Chanticleer Book Reviews

Author: chanti

The Goethe 2023 Short List for Late Historical Fiction
The Goethe Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in post-1750s Historical Fiction. The Goethe Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).

The Goethe Book Awards competition is named for Johann Wolfgang von Goethe who was born at the dawn of the new era of enlightenment on August 28, 1749.

Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring Late Period Historical Fiction. Regency, Victorian, 18th Century, 19th Century, 20th Century, World and other wars before the 20th century, history of non-western cultures, set after the 1750s, we will put them to the test and choose the best among them.

The other three Historical Fiction Genres are the Laramie Awards for Americana Fiction, the Chaucer Awards for Early Historical Fiction, and the Hemingway Awards for 20th c. Wartime Fiction.

These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from all 2023 Goethe Late Historical Fiction Long List to the 2023 Goethe Book Awards SHORT LIST. Entries below are now in competition for 2023 Goethe 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 in Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

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

Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works in the Goethe 2023 CIBAs.
- Pat Wahler – The Rose of Washington Square: A Novel of Rose O’Neill, Creator of the Kewpie Doll
- J. Stanion – My Place Among Them: A Novel
- Sandra Wagner-Wright – Ambition, Arrogance & Pride: Families & Rivals in 18th Century Salem
- Janis Robinson Daly – The Unlocked Path, A Novel
- Lindsey S. Fera – Muskets and Masquerades
- Jerena Tobiasen – Tsarina’s Crown
- Colleen Coyne – The Unintended Heiress
- Mitzi Zilka – Water Fire Steam
- Jeff Schnader – The Serpent Papers
- Miriam Polli – Birds Of Passage
- Patrick Greenwood – Sunrise in Saigon
- Jodi Lea Stewart – The Gold Rose
- Chris Black – Chameleon
- Lisa Voelker – The Spoon
- Nichole Louise – Raven Rock
- Susanne Dunlap – The Courtesan’s Daughter
- Robert Brighton – The Unsealing
- Gary Born – The File
- Robert W Smith – A Long Way from Clare
- Carrie Hayes – Naked Truth or Equality, the Forbidden Fruit
- David Calloway – If Someday Comes
- Michael Miller – High Bridge – Matilda and Grover Battle Learned Ignorance
- Susanne Dunlap – The Portraitist: A Novel of Adelaide Labille-Guiard
- Nina Romano – Dark Eyes
- Susanne Dunlap – The Adored One
- Alexandru Czimbor – The Soul Machines
- Wendy Long Stanley – The Treason of Betsy Ross
- Linda Ulleseit – The River Remembers
- Ed Davis – Last Professional
- Loretta Miles Tollefson – There Will Be Consequences
- Don Jacobson – The Sailor’s Rest
- Dean Cycon – Finding Home (Hungary, 1945)
- Leslie K Simmons – Red Clay, Running Waters
- William Maz – Bucharest Legacy: The Rise of the Oligarchs
- Linda Rosen – The Emerald Necklace
- T. M. Brown – The Last Laird of Sapelo
- Nicole Evelina – Catherine’s Mercy
- Jeanette Watts – My Dearest Miss Fairfax
- J.L Oakley – The Brisling Code
- Joan Koster – Censored Angel: Anthony Comstock’s Nemesis
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.

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

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

Eleonora and Joseph:

Passion, Tragedy, and Revolution in the Age of Enlightenment

by Julieta Almeida Rodrigues

Click here to see the 2022 Goethe Book Award Winners for Late Historical Fiction.

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

Please click here for more information.

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!

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

Join us for our 12th annual conference and discover why!
October 27, 2023
A STORY Of WHOA by Chris Corbett – Children’s Determination Books, Picture Books, Children’s Emotion & Feelings Books

In A Story of Whoa, Chris Corbett shows one way that parents can explain the often loud and frightening problems of the world to children, and how anyone can make a difference.

Whoa watches the news every night with his father, where tragedy, injustice, and cruelty so often take center stage. Seeing these terrible things happening on TV, Whoa decides the time has come to step up. With his father’s support, he learns every martial art he can, ready to do battle with the toughest challenges in the world!

With patience and encouragement for Whoa’s many KERPOWS!!!, his father helps him discover that fighting injustice often goes beyond physical strength.

The story’s simple narrative voice carries reader through with ease and comfort. Corbett does an excellent job understanding the difficulty of talking to kids today about what they might see on the news, and then brings it home by showing the kids that they can help make the world a better place.

Illustrations from Richardo Galvao delight and pair perfectly with the story, helping put each page in context. Personified depictions of Tragedy, Injustice, and Cruelty add a charming sense of personality and fun to a serious topic.

A Story of Whoa offers an empowering story to help children deal with major problems. Maybe, like Whoa, we can all make the world a better place.

October 27, 2023
The 2023 Ozma Book Awards Short List for Fantasy Fiction
The Ozma Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in Fantasy Fiction. The Ozma Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).

Chanticleer International Book Awards discovers the best books in the Ozma Awards featuring magic, the supernatural, imaginary worlds, fantastical creatures, legendary beasts, mythical beings, or inventions of fancy that author imaginations dream up without a basis in science as we know it. Epic Fantasy, High Fantasy, Sword and Sorcery, Dragons, Unicorns, Steampunk, Dieselpunk, Gaslight Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, or other out-of-this-world fiction. These books have advanced to the Long List in the 2023 CIBAs OZMA division.

These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from all 2023 Ozma Fantasy Fiction Long List to the 2023 Ozma Book Awards SHORT LIST. The Short Listers will compete for the 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 in Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

These titles are in the running for the SEMI-FINALISTS of the 2023 Ozma Book Awards for Fantasy Fiction!

Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works in the 2023 CIBAs.
- Derek Wachter – Crete
  Ben G. Price – Ogden
- Jenn Lees – The Quest: Arlan’s Pledge Book Two
- Nicholas Varner – Seasons of the Blue Pearl
- Tim Facciola – A Vengeful Realm: Book One: The Scales of Balance
- L.R. Braden – Of Mettle and Magic
- A.S. Norris – The Wayward Mage: The Adventures of Jack Wartnose
- Lilla Glass – The Unseen
- Ross Hightower – Argren Blue
- John Diaz – Rogues of the Crosslands: Azoria’s Blade
- Amber Kirkpatrick – Unleashed
- Amber Kirkpatrick – Until the Rising
- Charles Allen – The Order of the Red God
- Jaime Castle & Andy Peloquin – Black Talon
- Crystal D. Grant – Shadowcast
- Ekta R. Garg – In the Heart of the Linden Wood
- L.L. Gray – Shadows and Relics
- Richard C. Brusca – The Time Travelers
- AG Flitcher – Boone and Jacque: Sahon
- D. K. Willis – The Unexpected
- Celaine Charles – Seam Keepers
- McKinley Aspen – Praesidium
- D.A Mucci – Ignatius and the Battle at Dinas Affaraon
- David V. Mammina – The Angels of Resistance
- Dale Griffin – The Last Lion of Karkov
- Jonathan Uffelman – Book of Leprechauns: The Lore Gatherers
- PM Black – The Solar Realm – Silver Slayer
- K.M.Messina – Gemja – The Message
- Omayra Vélez – Ultima Skylar
- PJ Devlin – The Chamber
- Rae St. Clair Bridgman – The Kingdom of Trolls
- L. Ryan Storms – Temper the Dark
- Alex B. Harper – Of Light and Nightmares: The Ashes of Magic Trilogy, Volume I
- S.G. Blaise – Proud Pada
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

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

Soar a Burning Sky

By Steven Michael Beck

See the full list of 2022 Ozma Award Winners here.

The 2023 OZMA Book Awards winners will be announced at CAC24 on April 20, 2024. Save the date for CAC24, scheduled April 18-21, 2024, our 12-year Conference Anniversary!

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

Don’t delay! Enter today!

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!
October 26, 2023
The 2023 Short List JOURNEY Book Awards for Overcoming Adversity in Narrative Non-Fiction
The Journey Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Overcoming Adversity in Narrative Non-Fiction and Memoir. The Journey Book Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (CIBAs).

Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring a Journey of 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 Long List Journey Non-Fiction entries to the 2023 Journey Book Awards SHORT LIST. Entries below are now in competition for 2023 Journey 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 in Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

These titles are in the running for the SEMI-FINALISTS of the 2023 Journey Book Awards novel competition for Overcoming Adversity in Non-Fiction!

Join us in celebrating the Short List authors and their works in the 2023 CIBAs.
- Frederick Douglass Reynolds – Saint Bloodbath
- Qin Sun Stubis – Once Our Lives
- Rebecca Olmstead – Loved So Much It Hurts: Purpose in the Pain
- Tina Davidson – Let Your Heart Be Broken, Life and Music of a Classical Composer
- Hollie Stuart – I Can See for Miles
- Cathryn Vogeley – I Need To Tell You
- Lori Lee Peters – God, the Mafia, My Dad and Me
- Cort Casady – Not Your Father’s America
- Francesca Miracola – I Got It From Here
- Patricia Angeles – Midpoint: A Memoir
- Francesca Grossman – Not Weakness: Navigating the Culture of Chronic Pain
- Sara Alvarado – Dreaming In Spanish: An Unexpected Love Story in Puerto Vallarta
- Joel Harris – Searching for Steve
- Leslie Ferguson – When I Was Her Daughter
- Kathy Sechrist – Success Is The Best Revenge
- Antonia Deignan – Underwater Daughter: A Memoir of Survival and Healing
- Phyllis Dyson – Among Silent Echoes: A Memoir of Trauma and Resilience
- Andrew Saltarelli – Leaving Home
- Nanette J. Davis Ph.D. – Raging Currents: Mental Illness and Family
- Aurita Maldonado – The Zen of Dancing in the Rain: Becoming One with the Storm
- Barbara Wolf Terao – Reconfigured: A Memoir
- Trisha T Pritiin – The Hanford Plaintiffs: Voices From the Fight for Atomic Justice
- T.C. Fuller – Painting Over Rust: Stories From a 20-Year Odyssey in the FBI
- Sarah Martin – Dear Psychosis
- Julie Morrison – Barbed: A Memoir
- Jarie Bolander – Ride or Die: Loving Through Tragedy, A Husband’s Memoir
- Mikky Eagle – Transcending to Power – the Freya Files : A Survivor’s Memoir Uncovering the Aftermath of Child Sexual-Abuse
- Erika Shepard – Trans-Formations From Field Boots to Sensible Heels
- Karen DeBonis – Growth: A Mother, Her Son, and the Brain Tumor They Survived
- Mike Nixon – Life Travel And The People In Between
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.

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

A Fraction Stronger

by Mark Berridge

See our full list of 2022 Journey Winners here.

The 2023 JOURNEY Book Awards winners will be announced at CAC24 on April 20, 2024. Save the date for CAC24, scheduled April 18-21, 2024, our 12 year Conference Anniversary!

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!
October 25, 2023
DESPAIR Of The SEER: Book One of the Pithios Dominion Series by Antonio Guadagno – Dark Fantasy, Post-Apocalyptic, Suspense Action

In Despair of the Seer, the first book of Antonio Guadagno’s Pithios Dominion Series, Revenant soldiers mercilessly hound two friends for their vital knowledge as they are pulled away from their everyday lives to a life-or-death fight through a fantastical empire.

This world is filled with life-threatening dangers and horrors that could shake even the most stoic individuals. What weapon could defy these evils? Is determination enough to propel a young man through the Pithios Dominion, defying the deadly, flesh-ravenous Revenant Army? Seeking to reunite with his father, Paxton Roald must race against the powerful forces he blames for this misery. Will he and his best friend, Terrance, be able to find the strength and forge the unity to face their enemy and fight its power?

True to its name, the Pithos Dominion dominates its people so that only the foolhardy and the desperate dare stand up to their threats. The reader is gripped wondering if two young friends can survive when their lives in Miami are turned completely upside-down. Terrance is on the brink of proposing to his girlfriend, and Paxton is caring for his mother and granny when the tentative, uneasy stalemate between governing powers begins to crack.

Laced with endearing humor, Guadagno’s suspenseful and exciting fantasy adventure plunges the reader into a power struggle that threatens to defeat humankind itself.

The ambitious Controller demands military supremacy from the lead scientist of the Revenant Project, Eugene Roald – Paxton’s father.

Instead, Eugene flees to avoid putting his hands on the scales of destiny. But Paxton becomes the Controller’s target, in the hopes he’ll lead them to his father. No one knows if the Controller plays with forces beyond his understanding, or has he found a way to tilt the scales in his favor.

J’Nou, First Brother of the Revenant, is the terror dispatched to pursue Paxton. Torment of the son, or anyone who gets in the way, is simply a means to victory. He shows Paxton the terrible price of power, until Paxton can no longer tolerate this despotism.

The Despair of the Seer may be prophetic as the land of the Dominion is filled with terrible creatures beyond his imagination.

With characters seeking ultimate power, fascinating in their ruthlessness, Despair of a Seer captivates like a horror you can’t force yourself to look away from. The luckless heroes evoke an empathy that will have readers cheering them onward. These two sides clash in a stunning plot that makes this story impossible to put down.

October 25, 2023
Discover your next great read with the 2023 Somerset Awards Hall of Fame

Contemporary tales of literary proportions?

Submit to the Somerset Awards by October 31st!

***Submit Your Novel Today!***

Are the pages of your book full of rich literary themes, captivating contemporary narratives, a touch of magical realism, or heartfelt explorations of family dynamics? If so, it’s time to put your work to the test by submitting it to the Somerset Awards! These awards seek to celebrate and honor books that shine with literary brilliance, offering a platform for those that delve into the complexities of human existence through the written word. Whether your work weaves enchanting tales of magical realism, delves into the intricacies of modern life, or delves deep into the bonds that tie families together, the Somerset Awards is your chance to gain recognition and acclaim for your extraordinary storytelling.

For Humor, Satire, or Allegorical works, we suggest that you consider the Mark Twain Book Awards division of the CIBAs.

Lets take a look at the Grand Prize Winners of the Somerset Awards!

Everything That Was
By Conon Parks, Chris Sempek, Mike MacNeil and Larry Knight

Everything That Was echoes myriad broken emotions born of the world in turmoil after 9/11, intricate and politically bold, and as disturbing in its brutal humanity as it is satisfying with witty jests.

The 9/11 terrorist attack has shattered the psyche of the American people. A volcanic eruption of questions demands the whys and hows of the attack. From this anger, a massive war on terror begins. This historical fiction reflects the chaos of 9/11 and its ensuing global chaos – resulting in a series of violent endeavors and events. Throughout Everything That Was, one can find a swarm of fragmented ideologies, mini memoirs of war veterans, and witness accounts – all screeching reasons for the attack, the ensuing war, and its consequences: political, ideological, and theological.

Read More Here

Lies In Bone
By Natalie Symons

From the first paragraph of Lies in Bone, Natalie Symons’ debut novel delves into human darkness.

Lies in Bone, set in a factory town in 1986 Pennsylvania after its industrial boom faded, is told from the point of view of a girl who struggles with more than usual teenage angst. Symons relentlessly reveals the fear, ignorance, and poverty which often suffuse a community left behind.

The residents of Slippery Elm, Pennsylvania, were bewildered and ill-equipped to deal with their new reality when the steel mill shut down seven years before, leaving many unemployed and discouraged.

Frances Coolidge, known as Frank, knows the struggle of being left behind.

Read More Here

A Season in Lights
By Gregory Erich Phillips

Gregory Erich Phillips’ A Season in Lights is a well-crafted, engaging exploration of creatives, each following their heart and trying to reach their dream.

Against backdrops of the 1980s AIDS crisis and the more recent COVID-19 pandemic, the story entwines the lives of a 30-something dancer and an older musician as they strive to make their artistic mark in the cultural capital of New York City.

Here in a two-fold unveiling, the story comes to life from the first-person perspective of Cammie, a starry-eyed aspiring dancer from Lancaster, PA, and the third-person reveal of Tom, a more seasoned black pianist. He longs for a classical career but is too often labeled a jazz musician. Cammie first encounters Tom in a studio dance class where he’s taken a job as the musical accompanist. Befriended by the gay dance instructor, Tom heeds the worldly advice offered about surviving in the Big Apple. “All you’ve got to do is convince people that you belong. You’ve got to tell them who you are before they tell you.”

Read More Here

Hard Cider
By Barbara Stark-Nemon

Abbie Rose Stone is a woman determined to follow her newly discovered dream of producing her own craft hard apple cider while navigating the ups and downs of family life with her grown sons and husband.

Abbie Rose knows how to deal with adversity, and dives headfirst into this new chapter of her life with energy and passion. She describes her early adulthood years of infertility struggles and the hardscrabble way she built her young family through invasive medical procedures, a surrogate attempt, and adoption barriers.

After finishing a successful career in education and raising her three sons, Abbie Rose now sees an opportunity to create a new segment of her life’s work in a blossoming business venture. She’s set to take on this new venture by herself, determined to succeed, with or without her husband’s support. Yet, while she lays out her meticulous plans for her cider business, life keeps happening around her, attempting to derail Abbie Rose at every turn.

Read More Here

Now that you’re set on your next reads, what are you waiting for? The only way to join this amazing list of Somerset Winners is to submit today!

Those who submit and advance will have the chance to win the Overall Grand Prize of the CIBAs and $1000!

Submit to the CIBAs Today!

Now is your chance to touch the hearts of readers everywhere. Your Contemporary story deserves to be discovered, and you can submit to the 2023 Somerset Awards by the end of the month. Don’t miss this chance to give your book the recognition it deserves.

The Somerset Awards is your chance to shine!

The 2022 Grand Prize Winners from CAC23!

And remember! Our 12th Anniversary Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC24) will be April 18-21, 2024, where our 2023 CIBA winners will be announced. Space is limited and seats are already filling up. Sign up and see the latest updates here!

October 23, 2023
IF IT’S The LAST THING I DO by David Fitz-Gerald – Financial Thrillers, Historical Fiction, Small Town Fiction

If It’s The Last Thing I Do by David Fitz-Gerald tells the story of Misty Menard, a 69-year-old woman who in 1975 returns to her upstate New York hometown to attend the funeral of her beloved father. She is dumbfounded to find she has inherited his business, making wooden dowels and buttons.

A receptionist for most of her adult life, with no business experience, she is at best ill-suited to the job. Personal problems hang over her as well, as a divorcee determined to keep sober and cigarette-free while in weekly therapy. But to keep her father’s memory alive, she is determined to keep the business afloat while she decides what to do with it in the long term. The last thing she imagined she would be doing on the cusp of 70 was running a business.

She turns the business into an employee-owned enterprise, an ESOP (employee stock ownership plan.) This gives her employees a shot at owning part or all of the business. The skill with which If It’s the Last Thing I Do integrates ESOP into its story, making it digestible, is among its many pleasures.

Her three-man management team is aggressively against it, and the local bank that hosts the trust and handles its transactions is resistant to providing loans to facilitate the deal. As the ESOP continues taking shape, the bank becomes its mortal enemy.

While those issues would be difficult on their own, the collapsing economy of that era pushes Misty’s company to the brink of insolvency.

Buyers emerge offering to purchase it on the cheap. There are unexplained incidents of vandalism on the premises. And in an almost Biblical moment, a huge storm brings raging floods that threaten to destroy the company’s physical foundations.

The decision to turn the company over to its employees, giving them a stake in its future, becomes more complex as the financial noose tightens.

Misty’s family life adds yet more weight to her shoulders.

Her husband abandoned her for another woman. One of her two sons is dead, leaving the other son to bring up his nephew, who in turn has a child. That child, a boy nicknamed Four, has ambitions to become an Olympic skater, but finds his path may not wind up as he envisioned.

Misty is filled with self-doubts. She makes decisions from the heart instead of from practicality. But her belief in the rightness of her decisions, her essential goodness, is one of this novel’s strengths. People both good and wicked drive this story, their motivations and machinations not always apparent at first.

Readers who enjoy a well-paced, gripping novel should put If It’s The Last Thing I Do on top of their reading list. Misty’s complex relationships with her family and her own mortality, combined with her efforts as a CEO, turn this novel into a true page-turner.

October 23, 2023
Celebrating the I&I Awards 2023 with the Hall of Fame for Instruction and Insight

Seeking to spread wisdom and knowledge?

The Instruction & Insight Awards are here to help!

Presentations like J.D. Barker’s are a great way to learn!

The Insight & Instruction Awards celebrate exceptional books that provide valuable knowledge, guidance, and enlightenment across a wide range of subjects. From alternative remedies to self-help, these awards acknowledge authors who have made significant contributions to the fields of education, self-improvement, and understanding the world around us. This diverse collection of books foster learning, personal development, and a deeper understanding of the world around us. Enrich lives and contribute to the non-fiction landscape bu submitting today!

***Submit your Book Today***

You have until October 31st to Share your Book and Submit to the 2023 CIBAs!

Looking for something to learn? The I&I Awards have what your looking for! We’ve got categories for Travel, Crafts, Cooking, Motivation, Self-Help and More!

We’re always looking for reasons to celebrate our past winners. You can see the Grand Prize and First Place Winners from 2022 here, but let’s hope into our time machine and recognize our past I&I Grand Prize Winners!

Honoring the Grand Prize Winners of the Instruction & Insight Awards!

Emotional Magnetism
By Sandy Gerber

Emotional Magnetism: How to Communicate to Ignite Connection in Your Relationships is a self-help and marketing book in one—in fact, it’s a self-marketing book.

A seasoned marketing professional, author Sandy Gerber uses common elements in marketing theory to aid those who wish to enhance their communication skills and ability to get along with people around them. It’s easy to be misunderstood or unheard, and it’s even easier to be at cross-purposes, leading to frustration and animosity. But using Gerber’s SAVE technique, understanding what we mean and what we need becomes clear.

In this work, we learn what emotional magnetism is, and how well we can communicate when we learn how to harness it. We also learn about how emotional magnetism can be repelled when it’s not done right. But in order to use emotional magnetism, we must first learn what the emotional magnets are, using the acronym SAVE—short for safety (S), achievement (A), value (V), and experience (E)—and how they are reflected in our personalities.

Read More Here

The Black Foster Youth Handbook
By Ángela Quijada-Banks

The Black Foster Youth Handbook: 50+ Lessons I Learned to successfully Age-Out of Foster Care and Holistically Heal is a distinguished compilation of award-winning author Ángela Quijada-Banks’ insights, seeking to assist those in foster care to stay optimistic and triumph over traumatic experiences.

The text features the author’s candid revelations regarding the disarray she encountered in foster care and the overwhelming emotional roller coaster she underwent through family upheavals and a heart-breaking rift between her siblings.

Foster care had seen her forget her goals and aspirations, as traumas and emotional misfortunes spread their venom in her soul. Banks had found herself misplaced, perplexed, wounded, irate, and unloved. Her background, past wounds, and pessimistic beliefs ruled over her. In a painful recap, she reveals how she became accustomed to constant alarming incidents, creating in her a perpetual state of survival.

Read More Here

Independent Living with Autism
By Wendela Whitcomb Marsh

Author and autism counselor Wendela Whitcomb Marsh has created a specialized guide for those with autism, seen through the eyes of five characters of different ages, with differing needs and aspirations in her book, Independent Living with Autism: Your Roadmap to Success.

Boldly launching her work with the ambitious chapter, “Solutions,” Marsh depicts some of the possible departure points for her readers: those just out of school, those who were diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder or who self-diagnosed, and all who face the challenges of ASD, whether alone or with family or social supports.

Marsh relays her story, focusing on the lives of five individuals with ASD.

Read More Here

Ten Things Every Child With Autism Wishes You Knew
By Ellen Notbohm

Renowned author and mother of a son with autism, Ellen Notbohm here writes from both a personal and a studied viewpoint.

Not so long ago, autism was considered incurable, hopeless, a sort of dead-end diagnosis. But with time and attention to real people on the spectrum, we know now that children with autism can become positive, productive adults. The author’s son, Bryce, decided early on to “be happy” despite his differentness. For parents initially facing the diagnosis, there will undoubtedly be challenges, often on a daily, hourly basis, but Notbohm’s diligent exploration assures us that “autism is not awful.”

Read More Here

Explore Europe on Foot
By Cassandra Overby

Due to COVID-19 sweeping across continents, travel restrictions are at an all-time high. With the general population being placed on lockdown, the need for social distancing, and hunkering down moving towards an indefinite timeframe, some much-needed armchair travel adventures couldn’t come at a better time.

Here in Cassandra Overby’s encyclopedic guide Explore Europe On Foot, readers are taken through a step-by-step process of dreaming, planning, and hopefully soon experiencing memorable, slow travel ventures of a lifetime. Whether it’s choosing a route and destination, deciding what to pack, finding appropriate accommodations and food options, or dealing with inevitable challenges, Overby supplies a world of information in this colossal foot travelers’ bible.

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Now that you’re set on your next reads, what are you waiting for? The only way to join this amazing list of I&I Winners is to submit today!

Those who submit and advance will have the chance to win the Overall Grand Prize of the CIBAs and $1000!

Submit to the CIBAs Today!

Now is your chance to touch the hearts of readers everywhere. Your Non-fiction story deserves to be discovered, and you can submit to the 2023 Instruction and Insight Awards by the end of the month. Don’t miss this chance to give your book the recognition it deserves.

The I&I Awards is your chance to shine!

The 2022 Grand Prize Winners from CAC23!

And remember! Our 12th Anniversary Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC24) will be April 18-21, 2024, where our 2023 CIBA winners will be announced. Space is limited and seats are already filling up. Sign up and see the latest updates here!

October 20, 2023
LIAR, ALLEGED: A Tell-All: Celebrities, Sex and All the Rest by David Vass – Memoirs, LGBTQ+ Humor, 1960s

Liar, Alleged: A Tell-All: Celebrities, Sex, and All the Rest is a raw and mature memoir, the account of a resilient individual, David Vass, who had felt ‘instinctively’ different and shunned since he was a child.

Vass was born in Baltimore as the seventh child of eight. His large family knew nothing more than chaos and absurdity, biting poverty, a violent father, and an eternal hand-to-mouth crisis. At an early age, he had recognized his inextinguishable fascination with other males, a discovery that he would later bring himself to express to his mother. He was pretty confident that being gay was core to who he would become.

By the time he was twenty-four, David’s parents had already passed on. But as fate would have it, he would come to meet ‘the mother he never had’ in the jazz legend Anita O’Day. She dealt with problems of alcohol, drugs, and men; the outcome had been nine abortions, stubborn guilt, and infamy as a heroin addict. Nevertheless, the two would become close confidantes until Anita’s demise at the age of eighty-seven.

Author Vass exemplifies his background in a forthright and emotional manner that will bring readers to laughter and tears alike.

He tells of a tightly wound household, and carefree buddies eager to determine whether he was male or female before answering his sexual longings and plea for companionship. In this book, readers get to learn of the prevalent suicide rate in the gay community around the late 50s and early 60s, with particular true stories narrated in articulate but bare street language.

Carol, one such true individual, revealed eye-opening details such as a little-known disorder that left her unable to feel remorse or guilt as she engaged in indecipherable sexual activities. In the setting of 1966 Baltimore, clubs paid politicians to allow underage workers, and Vass would greatly benefit from the arrangement. Readers may find their emotions stirred by such ordeals of the young teenager, who had started working in one of the shadiest, mafia-owned cross sections of America.

Liar, Alleged: A Tell-All: Celebrities, Sex, and All the Rest delivers a roller coaster of emotions that delves into the highs and lows of a resilient and warm human being.

The narrative is intense and unapologetically honest, leaving a lasting impact, with unfiltered, vulnerable storytelling. Vass refuses to hold back, offering readers a front-row seat to all the dark, raw, and unflattering drama. This memoir is conclusively enticing and well-crafted, and a worthy recommendation to those seeking a blunt and well-told experience of the world.

October 20, 2023
The Chaucer 2023 Long List for Early Historical Fiction
The Chaucer Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in pre-1750s Historical Fiction. The Chaucer Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).

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

Chanticleer International Book Awards is seeking 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 all 2023 Chaucer Early Historical Fiction entries to the 2023 Chaucer Book Awards LONG LIST. Entries below are now in competition for the 2023 Chaucer Short List. The Short Listers will compete for the Semi-Finalist positions. All FINALISTS will be selected from the Semi-Finalists. Winners 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 April 21, 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 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
- Derek Wachter – Black Flags: The Nautical Tale of William Teach
- Gail Avery Halverson – A Sea of Glass
- Carrie Sword – Gospel of the Reindeer
- Gina Buonaguro – The Virgins of Venice
- Griffin Brady – The Hussar’s Duty
- James Hutson-Wiley – The Merchant from Sepharad
- Regan Walker – The Strongest Heart
- Juliette Godot – From the Drop of Heaven
- Stefan Scheuermann – Kyra
- 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
- James T. Hogg – Girl with a Knife: Assault
- 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
- Richard W. Wise – The Dawning: 31,000 BC
- 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!

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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 CHAUCER Awards is:

Mack Little, author of

Daughter of Hades

Click here to see all 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 which is sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

April 18-21, 2024! Register Today!

FLEXIBLE REGISTRATIONS ARE AVAILABLE for these challenging times.

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 do not hesitate to contact us with any questions, concerns, or suggestions at info@ChantiReviews.com.
October 19, 2023