Chanticleer Book Reviews

Author: cheri-lasota

  • CYGNUS SPOTLIGHT for SCI-FI – Book Awards, Science Fiction, Space Opera, Time Travel, Genetic Mods, Tech, Apocalyptic, Space Aliens

    CYGNUS SPOTLIGHT for SCI-FI – Book Awards, Science Fiction, Space Opera, Time Travel, Genetic Mods, Tech, Apocalyptic, Space Aliens

    Cygnus Award for Science Fiction

    The Cygnus Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Science Fiction, Steampunk, Alternative History, and Speculative Fiction. The Cygnus Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).

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

    Get your Sci-fi on

     enter the CYGNUS AWARDS today!

    Who will receive a beautiful CIBA  CYGNUS Blue Ribbon? 

    Which CYGNUS AWARD winner will receive the next big publishing contract or land a top agent…? 

    Bennett Coles CYGNUS Grand Prize for VIRTUES of WAR 

    Harper Collins Voyager has picked up CYGNUS Grand Prize Winner Bennett R. Coles for his latest work Winds of Marque.

    Titan U.K. picked up his CYGNUS award-winning Virtues of War and then contracted for two more books in his series: Ghosts of War and March of War.

    Virtues of War

     

    Will it be you? 

    THE DEADLINE TO ENTER THE 2020 CYGNUS Novel Writing Competitions is April 30, 2020.

    ENTER TODAY!

    The CYGNUS BOOK AWARDS 

    Hall of Fame

    2018 Grand Prize Winner: 

    The Korpes File by J.I Rogers took home the 2018 CYGNUS Book Awards for Science Fiction Grand Prize Blue Ribbon.

     

     

     

    2018 First in Category Winners:

    • The Fortune Follies by Catori Sarmiento
    • It Takes Death to Reach a Star by Stu Jones & Gareth Worthington
    • Solar Reboot by Matthew D. Hunt
    • Apex Five by Sarah Katz
    • The One Apart: A Novel by Justine Avery
    • The Selah Branch by Ted Neill   

    2017 Grand Prize Cygnus Winner: 

    The Future’s Dark Past by John Yarrow

     

     

     

    2017 Cygnus Book Awards for Science Fiction First in Category Winners

     

     

    2016 Grand Prize Cygnus Winner:

     

    OVER by Sean Curley

     

    2016 Cygnus Book Awards for Science Fiction First in Category Winners

    2015 Grand Prize Cygnus Winner:

    The Great Symmetry by James Wells

    2015 Cygnus Book Awards for Science Fiction First in Category Winners

    2014 Cygnus Grand Prize Winner:

    Enemy of Existence by Yuan Jur

    Citadel 7, Earth’s Secret: Enemy of Existence by Yuan Jur

    2014 Cygnus Book Awards for Science Fiction First in Category Winners:

    2013 Grand Prize Cygnus Winner:

    Bennett R. Coles, Virtues of War

    2013 First Place Category Winners for the Cygnus Awards are:

    • The Lotus Effect by Bridget Ladd
    • Celia’s Heaven by Nancy Canyon
    • Artemis Rising by Cheri Lasota
    • The Maiden Voyage of the Mary Ann by Linda Reed
    • Ragnarok: Demon Seed by Ea Bishop

         

         

        Don’t delay. Enter today! 

        Chanticleer Book Reviews & Media, L.L.C.  retains the right to not declare “default winners.” Winning works are decided upon merit only. Please visit our Contest Details page for more information about our writing contest guidelines.

        CBR’s rigorous writing competition standards are why literary agencies seek out our winning manuscripts and self-published novels. Our high standards are also why our reviews are trusted among booksellers and book distributors.

        Please do not hesitate to contact Info@ChantiReviews.com about any questions, concerns, or suggestions about the Chanticleer International Book Awards. Your input and suggestions are important to us.

        Click here for more information about the Chanticleer Book Reviews International Book Awards.

      • An Editorial Review of “Artemis Rising” by Cheri Lasota

        An Editorial Review of “Artemis Rising” by Cheri Lasota

        Rendered with a lush and lyrical touch, this Y/A historical fantasy depicts the romantic yearnings of two innocent lovers, both dedicated to and trapped by the belief that they embody tragic figures from myth and legend.

        Born of a pagan mother and a strict Catholic father, fifteen-year-old Eva Maré learns the hard way that when the two religions clash, catastrophic results follow. Aboard a ship bound for the Azores, Eva undertakes a ritual to transfer the role of Arethusa, a sea nymph dedicated to Artemis, from mother to daughter. But instead of the Goddess’s blessing, hell’s own fury is unleashed. The ship crashes into the volcanic face of Ilhéu das Cabras, though not before Diogo Cheia, a marquês’s son possessed by his desire for Eva, displays his wrath over her rejection.

        Eva, now Arethusa, regains consciousness on the Azorean island of Terceira, surrounded by the flotsam of the shipwreck that took the lives of her parents and nearly everyone else on board. Badly wounded and rendered mute by an act of violence she cannot remember, she is rescued by a beautiful young man, who takes her to the orphanage in Angra do Heroísmo, where he lives. There Arethusa is healed, but it won’t be long before she discovers Diogo survived as well.

        Thus begins the ages-old tale of two men fighting over the woman they both love. But this is no ordinary triangle: Diogo believes himself heir to the role of Alpheus, the river god to whom, in Greek mythology, Arethusa is bound for eternity. To complicate matters, Tristão Vazante, Arethusa’s rescuer, had been led to believe he is the embodiment of the Cornish knight Tristan and that Arethusa is his Isolde.

        This well-written and crisply paced novel mixes the two myths: one Greek, the other of the canon of Arthurian literature. It’s possible the author intended the two disparate myths to represent the clash between paganism and Christianity—and the way the main characters eventually reconcile their religious conflicts—but one is distorted to emphasize evil, while the other is less a Christian morality play than a medieval tale of courtly love.

        However, the sweetly chaste passion of Tristan and Arethusa carries the day, along with the Azorean setting, with its seaports and beaches, caves and cities, all wonderfully evoked and enhanced by a sprinkling of Portuguese expressions. An early scene, when Arethusa dreams between life and death after the shipwreck, is a sensory feast. The inevitable showdown between Arethusa’s two suitors challenges the traditional endings of the two myths in a way that is as anticipated as it is satisfying. Readers who enjoy being swept away in romantic fantasy will not be disappointed.

        Artemis Rising by Cheri Lasota was awarded First Place in the Mythological Category, The Cygnus Awards 2013. The Cygnus Awards is a division of Chanticleer Book Reviews Blue Ribbon Writing Competitions.