviews

    • The 2023 HEARTEN Book Awards Short List for Inspiring & Uplifting Non-Fiction

      The 2023 HEARTEN Book Awards Short List for Inspiring & Uplifting Non-Fiction

      The Hearten Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Uplifting & Inspiring Non-Fiction and Memoir. The Hearten 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. 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. 

      These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from all 2023 Hearten Non-Fiction Long List to the 2023 Hearten Book Awards SHORT LIST. Entries below are now in competition for 2023 Hearten Semi-Finalists. Finalists will be selected from the Semi-Finalists. All FINALISTS will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC24).

      The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 25 CIBA divisions’ Finalists.

      We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 20th, 2024 at the Four Points by Sheraton in beautiful Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference

      These titles are in the running for the Semi-Finalists of the 2023 Hearten Book Awards novel competition for Uplifting and Inspirational Non-Fiction!

      Join us in cheering on the following Short List authors and their works in the 2023 CIBAs.

      • Lynne M. Kolze – Please Write: Finding Joy and Meaning in the Soulful Art of Handwritten Letters
      • Anna Casamento Arrigo – Patience Insanity & Wisdom
      • Lisa Niver – Brave-ish, One Breakup, Six Continents and Feeling Fearless After Fifty
      • Syril Levin Kline – Inspiring Legacy: David and Carmen Kreeger’s Journey to Philanthropy
      • Lally Pia – The Fortune Teller’s Prophecy: A Memoir of an Unlikely Doctor
      • Alexander V. Girman & Cynthia J Girman – A Voice from Heaven: From Earthly Struggles to Thriving in the Afterlife
      • Duncan McLauren – Owning Your Destiny
      • Julie Morrison – Barbed: A Memoir
      • Alex Bisset – The Destination Birth
      • Shanita Liu – Dear Durga: A Mom’s Guide to Activate Courage and Emerge Victorious
      • Trudy Wells-Meyer – Some Things Are Simply Meant to Be
      • Maria C. Palmer and Ruthie Robbins – On the Rocks
      • Tony Jeton Selimi – The Unfakeable Code®
      • Tony Jeton Selimi – A Path to Excellence
      • Art Berman – Art in the Middle Ages: A Memoir of Midlife Renaissance
      • Nove Meyers – Running Away From the Circus
      • Patrick M. Garry – The Power of Gratitude: Charting a Path Toward a Joyous and Faith-Filled Life
      • Nove Meyers – Running Away From the Circus
      • Kate Hudson-Hall – Anxiety Hacks: Proven Techniques, Tools and Tips to Calmness
      • Hollie Stuart – I Can See For Miles
      • Cory Mortensen – The Buddha and the Bee
      • Julie Scolnik – Paris Blue
      • Cort Casady – Not Your Father’s America
      • Joel Harris – Searching for Steve
      • Steven Greenebaum – An Afternoon’s Dictation: Inclusive Revelation for the 21st Century
      • Dian Seidel – Kindergarten at 60: A Memoir of Teaching in Thailand
      • Aurita Maldonado – The Zen of Dancing in the Rain: Becoming One with the Storm
      • Grant Harper Reid – The Apocalypto Kid Goes to College
      • Nanette J. Davis Ph.D. – Raging Currents: Mental Illness and Family
      • Catherine DeMonte – Beep! Beep! Get Out of My Way!: Seven Tools for Powerful Creation and Living Your Unstoppable Life
      • Dr. Kelly Rabenstein – Psychological Secrets for Emotional Success (It’s All About Love)

      PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS! 

      This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the FB post. However, for FB to allow us to tag an author, that author must LIKE our page and Follow Chanticleer Reviews. FB rules — not ours.

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      Additionally, we also post on Twitter. Chanticleer Twitter’s handle is @ChantiReviews

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

      The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2022 HEARTEN Awards is:

      Inner Trek
      – a reluctant pilgrim to the Himalayas

      By Mohan Ranga Rao

      Inner Trek Cover

      The 2022 Hearten Grand Prize Badge for Inner Trek by Mohan Ranga Rao

      Click here to see the 2022 Hearten Book Award Winners for Uplifting Non-Fiction

      We are now accepting submissions into the 2023 Hearten Book Awards for Uplifting and Inspiring Non-Fiction & Memoir. The 2023 CIBA winners will be announced at CAC24. 

      Please click here for more information.

      See our Full List of Non-Fiction Divisions here!

      Winners will be announced at the 2023 CIBA Awards Ceremony, sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference April 18-21, 2024! Register Today!

      The Chanticleer Authors Conference

      Featuring authors like D.D. Black, book doctor Christine Fairchild, and Mark Berridge, our twelfth annual conference is shaping up to be excellent! You won’t want to miss out on the best tips around the business of being an author!

      Seating is Limited. 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.

      Join us for our 12th annual conference and discover why!

    • GETTING To YES by Tim Hunniecutt – Romance, 1970s, Emotional Struggle

      GETTING To YES by Tim Hunniecutt – Romance, 1970s, Emotional Struggle

       

      As a freshman at Florida State University, Chris should be enjoying the usual 1970s “free spirit” college experiences, a little studying and a lot of partying. In Tim Hunniecutt’s Getting to Yes, Chris dreams of being a poet. His way with words, boy-next-door looks, and an athletic runner’s body means he has no trouble attracting one girl after another. However, Chris wants more than just a fling.

      He’s looking for a relationship, a girl who loves him, but the girls he meets don’t seem to want forever. Most of them only want a good time or have boyfriends back home. After a series of failed romances, Chris finds himself depressed, realizing part of the problem lies in the emotional chasm he’s carved within himself after his parents’ disastrous marriage.

      Chris’s emotional roadblock began when he caught his mother naked in the arms of a man who was not his father.

      He never told anyone, including his father, about the affair, and his parents went on for a while pretending their relationship wasn’t falling apart. Their loveless marriage created in Chris a fear of expressing his own emotions. In his adolescent mind, not revealing the weakness of loving too strongly became normalized. When his father finally broke down and cried to Chris about his mother’s lack of love, Chris’s derision of feelings became cemented in his psyche. Girls were simply pretty distractions. Ironically, the maturity he likely developed because of this situation makes him easy to talk to, and girls flock to him.

      It isn’t until he meets Deb, a girl in his class with a terrible home life, that he begins to realize a need within himself to find more than just physical attraction. Though Deb is unattainable, she awakens an “overwhelming hunger” within him, which he sates by dating as many girls as possible in his first year at FSU. He thinks he finds what he’s missing in Colleen, his first girlfriend.

      His first attempts at physical love end in failure. When he finally finds physical fulfillment with a girl, he falls immediately in love with her.

      Colleen seems perfect for him, but when he discovers she has a boyfriend, he doesn’t try to fight for her. He won’t acknowledge his strong feelings, and he allows her to slip away. Chris vows never to allow his inability to open up get in his way again, and when he returns home at the end of his freshman year, he meets Chloe.

      It’s love at first sight–at least for Chris. He falls quickly, offering his heartfelt “I love you” early in their relationship, but Chloe comes with her own issues. Her abusive father left a need for male approval that she seeks in the arms of the wrong boys, and she repeatedly finds herself in loveless relationships in which she is used and tossed aside.

      Chris’s pain is palpable in the novel, and his uncertainty is heart-wrenching, creating a strong theme of trust– the kind of trust that comes with allowing oneself to love and knowing the other person will return that love. When Chloe finally allows herself to express aloud to Chris what he desperately needs to hear, she gives herself permission to feel this trust.

      Tim Hunniecutt’s Getting to Yes is a tale of a young man searching for his first real love and finding that what he learned from his parents does not have to be his fate. This book is recommended for anyone who wants to explore the complexities of early love though a young man’s perspective as he struggles to overcome the damage of his own parents’ marriage.