The Dante Rossetti Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in Young Adult Fiction. The Dante Rossetti Book Awards is a genre division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (#CIBAs).
Named in honor of the British poet & painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti who founded the Pre-Ralphaelite Brotherhood in 1848.
Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring stories of all shapes and sizes written to an audience between the ages of about twelve to eighteen (imaginary or real). Science Fiction, Fantasy, Dystopian, Mystery, Paranormal, Historical, Romance, Literary, we will put them to the test and choose the best Young Adult Books among them for the winners of the Dante Rossetti Book Awards for Young Adult Fiction.
These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from SLUSH pile to the 2019 Dante Rossetti Book Awards LONG LIST. These entries are now in competition for 2019 Dante Rossetti Shortlist. The ShortListers’ works will compete for the Semi-Finalists positions.Semi-Finalists will be announced and recognized at the CAC20 banquet and ceremony. The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 16 CIBA divisions Semi-Finalists. We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 18th, 2020 at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash.
These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST of the 2019 Dante Rossetti Book Awards for Young Adult Fiction. Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.
Navya Sarikonda – The Enchanters’ Child
J.A. Roth – When The Bee Stings
Nick Korolev – Jerry Swift and Chiron’s Pride
Leslie Wibberley – Seriously, Universe?
Zachary Ryan – High School Queens
Veronica Myers – Winter’s Progeny
Julieanne Lynch – Beneath the Lighthouse
Jacinta Jade – Change of Darkness
Kelly Watt – The India Diaries: Book One Tiger’s Rock
Alex Paul – The Valley of Death, Book 5, Arken Freeth and the Adventure of the Neanderthals
J. Taylor Baker – The Cardorian Complex
Glen Sobey – No Fences in Alaska
Jan Von Schleh – But Not Forever
Christine Gallagher – Swimming Without Goggles
Samantha Long – Hopelessly Devoted
Michelle Rene – Manufactured Witches
Nancy Thorne – Victorian Town
Ted Neill – Jamhuri, Njambi & Fighting Zombies
Rachel VanZandt – Return of the Eagle
Thomas Corrigan – Right Now Is Worth It
A. Cort Sinnes – Quicksilver
Leslea Wahl – Where You Lead
C.R. Stewart – Britfield and the Lost Crown
Susan Brown – Twelve
Susan Brown – Catching Toads
J.T. Blossom – The Tunes of Lenore
James M Roberts – The Crossroads of Logan Michaels
Michael R. French – Beginner’s Guide to Winning an Election
Sandra L Rostirolla – Cecilia
Kristina Bak – Nowever
Zachry Wheeler – Max and the Multiverse
V. A. Givens – Sealed with a Twist
Tom Edwards – The Honourable Catherine
Michael Bialys – The Chronicles of the Virago: Book I The Novus
David Patneaude – Fast Backward
John Middleton – Dillion & The Curse of Arminius
Which of these works will move forward in the judging rounds for the 2019 Dante Rossetti Book Awards for Young Adult Fiction?
The 16 divisions of the 2019 CIBAs’Grand Prize Winners and the Five First Place Category Position award winners along with recognizing the Semi-Finalists will be announced at theApril 18th, 2020 Chanticleer International Book Awards Annual Awards Gala,which takes place at the Chanticleer Authors Conference that will be held in Bellingham, Wash.
We are now accepting submissions into the 2020 Dante Rossetti Awards Book Awards. The deadline for submissions is May 31st, 2020. The winners will be announced in April 2021.
A musician-turned-time-traveler is in for more than he bargains for during his World War I experiences in book two of Elizabeth Crowens’s The Time Traveler Professor, Book Two: A Pocketful of Lodestones.
John Patrick Scott volunteers for the Royal Scot Army. His life drastically shifts from one of comfort in Germany to misery in no-man’s-land trenches in Belgium and France. Fortunately, he has in his possession his grandfather’s heirloom timepiece (his time-travel device), his journal, and the mysterious red book, which is the essential item that connected him to Arthur Conan Doyle in the first place. Now separated from the famed author, John uses his middle-of-the-night sentry duty to delve into the metaphysical and psychic world, while Arthur does his time-traveling in hopes of finding the red book.
Because of John’s prophetic abilities, he is known by his fellow soldiers as a fortune teller and Le Conteur (storyteller); the latter due to the red book’s magic of creating impending tales (often horrific) veiled in allegory. Strange things occur when John begins seeing soldier ghosts, and the name Aliskiya Lleullne, his future self, pops up in various situations, especially among an enigmatic man who goes by the moniker of Benedyct Boniface. A battlefield accident produces more supernatural weirdness for John. After recuperating, he takes on a military-intelligence position in London, where he and Arthur reunite. The two reignite their time-traveling passion, intending to go back to feudal Japan. Instead, they are in for a big surprise when they end up in London’s Elizabethan era.
Award-winning author, Elizabeth Crowens, opens A Pocketful of Lodestones with an author’s note, explicitly encouraging steampunk readers to read Silent Meridian, book one of the Time Traveler Professor Trilogy, before probing into book two. While Crowens sprinkles aspects of Silent Meridian’s plot, the references are too light and do not offer an in-depth understanding. Thus, her cautionary note warrants merit.
That said, there is a lot more going on in this novel compared to the first book. Having first-hand experience with the horrors of war, John’s arrogance all but disappears. He spends more time meditating on humanity—focusing on the plight of his military comrades—and less on himself, except unresolved issues from his past and future time travels. John also discovers that his penchant for predicting the future and storytelling acts as a healing balm for his struggling troop.
A Pocketful of Lodestones is a meal of a read, which will surely satisfy Sherlock Holmes and history aficionados.
Author, Elizabeth Crowens won 1st Place for her novel in the CIBA 2017 Paranormal Awards.
Growing up in an estranged family atmosphere brings questions that beg for answers in this complex multigenerational memoir.
Author Dennis M. Clausen recalls his early years growing up in the latter half of the last century with a detached, mostly absent father and a disabled, emotionally conflicted mother. In his tribute to small-town America, the author eloquently sketches the Minnesota village where he spent most of his youth, a place where the awnings on Main Street were opened and shut at the same time each day, and family secrets were hinted at but never discussed. Among the secrets was the enigma surrounding Clausen’s father, Lloyd, a wanderer who could never settle in one place, keep one job or stay with one woman for very long.
There are many idyllic elements to Dennis’s upbringing. Though poor and often struggling for basic necessities, his mother and siblings got by, sometimes helped by the largesse of the community. On occasion, a visitor might sleep on the couch, and tuck nickels or dimes strategically into the sofa’s cushions, leaving Dennis and his brother, Derl, the means to go to the local movie theater. The boys also managed a paper route together.
Reaching college age, there was no money, so Dennis stayed in his hometown at a newly created branch of the university. There he was fortunate to have as a mentor a legendary professor of American literature who recognized what the town’s librarian had noticed years before: that Dennis had great zeal for reading.
As Clausen matured and closely observed the clan he was born into, certain flaws appeared in the pleasant but rather fuzzy picture that had been painted for him. He felt increasingly guided by hints – and finally by some handwritten memoirs from his father – to explore their shared past. In the years of Clausen’s youth, polio was a killer stalking the country and then was miraculously eliminated, but the psychological concept of “attachment disorder,” which undoubtedly afflicted Lloyd, was unheard of. In sifting through his father’s memorabilia, Clausen learned that Lloyd’s adoptive parents always regarded their charge more as free labor than loved one. In Prairie Son, Clausen has written vividly of Lloyd’s life as a mistreated orphan. The many remarkable results of that investigative work comprise the second portion of Goodbye to Main Street, complete with documentation and photographs in what can be seen as Clausen’s second vocation as the family detective.
Clausen’s work has garnered a following among family both here and abroad who have contributed to his diligent search for his ancestry and among orphans and children of orphans who sense his empathy. There are many poignant moments in his coming-of-age account that will resonate with the experiences of an earlier generation of Americans. Perhaps this is the pull of Clausen’s memoir, the story of how one boy grew to manhood and overcame the odds, to become something other than what he was born into: from grinding poverty to successful academic.
Now, after making numerous nostalgic visits to the old hometown and to various gravesites as part of his delving into family lore, he has come to see life as “a journey” and to respect its mysteries.
Goodbye to Main Street won 1st Place in the CIBAs 2018 Journey Awards for Narrative Non-Fiction.
California Son, the second installment in the Liam Sol Mystery series by Timothy Burgess, presents another action-packed mystery for protagonist Liam Sol to solve. Honorably discharged after his tour of duty in Vietnam, Liam returns to his primarily Hispanic neighborhood of Baja La Bolsa, a coastal town near LA, California, where trouble finds him.
In his role as a journalist, Liam takes interest in the daily pleas of a Hispanic mother to find her son’s murderer, pleas that the mostly white La Bolsa Police seem to ignore. After an article he writes in hopes of renewing interest in the case appears in La Bolsa Tribune, the mother is found dead in her apartment. No stranger to death or violence, Liam soon finds himself on the personal side of a hunt for the killer of not only the son but also the mother.
Burgess’s skillful writing takes us to the seamy underbelly of LA and oil-developer-politics to a world that relies on lies, corruption, and a complete lack of morals to gain the dizzying wealth that most of us only dream of. We root for Liam all the way, hoping he can rise above the corruption of his father’s world and achieve a life without the dark secrets that shadow every aspect of his existence.
Set against a backdrop colored by 1970’s music and surfer culture, our hero suffers from the guilt of possibly having caused the mother’s death. He begins to unravel the connection between the mother-son murders and, at the same time, crosses the line of an investigative journalist to that of private detective in his nail-biting pursuit of justice.
Burgess develops a protagonist whose work as a journalist and his flashbacks to Vietnam show us a man who is fragile in some ways and strong in others – and conflicted most of the time. We are drawn into Liam’s quest to solve the murders, but as curiosity killed the cat, Liam’s curiosity comes close to killing the core values that he holds so dear, the values that hold him above the corruption that ultimately destroyed his father.
Perfectly paced, this action-packed story leads us through the tropes of survival guilt, child abuse, sexual abuse, and some serious race and gender issues that during this time were discarded as irrelevant and today are seen for what they are, a crime. In spite of the need for one more professional edit, the story is solid, built with strong characters and an action-packed plot that will likely keep readers on the edge of their seats to the last satisfying page.
Burgess won Grand Prize in the CIBA 2018 Clue Awards for California Son
When I think of “Hindenburg,” I immediately think of the disaster, when the LZ 129 Hindenburg Zepplin caught fire while docking in early May of 1937. It was the first transatlantic passenger flight of the year the famous vessel that had already flown from Germany to Brazil.
Airship LZ 129 Hindenburg Disaster on May 6, 1937. 97 onboard; 36 fatalities. New Jersey, USA
Interesting Facts about the Airship Hindenburg (sourced from the Smithsonian Magazine, May 4, 2017)
The Airship Hindenburg was the world’s largest airship and was roughly the size of the RMS Titanic.
It was to make 10 crossings from Frankfurt, Germany to America (aircraft crossings of the Atlantic were still impossible at this time).
The Hindenburg was moored to the ground when it caught fire.
The entire disaster lasted 40 seconds.
The mystery as to why the Airship Hindenburg caught fire remains unsolved to this day according to the Smithsonian.
As I stated previously, audiobooks and podcasts were not what I thought about when the word Hindenburg was mentioned…
That was up until last fall at the 2018 Digital Book World conference. It was there when Kiffer and I met Chris Mottes, the CEO of Hindenburg Systems for Audiobooks, Podcast Audio Editing software, and Radio Broadcast Software.
I had not thought of the cutting edge technology and communications innovators headquartered in the beautiful and ancient nordic city of Copenhagen, Denmark—Hindenburg Systems.
Colorful Copenhagen, Denmark
You may be confused at this point.
Why, you may ask, would a company want to be named after such a disaster?
Oh, that is a very good question!
On the ground that fateful day many observers and journalists were standing by to witness the landing of the Airship Hindenburg. Camera operators were recording the event. After all, it was 1937, things were starting to get tense. We needed something that would capture our collective attention and create a feeling of wonder.
Herbert “Herb” Morrison (May 14, 1905 – January 01, 1989), a radio journalist working for WLS in Chicago had with him the latest in technology, the PRESTO Direct Disc Recorder, to record the Hindenburg’s first landing in America.
Herbert Morrison and Charles Nehlsen with the PRESTO recording equipment.
And then things went horribly wrong.
It is Morrison’s voice we hear rising above the chaos, this one reporter whose voice and name would be forever linked to the Hindenburg disaster as he stuck with his broadcast, relaying what he was seeing until the emotional toll and the horrible smoke overtook him. It was Herb Morrison’s voice that sadly proclaimed, “… Oh, the humanity…”
Morrison was using the very latest in recording technology, the Presto, that allowed this historical account to be broadcasted and archived—at the Smithsonian. It was the world’s first recorded eyewitness news report.
This is the segue to my story:
Bringing timely and important news at record speed is what Hindenburg Systems is all about.
And that is why the Hindenburg Systems team decided on the Hindenburg moniker.
“The Hindenburg Disaster marked the birth of mobile reporting and expanded the possibilities for global communication,” said Chris Mottes, CEO, Hindenburg Systems. “This is why we pay homage to the Hindenburg Disaster.”
“Radio Touches Our Hearts,” Chris Mottes, Hindenburg Systems.
Now, when I think of Hindenburg Systems, I think innovation, Scandinavian ingenuity, and a product that is both timely and necessary for today’s author (and for the Library of Congress–read on to the end of this article for more info).
After all, authors are being called upon to shoulder more and more of the burden of book discovery and marketing, whether indie-published or traditionally published. Most of us understand it’s necessary, but I’m not sure how many of us like it.
Hindenburg Systems makes the task of discoverability much easier.
Hindenburg Systems offers a platform by which authors can create, enhance, and edit their own audiobooks in the ABC Narrator. This product is not new, Libraries for the Blind have been using Hindenburg for years, and they’re not the only ones.
The same is true for the podcasting platform, Journalist Pro. Countries and organizations, schools, radio stations, colleges, and universities have been making use of Hindenburg products for a number of years, for the innovative technologies built into their systems and the ease of operation.
These are just two of the nine systems Hindenburg offers, and it was these two products that Chris Mottes and Martin Swanholm graciously awarded to our CAC19 attendees (who took his class) and the first place winners as well as our Grand Prize winners of our 2018 CIBAs.
This is Hindenburg Systems’ mission statement:
to tear down the technical divide between storytellers and their audience.
Every day 4 billion radio sets are turned on and tuned in. Stories are spread through the airwaves from the Artic to Antarctica. Podcasts are increasing this number.
From cities to rural areas. Radio gives voice to street children in Tanzania, indigenous journalists in Nepal and war correspondents covering the darkest corners of our world.
Radio touches our hearts.
The stories we hear change our perspective.Radio can strengthen communities and build nations. But despite radio being the most widespread media on the planet, there can still be a long way from storytellers to their audience.
Our mission is to close that gap! – Chris Mottes
So, when I sat down with the HS CEO the other day, I had some questions. Chris Mottes is a tall man, who speaks with a deep, accented voice. One might say he has a perfect radio voice. Charismatic and inspiring innovation aside, I thought if someone put a sword in his hand and gave him a shield, he would fill a role on the set of The Vikings rather nicely.
Chris Mottes, CEO of the global Hindenburg Systems
Being that Hindenburg Systems is a global concern, how does he do it?
Well, Mottes being a practical man, engages those who are currently working with a Hindenburg Systems product and brings them along to conferences where he exhibits his goods. The “experts” are from all over the world. When we were in Chicago, Johnathan Hurley was Mottes’ go-to guy. Hurley teaches music at a high level (over 15 years) utilizing Hindenburg Systems podcaster in his work.
We met at a greasy diner in Chicago, I believe he had the pancakes, I’m not sure what was on my plate. (Sorry Chicago! We couldn’t find the riches of your acclaimed breakfasting establishments.) Afterward, we found a gem of a coffee shop to sit and chat. The first thing I found out about Chris he is passionate about radio, coffee, rugby, and his family, not in that order.
At heart, Chris is a family man, and although his job takes him on the road nearly 80 percent of his time, he is able to recharge back in Denmark with his wife and three daughters – sometimes meeting up with them in remote locations from time to time.
Because his parents were offered work at the Royal Swazi Inn in Ezulwini, Swaziland, Chris grew up with a wider world view than most of his Scandinavian neighbors. He speaks several languages, including three Swazi dialects, and calls the world his home. When asked what his favorite places to visit are, he responds immediately: It’s a tie between South East Asia and South Africa.
Chris has been involved with several innovative companies, from noir Game Media to documentary films. But the most impressive thing Mottes told me that day was what attracts him to a business in the first place. Given that Mottes is driven to make a positive difference in the world, it’s the vision of a company that is paramount in Chris’s book. It has to be something other than making a lot of money. So, really, it is no surprise that Hindenburg Systems caught his eye and joined the team as CEO and Partner in 2011.
Hindenburg is the brainchild of CTO, Preben Friis, and Creative Director, Nick Dunkerley. Onboard as the software designer is Martin Swanholm, who along with Chris attended CAC19
Try out Hindenburg Systems for FREE — Yes, absolutely for FREE (no credit card needed)
These are the two Hindenburg System Products that authors, publishers, and podcasters absolutely should check out and take for a test drive!
Hindenburg Systems are friendly with Apple & Windows platforms! Both work equally well with the Hindenburg Systems’ software programs.
You can even exchange sessions between the two.
Hindenburg Audio Book Creator is for creating audio and talking books. It’s the ideal combination of a highly intuitive interface and sophisticated audiobook production tool. Creating audiobooks has never been simpler.
– Epub3 – DAISY 2.02 – NLS DTB – Audio Book
Hindenburg Journalist is a multitrack audio editor designed for podcasters, audio producers and radio journalists.
It might look like any another audio editor – but it’s not.
The design and features are tailored for spoken-word productions.
Hindenburg Journalist’s focus is on storytelling.
Record voice & interview
Add sound & music
Organize the material
Edit the audio
Publish the story
★★★★★
“It does the things that a journalist or podcaster needs better than other programs and almost seems magic at times. Many things that must be learned through trial and error in other programs are performed automatically in Hindenburg.”
-MarkinRussia.com
Did You Know?
The Library of Congress produces thousands of audiobooks annually using Hindenburg.
“Why did the Library of Congress choose Hindenburg?”
Prior to Hindenburg, the Library of Congress used between three to five different software packages in the audiobook
production chain, requiring highly specialized staff to serve each area. The process typically took a week of post-production per book and involved a lot of manual intervention to ensure compatibility between the different tools on the slow slog
to completion.
In 2013, when the Library of Congress was looking for an integrated, end-to-end solution —that allowed them to record and produce a complete audiobook or magazine in a streamlined environment while improving quality and reducing the number of mistakes— Hindenburg was a natural fit.
In fact, Hindenburg had already developed an audiobook creator in conjunction with the Danish and Norwegian Talking Book Libraries that solved many of the same challenges faced by the Library of Congress.
In the end, by switching to HABC, the Library of Congress was able to introduce more flexible workflows and prepare for the future with text and audio formats like EPUB3.
What is the Hindenburg Audio Book Creator?
HABC is a modern tool for fast, end-to-end production of audio and EPUB3 books. HABC allows narrators to intuitively record high-quality books and leverage automated sound engineering.
With double-digit growth in audiobooks and radio being the most widespread media on our planet (and growing), why not check out these informative links?
LINKS to other Chanticleer articles published on this extraordinary company:
The GERTRUDE WARNER Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of middle-grade readers, fiction and non-fiction, that compel children to read and explore. The Gertrude Warner Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (CIBAs).
Named in honor of the author of the quintessential children’s series – The Boxcar Children, Gertrude Warner.
Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring stories of all shapes and sizes written to an audience between the ages of about eight to twelve. Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery, Paranormal, Historical, Adventure we will put them to the test and choose the best Middle-Grade Books among them.
These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from SLUSH pile to the 2019 Gertrude Warner Book Awards LONG LIST. These entries are now in competition for 2019 Gertrude Warner Shortlist. The Short Listers will compete for the Semi-Finalists positions. The Semi-Finalists will be announced and recognized at the CAC20 banquet and ceremony. The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 16 CIBA divisions Semi-Finalists. We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 18th, 2020 at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash.
These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST of the 2019 Gertrude Warner Book Awards for Middle-Grade Readers. Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.
Carolyn Watkins – The Knock…a collection of childhood memories
Joyce Major – The Orangutan Rescue Gang
Nancy McDonald – Boy from Berlin
Veronica Myers – Flight of Maldar
Jason Otis – Monkey and Moose & the Pirates of Pine Point
B.L. Smith – Bert Mintenko and the Serious Business
B.L. Smith – Bert Mintenko and the Minor Misdemeanors
Jason Colpitts – Corrine and the Underground Province
Mobi Warren – The Bee Maker
Amber L. Wyss – Phoenix Rising
Wendy Leighton-Porter – The Shadow of the Tudor Rose
Sue Bough – Norman Snodgrass Saves the Green Planet
Kit Bakke – Dancing on the Edge
M.J. Evans – PINTO!
M.J. Evans – The Stone of Wisdom – Book 4 of the Centaur Chronicles
Beth Stickley – Tarnation’s Gate
Lis Anna-Langston – Maya Loop
T.X. Troan – Sophia Freeman and the Mysterious Fountain
Lexi Rees – Eternal Seas
Rachel VanZandt – P.J. O’Breslin’s Pirate Journey
Catherine Mallette – Don’t Ask Me
Wendy Leighton-Porter – The Shadow of the Volcano
O’Dempsey Rynehart – The Seeds of Stone (A Sliver of Dark and Bright Series #1)
Diane Rios – Return of the Evening Star
C.R. Stewart – Britfield and the Lost Crown
Kay M. Bates’ – ‘B’ is for Baylee
Alexander Usher – Katie Hope: Blood Bonds
Susan Brown – Sammy and the Devil Dog
Wendy Leighton-Porter – The Shadow of the Pyramid
R. B. Maxwell – The Invisible Agent
Rey Clark – Legends of the Vale
Francis B. Glad – Ernie Germy Jenkins
L.S. Barron – Harper T and the Timewave
Maria Ashworth – SUSHI KITTY
Gregory Saur – Diving Catch
Liana Gardner – 7th Grade Revolution
Liana Gardner – The Journal of Angela Ashby
Jeff Orlowski – Avery Green And The Nightmare Busters
L.M. Kemp – Skye’s Journey
Trayner Bane – Windhollow and the Axe Breaker (Windhollows, Book 3)
Leanne M. Pankuch – Dragon’s Truth
Alex Paul – The Valley of Death, Book 5, Arken Freeth and the Adventure of the Neanderthals
Which of these works will move forward in the judging rounds for the 2019 Gertrude Warner Book Awards for Middle-Grade Readers?
The 16 divisions of the 2019 CIBAs’Grand Prize Winners and the Five First Place Category Position award winners along with recognizing the Semi-Finalists will be announced at theApril 18th, 2020 Chanticleer International Book Awards Annual Awards Gala,which takes place at the Chanticleer Authors Conference that will be held in Bellingham, Wash.
We are now accepting submissions into the 2020 Gertrude Warner Awards Book Awards. The deadline for submissions is May 30th, 2020. The winners will be announced in April 2021.
Midshipman Jonathan Moore scrambles aboard just in time for the departure of the HMSDoggard (a horrible name, soon replaced with her original name, the Danielle). The latecomer is welcomed by some of his friends from an earlier voyage on the HMS Paladin, including Seaman Sean Flagon, Lieutenant Thomas Harrison, Bosun Steward, and even Captain William Walker.
Jonathan had not expected to be on this voyage, as he was only recently reunited with his father, Captain (soon to be Admiral) Nathaniel Moore, who had been captured and imprisoned by the French earlier in the Napoleonic Wars. This left Jonathan orphaned on the streets of London until he and Sean were pressed into service on the Paladin. But Captain Moore escaped and returned to England. While loath to see Jonathan leave, he eventually realizes that he must allow his son to follow in his footsteps in the Royal Navy.
After meeting with Captain Walker, Jonathan finds his quarters in the cockpit, shared with the other midshipmen, a rude Wayne Spears, and his sidekick Timothy Lane. Jonathan thinks he will simply avoid the two and spend time with Sean and his other friends, but when Spears pushes Sean to the floor, enmity ensues.
The Danielle’s arrival in Nassau brings relief. Delain Dowdeswell, whom Jonathan had befriended on an earlier voyage to Nassau, is spotted rappelling down a cliff overlooking the harbor—the adventurer that Jonathan and friends already know. Delain’s sisters, Rebecca and Penelope, deliver an invitation to Captain Walker from their father, the governor, to dine at the mansion, bringing his officers and Sean. At dinner, Jonathan is paired with Delain, Harrison with Rebecca, and Sean with Penelope, whose company they enjoy even more than the scrumptious food. Lady Dowdeswell asks the captain if her daughters can be accommodated on the ship for its return trip to London, where they are to receive further education—a request happily agreed to by all except Delain, who fears an end to her adventuring.
On the balcony after dinner, Jonathan gives Delain a silver necklace with a dolphin pendant that he had bought in London for her. Her delight is interrupted by Spears’s intrusion. Harrison approaches, fearing trouble, but Jonathan remains cool. It is Delain who finds revenge by “accidentally” tromping on Spears’s toe with her sharp heel. Spears will not forget this, nor his desire to end Jonathan’s career in the Navy, or perhaps his life altogether.
Before the Danielle departs in search of pirates, the captain agrees to take Delain and her teacher, along with Jonathan and Sean, to a nearby island where they hope to see turtles hatch and make their run to the sea. They are rowed ashore by marines Hudson and Hicks, who will stay overnight with them until the Danielle returns. Delain and Jonathan arrive in time to help the tiny turtles reach the sea by chasing away the seagulls. Delain is a delightful, resourceful young woman who manages to be at the center of everything that happens. What the trio of Jonathan, Delain, and Sean discover in the ancient “Castle of Fire” and its secrets will have readers holding their breath!
Peter Greene has done it again—another well-penned, colorful, action-packed tale to be read for pure pleasure. Make sure you don’t miss Books 1, Warship Poseidon and 3, Paladin’s War. Highly recommended!
During the holiday season, it’s easy to become distracted from the true meaning of Christmas. In Angel on Assignment Wanda Carter Roush tells the story of this holiday and the important role that angels play.
Borrowing from the idea of Elf on the Shelf, this charming Children’s book teaches that angels are sent on assignment to help people. If you are ever scared, you need not be afraid because an angel is there to protect you. Children will love rolling up their sleeves and getting busy as they take the story to the next level and create their very own angel, and thus begin their own family tradition of having an angel on assignment.
Wanda Carter Roush is a former Sunday school teacher and children’s church director. She is the mother of five and was inspired by her youngest daughter to write this story to instill hope and peace of mind in children when they are scared. Angel on Assignment also challenges children to act as angels on assignment and always be on the lookout for those who need help because even the smallest deed can have a strong effect.
The book ends with instructions on how to make your very own angel. Imagination is an essential component to inspire children to be creative in creating their angel.
What makes Angel on Assignment truly special is that it encourages families to start a new tradition that serves to remind them of what they cannot see. What families can see are the wonderful illustrations by Mike Motz that bring the story to life.
Roush creates a wholesome tale with great lessons for children on how to deal with being afraid and encourages them to do selfless acts of kindness. Children, as well as parents, will love Angel on Assignment!
Angels on Assignment won 1st Place in the CIBA 2017 Little Peeps Awards for Children’s Literature.
Salem Grimes has a lot of goals – lose more weight than her friend Trisha, find a dress for the upcoming date she doesn’t really want to go on, and keep her dog, Stump, from throwing up on the kitchen floor. Unfortunately, solving a murder (again) isn’t on her to-do list, but Salem is thrown into another mystery completely against her will when she sees a body in a Sonic dumpster.
When her BFF Viv, an 80-ish firecracker of a woman with a penchant for expensive shoes, hears about it, she can’t wait to get started cracking the case. After all, she and Viv have already solved one mystery, and Viv is convinced their unofficial PI firm, Discreet Investigations, can find the murderer. But the ladies quickly realize they have their work cut out for them when the victim is identified as CJ Hardin, golden boy physician and local Hope for Homes organizer who recently “came out” in a very public way and stirred up a huge controversy in Lubbock, Texas.
Controversy and theories swirl since CJ was thought to have run off days earlier with the $200K in funds from a recent Hope for Homes fundraising effort. When the murder is labeled a hate crime, Salem, Viv, and their newest partner Dale find themselves in some scary situations, including an altercation with Rambo the fighting rooster. Between being laughed at by one hot police detective she’s had crushed on since fourth grade, fighting her urge to drink herself “cool” in order to keep from throat-punching Dale, Salem has to find a killer before the community implodes.
The struggles of the LGBTQ community are front and center in this novel. CJ, the murdered man, is a victim before he is the victim. CJ has spent his life as so many LGBTQ people have, playing a role, pretending to be something he is not in order to fit the required societal mold. The son of a prominent family, a prestigious doctor in his own right, and the perfect fiancé to a woman he has always been expected to marry, CJ never truly got to live his life in his own way. Not long after being caught in a passionate embrace with a man, CJ is more or less forced to come out in a very public way and then he is murdered, labeled another casualty of hate, and though his murder doesn’t quite turn out so cut and dry, his story is nonetheless tragic.
A Christian novel highlighting the struggles in the LGBTQ community is an anomaly, and Kim Hunt Harris expertly handles the issues smartly by placing them front and center in her lead character’s lap. Salem feels a strong connection with the LGBTQ message boards she studies after being swept up in CJ’s death. She understands the dark loneliness of never fitting in, of being a victim of abuse, and of hiding what she truly is, burying her true self.
Damaged by a selfish, abusive mother, Salem is determined not to let that define her anymore. After ten years of drowning her feelings in booze, she has found her footing in Christianity, but she is confused about her feelings, uncertain how to reconcile her blossoming faith with the reality around her – what she thinks and feels about the LGBT community around her.
Salem’s story is one of redemption – hers and everyone else’s. She wants to be a person who can look herself in the eye, and she fights daily to become that very person.
Through common sense, humor, and her daily prayers in her self-made devotional room (aka the guest bedroom in her trailer at Trailertopia), Salem navigates the world in a “human” way. She struggles to justify God’s love with the church’s condemnation against homosexuality. She struggles against her complete dislike of Dale with the Biblical edicts of patience and kindness. She struggles with wanting to feel God’s presence in her life versus her all too real feelings of pettiness and anger.
Salem’s battles aren’t black or white, right or wrong. She’s human and that’s why we like her so much. She understands that “contempt and disrespect for another person’s most precious beliefs” don’t make the world a better place.
Unsightly Bulges (A Trailer Park Princess Cozy Mystery Book 2) by Kim Hunt Harris took home 1st Place in the 2017 CIBA M&M Awards for Mayhem and Mystery.
The boldness of the ideas contained within this novel about cloning begins with its title. The word “apotheosis” can be freely translated as 1.a. the perfect form or example of something, 1.b. the highest or best part of something, or 2. elevation to divine status. (Merriman-Webster Online Dictionary). It is with these expectations that the book begins with a letter from John Numen, who tells us from the beginning that he is unapologetically a multifaceted scientist, medical researcher, doctor, billionaire investor, a fugitive on the FBI’s Most Wanted list, and a fledgling serial killer.
We believe him.
Numen’s trajectory from a scientist to a reclusive but fiendish killer with infinite financial resources is quite the tale. Human cloning is his obsession. He believes he has developed the science to make it easy and practical despite its medical and scientific, legal and ethical challenges. As he progresses decades into the future, he plans carefully for the lifespan he needs and the facilities he requires to develop his ideas into practical tools. He has the resources to do both and gives us a front-row seat on the often-murderous details involved in how he accomplishes his goals, whether it be on his private island in the Caribbean or at his Colorado estate.
What distinguishes Numen from many other mad scientists is his portrayal as a human being. He is as capable of loving as he is in murdering. His descriptions of both give this read a humanity most welcome in the sci-fi genre. In particular, his love affair with the wife of a business colleague and its tragic ending lend a dramatic sensibility that sci-fi books rarely achieve.
For more than half the book, the potential for it becoming the basis for a long-form television mini-series virtually leaps off the page. Then the story seems to wander a bit, shifting the point of view from Numen to a female kickboxer with dreams of MMA championships and the moxie to carry it out. Fast action sequences and brutal punches make for a great diversion.
What Darrell Lee delivers is a fast-paced thriller with a lot of tendrils that are likely to snatch readers up and keep them in the chair, a well-drawn mad scientist with a sexy kick-ass femme fatal, and an interesting story that may stay with you for a while.
All in all, we expect The Apotheosis will indeed find its fan-base among those who love fast-paced, unapologetic sci-fi thrillers.
The Dante Rossetti Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in Young Adult Fiction. The Dante Rossetti Book Awards is a genre division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (#CIBAs).
Salem Grimes has a lot of goals – lose more weight than her friend Trisha, find a dress for the upcoming date she doesn’t really want to go on, and keep her dog, Stump, from throwing up on the kitchen floor. Unfortunately, solving a murder (again) isn’t on her to-do list, but Salem is thrown into another mystery completely against her will when she sees a body in a Sonic dumpster.
