When gold miners discover Choestoe Valley, Jebediah Collins must fight for his family – whether blood-related or not – in J.R. Collins’ historical adventure, Spirit of the Rabbit Place
Fourteen-year-old Jebediah Collins lives in paradise, also known as Choestoe Valley, or to the Cherokee as the “land where the rabbits dance.” The Collins consider Dancing Bear, a Cherokee elder, and his relatives as family. They share with and help each other in good times and bad.
When Jeb’s grandfather settled in the valley after immigrating from Ireland, he quickly learned the benefits of befriending the Native Americans living in the area. Now Jeb’s father, Thompie, gives freely of his farm’s bounty to the Cherokee, who help work the land and teach the Collins how to survive in this beautiful but deadly landscape. Cain, Jeb’s older brother even marries Rose, Dancing Bear’s daughter, and becomes a full-fledged Cherokee warrior in his own right. Dancing Bear symbolically adopts Jeb, who shares an age with his own son, Wolf. Jebediah and Wolf become blood brothers, learning to be Cherokee warriors together and taking on any and every adventure that comes their way.
Their adventures take a darker turn with the arrival of gold miners to their sacred valley.
These unscrupulous men threaten their very way of life. The ruthless miners capture Wolf and force him into slavery, pushing Jeb to risk himself for the chance to rescue his friend.
The third novel in the Choestoe series builds on a theme of unity. Jeb’s family and nearly all of the settlers in the valley honor and respect the Cherokee who inhabited this area long before the settlers arrived. From plowing fields to hunting game, the Collins family and Dancing Bear’s clan work seamlessly, easily with each other. Under the age-old adage, “treat folks how you want to be treated,” Jeb understands that what he does and says will be returned to him tenfold. Though the white man’s greed threatens to change his home forever, he would never make an enemy of the Cherokee, a people so much more knowledgeable than his own. He trusts implicitly and without question, and with that comes the need to protect and love his family.
The people of Choestoe take responsibility for one another.
Their hearts beat as one; their minds think as one. When any neighbor needs help, neither the settlers nor their Cherokee brethren forsake them, chasing down murderous outlaws and helping free slaves. More people than just Jeb’s family show this amazing generosity of spirit. Throughout the valley, families return in kind the goodness shown to them. Mrs. England, for example, takes in orphaned children, especially those with disabilities and special needs.
The settlers not only want to fight for their way of life, but also for the ancient ways of their Cherokee neighbors, who the gold seekers and US government treat more cruelly every day. This community defines the emotional journey of Spirit of the Rabbit Place.
Spiritualism plays an important role as well, with a mixture of and deep respect for Cherokee and Christian beliefs.
Jeb’s faith often brings him comfort and strength, and many times, the Cherokee turn to prayer for direction and guidance on huge decisions. Though he fears evil when he comes face-to-face with it, Jeb knows the Great Creator protects him and finds solace in the idea that no evil can hurt someone who is protected by the Peace of Jesus. All of the Cherokee warriors repeatedly assure Jeb, whose Cherokee name is Spirit Filled One, that he should trust in and heed the voice of the Spirit that comes to him; that very faith not only saves him and George Black Oak, Wolf’s blood uncle, but also shows them some much-needed information in the midst of an important emotional struggle. This faith shines through in Jeb’s loving nature and brings light to all those around him.
J.K. Noble’s first installment in her new YA series, Hale: The Rise of the Griffins, is a fast-paced adventure through a magical realm full of danger, deception, and mythical beasts.
Sixteen-year-old Hale was orphaned at a young age; his parents both mysteriously killed while on a family camping trip. His older sister, Carly, took him under her wing and raised him, making sure he was safe and that he always wore the amulet given to him by his father. But two years later, when Hale and Carly are both abducted and held captive by a violent man, Hale’s life takes another drastic turn he isn’t expecting. He’s swiftly ushered into a magical realm known as The Extraordinary Division of Malphora – a sister realm to The Human Division of Malphora – where Griffin’s reign supreme and monsters lurk across the lands.
Accompanied by a group of other kids also pulled into The Extraordinary Division of Malphora, Hale learns that he isn’t a simple human boy – he’s a Griffin with the power of Endurance, the strongest of powers among his kind.
Aided by his new friend River, Hale navigates the brutal world of young Griffin training set up by the leader of the Griffins – the powerful and respected Bayo. Except, Bayo isn’t entirely what he seems. He’s hiding a dark secret from Hale that could flip their entire world upside down, and if he’s not careful, Hale could end up bringing about his demise.
Noble crafts an intricate and vast world full of lore that will keep even the most avid fantasy reader engrossed.
The magic system uniquely draws upon many familiar mythological creatures – harpies, nymphs, witches – but offers its own spin, combining these old legends with the modern era’s ingenuity. It is clear that an immense amount of planning and work went into the creation of Malphora, and while some details may feel rushed at times, Noble gives the reader an adventure of a lifetime that they won’t be able to put down.
Not only does Noble’s magic system draw the reader in, but so do her characters.
The emotional ties between the cast are one of the book’s most vital attributes, exploring the trials of friendship, the heartbreak of love, and the dangerous things we’ll do to protect our family. The bond between Hale and Carly provides a solid start to the book. The friendship that forms between Hale and fellow Griffin River keeps the reader invested, not to mention the plethora of other characters and their interesting and often complicated personal ties to one another. Emotions run high in Hale: The Rise of the Griffins, and they will make any reader laugh, cry, and sing Nobel’s praises.
Charlie Suisman returns to the unique fictional town of Arnold Falls in his humorous novel, Hot Air.
Arnold Falls bristles with zany events, quirky locals, and colorful newbies. Above all, this memorable enclave buoys its people through heart, soul, wit, and a true sense of collective spirit.
Jeebie Walker returns as the story’s central narrator.
The successful voice-over artist stands as a solid fixture in the town, now in a loving relationship with his partner Will. A volunteer fireman, illustrator, and candidate for an MA in Conservation Biology, Will jokingly claims that Jeebie makes “bossing others around” a superpower.
In the midst of a mid-life crisis, Jeebie takes on a project of implementing little library cabinets throughout the town. Due to some unscrupulous financial administrators, he also worries about the sudden lack of funding for arts programs at the local hospital.
Meanwhile, the friend he helped elect as the town’s first female mayor has her own hands full.
She bonds with her adoptive Haitian son while reluctantly considering a temporary Arnold Falls name change to bring in money and tourists. Her newfound attraction to the local record store/weed emporium aficionado complicates her life further. A sudden string of thefts involving odd but meaningful town memorabilia certainly also needs the mayor’s attention.
Coincidentally, a new TV series – based on several New Yorker stories about a hapless, Hudson Valley hamlet resembling Arnold Falls – starts using the town for filming. Here an indie film actress heads up the cast and brings about a whole other set of calamities.
Hot Air calls back to characters and incidents from the original, award-winning novel, Arnold Falls, bringing unfamiliar readers up to speed.
Comical references like the amorous adventures of a town turkey saved from the chopping block and the former mayor accidentally sending bomb-making supplies to a sister city in Romania will draw new readers to Suisman’s previous novel.
Suisman continues to shine in his ability to drive a well-crafted narrative through creative characters, action, and detail.
Many small storylines intertwine. An old-time resident nearing his final days receives a toast of Clagger – the local hooch. The recordings from a former Arnold Falls Chamber Ensemble reappear. A jazzy chanteuse uses her talents to draw wandering cows home. A high-tech museum installation honors the life of a flatulent nonagenarian’s mother, a popular black madam.
In this unforgettable world, Suisman conjures unique and lively scenes.
A Martha Washington mannequin sits on a porch, complete with a “may have belonged to MW” mobcap. Drag queens teach hot yoga. A “Witness Protection” face cream hawked at the farmer’s market will leave users speechless. And a mayoral assistant/fashionista dresses to honor “National Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor’s Porch Day.” Once again, this hideaway proves itself as a charmingly lyrical landscape, where the spark of levity is never far behind.
Like the first Arnold Falls novel, here the final fun-filled, open-air wind-up exudes the caring and commitment of these multi-faceted characters woven into the richly textured fabric of their community. Wrapped in its inspiring and imaginative literary warmth, fans will be happy to learn the epilogue suggestively hints at more ventures to come.
One young Black woman turns detective when she realizes her family is in jeopardy in Abena Sankofa’s debut novel, Up North.
Teenage songbird Phyllis Joiner dreamed of one day seeing the glamorous North. But when her Uncle has been apprehended for an alleged crime, her wish may be about to be granted in the most distressing manner, beginning in 1933.
Phyllis Joiner always managed to get in trouble in one form or other. But she has no idea what ‘trouble’ will look like. Nineteen-year-old Phyllis is well-known for her spirited singing and piano playing in her Pa’s joint – “Daddy Joiner’s” local Music Club in Colchester County, Louisiana. But the Joiners live in a county where black schools do not go beyond the middle grade, and white supremacy rules the land.
Problems multiply when Phyllis’ Uncle, Zachariah, has been apprehended for an alleged crime.
His accuser, the notoriously ruthless landowner Smith Owens, isn’t interested in justice, but something else entirely. He has a reputation for getting all who cross him jailed and worked to death on his land.
In a rare twist of fate for the Joiners, an African-American family in the Jim Crow South, they take their case to the court and win, but it turns out to be a Pyrrhic victory when a chilling threat letter arrives in the mail, warning them to pay $250 or “Get what’s coming to you on the Full Moon.” The tattered note is signed in none other than Smith Owens’ hand. Now even their congenial white neighbors do not want to be seen speaking to her family after they have been “marked” for retaliation by the Owens’ minions.
Phyllis’ Pa, who had already lived through voting riots when he was a boy, fears that a new riot will be around the corner if he doesn’t take appropriate action. And the situation with Phyllis’s education heading nowhere also bothers him, so Pa makes up his mind that the time has come for the Joiners and their extended families to sneak out of Colchester County. They plan to leave “by the light of the full moon” (which happens to be the end of the “death threat” letter’s grace period) to Chicago, where Ma Joiner’s sister, Ruth, lives.
The timing must coincide perfectly, especially since Pa could only procure train tickets to take them as far as St. Louis.
The family would need “agents” who could safely guide them to their destination. The Phantom Menace would be their last contact, getting them into the Black Belt of Chicago. Little do the Joiners know what harrowing adventures await them along the way, and even more once they get to Chicago. Although positive events occur, like Phyllis attending nursing school, and falling for a handsome Fairground officer, no amount of fitting in with the ways of the big city can protect her for long from her family’s hunted status.
When Smith Owens and his adult sons arrive in Chicago, he makes a deadly pact with one of the Windy City’s most terrible crime syndicates in a bid to hunt down the Joiner family for the location of a mysterious treasure he believes them to have inherited.
Now it falls to teenage Phyllis Joiner to turn sleuth, and track them down before they find her family – a goal that tosses her into the gritty reality of what it means to live “Up North” in the Windy City. It’s a reality that will force her to cast aside her lofty expectations, and become the Captain of her own fate, and her family’s protector in the process.
Enter Willard Lancaster, the Joiner family’s red-headed lawyer, a rebellious, street-smart scion attracted to any dangerous pursuit for a worthy cause. A throwback to his Abolitionist predecessor, he throws in his lot with Phyllis Joiner on her way to defend her family, only to find himself in the crosshairs of his own uncle’s wrath.
Rising author Abena Sankofa pens a fascinating story of one young Black woman’s “underground” journey from Louisiana to Chicago and ultimate sleuthing to protect her family from bounty hunters.
Sankofa provides a small but realistic cast set within the precarious years of The Great Migration. Her writing style varies from light to downright nail-biting. Phyllis (Sankofa’s heroine) performs in her father’s music clubs, faces harassment at nursing school, and falls in love – all amid several life-threatening situations.
Sankofa punctuates her fictional plot with factual information. Examples include a mix-and-match of Chicago’s expositions, maps that outline the Black Belt area of Chicago, and “patrons” (guardians, so to speak) to keep watch over Black neighbors. Even though the Black quarter of the city is a safe haven for her, at the all-Black Nursing School which she makes it into, Phyllis faces pressure from classist schoolmates. One particularly striking aspect is the generational viewpoints of Black history. Phyllis’s grandmother tells of the symbolism behind quilt making. Pa recollects sharecropping days and riots over voting rights. Both grandmother and father provide essential nuances of what Phyllis’s ancestors endured on the way to their freedom – all of which Phyllis should never forget even as she races to uncover the location of a rumored family inheritance worth millions.
Sankofa’s approach to storytelling preserves truth.
As she produces a story of perseverance and strength amid a burgeoning romance, she includes music from the gilded Jazz Age and classics that appropriately enhance her narrative. Some favorites include W. C. Handy‘s “When the Saints Go Marching In” and “St. Louis Blues,” and George and Ira Gershwin‘s “I’ve Got Rhythm,” Benny Goodman and his Orchestra‘s “Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing),” and Ella Fitzgerald‘s “They Can’t Take That Away from Me,” to name a few.
Up North will touch a nerve and claim a place in today’s world. In short, Abena Sankofa’s debut novel is nothing short of brilliant and a novel we can highly recommend.
**Please Note: This author is currently seeking representation. Follow the process on Sankofa’s website by clicking here.
The Clue Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in Suspese 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 all 2021 Clue Suspense/Thriller Fiction entries to the 2021 Clue Book Awards LONG LIST. Entries below are now in competition for 2021 Clue Shortlist. 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 (CAC22).
The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 24 CIBA divisions’ Finalists.
We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, June 25th, 2022 at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2022 Chanticleer Authors Conference.
These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST of the 2021 Clue Book Awards novel competition for Thriller/Suspense Fiction!
Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works in the 2021 CIBAs.
Tom Galvin – The Auction
Steph Mullin and Nicole Mabry – The Family Tree
Lynn Yvonne Moon – The Agency – Tablet of Destiny
Alicia Dill – Beyond Sacrifice
Tony Ollivier – The Amsterdam Deception
J. Luke Bennecke – Waterborne
AJ Thibault – Deadly Serious
Jane Rosenthal – Del Rio
Chuck Morgan – Crime Exploded, A Buck Taylor Novel
Bryn Smith – Magnus Nights: The Helios Incident
James A. Ross – Coldwater Revenge
John Stafford – Call of Vengeance Series, Book 4: A Hand of Vengeance
T.L. Bequette – Good Lookin’: A Joe Turner Mystery
Ernesto H Lee – Flawed Beauty
Justin M. Kiska – Now & Then
Amy S. Peele – Match: A Medical Murder Mystery
Leah Angstman – Falcon in the Dive
Erik Foge – We Know Your Name
Kevin G. Chapman – Fatal Infraction (Mike Stoneman Thriller #4)
Rip Converse – Callie Awakens
Jule Selbo – 10 Days, A Dee Rommel Mystery
Emily A. Myers – The Truth About Unspeakable Things
D. J. Adamson – Into The Storm
Roberta Seret – Gift of Diamonds
Susan Lynn Solomon – What’s Past is Prologue
Rhett C Bruno – The Roach
Mary Keliikoa – Denied
Lyle Howard – An Eye For An Eye
Laurie Buchanan – Indelible: A Sean McPherson Novel, Book One
Robert Honor – Bogart’s Hat
Valerie J. Brooks – Tainted Times 2
Shelley Nolden – The Vines
Chuck Morgan – Crime Conspiracy: A Buck Taylor Novel
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.
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
Winners will be announced at the 2021 CIBA Awards Ceremony that is sponsored by the 2022 Chanticleer Authors Conference.
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.
The Global Thriller Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in Supernatural Fiction. The Global Thriller Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).
Chanticleer Book Reviews is looking for the best books featuring suspense, thrilling stories that put the balance of world power or that will end the world as we know it. We include with Global Thrillers the Lab Lit genre. Lab Lit is when Fiction Meets Real Science and Research or stories that are based on real science and research up to a certain “what if” point.
These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from all 2021 Global Thriller High Stakes Fiction entries to the 2021 Global Thriller Book Awards LONG LIST. Entries below are now in competition for 2021 Global Thriller 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 (CAC22).
The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 24 CIBA divisions’ Finalists.
We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, June 25th, 2022 at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2022 Chanticleer Authors Conference.
These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST of the 2021 Global Thriller Book Awards novel competition for High Stakes Fiction!
Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works in the 2021 CIBAs.
Kristie Clark – Killing Dragons
Kristie Clark – Dragon Clan
Dimple Patel Desai – The Lambda Factor
Paul Mark Tag – Retribution Times Two
Timothy S. Johnston – Fatal Depth
Ron McManus – The Chameleon
Gordon Bickerstaff – Tears of Fire
John Stafford – A Hand of Vengeance
Andrew Kaplan – Blue Madagascar
Roberta Seret – Treasure Seekers
Spaulding Taylor – Last Star Standing
Norman M. Jacobs, MD, Ms – A Divine Wind
Randall Krzak – Mission: Angola (Xavier Sear Thriller Book 1)
Stu Jones & Gareth Worthington – Condition Black
Avanti Centrae – The Doomsday Medallion
E. R. Barr – Gods In The Ruins: A Vatican Archives Thriller
Richard Garis – Magenta is Missing
Joe McNeil – Confronting the Enemy
Kevin Wilde – The Rookie and the Raven
J Lawrence Matthews – One Must Tell The Bees
Stu Jones & Gareth Worthington – Condition Black
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.
We are now accepting submissions into the 2022 Global Thriller Book Awards for High Stakes Fiction. The 2022 CIBA winners will be announced at CAC 2023.
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.
You can hear the clicking of keys as you type up your next report, desperate to make tomorrow’s press.
You know what’s coming. It’s the Nellie Bly Awards deadline at the end of November, and you have a book that will stop the presses! The Nellie Bly Book Awards for Investigative, Long-form Journalism, and Biographies.
The Nellie Bly Awards are named for an American investigative journalist. Born Elizabeth Jane Cochran, Bly launched her career into the spotlight by posing as a mental patient to enter the insane asylum on Blackwell’s island. Writing her exposé on the abuses being committed there cemented her role as a leading name in investigative journalism.
Illustration of Blackwell’s Asylum
Her work had an immediate effect:
Approximately one month after her articles ran in print, many of the most glaring problems she reported had improved: better living and sanitary conditions were instituted, more nourishing meals were provided, translators were hired for the foreign born who were not necessarily mentally ill but simply could not understand their keepers, and the most abusive nurses and physicians were fired and replaced (PBS.org).
Nellie Bly – Early Life and Legacy
Before that, she began writing under the name Nellie Bly after being invited to write a regular for the Pittsburgh Dispatch. WomensHistory.org lays more of her life out here. One thing noted in several articles is that Nellie Bly chose her name from a song by Stephen Foster. You can listen to the song and see the lyrics here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOcVjq67CsA
Bly “became renowned for her investigative and undercover reporting, including posing as a sweatshop worker to expose poor working conditions faced by women” (Biography.com). In addition to her excellent reporting and support for civil rights, Bly was also a bit of an adventurer. Inspired by the book Around the World in Eighty Days, her newspaper, the New York World sent her to see if she could break the fictional record. She succeeded, making the journey in only 72 days! A record that would last until 1890.
Around the World in 72 Days by Nellie Bly
Dr. Janice Ellis on The Importance of Journalism
We’ll link to the review of her book soon, but we thought we would let Janice Ellis, PhD and Nellie Bly Grand Prize winner, talk about the importance of journalism. Here’s what she has to say:
Dr. Janice Ellis
With all of the divisive and false information being communicated, the public needs Real Advocacy Journalism today more than ever. There is a growing, if not urgent, need to understand the difference between the advocacy journalism being practiced today and Real Advocacy Journalism™. More importantly, we all need to readily recognize when one or the other is at play in trying to influence public opinion, or urge a hopeful, trusting public to take a particular action.
What is the difference between advocacy journalism as it is practiced today and Real Advocacy Journalism™? Much of the advocacy journalism occurring is partisan, biased, and often blurs the lines between truth and lies, facts and fiction, and often presents fake news as real news. The purpose and objectives of this advocacy journalism constitute propaganda to gain public support for the interest and agenda of a few, a special interest group, or a small constituency rather than for the good of the majority. The public needs Real Advocacy Journalism today to put America back on the right course.
With all that in mind, let’s dive into some of the best Journalism books reviewed by Chanticleer!
SHAPING PUBLIC OPINION: How Real Advocacy Journalism™ Should be Practiced
By Janice Ellis, Ph.D.
Grand Prize in Nellie Bly Awards
Janice S. Ellis, Ph.D., introduces the journalistic theories of Walter Lippmann in her new non-fiction work,Shaping Public Opinion: How Real Advocacy Journalism™ Should be Practiced.
Walter Lippmann, considered one of the foremost journalists in the field over the last 100 years, was a mentor in absentia of Dr. Ellis in the art of advocacy journalism. During Lippmann’s 40+ year career, his columns were syndicated in over 250 newspapers nationwide and over 25 other international news and information outlets. Lippman focused on the ethical dissemination of information, especially about communities, society, and the world. A theory, which Dr. Ellis calls Real Advocacy Journalism™.
An intensely personal and compelling narrative, Waking Up Dying offers an insider’s perspective of the passage through cancer beginning with Duke’s wife’s diagnosis of stage IV glioblastoma brain cancer—typically a fatal condition.
Duke found the entire caregiving experience an agonizing, non-stop emotional rollercoaster: unbelievably frustrating, emotionally searing and increasingly chaotic.
The author’s story of his dedicated and loving role as caregiver entails four phases of this tortuous journey: the couple’sdaily copingwith the disease; the author’sstruggle through the health care system; theemotional realityof caregiving his dying wife; and thecarefully documented materialput forward as a basis for reforming the care system.
THE WINTER OLYMPICS: An Insider’s Guide to the Legends, Lore, and the Games
By Ron C. Judd
Flashbacks, gruesome accounts, victories relived, analysis, and competitors’ profiles of the Winter Olympics are revealed in Ron C. Judd’s captivating compendium titledThe Winter Olympics: An Insider’s Guide to the Legends, Lore, and the Games.
Judd doesn’t just report the scores, the times, the winners and the losers. He relays the human drama that unfolds during the Games—the glorious victories and, yes, the gut-wrenching agonies—the very stuff that becomes tomorrow’s lore and legends.
Ron C. Judd is like a Joseph Campbell of the Olympic Games. He writes of transcendent experiences, of impossible feats, and, he says, “of moments that are beyond description.” But describing these moments is exactly what he does. Judd deftly captures and vividly relates the escalation of emotions, the split-second moments that separate the winners from the losers after decades of day-in and day-out grueling training, the sweaty reality of the Olympics along with the heady glory and magic he has witnessed and experienced first-hand.
FIRE CALL! Sounding the Alarm to Save Our Vanishing Volunteers
By George DeVault
In his first job as a newspaper reporter, DeVault attended many emergencies – and firefighters were always on the scene. Gradually he discovered that the vast majority of America’s firefighters are volunteers, often leaving their regular jobs by prearrangement or rushing out from home in the middle of the night to respond to every conceivable crisis, from a simple kitchen fire to a multi-car crash to the cataclysmic events of 9-11-01.
With the encouragement of empathetic wife Melanie, also a reporter, De Vault joined the firefighting ranks as a volunteer in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, while fully immersed in his journalistic career with Rodale Inc. He answered every call, about 5,000 over a thirty year period, no matter what else was going on in his life – even on a day when Melanie was in the hospital dealing with her own emergency.
Looking to submit to our other Non-Fiction Divisions? See them all here!
When you’re ready,did you know that Chanticleer offers editorial services?We do and have been doing so since 2011.
Our professional editors are top-notch and are experts in the Chicago Manual of Style. They have and are working for the top publishing houses (TOR, McMillian, Thomas Mercer, Penguin Random House, Simon Schuster, etc.).
If you would like more information, we invite you to email Kiffer or Sharon at KBrown@ChantiReviews.com or SAnderson@ChantiReviews.com for more information, testimonials, and fees.
We work with a small number of exclusive clients who want to collaborate with our team of top-editors on an on-going basis.Contact us today!
Chanticleer Editorial Services also offers writing craft sessions and masterclasses. Sign up to find out where, when, and how sessions being held.
A great way to get started is with our manuscript evaluation service, with more information availablehere.
And we do editorial consultations for $75. Learn more here.
If you’re confident in your book, consider submitting it for a Editorial Book Reviewhereor to one of our Chanticleer International Awardshere.
And remember! Our 10th Anniversary Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC22) will be April 7-10, 2022, where our 2021 CIBA winners will be announced. Space is limited and seats are already filling up, so sign up today! CAC22 and the CIBA Ceremonies will be hosted at the Hotel Bellwether in Beautiful Bellingham, Wash. Sign up and see the latest updates here!
CAC22 will feature Cathy Ace, Robert Dugoni, Scott Steindorff and more! We are excited!
Writer’s Toolbox
Thank you for reading this Chanticleer Spotlight article.
Julie Morrison saddles up to take us for a ride through the harsh dry mountains of northern Arizona and beyond in her memoir, Barbed.
Readers visit the ranch where Julie’s parents try to keep the family legacy alive. Julie reveals a cowboy’s world where she meets walls instead of doors but never gives up.
Barbed opens with Morrison living in the rainy Seattle area with her husband. But the lure of a cowboy’s life on the range – working cattle and riding horseback – beckons them both. Julie needs salvation like this for her marriage, now distant and cold.
Reality turns their idealistic, romantic fantasies into a daily grind of working the land. Julie and her husband fight the losing battles of finding enough water and grassland for the cattle and keeping recreationalists from cutting their fence lines. And worse yet, who would have thought mud would be a problem in arid Arizona? Readers learn about the workings of a cattle ranch as Morrison tries one fix after another to save the property.
Morrison realizes that the operation hemorrhages money.
To move the budget from red to black, she must make some significant changes. But the cowboys she works with as a manager meet these changes with resistance at every step. The cowboys ride the horses until their joints are out of alignment and their feet are bruised and lame. Julie’s attempt at proper horse husbandry becomes another leak in the ranch’s finances, and she struggles between the money problems of the ranch and what she can do for these poor animals. Morrison soon reaches the breaking point.
Morrison’s exploration of self bolsters her in this harsh world. She sees the success of other ranch women and a select few men, people who support her efforts and encourage her even when she wants to drop from exhaustion and self-recrimination.
This memoir does not pussy-foot around complex issues that women experience in business or marriage.
Morrison never lets conflict stop her, though she acknowledges that depression can hold her back. Her bravery will inspire readers who might not have to stand toe-to-toe with hardened cowboys or encounter rattlesnakes during an average workday. As she works through the problems of the ranch, she also works through her own self-discovery.
She sees her father, a man she loves, as so pressured to continue the family legacy without incurring more expenses that he perpetuates problems rather than helping her solve them. Until her arrival, his deference to “the cowboy way” had gone unchallenged – as something acceptable. In addition, the similarity between the cowboys who work her family’s ranch and her husband shines too bright to ignore. Morrison pulls the cover off the lies we tell ourselves as women to remain in the security of failed relationships and not seek the path of healing and strength.
This memoir opens the book on a fascinating, nontraditional life filled with adventure and mishap.
Morrison, alone, supports her ideas and dreams of a better world for the horses she cares for – and for herself. However, the harsh life she lives and the disappointments she suffers do not break her. They move her forward toward the healing she needs.
Barbed abounds with sagacity and affirmations that ring true for readers who may never set foot on a ranch or ride a horse. This tough, savvy woman shows us how to persevere and survive in the harsh climate of a failing business and a failing marriage. She teaches us how to let go of what doesn’t work and find what does, and how to keep trying – even when all doors seem to be firmly shut. Morrison keeps on knocking.
Julie Morrison’s aptly titled memoir, Barbed, connects her myriad of encounters into one cohesive tapestry. She faces the difficulty of not backing down or taking the easy path of giving up and embraces what happens when she reaches the other side. Does she find Nirvana? Morrison finds a life worth living, and she moves forward to contentment. She saddles a new horse and rides a new path, and in the end, she finds herself.
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 2021 CIBAs OZMA division.
These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from all 2021 Ozma Fantasy Fiction entries to the 2021 Ozma Book Awards LONG LIST. Entries below are now in competition for 2021 Ozma 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 (CAC22).
The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 24 CIBA divisions’ Finalists.
We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, June 25th, 2022 at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2022 Chanticleer Authors Conference–whether virtual, hybrid, or in-person.
These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST of the 2021 Ozma Book Awards novel competition for Fantasy Fiction!
Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works in the 2021 CIBAs.
Joseph Riddle – The Seventh Talent
Susannah Dawn – Battle for the Armor of God
Jenn Lees – The Crossing. Arlan’s Pledge Book 1
Susan Chapek – The Scarlet Mantle
Mario Chavez – The Continuous Loop
Kelly Brewer – Water Witch
P.H.C. Marchesi – Florissant
David Fitz-Gerald – Waking Up Lost
PJ Devlin – The Chamber
Laurel Anne Hill – Plague of Flies: Revolt of the Spirits, 1846
James Priest – Kirins: The Seer of Serone
Clayton Marshall Adams – The Mask
Mary K. Savarese – The Girl in the Toile Wallpaper
Allegra Pescatore – Where Shadows Lie
Anton Anderson – The Seekers: Soul Ties
KC Cowan – Asa’s Redemption
Sean March – Little Wade and Watchtower: Abigail and the Great Gang Trap
J.W. Zarek – The Devil Pulls the Strings
J.P. Hostetler – Around Curiosity’s Edge: Hidden Meridians
L. A. Thompson – Isle of Dragons
G.L. Cramb – Druid Quest: Maegics Heir, Book 1
Adron J. Smitley – Jinn
Mark A. Alvarez II – Dutybound: Light Wings Epic Vol. 1
Susan Faw – Heart of Tunise
Taylor Fenner – Monsters & Mist
S.J. Hartland – The Last Seer King
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.
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.
The Paranormal Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in Supernatural Fiction. The Paranormal Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).
Chanticleer International Book Awards (the CIBAs) is looking for the best books Paranormal books featuring magic, the supernatural, weird otherworldly stories, superhumans (ex. Jessica Jones, Wonder Woman), magical beings & supernatural entities (ex. Harry Potter), vampires & werewolves (ex. Twilight), angels & demons, fairies & mythological beings, magical systems and elements. These books have advanced to the Long List Level of Achievement in the 2021 CIBAs.
These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from all 2021 Paranormal Supernatural Fiction entries to the 2021 Paranormal Book Awards LONG LIST. Entries below are now in competition for 2021 Paranormal 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 (CAC22).
The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 24 CIBA divisions’ Finalists.
We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, June 25th, 2022 at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2022 Chanticleer Authors Conference.
These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST of the 2021 Paranormal Book Awards novel competition for Supernatural Fiction!
Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works in the 2021 CIBAs.
Kaylin McFarren – Annihilation
Avanti Centrae – The Doomsday Medallion
Robert Herold – Moonlight Becomes You
Rebecca Kightlinger – Megge of Bury Down: The Bury Down Chronicles, Book One
Diamond Ligues – The Bird of Hermes Shall Get its Wings
Catori Sarmiento – But the Wicked Shall Perish
Elizabeth Crowens – The Time Traveler Professor – Book Three: A War in Too Many Worlds
J. W. Zarek – The Devil Pulls The Strings
K.T. Anglehart – The Wise One
AJ Thibault – Ghost Town
JP McLean – Blood Mark
J.G. Schwartz – The Curious Spell of Madam Genova
Henry Anderson – Cape Misfortune
Miki Mitayn – The Conscious Virus
John Stafford – A Hand of Vengeance
Sean March – Little Wade and Watchtower: Abigail and the Great Gang Trap
Ryan Young – The Shepherd’s Duty
Susan Lynn Solomon – What’s Past is Prologue
J.D. Belcher – The Inescapable Consequence
James G. Robertson – The Ripper
T.K. Conklin – Outlaw’s Redemption
D. J. Adamson – Into the Storm
Jim Gish – Snake Prayers
Juju – The Costly Wish
Jonathan Floyd – Lost on the Edge of Eternity
David Fitz-Gerald – The Curse of Conchobar
Nola Nash – Crescent City Sin
Nola Nash – Crescent City Moon
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.
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.
When gold miners discover Choestoe Valley, Jebediah Collins must fight for his family – whether blood-related or not – in J.R. Collins’ historical adventure, Spirit of the Rabbit Place
Julie Morrison saddles up to take us for a ride through the harsh dry mountains of northern Arizona and beyond in her memoir, Barbed.
