Chanticleer Book Reviews

Author: chanti

The 2023 Laramie Awards Hall of Fame

The Laramie Awards are calling

Submit your Americana, Western or Civil War Novels to the CIBAs!

***Tell your story today***

You have until September 30th to share your Story with us and enter the 2023 CIBAs!

Charles M. Russell painted the cowboy seen on Chanticleer’s very own Laramie contest badge. It is one of many such paintings he did that encompassed the Old American Wild West. An advocate for the Native Americans, Charles M. Russell also helped establish a reservation in Montana for the Chippewa people.

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

Tom Sawyer Returns
By E.E. Burke
Laramie Grand Prize

Tom Sawyer Returns is the second book in The New Adventures series by author E.E. Burke.

Readers join a now grown up and far more independent Becky Thatcher as she maneuvers her complicated life in Civil War era Mississippi. Tom has long since left, and Becky is engaged to Union Captain Alfred Temple, who offers her all the safety and security she needs in such uncertain times. But does she love him? Actually love him?

Becky soon discovers that her heart may have other plans.

Read More Here

Trouble The Water
By Rebecca Dwight Bruff
Overall Grand Prize Winner

Robert Smalls’ life should have been one for the history books.

Smalls was born a slave in Beaufort, South Carolina, in 1839. When the first shots of the Civil War were fired upon Fort Sumter, Smalls was an experienced helmsman aboard a small cargo ship plying the coastal waters of South Carolina and the neighboring states. Once the war broke out, he found himself working to support a cause that kept him, his wife, and their children locked in chattel slavery.

But in a daring escapade that fell somewhere between a raid and a rescue, Smalls planned, with the help of his fellow crew members (also slaves) aboard the CSS Planter, to abscond with the ship, its cargo of munitions taken from Fort Sumter, and bring their families. The plan was to sail the ship as though its white officers were still on board, pretending to be carrying out their orders—at least until the ship was out of the reach of Fort Sumter’s guns.

Read More Here

Seven Aprils
By Eileen Charbonneau
Laramie Grand Prize

Disguised gender identities, warfare, and thwarted romance all play a role in this many-layered novel, Seven Aprils, by award-winning fiction author Eileen Charbonneau.

When Tess Barton, a hardscrabble farm girl, saves the life of a man attacked by a panther, she and he little realize how fated this encounter will prove. Ryder Cole, the man she saved, moves on, pursuing a medical career just as the United States seems destined for war. Intrepid Tess will move on, too, when she learns that her widower father sells her in matrimony to an old, brutish shopkeeper. A wise crone cuts Tess’s hair and garbs her in men’s attire. Reborn as Tom Boyde, who will soon, strangely, meet up with Ryder and become one of his “men,” conscripted into Lincoln’s armies. Tess/Tom shows promise as a medical assistant with some undeniable cooking skills, and together with two other conscripts, they make the team in the Union’s army hospital units.

Read More Here

Blood Moon A Captives Tale
By Ruth Hull Chatlien
Laramie Grand Prize

Ruth Hull Chatlien’s historical novel Blood Moon: A Captive’s Tale shines a light on two worlds trying to coexist in the 1860s Minnesota, that of Westward Expansion and white settlers, and that of the complex network of Sioux tribes dealing with starvation and disease. We follow her protagonist, Mrs. Sarah Wakefield, as she is thrust unwillingly into the midst of the Indian Wars.

Based loosely on the life of real captive, Sarah Wakefield, Chatlien explores both sides of this conflict, through the eyes of our terrified hero, who does what she must to save her life and the lives of her two small children. The first-person narrative in present tense places us in the thick of Wakefield’s narrow escapes, and the presence of the constant threats to her and her children.

Read More Here

Reviews for the 2022 Laramie Awards are to come, but you can see the full list of winners here!

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

Are you a Chanticleer Author who has some good news to share? Let us know! We’re always looking for a reason to crow about Chanticleerians! Reach out with your news to info@ChantiReviews.com

September 20, 2023
The 2023 Short List CYGNUS Book Awards for Science Fiction
The Cygnus Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Science Fiction, Steampunk, Alternative History, and Speculative Fiction. The Cygnus Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (The CIBAs).

Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring space, time travel, life on other planets, parallel universes, alternate reality, and all the science, technology, major social or environmental changes of the future that author imaginations can dream up for the CYGNUS Book Awards division. Hard Science Fiction, Soft Science Fiction, Apocalyptic Fiction, Cyberpunk, Time Travel, Genetic Modification, Aliens, Super Humans, Interplanetary Travel, Climate-Fiction, and Settlers on the Galactic Frontier, Dystopian, our judges from across North America and the U.K. will put them to the test and choose the best among them.

These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from all 2023 CYGNUS Science Fiction Long List to the 2023 Cygnus Book Awards Short List. These entries are now in competition for the 2023 Cygnus Semi-Finalists. The Semi-Finalists will compete for the Finalist positions. FINALISTS will be recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference, CAC24.

These titles are in the running for the SEMI-FINALISTS of the 2023 Cygnus Book Awards novel competition for Science Fiction!

Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works!
- S.W. Lawrence, MD – Climate Dragon
- Andrew P. Blaber – Fallow
- Lou Dischler – The Rising
- E.T. Gunnarsson – Abandon Us
- E.T. Gunnarsson – Remember Us
- Arnie Benn – The Intrepid: Dawn Of The Interstellar Age
- J.L. Birchwood – The Southron Deception
- Alexandra Almeida – Unanimity
- S.G. Blaise – Proud Pada
- Tamar Anolic – The Fledgling’s Inferno
- Diane Lilli – The Last Invention
- William X. Adams – Polters
- N. John Williams – In the Shadow of Humanity: A Novel
- Julia Tvardovskaya – Identifiable
- Gareth Worthington – Dark Dweller
- J.D. Clason – Salvation
- K.M. Messina – Gemja – The Message
- Lucia Dolan – Power Surge
- R. R. Corvi – The Brangus Rebellion
- Amber Kirkpatrick – Unleashed
- Michael Simon – Extinction
- J. Wint – The Prism Effect
- Timothy S. Johnston – The Shadow of War
- Howard Berk and Peter Berk – TimeLock
- Jeanne Hull Godfroy – Midgard
- Jamie Eubanks – Hall of Skulls
- Rob Brownell – Invention Is a Mother
- Dylan McFadyen – Oblivion’s Cloak
- Donald Firesmith – Hell Holes: A Slave’s Revenge
- Stu Jones – The Zone: A Cyberpunk Thriller
- John Blossom – The Last Football Player
- Nikki Kallio – Finding the Bones: Stories & A Novella
- Sarena Straus – ReInception
- Tyler Drinkard – Isolated Domain
- Melissa Gowdy Baldwin – The Marriage Wars: Book One
Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.

PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!

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Congratulations once more to the 2022 Cygnus Grand Prize Winner

The Last Lumenian

By S. G. Blaise

Click here to see the full list of 2022 CYGNUS Book Award Winners for Science Fiction.

We are now accepting submissions into the 2024 CYGNUS Book Awards for Science Fiction.

Please click here for more information.

Winners will be announced at the 2023 CIBA Awards Ceremony that is 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 attend and participate in for North America.

Join us for our 12th annual conference and discover why!
September 20, 2023
THE COLOR Of The ELEPHANT: Memoir of a Muzungu by Christine Herbert – Peace Corps, Traveler and Explorer Memoirs, Africa

“The toughest job you’ll ever love.” That was the original slogan for the Peace Corps, one that Christine Herbert found to be wholly true, as she shows in The Color of the Elephant, a journal of her time serving in Zambia from 2004 to 2006.

This is a story about the journey rather than the destination. After all, the destination of any posting with the Peace Corps is the place you first came from, hopefully leaving something positive behind, and having changed and been changed by the experience.

For the author, her experience was that of a muzungu, a word synonymous in southern, central, or eastern African countries with foreigners such as Peace Corps volunteers and Doctors without Borders.

Christine Herbert came to Zambia as a ‘stranger in a strange land’, with the intent to change herself – to break out of her identity as a self-described ‘goody-goody’.

She resisted her family’s best efforts to convince her to stay on a safe and sane path. Volunteering for the Peace Corps, going to Africa for 27 months in the immediate wake of 9/11 was neither.

In her early 30s, a bit older than the usual Peace Corps volunteer, she knew that she wasn’t there to save anyone or anything – except quite possibly herself. The reader walks beside Herbert as she is made and broken over and over again in a tale equal parts heartwarming and heartbreaking. Her experiences, for at least a little while, take her out of her white, privileged, American mindset and put her feet into the sandals of a world where community is everything.

Herbert does an excellent job of carrying readers on a startling, eye-opening, and life-changing journey.

The author did not undertake this journey for the adventure of it all, because the point was not to return to her old normal life. She sought to change her perspective on what normal can and should be.

Serving in the Peace Corps, that “toughest job you’ll ever love” has been a dream for many more people than have undertaken the actual journey. Any reader who dreamed that dream will be given a glimpse into the challenges of the job and just how much love – of friends, found family, newfound homes, and meaningful work – lay at its heart.

The Color of the Elephant by Christine Herbert won First Place in the 2022 CIBA Military and Front Line Awards.

September 20, 2023
LUNA: Rhone and Stone Book 2 by Strider S.R. Klusman – YA, Action/Adventure, Steampunk
Luna, the second book in Strider S.R. Klusman’s YA Rhone and Stone Series, follows Rhone and his alien partner Stone as they develop a ship that can sail through the air.

The two train to become agents for the Office of Public Recrimination, urged to join by their friend – and now boss – Aundrea. Rhone struggles through training with the help of his trusty partner, but a much more difficult test remains before them – their first assignment.

Aundrea sends them to Corgy, a port town, without explaining their mission. But it doesn’t take long for Rhone to encounter troubles from shore and sea alike.

He and Stone meet Mayor Dugan, who takes an instant dislike for Rhone, posing as a wealthy merchant’s son. But it’s his front, designed so by the ladies of the OPR, and commands a great deal of respect and authority from the locals, if not Bella. Sometimes it’s difficult not to forget his actual purpose for being at Corgy. As an agent of the OPR, he must solve the town’s greatest problem, a rash of pirate attacks on Corgy’s vital ocean-borne trade; if they continue, Corgy won’t survive.

But to fix anything in Corgy, Rhone will need help.

The roguish Captain Black tests Rhone’s sea legs on the Backwater Mistress. Rhone passes the test of rough waters – barely – and garners the good captain’s respect.

He also meets the beautiful Bella, a waitress at The Common House in Corgy. Though he’s smitten with her, Rhone is on a mission, and ends up frustrating her with mixed messages.

Bella responds to him with a fiery personality, but Rhone finds her passion to be as enthralling as it is unpredictable. As he gets to know her, he helps Bella find her place in a society that tries to smother her drive for independence.

She wants to prove that she is as good as any man. And, when Rhone comes up with the idea to hunt Corgy’s pirates from the air, Bella has her chance to do so.

Rhone takes Bella’s opinions and advice as they design a unique kind of ship. Aviation is unknown to this world, but the trio – Rhone, Stone, and Bella – design and pilot their first prototype, named Bo, a hot-air balloon made from a whale’s bladder. While a proof-of-concept, Bo doesn’t last long, and they’ll need a much greater ship to take down the dangerous pirates.

Stone provides immense scientific knowledge, Rhone the training in sailing he received from Captain Black, and Bella a knowledge of materials and the resources of Corgy. Between them, they turn an awkward and dangerous balloon into a vessel worthy of the sky.

Joining with Captain Black, the three plan to stop the pirates in their tracks – despite the great danger.

Tense and descriptively rich action scenes will keep readers turning page after page to find out if Rhone and Bella will survive their flight in an experimental craft – relying on the work of their own minds and hands.

Klusman’s masterful storytelling takes this second book in the Rhone and Stone series to the next level. Readers who have not read the first book will have no problem following this story, but will eagerly go back to join Rhone’s first adventure. Rhone and Stone make a fabulous team, sharing thoughts and trust as they claw their way out of danger time after time.

This book is a five-star read and a great adventure. Readers will be chomping at the bit for book three!
September 18, 2023
THE CANDLE GLASS by Diane Fedt Topolski – Picture Books, Children’s Moral Fables, Children’s Friendship & Family Books

Diane Fedt Topolski’s The Candle Glass breathes vibrant new life into traditional children’s morals, inspiring both young and old to strengthen the light inside them through intentional reflection and connection with a supportive community.

Stunning yet simplistic scratchboard drawings lift the story off the page, capturing readers’ attention and bringing the text to life. This simultaneously comforting and thrilling adventure will stick with readers and shed new light on the capacity for goodness within each person.

Topolski narrates the heartwarming tale of a young boy named Cappy, as he tries to invent a method of uncovering the hidden truth within each person.

When Cappy overhears his parents and grandmother discussing a “bad egg” they know, he concocts a machine to spot “the good, the bad, and the rotten” hidden within humankind. Constructed with two circus mirrors and a brightly lit candle, his remarkable invention shows him the inner lights of his loved ones.

However, the essence of each person is more nuanced than Cappy first assumes. Rather than revealing the ugliness within Cappy’s friends and family, the candle glass displays their inherent good, and the capacity of that good to expand. In fact, there isn’t “one rotten egg in the bunch.” Along the way, Cappy learns to trust his intuition and nurture the light within himself.

With vivid imagery, parents can use The Candle Glass to teach their young readers about seeking the good in every person.

The mesmerizing black and white illustrations complement the story’s theme of moral light clearing the way through the shadows. After all, as Topolski reminds readers, “everyone needs some work. Like the chick in the egg, we are just beginning.” Cappy’s imaginative adventures encourage children to deepen their curiosity about the world and its people, setting their minds and hearts to work.

Overall, The Candle Glass surrounds its readers with a warm, magical glow, allowing access to a world built on security, love, and trust. Readers will find themselves looking inward and realizing that when they join hands with their community in love, “the light becomes dazzling.”

September 15, 2023
The CHATELAINE Book Awards 2023 Long List for Romantic Fiction
The Chatelaine Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in Romantic Fiction. The Chatelaine Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).

Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best new books featuring romantic themes and adventures of the heart, historical love affairs, perhaps a little steamy romance, and stories that appeal especially to fans of affairs of the heart to compete in the Chatelaine Book Awards (the CIBAs). 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 Chatelaine Romantic Fiction entries to the 2023 Chatelaine Book Awards LONG LIST. Entries below are now in competition for the 2023 Chatelaine Short List. The Short Listers will compete for the Semi-Finalist positions. Finalists will be 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 in Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST of the 2023 Chatelaine Book Awards novel competition for Romantic Fiction!

Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works in the 2023 CIBAs.
- Susan Bagby – Christmas Wish Upon A Star
- Douglas Bachmann – Afterlife
- Claira Towers – Just a Number: A Love Story
- Kathryn Brown Ramsperger – A Thousand Flying Things
- K.S. Jones – Once In a Bluebonnet Moon
- Jeanette Watts – My Dearest Miss Fairfax
- Charles M. DuPuy – Rescue Man
- T.K. Conklin – Guarded Hearts
- Morgan Sloan – Stableshoes
- Edie Cay – A Viscount’s Vengeance
- Kathleen Stone – Hey Jude
- Gail Avery Halverson – A Sea of Glass
- Hope Gibbs – Where the Grass Grows Blue
- Betty Codd – Agatha
- Laura Albu – The Undines
- Alice McVeigh – Darcy: A Pride and Prejudice Variation
- George T. Arnold – Old Mrs. Kimble’s Mansion
- Bonnie Rose Ward – Loving Beth
- Catherine Tinley – A Laird for the Highland Lady
- Carmela Dutra – Love Extra Credit
- KB Taylor – Hattie’s Family: Through the Eyes of a Dairymaid
- Suzanne Baginskie – Dangerous Revenge- Book 2 of The FBI Affairs Series
- S.G. Blaise – Proud Pada
- Patrick Greenwood – Sunrise in Saigon
- Lynn Yvonne Moon – Fish Scales
- Rose Prendeville – Mistress Mackintosh and the Shaw Wretch
- Wendy Rich Stetson – Heartsong Hills
- Jerry Gundersheimer – Reach: A Nexus of Life and Love
- Robert Beatty – No Other Name
- Yvonne Korshak – Pericles and Aspasia: A Story of Ancient Greece
- Paul Buchheit – 1871: Rivers on Fire
- Marie Jones – Those We Seek
- Eve M. Riley – The Outcast
- Carol Van Den Hende – Always Orchid
- KD Sherrinford – Song for Someone
- Nancy Herkness – Royal Caleva: Gabriel
- Evie Alexander – Love ad Lib
- Kelly Miller – A Dutiful Son
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 CHATELAINE Book Awards is:

Operation Mom:

My plan to get my Mom a life and a man

by Reenita Malhotra Hora

See the full list of Chatelaine 2022 Winners here

We are now accepting submissions into the 2023 Chatelaine Book Awards for Romance Fiction. The 2023 CIBA winners will be announced at CAC 2024.

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, 2023! 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 11th annual conference and discover why!
September 14, 2023
THE MONEY MAP: A Spiritual Guide for Financial Success by Kasey J. Claytor – Business Motivation & Improvement, Spirituality Self-Help, Money Management

“There is something magical about money—the way it appears and disappears, grows and shrinks, and, in a similar way of taming a hesitant wild horse, with calm assuredness and confidence, not only will you learn to control it, but you will find you can joyfully master it.” -Author Kasey J. Claytor

Claytor insists that every successful endeavor starts with an individual’s thinking and beliefs. She details this concept – and how to live with it in mind – in her new book, The Money Map: A Spiritual Guide for Financial Success.

From the onset of her business-oriented career, Claytor has drawn from her beliefs as she upholds financial success as a spiritual goal. In this volume, she takes the mystery out of money to show it as an extension of the mind, body, and spirit. Claytor ensures the beginning of an endearing journey toward clearer financial decision-making, investments, and goals by asking readers to identify the worries of their own ego and to eliminate unproductive ideas and actions.

Claytor offers insight on how one can change their thinking and behavior to allow the floodgates of abundance to open up, with solid advice for achieving undivided focus, intelligent poise, and a competent thought technique.

She asserts that everyone can step outside of themselves and hold the point of view of the observer. If one is mindful and aware of their present moment, they can move toward much-needed peace and confidence, allowing the growth of new ideas and productivity.

The route to monetary independence may appear too steep to ascend, but The Money Map will guide readers to the summit, one checkpoint at a time.

This book’s eye-opening revelations about the mindsets of affluent people and its secrets to what they carry inwardly, earn it must-read status in the business resources category.

The Money Map: A Spiritual Guide for Financial Success will provide readers with invaluable advice, standing beside such works as Spiral Dynamics by Dr. Don Edward Beck Ph. D., Map of the Scale of Consciousness by Dr. David Hawkins M.D. Ph. D., and Integral Psychology by Ken Wilbur. The Money Map will aid anyone in discovering the most beneficial path to financial success, regardless of their current situation.

September 13, 2023
The CIBAs 2023 GERTRUDE WARNER Book Awards for Middle Grade Fiction – The Long List
The Gertrude Warner Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in Middle Grade Fiction. The Gertrude Warner Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).

The Gertrude Warner Book Awards competition is named for Gertrude Chandler Warner, the wonderful author of The Boxcar Children.

Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring Contemporary Middle Grade, SFF & Paranormal Middle Grade, Mystery Middle Grade, Historical Middle Grade, Adventure Middle Grade, and Graphic Novels. We will put them to the test and choose the best among them. For Young Adult Fiction see our Dante Rossetti Awards here and for Children’s Literature see our Little Peeps Awards here.

These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from all 2023 Gertrude Warner Middle Grade Fiction entries to the 2023 Gertrude Warner Book Awards LONG LIST. Entries below are now in competition for the 2023 Gertrude Warner Shortlist. The Short Listers will compete for the FINALIST positions. Finalists will be selected from the Short List. 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 20st, 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 Gertrude Warner Book Awards novel competition for Middle Grade Fiction!

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

The 2023 Gertrude Warner Book Awards Long List
- Tomás Pérez-Zafón – Trotter and the Twins: The Magic of Imagination
- Sue C Dugan – SOS
- Carrie Sword – The Gospel of the Reindeer
- Gregory Saur – Drowning Hate
- Jenna L. Campbell – Camp Silversand and the Lost Heart of the Lake
- Gabriel Bietz – The Adventures of Arya and Krishna Betta Fish
- Alex Paul – The Amarrat Invasion
- Hans Ness – Rolo the Pet Earthling
- Jason Colpitts – Corrine and the Secret Mountain Colony
- Marsha Tufft – The Sea Turtle Spy Project: Putney Hicks Inventor Adventures? Book 4
- Chris Norbury – Little Mountain, Big Trouble
- V Knox – Snow Behind the Door
- Zane Re-Bloom – The Magic of Moon & Herbs
- Malinda Andrews – Awaken
- Marsha Klopmeier Tufft – The Buoyancy Project: Putney Hicks Inventor Adventures, Book 2
- Peter Serko – Hattie’s War
- Andrew Dolberg and Rob Long – The Great Weather Diviner: The Untold Origin of Punxsutawney Phil
- Vincent M. Miceli – The Last Triceracorn, Book One
- J.T. Tenera – Erift’s Journeys: The Dark Messengers
- Liese Sherwood-Fabre – Wilhelmina Quigley: Magic School Dropout
- Mel Sobolewski – Second Chances Moonlight Mile Ranch
- Eileen Hobbs – Under the Golden Rain Tree
- Caryn Rivadeneira – Frankinschool (Book 1): Monster Match
- Elizabeth R. Jensen – Fire & Wolves: A Tale of Etria
- David Swindell – The Wonderful Friendship
- Maxine Rose Schur – The Word Dancer
- Kevin Dunn – Vicious is My Middle Name
- Nikita Kapoor – Pack of the Lost – The Uninviting Forest
- J.T. Tenera – Erift’s Journeys: Secrets of The Sealed Forest
- Paisley Summer – The Butterfly Nebulae
- Sheri Graubert – Molly Shipton, Secret Actress
- Rae Marsh – Love, Maggie-Chronicles of 3rd Grade
- David Nos – Kordan The Wizard
- Barbara Gold – Operation Save PawPrints, an Izzy Rose Green Mystery
- Ryan OBrien – Adventures Through the Magic Portal
- Susan Diamond Riley – The Sea Witch’s Revenge: A Delta & Jax Mystery
- Rae Knightly – EXOSTAR (The Lost Space Treasure Series, Book 1)
- Alisse Lee Goldenberg & Joseph Goldenberg – Lucky At Bat
- Mark Cheverton – Facing the Beast Within
- Lynne Howard – Dylan Dover: Into The Vortex
- L.T. Caton – Find Me In Time: Meeting Columbus
- Cintia Alfonso Fior – Moraline
- Rae St. Clair Bridgman – The Kingdom of Trolls
- Ben Gartner – One Giant Leap
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 GERTRUDE WARNER Awards is:

MYSTERY FORCE, Volume 1

by Ted Neill and Suzi Spooner

The 2023 GERTRUDE WARNER 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 2023 GERTRUDE WARNER Book Awards are open until the end of August. 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!
September 12, 2023
The 2023 Clue Awards Spotlight | Introducing a New Category to the Suspense/Thriller Division
A New Mystery has joined the Clue Awards

Submit to the Clue Awards by 9/30/23 to enter the CIBAs

The Clue Awards for Suspense/Thriller novels has a new category!

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).

Introducing the True Crime Category

The Clue Awards is delighted to welcome in a Non-Fiction black sheep into its fold with the True Crime / Investigations Category. While it would be tricky to fit this into our general Non-Fiction Awards, we took inspiration from bookstores everywhere that frequently put the True Crime section next to the rest of the excellent mysteries.

Book Riot did a great article on the differences between True Crime and Thrillers, saying

True crime aficionados liked the deep dive into the psychology of it all. Jack El-Hai, a true crime writer who recently published The Lost Brothers, wrote, “I’m only an occasional reader of murder mysteries. Many fictional works about murder are about finding out who did it, and the narrative concludes with that discovery or with catching the perpetrator. I’m more interested in why they did it and the aftermath for everyone affected by the crime.”

The readers they interviewed ranged from only wanting to read one or the other to loving both for different reasons. Do you have any of your own preferences?

Of course, this wouldn’t be a Chanticleer article if we didn’t have some excellent books for you to read!

First and foremost, we are delighted to celebrate the 2022 winners of the Clue Awards!
- Marie Sutro- Dark Obsessions
- Michelle Cox- A Spying Eye
- Jodé Millman- Hooker Avenue
- Kevin G. Chapman- Dead Winner
- Arthur Herbert- The Bones of Amoret
- Brenda Stanley- The Still Small Voice
The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2022 Clue Award is:

Have You Seen Me?

By Alexandrea Weis

It’s time to take your work to the next level.

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The Grand Prize Winners of the 2022 Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards!
September 11, 2023
ROHAN And NYRA And BIG SISTER’S BET by Anthony C. Delauney – Children’s Money & Savings Books, Picture Books, Children’s Educational Books

Continuing his series of important financial lessons told through fun stories, Anthony C. Delauney teaches readers about greed and gambling in Rohan and Nyra and Big Sister’s Bet.

Rohan eagerly waits for his big sister to return home from school for the weekend. Nyra brings home a challenge for Rohan in the form of a game. For every catch of the ball, Rohan will earn one dollar, but if he drops the ball at any point, he will lose it all. Rohan has tons of fun catching the ball over and over, thinking of all the things he will be able to buy with each added dollar. Will Rohan decide to keep the game going even when he becomes tired, or will he stop while he is ahead? Read Rohan and Nyra and Big Sister’s Bet to find out!

The lesson at the heart of the story is an important one, for children and adults alike. It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of taking risks.

Rohan and Nyra and Big Sister’s Bet highlights the importance of thinking through your decisions. Of course, one must sometimes take risks, but should do so thoughtfully.

With illustrator Chiara Civati’s whimsical artwork and Deluaney’s simple yet attention-grabbing rhyming, Rohan and Nyra and Big Sister’s Bet is a children’s book not to miss! Check out the other books in the series: Dash and Nikki and the Jellybean Game and Lilly and May Learn Why Mom and Dad Work.

September 8, 2023