Congratulations to the First Place Category Winners and the Grand Prize Winner of the PARANORMAL Book Awards for SUPERNATURAL Fiction, a division of the 2019 CIBAs
The Search for the Best Supernatural Fiction
Chanticleer International Book Awards celebrates the best books featuring magic, the supernatural , weird otherworldly stories, super humans , magical beings & supernatural entities, vampires & werewolves, angels & demons, fairies & mythological beings, magical systems and elements. We love them all.
The 2019 PARANORMAL BOOK Awards First Place Category Winners and the PARANORMAL Grand Prize winner were announced at the Virtual Chanticleer Authors Conference that was broadcast via ZOOM webinar the week of Sept 8 -13, 2020 from the Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash.
Chris Leibig, author of ALMOST MORTAL, (a Paranormal Grand Prize Winner), announced the PARANORMAL Award Winners.
This is the OFFICIAL 2019 LIST of the PARANORMAL BOOK AWARDS First Place Category Winners and the PARANORMAL Grand Prize Winner.
Congratulations to all!
Ryan J. Lyons – Drums and Dragons
Linda Watkins – The Tao of the Viper
Kaylin McFarren – High Flying
Susan Lynn Solomon – Abigail’s Window
Palmer Pickering – Moon Deeds
Jack Cullen – Runes of Steel
Joy Ross Davis – The Witch of Blacklion
D. J. Adamson – At The Edge of No Return
The Paranormal Book Awards 2019 Grand Prize Winner is:
Abigail’s Window by Susan Lynn Solomon
This is the badge for the Grand Prize Winner of the 2018 Paranormal Book Awards, The Madwoman of Preacher’s Cove by Joy Ross Davis
A Note to ALL the WINNERS: The coveted CIBA Blue Ribbons will be mailed out starting in October. We will contact you with an email to verify your mailing address and other items. We thank you for your patience and understanding.
If you have any questions, please email info@ChantiReviews.com == we will try our best to reply in 3 or 4 business days.
The need for good dental care and its effect on the tooth fairies working behind the scenes is colorfully highlighted in this action-packed book for children of all ages.
Author Denise Ditto has created a delightful fantasy realm where fairies — like the prankster Jolene, the dedicated Batina, and proud, fast-flying Lucas — learn to collect and process teeth left for them by children everywhere. Jolene has finally gotten her Tooth Collector credentials and can join friends in their assignments. The story follows Batina into the messy room of a boy named Scooter, whose tooth shows signs of deplorable brushing habits. When she brings the tooth back to Brushelot for inspection, she fears the worst.
Sure enough, Batina is banished to Decay Valley until Scooter learns how to treat his teeth better, based on a letter she will leave for him encouraging better habits. Meanwhile, Jolene, who tried to help Batina by painting the ugly tooth white, is in big trouble with Crown Mistress Molar. Lucas, the fastest flyer, delivers Batina’s note to Scooter. But who will collect Scooter’s next tooth and rescue Batina from Decay Valley?
Ditto’s enjoyable story is made all the more accessible with bright pictures provided by Gabhor Utomo. Both author and illustrator are experienced, award-winning practitioners in their fields. Each fairy has distinctive clothing and wing coloration, harmonizing neatly with the narrative depicting their vibrant, differing personalities. Children will take the messages conveyed seriously as they learn that good teeth produce rewards and happiness, not only for themselves but also for the tooth fairies that take their offerings. It’s a happy melding of pleasant fantasies with the essential lessons embedded in the plot.
Ditto’s imaginative story will make an enjoyable read-to for a younger audience. At the same time, older readers will catch hints of romance and friendly fellowship along with reminders to take school seriously, help those in need, and, of course, take good care of their teeth.
The Tooth Collector Fairies: Home From Decay Valley, Book 2 won GRAND PRIZE in the CIBAs 2018 LITTLE PEEPS Awards for Children’s Literature. Ditto’s first book in the series, Batina’s First Day,won Grand Prize in the 2016 Little Peeps Awards.
Congratulations to the First Place Category Winners and the Grand Prize winner of the OZMA Book Awards for FANTASY Fiction, a division of the 2019 CIBAs
Chanticleer International Book Awards celebrates the best books 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, Diesel-punk, Gaslight Fantasy—we love them all.
The 2019 OZMA BOOK Awards First Place Category Winners and the OZMA Grand Prize winner were announced at rhe Virtual Chanticleer Authors Conference that was broadcast via ZOOM webinar the week of Sept 8 -13, 2020 from the Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash.
J.I. Rogers, the CYGNUS Grand Prize Award Winner for her novel the KORPES AGENDA, announced the 2019 OZMA Award Winners.
OZMA Awards The Search for the Best Fantasy Fiction
This is the OFFICIAL 2019 LIST of the OZMA BOOK AWARDS First Place Category Winners and the OZMA Grand Prize Winner. Congratulations to all!
Elana A. Mugdan – Dragon Blood
Michelle Rene – Manufactured Witches
Noah Lemelson – The Sightless City
KC Cowan & Sara Cole –The Hunt for Winter
Susannah Dawn –Search for the Armor of God
Dan Zangari & Robert Zangari –A Prince’s Errand
Tim Westover – The Winter Sisters: A Novel
The OZMA BOOK AWARDS 2019 Grand Prize Winner is:
Manufactured Witches by Michelle Rene
The Grand Prize Winner of the 2018 OZMA Book Awards, Dragon Speaker by Elana Mugdan
A Note to ALL the WINNERS: The coveted CIBA Blue Ribbons will be mailed out starting in October. We will contact you with an email to verify your mailing address and other items. We thank you for your patience and understanding.
LEARN FROM THE BEST!
If you have any questions, please email info@ChantiReviews.com == we will try our best to reply in 3 or 4 business days.
Congratulations to the First Place Category Winners and the Grand Prize winner of the CYGNUS Book Awards for all forms of Science Fiction, a division of the 2019 CIBAs
Chanticleer International Book Book Awards celebrates 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. Hard sci-fi, soft sci-fi, apocalyptic, cyberpunk, time travel, genetic modification, aliens, super-humans, Interplanetary travel, dystopian, and settlers on the Galactic Frontier.
The 2019 CYGNUS BOOK Awards First Place Category Winners and the CYGNUS Grand Prize Winner were announced on Tuesday, September 8, 2020 at the Virtual Chanticleer Authors Conference that was broadcast on the VCAC20 ZOOM webinar.
Elana Mugdan, the OZMA Grand Prize Winner for Fantasy Fiction for her novel, Dragon Speaker, announced the 2019 CYGNUS Award Winners.
It is our privilege and profound honor to announce the 1st in Category winners of the 2019 CYGNUS Awards, a division of the 2019 CIBAs.
This is the OFFICIAL 2019 LIST of the CYGNUS BOOK AWARDS First Place Category Winners and the CYGNUS Grand Prize Winner. Congratulations to all!
Alternate History / Time Travel: Tim Cole – Insynnium
Apocalyptic/Dystopian: J. I. Rogers – The Korpes Agenda
Hard Science Fiction: Jacques St-Malo – Cognition
Space Opera: Shami Stovall – Star Marque Rising
Soft Sci-Fi/Young Adult – Rey Clark – Titan Code Series: Dawn of Genesis
Speculative Fiction: Paul Werner – Mustang Bettie
Science Fiction: Robert M. Kerns –It Ain’t Over…
Honorable Mentions:
Andrew Lucas McIlroy – Earthling
William X. Adams – Intelligent Things
Sandra J. Jackson – Playing in the Rain
The Grand Prize Winner for the Chanticleer International Book Awards, 2019 CYGNUS Division is
Tim Cole
Insynnium
The CYGNUS Grand Prize Badge is customized for the 2019 Award Winner.
A Note to ALL the WINNERS: The coveted CIBA Blue Ribbons will be mailed out starting in October. We will contact you with an email to verify your mailing address and other items. We thank you for your patience and understanding.
Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast. This is the code that John Bishop, one of America’s most decorated military heroes, teaches his men to follow whether they’re on a mission in the heat of the Middle East or in the jungle that is New York’s Lower East Side in Rafael Amadeus Hines’ novel, Bishop’s Law.
To say his life is complicated is putting it mildly. In this second volume of the John Bishop series, several high-level assassins are hell-bent on killing him for his actions as a soldier. At the same time, he’s deep in his crime family’s military-style battles against various opponents’ groups. All these forces are closing in on him simultaneously, even as the United States government had hired him and his family to protect the country from bad guys using whatever means necessary.
Complicated? You bet. But if you crave non-stop action, ultra-violence, and high body counts in your novel-reading this fall, this is a great place to start.
Part Panamanian, part Jamaican with amber eyes, his face forever scarred in an assassin’s attack that killed his parents when he was nine, Bishop is related by blood to the powerful Valdez crime family. He learned from them—the ability to act, lead, protect his men at all costs—served him well as a Special Forces soldier who fought in the Middle East against a host of bad actors. By the time the story begins, Bishop has returned from overseas, living with Maria, his childhood sweetheart, and about to become a father. He dreams of leaving his military life behind but instead finds himself helping the Valdez family in a significant military-style action against Russians on New York’s Lower East Side.
The complications are only starting.
While setting up the military engagement with the Russians, he also finds out that his previous actions in the Middle East have earned him the wrath of some of the world’s most dedicated killers from Russia, Pakistan, ISIS, and even a corrupt U.S. billionaire. Not great if you want to stay alive.
While this book is clearly an action thriller, with deep roots in military-style combat, detailed weaponry descriptions, and sustained action scenes, the human story comes front and center even as the mayhem continues. Bishop is no superhero. His emotions are of a man who experiences sizeable loss and yet must keep his feelings bottled up as the beloved leader of his band of brothers. While he is wounded several times throughout the book, we feel his determination to continue doing his duty under the circumstances, few of us could sustain.
In other hands, a story of this complexity could have been cartoonish, a video game. But the book maintains a careful balance between the go-go action and the humanity of its characters.
Bishop’s Law is the second in a series on John Bishop. A third book is in development as of this writing. Readers may want to consider reading the first volume, Bishop’s War, before reading Bishop’s Law. While the book stands on its own, a richer reading experience might be had by reading the two books in sequence.
We’ve long said that we are leaders in digital and technology. This is who we are! Now, because of our new living situation, i.e. COVID19, digital platforms and marketing tips are even more important to creating and sustaining our author platforms and building our readership.
What we need is strategy – and a bit of know-how to make our efforts pay off. We all want to sell books. We all want to be writing and connecting with our audiences. While thinking about this today, Kiffer and I thought we would revisit one of our most helpful posts about Book Marketing. Michelle Cox’s, Hot Marketing Tips are Shared in the 10 Question Author Interview with MICHELLE COX – Author Interviews, Marketing, Craft of Writing. Here’s an author who knows what she’s talking about.
Michelle Cox is one of the panelists on A Multi-prong Approach to Book Marketing with Paul Hanson of Village Books, Michelle Cox – Historical Fiction, J.I. Rogers – Science Fiction, and Tina Sloan, contemporary thriller author and actress that is scheduled for Sunday, Sept 13, 2020 at VCAC.
After reading this post, you feel you would like some new information, I would like to invite you to our VCAC starting next week, September 8 – 13, 2020, where experts, like bestselling authors Robert Dugoni, J.D. Barker, top film producer Scott Steindorff, author /actor Chris Humphreys, Amy Stapleton and Wayne Richard from CHATABLES, and Paul Cutsinger from ALEXA, Anita Michalski and Jonathan Hurley from Hindenburg Systems – and so many, many more experts (click here to see a complete list of our Headliners, Presenters, and Faculty) who will go into depth about book marketing in today’s new world. We even have Tana Hope to show us how to take care of yourself. We all need that, right?
Here’s your official invitation to VCAC20: click here.
And now, back to Michelle Cox…
Mystery & Mayhem Book Awards Grand Prize winner Michelle Cox graciously shares her writing life and knowledge with us along with some hot marketing tips and tools! Read on!
“When I finally decided to try writing, the creativity within me, that divine essence, finally found its true home. I’m happiest when I’m creating, and I hope I can keep writing for a long time.” – Michelle Cox
Michelle Cox, award-winning author, at work in her writing lair
Chanticleer: Thanks for coming by, Michelle. Tell us what genre best describes your work? And, what led you to write in this genre?
Cox: Well, that’s a great question! I usually at least place as a semi-finalist in three different categories at the Chanticleer awards, for example, so that should be a pretty good indication.
My series is set during the 1930s in Chicago, so that qualifies it to be historical fiction, but it’s also mystery and romance. I guess “romantic-suspense” would be the best way to describe the series, but without the bare-chested guys on the cover.
They always say to write what you would want to read, and this is it! I set the series set in my favorite era; added a little bit of mystery, a little bit of romance; flavored it with the haves- and the have-nots of the era, as well as a touch of the English aristocracy; and then stocked it with lots of characters and subplots weaving in and out . . . sheer heaven!
Chanticleer: And that’s why we love you and your books! What do you do when you’re not writing? Tells us a little about your hobbies.
Cox: I no longer have any! I used to have hobbies before writing took over my life. If I do have a few minutes here and there, I still love to garden and bake, but my real love, however, is board games. I’m a fanatic and have become a sort of a collector now.
Playing games with Michelle Cox! Did the butler do it?
Chanti: That sounds like a lot of fun! So, how do you approach your writing day?
Cox: As soon as my kids get on the bus at 6:50 am, I make my second cup of coffee and sit down at my desk. I’m not allowed to do any social media, though I do always do a quick email check to see, you know, if I won the Pulitzer or something (it’s always no), and then I start working on whatever manuscript I’m currently on. My brain is its crispest early in the morning, so I have to use that time for the work that takes the most concentration. There’s something to be said about productivity when you know you only have a limited time to write. There’s no room for writer’s block or procrastination. When you know you only have so much time, you have a way of just sitting down and doing it.
When I reach whatever my writing goal is for that day, I spend the next five to seven hours (until the kids come home) doing marketing and PR—anything from writing the blog or the newsletter or articles or interviews, taping podcasts, setting up events, answering email, attending to social media, etc. It’s really a full-time job, though, sadly, the actual writing, the part I love, is the part I get to spend the least on.
Chanti: Marketing pays off, right? Name five of your favorite authors and describe how they influence your work.
Cox: My series is known for the plethora of rich characters scattered throughout and the big saga-like plots. I was definitely influenced in this by my early favorites: Louisa May Alcott, Catherine Cookson, and Charles Dickens. My other two favorites would be Anthony Trollope and Jane Austin for their subtlety in character and their overall ability to use language so beautifully.
Chanti: I cannot argue with your choices. These are delicious authors – and novels!
I know you gave us a snapshot of your work-day earlier, but could you give us your best marketing tips, what’s worked to sell more books, gain notoriety, and expand your literary footprint.
Cox: Wow! That’s a great question, but so hard to answer. All marketing is pretty elusive, isn’t it? It’s a constant process of throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks. It’s also important to remember that what works for one person, might not work for everyone. It’s not an exact science. If it were, we’d all be rich!
But, in general, here are some good marketing tips that I have found to work:
Try to figure out where your readers are. Most of my readers, for example, are on Facebook, so that’s where I spend most of my social media time.
Think of yourself as a brand and try to match your posts accordingly. I post things about myself or the book or writing, but mostly old recipes, period drama news, or old stories from the past (which constitute my blog). Also, I’m very careful never to post anything religious or political. This is a business, and the more you see yourself that way and follow basic business protocols, the more successful you’ll be.
Try to build your newsletter list by offering a freebie (such as free story, writing tips, a webinar, a prequel). Personally, I do it by running contests with really big prize packages. I make sure to state that the contest winner will be picked only from my newsletter subscribers. I pay a designer to create a beautiful graphic of the prizes, post it on FB, and then boost the post. Not only does this get me a lot of new subscribers (sometimes thousands), but it exposes the series to new readers as well!
Build your network. Join online author groups (I am part of a fabulous private FB group organized by my publisher, She Writes Press. We all share ideas, marketing tips, and offer support and advice, especially to the newer authors just coming on board. It’s a collective wealth of information.) or real-world groups in your area. Don’t be jealous of the success of others, but help each other as much as possible. As my publisher, Brooke Warner has said, “There’s room for everyone at the table.”
Show up at other authors events, write reviews, help promote whenever possible. Go to conferences to meet not just readers, but other authors who can potentially help you. Remember that you are a business, and you need to do work within your community to begin standing out.
For example, my publisher and I overprinted Book 2 of my series, so, as per my contract, when the first year of publication had passed, I was faced with having to pay a storage fee for these extra books (a couple of thousand), have them shipped to my garage, or have them destroyed. I decided, instead, to send them to libraries and conference organizers. It was a lot of work and expense, but it got my book into the hands of hundreds, if not thousands, of potential readers, and hopefully, they’ll come back for more and buy the rest of the series. You have to be willing to take risks.
Also in this category would be to try to get a Bookbub deal, which, as we all know is really tough. Again, for Book 2 of the series, we submitted four times, trying to get a deal with the book being priced at .99 cents. I finally decided to offer it for free, and we cleverly put a buy link to book 3 at the end of Book 2. Bookbub then offered me a deal, and I had over 55,000 downloads in one day! Hopefully, a lot of those people will go on to buy Book 3 at full price.
Lastly, if the first book of your series is free, either permanently or occasionally, you can join Book Funnel, in which you “bundle” your book with others of a similar genre with each author promoting the bundle to their social network, which exposes your series to a whole new crop of readers. Readers are able to download your free book in exchange for their email address. So not only are you getting readers hooked on your series (hopefully!), but you’re building your subscriber/newsletter list.
Chanti: You could teach a Master Class on this at CAC20! Let’s chat about this later.
Chanti: What are you working on now? What can we look forward to seeing next from you?
Cox: Book 5 of the series is currently in production and scheduled to be released in Spring 2020. I said I was going to take a break from the series after that, but I admit, I’ve already started sketching out Book 6 – I can’t help it!
But what’s really exciting is a new stand-alone novel, The Love You Take, that I wrote, also based partially on a true story and set in Chicago in the 1930s. It’s a really fabulous book if I do say so, about a “backward” girl who has to go and live at a home for “bad girls” after she unwittingly becomes pregnant. I’m currently querying agents for it.
Chanti: Sounds intriguing. Please keep us updated. Who’s the perfect reader for your book?
Cox: Though some men enjoy my books, the primary audience is women. Anyone who loves Downton Abbey;Upstairs, Downstairs;Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, the old black and white films, like The Thin Man . . . basically any period drama or old movie . . . will love my series. I can’t tell you how many people have written to me to tell me that the series is so visual, that reading it was like watching a movie. It’s delightful escapism; people tell me all the time they feel like they’ve been transported back in time after reading them.
Chanti: I know that’s why we read your books #delightful! What is the most important thing a reader can do for an author?
Cox: Tell a friend! Research shows that the number one thing that influences people to buy books is word-of-mouth. If you like a book, recommend it to friends or your book club. The second best thing is to write a review! People seem wary of doing this, telling me that they’re nervous about what to write.
“Nonsense!” I say.
A review can be one sentence: “This was a great book; I enjoyed it!”
There. Done.
You don’t have to go into a lengthy reworking of the synopsis (why do people do this?) or delve into symbolism or themes or whatever. Just give your one-sentence opinion!
Chanti: I’ve been telling my non-writing friends this for years… Do you ever experience writer’s block? What do you do to overcome it?
Cox: Not really! I have a lot of story ideas in my head, and thus I usually have the opposite problem. This is where outlining can really help. If you have a pretty weighty outline sketched out, then when you sit down to write each day, you pretty much already know what you’re supposed to write that day. Likewise, I enjoy taking an evening walk (or I try to, anyway!), during which I think about tomorrow’s chapter and what needs to go into it. Sometimes I even voice record if I have a really good idea or some strands of dialog. There’s something about walking—moving the legs back and forth, back and forth—that seems to stimulate something in the brain. They say that Dickens used to walk the streets of London for hours in the wee hours of the night. Now I know why!
Chanti: Time to reflect and let your mind wander. Movement really does help with this. What excites you most about writing?
Cox: Creating something out of nothing. I’ve always been a really creative person. Looking back, I see now that I’ve always been striving to create, and for a long time it took on many different forms. As a kid, I was always trying to illustrate Louisa May Alcott’s books or write little fan fiction stories based on Jo March. As I got older, it took the form of gardening and decorating the house, and then baking and then creating elaborate kids’ birthday party invitations! When I finally decided to try writing (long story), the creativity within me, that divine essence, finally found its true home. I’m happiest when I’m creating, and I hope I can keep writing for a long time.
Chanti: We hope you do, too, Michelle. What a fabulous interview! Thank you for sharing your story with us.
Speaking of sharing, if you like what you’ve read, please “like, comment, and share!” Sharing is caring, baby!
The CIBA Grand Prize Winners
Michelle Cox is a multi-award-winning author who recently spent some time with us at CAC19. This year was particularly special because Michelle won the CIBA 2018 Grand Prize for Mystery & Mayhem Awards!
and took 1st Place in the Chatelaine Awards for Romantic Fiction – both awards are in honor of her book, A Promise Given. We will probably never stop celebrating this – it’s just too much fun!
To find out what Michelle’s up to next, Find and Follow her here:
The first book in the Plane series, Apex Five, begins with a catastrophic storm hellbent on ending all life on the Plane. Many escape into the Void, leaving all who remain to perish. Now 12,000 years later, civilization is once again thriving on the Plane, but not without rivaling nations, political tensions, and religious persecution. The Tabiran government is the ruling body of the Plane, and they have been working for years to eradicate religious belief in the Zaam and the culture surrounding the megaliths found in each nation of Tabira, Lir, and Garo. The origins of these megaliths are forgotten and transformed into myth.
During a diplomatic mission from neighboring Lir, First Lasha Nasin meets with Tibira’s leader Mak Eta when the accomplice of the recent usurper is caught. That night Nasin finds the prisoner to be a young boy named Rohem, who never sleeps and only needs sunlight as sustenance. Around this time, Mak Eta’s sister Vata and her two children Inad and Ara, are journeying to the primitive colony Ayam intending to dissuade the Ayam people of their religious beliefs. Almost two decades pass, and the unrest between nations under the guise of partnership with Tabira has come to a breaking point. Efforts towards suppressing religion have seen technological and scientific advancement soar in Tabira. In Ayam, a deadly curse reigns that cause all inflicted to transform into monstrous creatures each night. To prevent war, Tabira sends a group from Lir and Garo that includes Rohem and Avithia, to find a solution to the curse. Rohem has felt an increasing pull towards the megaliths, and while in Ayam, he finds answers about himself and the Plane that will change the world forever.
Apex Five manages to pack a lot of big ideas into a small package. At first, the worldbuilding is very dense, but the story flows a lot smoother once the groundwork is there. Fans of Ursula K. Le Guin’s Left Hand of Darkness will likely enjoy Apex Five because the story also takes place in a world of stark political and cultural differences where resulting tensions are reaching a high point. Another similarity with Le Guin’s Left Hand of Darkness is Avithia, who fluctuates between male and female on a bi-weekly basis. Katz manages to engage in the tradition of science fiction to explore divergences from what is considered normal. Avithia is a gender-fluid character judged by almost everyone on the Plane except a few close loved ones. Another character faces tragedy and persecution for having a sexual orientation that is illegal in their society. Oria balances a line trying to bridge the worlds of religion and science, hoping to better understand both.
Katz creates a lot of compelling and multilayered characters in a relatively short amount of time. With over a dozen different perspectives, Katz attempts the impossible task of fleshing out everyone equally. Fortunately, Apex Five is only the first book, and the story is far from over.
Sara Katz builds a foundation for a complex science fiction world in Apex Five and invites readers to connect with many characters in what will likely be an epic journey. There is something else about this book, Katz manages to touch on all-too-human themes of science versus religion, sexual orientation, and a possible messiah figure that just might be able to save the evolution of humankind. All in all, it’s no wonder Apex Five won 1st in Category in the CIBA 2018 CYGNUS Awards for Science Fiction!
The Selah Branch combines two surprising stories into one enthralling whole.
It begins with a ripped from the headlines feel, diving deeply into issues of race, class, poverty, and hopelessness in Selah Branch, WV. A town whose brighter future of uplift, integration, opportunity, and prosperity was wiped out one summer night in 1953 when a chemical explosion destroyed the promising university town and replaced it with a hazardous waste site. Like Chernobyl, only with a smaller footprint and chemical residue substituting for nuclear waste. But just as deadly.
The story views Selah Branch through the eyes of Kenia Dezy, an African-American public health student on a summer practicum. She’s to determine if a simple app can steer people towards healthier food choices and better health outcomes in a town empty of jobs, filled with poverty and hopelessness, marooned in the middle of a food desert.
At first, the current state of Selah Branch and its sharp contrast with the hopefulness of its past confuses Kenia. Then she finds herself there, in that past, with the ability to re-write the history that she sees as already written in her present.
A past that contains not the tragic accident that everyone believes destroyed the town, but instead a deliberate act of sabotage designed to eliminate the beacon of hope and integration, Selah Branch. The participants mostly wanted to obliterate a place where blacks and white really were treated equally. Although some wanted to end a centuries-long family feud by murdering the bodies and the dreams of those they despised.
It is up to Kenia to use her un-schedulable, unplannable trips to that past nexus point to change the future. But there are descendants of that past who are just as willing to kill to maintain the status quo. Even if it only brings them death and destruction.
These are two great plots that shouldn’t blend well together, and yet they do, as all of the action in both the past and the present is seen through Kenia’s sharp eyes. The reader experiences her despair at the conditions in the 21st century Selah Branch and feels both with and for Kenia as she comes to the depressing conclusion that no matter how much she wants to, there are some things she simply cannot do. The situation they are living in is just too big for one person to even make a dent in, no matter how well-intentioned she might be.
And as a well-educated and relatively affluent black woman in a poverty-stricken, rural, mostly white town, Kenia is confronted with the contradiction of her economic privilege and racial and gendered lack of it at the same time.
The reader feels for Kenia’s hopelessness in the present and is swept away with her into a past where there is one desperate chance to make things better. Kenia’s journey in 1953 becomes a dangerous but determined thrill ride, facing enemies at every turn while finding surprising friends along her fast and furious way.
Readers can’t help but be caught up in Kenia’s there and back again quest to change the past and shift the present, to bring about a hope for a brighter future. Readers will cheer for her and despair with her, but they will desire, more than anything, that she succeeds.
The Selah Branch won 1st Place in the CIBA 2018 CYGNUS Awards for Science Fiction novels.
Sessions will be recorded and available later viewing through VIMEO exclusively to all registered participants.
Only one session will be presented at a time so YOU select which ones you want to see LIVE and which ones you will want to view later via VIMEO or revisit the session. Master Classes and Workshops will be held the following week starting on Wednesday, Sept 16, 2020.
Virtual Author Events: How To Pivot from LIVE to VIRTUAL for Book Launches, Book Clubs, and Book Eventswith Janet Oakley, Sean Dwyer, & Gail Noble Sanderson
Book to Film Panel Discussionwith Scott Steindorff, Robert Dugoni, and J.D. Barker. Moderator is Chris Leibig
It Takes a Village to Make a Film – Authors, Actors, Screenwriters, Producers, & Directorsa Discussion with Tina Sloan, Scott Steindorff, & Kaylin McFarren, and Talk to Crows Production Company
The Critical Role Authors Play in Fostering a Better Society –Janice S. Ellis, Ph.D.
Exploration of New and Revolutionary Ways of Storytelling including Delving into Immersive, Mixed Reality, and Digital Art –Scott Steindorff
How to Have 1,048 Readers Requesting Your Book in the 1st Day of a 100 Book Giveaway –Kaylin McFarren shares her Goodreads and Amazon Secrets to increasing book sales.
Writing and Selling Children’s Books – Children’s Book Authors Share Their Tips & Tools – Denise Ditto Satterfield, Barbara Jean Hicks, M.J. Evans,
Voice Driven Technology and the Future of Publishing – Paul Cutsinger
Why Amazon Alexa Should Be Telling Your Story – 3 Sessions– Amy Stapleton and Wayne Richard
How to Create a Sustainable and Compelling Series – Panel : Diane Garland, Wendy Delaney, Pamela Beason, J.D. Barker
5 Reasons Why You Should Publish Your Epubs on Bookchain –Simon-Pierre Marion
Your Story World: Beyond Eye Color and the Weather – Diane Garland
Don’t be Left OUT and OFF the Airwaves – Intro to Podcasting with Hindenburg Systems’ expert Anita Michalski
Historical Fiction–Chris Humphreys will examine how to both fictionalize real characters and realize fictional ones.
Just Call Out My Name – Collaborating with Other Authors –Janet Shawgo & Sean Dwyer
Writers: Improve Your Productivity and Your Health by Correcting Posture with Tana Hope
5 Reasons Why You Should Publish Your Epubs on Bookchain –Simon-Pierre Marion
Sessions Start in just 7 Days! Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2020!
The 2019 CIBA Awards First Place Awards Winners will be announced every day (Tuesday – Saturday, Sept 8 -12, 2020) starting at 5 p.m. PST at the CIBA Virtual Ceremonies. All 2019 CIBA Finalists will be recognized during VCAC!
The 2019 CIBA Grand Prize Division Winners and the Overall Grand Prize for Best Book will be announced and recognized on Sunday, Sept 13, 2020 starting at 5: 30 p.m. PST ceremony.
All announcements are LIVE and we will have a Virtual Celebration Party after each day!
Have your favorite bubbly ready to cheer on your favorite authors! LIVE and INTERACTIVE!
Welcome to the Outremer, where fealties are solemn, rivalries deadly, and intrigue is served up daily along with the wine. Here, well-connected women are worth their weight in gold, and the rules of primogeniture, along with the whims of a king or mandates from the Church can determine a person’s fate.
In Balian d’Ibelin: Knight of Jerusalem (Book 1 of the Jerusalem Trilogy), Helena P. Schrader has re-created people, places, and events in the latter 12th-century kingdom of Jerusalem for the reader’s edification and enjoyment. With an elegance of language, detail, and setting rivaling that of Doctorow’s Jazztime or Tolstoy’s War and Peace, Schrader takes the reader on location to savor the world of Balian d’Ibelin in the times before he emerged as a pivotal player in the politics of the Crusader states.
Young Balian d’Ibelin, while possessing the pedigree, social graces, and knightly skills of one raised to rule, has few prospects when his eldest brother, Hugh, dies unexpectedly. Although Hugh’s stated desire that the Lordship of Ibelin title and holdings go to Balian, they fall to Balian’s next older brother, Barry, through rights of succession.
Barry, Lord of Ramla, offers Balian only the position of Constable of Ibelin. Rather than accept this powerful, but subservient post, Balian seeks a future serving Amalric, the King of Jerusalem. The king, who owes Hugh a debt of honor, proffers a court position with some risk – tutor his son Baldwin in the arts of horsemanship, swordsmanship, and sport, as the debilitating infirmity of leprosy, has put the boy behind in this training.
Accepting this offer moves Balian into the spheres of William, the Archdeacon of Tyre, Baldwin’s academic tutor, and Queen Maria Comnena, the boy’s young, educated, and savvy step-mother, people destined to be essential parts of his life.
When Amalric dies young, and Balian swears fealty to Baldwin as the new king, the die is cast. While honoring his oath, he earns the love of the queen, experiences the power of commitment, and learns the cost of honor.
Balian d’Ibelin: Knight of Jerusalem (Book 1 of the Jerusalem Trilogy) is a joy to read. As in all of Schrader’s novels, the forward to this story is a must-read that serves to ground the reader in the time, place, and cultural multiplicities of the period. By interpreting, hypothesizing, and imagining motivations, actions, conversations, and events that may have occurred as Balian stepped forward into his future, Schrader has turned a narrow slice of history into a panoramic virtual reality that will surely delight fans of historical biographies and Crusader states – and give us something to look forward to in the release of books 2 and 3.
Readers, brew a pot of tea and snuggle in, for Helena P. Schrader has cast her spell of intrigue and sent her invitation wide. In other words, prepare to get hooked!
Congratulations to the First Place Category Winners and the Grand Prize Winner of the PARANORMAL Book Awards for SUPERNATURAL Fiction, a division of the 2019 CIBAs
The 2019 PARANORMAL BOOK Awards First Place Category Winners and the PARANORMAL Grand Prize winner were announced at the Virtual Chanticleer Authors Conference that was broadcast via ZOOM webinar the week of Sept 8 -13, 2020 from the Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash.
The need for good dental care and its effect on the tooth fairies working behind the scenes is colorfully highlighted in this action-packed book for children of all ages.
Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast. This is the code that John Bishop, one of America’s most decorated military heroes, teaches his men to follow whether they’re on a mission in the heat of the Middle East or in the jungle that is New York’s Lower East Side in Rafael Amadeus Hines’ novel, Bishop’s Law.
For example, my publisher and I overprinted Book 2 of my series, so, as per my contract, when the first year of publication had passed, I was faced with having to pay a storage fee for these extra books (a couple of thousand), have them shipped to my garage, or have them destroyed. I decided, instead, to send them to libraries and conference organizers. It was a lot of work and expense, but it got my book into the hands of hundreds, if not thousands, of potential readers, and hopefully, they’ll come back for more and buy the rest of the series. You have to be willing to take risks.
