Chanticleer Book Reviews

Author: christopher-leibig

  • SPOTLIGHT on PARANORMAL: Paranormal Book Awards 2020 CIBA for All Things Spooky, Haunted, Unreal, Superstitious and Strange

    SPOTLIGHT on PARANORMAL: Paranormal Book Awards 2020 CIBA for All Things Spooky, Haunted, Unreal, Superstitious and Strange

    For Stories that are Out of this World!

    Just in time for Halloween, Eve of All Saints Day, Samhain, and Guy Fawkes Day 

    Kiffer’s Note:  Did you know that in Sweden Halloween is celebrated from October 31 until November 6th? That is a great idea! Det är en bra idé.

    OCTOBER isn’t just for OZMA Book Awards for Fantasy Fiction or GLOBAL THRILLERS for Pulse-Racing Suspense novels, or even our newest division, SHORT Stories…

    October helps us understand why campfires are a good idea, why it’s never safe to go down into the cellar alone on certain nights of the year, and, among other things, why it’s prudent to know the history of a house before you buy it.

    In October, strange things happen when these bits of wisdom are ignored. 

    Paranormal Fiction Awards

     

    I’ve said it before, and I am going to reaffirm it now, October is my favorite time of year. I love the goblins, ghosts, monsters of the dark as much as the next person (okay, maybe more) and so it’s no surprise that I love October because October means Halloween! I can even put it into a mathematical formula:

    And this year’s a little different. In a very real sense, we all are living in a global nightmare because of a horrible virus that supposedly came from (wait for it!) BATS.

    We know what it’s like to be afraid, to be brave, to yearn for companionship, and not be able to hug our loved ones. We know what it’s like to run out of hand sanitizer and toilet paper. And we wonder when things will get better.

    Still, I am a BIG fan of horror. Why? Because fiction helps us here. Especially horror. Between the pages of the scariest novel, we see our own humanity, our own hopes, and our own fears. Our defeats – and also our victories.  It is cathartic to dip into an imaginary world where things are falling apart and monsters are real. It gives us a sense of control. A sense that even though things are bad, they will get better (and then worse…). Yes, we’re in a major pandemic here. People are sick and things are confusing, but the vampires haven’t risen from the grave yet, and Frankenstein’s Monster is not coming to dinner. Ghost stories are simply that. Stories.

    Ghostbusters

    So gather around (while you’re social distancing) the campfire and tell us your favorite spooky stories. Because, I don’t know about you, but I could sure use some fictional horror in my life… Are you ready?

    Welcome to the PARANORMAL Book Awards!

    Send us your stories of dark places, alien abductions, magic and magical beings, the supernatural, vampires & werewolves, angels & demons, fairies & mythological beings, weird otherworldly tales… and gothic horror stories. We will put them to the test and discover the best among them for the 2018 Paranormal Book Awards, a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards – the CIBAs.

    But don’t wait too long. The deadline for the Paranormal Awards is October 31, 2020. Enter here, and don’t say we didn’t warn you.

     

     

    Travel with me through the Paranormal Awards Hall of Fame…

    The 2019 PARANORMAL Book Awards Grand Prize for Supernatural Fiction is:

     

    Susan Lynn Solomon took home the GRAND PRIZE for Abagail’s Window 

    “Wow! … she is original and develops her characters into an intense plot of life and love. Great job!” – Chanticleer Reviews

     

     

     

     

     

     

    2019 Paranormal Book Awards First Place Winners for Supernatural Fiction Novels:

     

    • Ryan J. Lyons Drums and Dragons
    • Linda Watkins The Tao of the Viper
    • Kaylin McFarren High Flying
    • 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 2018 PARANORMAL Book Awards Grand Prize for Supernatural Fiction is:

    Joy Ross Davis, Paranormal Grand Prize Book Award Winner

     

    The Madwoman of Preacher’s Cove “One man searches for the truth in the quiet hamlet of his childhood, only to uncover the terrifying reality. Thrilling and spinetingling! Joy Ross Davis knows how to keep you up at night! Highly recommended.” 

     

     

     

    2018 Paranormal Book Awards First Place Winners for Supernatural Fiction Novels:

     

     

     

     

    The 2017 PARANORMAL Book Awards Grand Prize for Supernatural Fiction is:

    Van Ops – The Lost Power is a story in which “Alexander the Great’s obscure Egyptian weapon has been lost for eons. Can Maddy Marshall and covert agent Bear Thorenson find the ancient weapon in time to stop fragile post-Cold War peace from being forever shattered?”

    Avanti Centrae is the author of the international award-winning VanOps thriller series. Her work has been compared to that of James Rollins, Steve Berry, Dan Brown, and Preston/Child’s Pendergast series.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    2017 Paranormal Book Awards First Place Winners for Supernatural Fiction Novels:

    • Willow’s Discovery by Joanne Jaytanie
    • Virtuous Souls by Pamela LePage
    • Rea by Lydia Staggs
    • A Pocketful of Lodestones, Time Traveler Professor Book 2 by Elizabeth Crowens
    • Dark Water by Chynna Laird

     

     

     

    The 2016 PARANORMAL Book Awards Grand Prize:

    Almost Mortal “Blending the high-octane thrust of a contemporary legal thriller with the magical realism of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, “Almost Mortal” cleaves a new, inventive niche in the legal thriller genre. This fast-paced legal thriller will leave the reader hungering for more. A terrific read!”

    Christopher Leibig is a novelist and a criminal defense attorney. He thinks about Fiction like this…”Fiction, while by its definition invented, need not tell that lie. In fiction, the devil is everywhere. And everyone has their story.”

     

     

     

    2016 Paranormal Book Awards First Place Winners for Supernatural Fiction Novels :

     

     

     

     

    The 2015 PARANORMAL Book Awards Grand Prize:

    The Aurora Affair (retitled as Mobius) “… is a story about a skeptical heroine who discovers that her love affairs are the key to harnessing her own power to influence the world—for better if she does it right, or for worse if she fails.”

    Carolyn Haley “… is a freelance writer and editor who lives in rural Vermont. I write a mix of commercial copy, articles for regional and national publications.” She writes award-winning novels in her spare time.

     

     

     

    2015 Paranormal Book Awards First Place Winners for Supernatural Fiction Novels :

    The 2014 PARANORMAL Book Awards Grand Prize:

     An Ex to Grind in Deadwood is a wickedly funny paranormal mystery romance series that takes place in its namesake city in South Dakota.

     

    Ann Charles, USA Bestselling Author

    Ann Charles “…lives in the beautiful Northern Arizona mountains with her clever husband, charming kids, and an incredibly sassy cat. After many years and several colleges, she managed to obtain her Bachelor’s Degree in English with an emphasis on creative writing from the University of Washington.”

     

     

    2014 Paranormal Book Awards First Place Winners for Supernatural Fiction Novels:

    The 2013 PARANORMAL Book Awards Grand Prize:

    The Watcher is a story where “…ancient history is only the beginning.”

     

     

    Lisa Voisin “… spent her childhood daydreaming and making up stories, but it was my love of reading and writing in her teens that drew her to Young Adult fiction.” 

     

     

     

     

    2013 Paranormal Book Awards First Place Winners for Supernatural Fiction Novels:

    • Spirit Legacy by E.E. Holmes
    • Poe, Nevermore by Rachel M. Martens
    • The Immortal American by L. B. Joramo
    • The Dream Jumper’s Promise by Kim Hornsby
    • Montana Mustangs by Danica Winters
    • The Third Option by Ben A. Sharpton
    • Witch’s Malice by David Hutchison
    • Dancing on the Dark Side by Mairin Fisher-Fleming

     

    2012 1st Place Winner in the Paranormal Awards:

    Sacred Fires is a well written and crafted romantic paranormal novel with elements of intrigue and suspense along with a story set in a lush locale with mystic Aztec undercurrents. Greenfeder has succeeded in writing a fast-paced romantic suspense novel that is refreshingly different.

     

    Catherine Greenfeder “… continues to pursue her dream of getting her work published. To date, she has had five novels including a western historical, two adult paranormal novels, and two young adult paranormal novels published. She anticipates a few short stories and another young adult novel published in the near future.”

    Our 2020 Chanticleer International Book Awards (CIBAs) feature more than $30,000.00 worth of cash and prizes each year! 

    • The 2020 PARANORMAL Grand Prize Winner is named Chanticleer Reviews Best Supernatural Fiction Book of the Year and goes on to compete for the Chanticleer Overall Grand Prize Best Book of the Year
    • The Overall Grand Prize Winner is named Chanticleer Reviews Best Book of the Year and awarded the $1000 prize
    • All winners receive a Chanticleer Prize Package which includes a digital badge, a ribbon, and a whole assortment of goodies detailed below (winners outside the US pay a shipping & handling fee)

    That’s more than $30,000.00 worth of cash and prizes! The Fine Print.

    ~$1000 for one lucky Overall Grand Prize Winner
    ~$30,000+ in reviews, prizes, and promotional opportunities awarded to Category Winners

    Currently accepting entries. Deadline: Oct. 31st, 2020.

    What are you waiting for? Enter today!Who will win the PARANORMAL Book Awards Blue Ribbons for 2020?

    Submit your works today!

    The last day for submissions into the 2020 Paranormal Book Awards is October 31, 2020.

    Click here for more information and submission form! 

    Don’t Delay! Enter Today! 

  • SPOTLIGHT on OZMA: October is for OZMA 2020 Book Awards – Fantasy, Magic, Other Worlds, and Other Creatures, Book Awards

    SPOTLIGHT on OZMA: October is for OZMA 2020 Book Awards – Fantasy, Magic, Other Worlds, and Other Creatures, Book Awards

    Ozma Awards for Fantasy Fiction

    Why do we love Fantasy now more than ever? With the promise of bringing  new horizons, a grand new adventure, magical worlds, and perhaps even a treasure… with a flick of our finger and that which was not suddenly appears… with magical creatures and fantastical places waiting to be explored – what’s not to love? 

     

    Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for 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, Dieselpunk, Gaslight Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, or other out of this world fiction, we will discover the best among them and award them an OZMA Book Award! 

     

    The last day to submit your work is coming up faster than you may think – October 31, 2020, is just around the corner. We invite you to join us, to tell us your stories, and to find out who will take home the prize at CAC21 on April 18th, 2021.

    As our deadline draws near, don’t slip into an alternate reality and forget to enter your fantasy novel! We accept completed manuscripts and recently published works.

    Enter today!

     

    The OZMA Book Awards Hall of Fame: 

    The OZMA BOOK AWARDS Grand Prize Winner for 2019 is: 

    Manufactured Witches by Michelle Rene

    Michelle Rene participated in our 10 question Author Interview series and this is a bit of what she has to say about writing… “It is a powerful and equalizing force in the world. As long as you can string sentences together, you have a voice. Your story can be told. It doesn’t matter how old or young you are. Your wallet and waistline have no bearing. You don’t even have to be formally educated. Everyone’s story is possible, and stories change the world.”

     

    The First In Category Winners for 2019 are: 

     

     

    • 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

     

     

     

    2018 Chanticleer Int’l Book Award Winners!

     

    The 2018 OZMA Book Awards GRAND PRIZE WINNER for Fantasy Fiction Novels:

    Dragon Speaker by Elana A. Mugdan

    Elana took home the OZMA Grand Prize Ribbon

    Elana Mugdan, our Grand Prize winner, earned her title for Dragon Speaker, a story about a young girl who is charged with rescuing a dragon and, ultimately, saves her world in this wide-reaching fantasy conception of love, war, danger, and magic. Massive amounts of magic!

     

     

    Congratulations to the 2018 OZMA Book Awards for Fantasy Fiction Novels First in Category Winners!

    • Virtuous Souls by Pamela LePage
    • RAGNAROK: Demon Seed by Ea Bishop
    • Money Jane by T.K. Riggins
    • Heart Of Shadra by Susan Faw
    • Into the North: A Keltin Moore Adventure by Lindsay Schopfer
    • Antler Jinny and the Raven by Chris Dews
    • Luminess Legends: Dragon Ascendants by Paul E. Vaughn

     

     

     

    The 2017 OZMA Grand Prize Winner is T.K. Riggins  for How to Set the  World on Fire ,
    a coming-of-age School of Magic novel that readers will find hard to put down.

    T.K. Riggins has this to say about writing, “I started writing because of a dare. My friend was searching for something new to read, but instead of recommending a book, I decided to write something for her. It was a ten-page short story that was based on a farming event from my past, and I turned it into a tale of fantasy. It was a fun experience, and my friend was so impressed that she wanted to read more, so I just kept going.” Find out more in his 10 Question Author Interview, here.

    2017 First Place Winners include: 

    • Eva’s Soul by Sarah M. Morin
    • Daughter of Aithne by Karin Rita Gastreich
    • In Her World: The Dark-Winter War by John W. Lord
    • The One Apart: A Novel by Justine Avery
    • Runebinder by Alex R. Kahler
    • The Engine Woman’s Light by Laurel Anne Hill
    • The Bookminder by M. K. Wiseman   

     

     

    2016 OZMA Grand Prize Winner:

     

    Mythborn II Bane of the Warforged by Vijay Lakshman 

    Where myths and legends are brought to life!

     

    2016 First Place Winners:

     

    Our 2020 Chanticleer International Book Awards feature more than $30,000.00 worth of cash and prizes each year! 

    • The 2020 Ozma Grand Prize Winner is named Chanticleer Reviews Best Fantasy Fiction Book of the Year and goes on to compete for the Chanticleer Overall Grand Prize Best Book of the Year
    • The Overall Grand Prize Winner is named Chanticleer Reviews Best Book of the Year and awarded the $1000 prize
    • All winners receive a Chanticleer Prize Package which includes a digital badge, a ribbon, and a whole assortment of goodies detailed below (winners outside the US pay a shipping & handling fee)

    That’s more than $30,000.00 worth of cash and prizes! The Fine Print.

    ~$1000 for one lucky Overall Grand Prize Winner
    ~$30,000+ in reviews, prizes, and promotional opportunities awarded to Category Winners

    Currently accepting entries. Deadline: Oct. 31st, 2020.

    What are you waiting for? Enter today!

  • SPOTLIGHT on GLOBAL THRILLERS High-Stakes Thriller, Chillers, multiple Killers – CIBA Thriller Books, Book Awards, Best Thriller Books

    SPOTLIGHT on GLOBAL THRILLERS High-Stakes Thriller, Chillers, multiple Killers – CIBA Thriller Books, Book Awards, Best Thriller Books

    It’s come down to this…

    You’re good at deadlines… cutting the right wire under pressure is nothing. You can take down dozens of bad guys with just your wit and some duct tape.

    You can certainly make this deadline!

     

     

    Our new deadline for the 2020 (only) in the  CIBA GLOBAL THRILLER  Awards is October 31, 2020, at 11:59 p.m.

    (*Beware, my friends, for the Global Thriller Awards deadline next year will be one month earlier ~ September 30, 2021! …tick, tick, tick!)

    ENTER TODAY!

    Avanti Centrae pulled the trigger just in time and brought home the CIBA 2019 GRAND PRIZE in GLOBAL THRILLERS Book Awards for SOLSTICE SHADOWS – A VanOps Thriller!

     

     

    The First in Category Winners for The 2019 Global Thrillers are: 

     

    • Randall Krzak for Carnage in Singapore
    • Courtney Leigh Pahlke for Life Force Preserve
    • Jett Ward for Execute Order
    • Nicole Mabry for Past This Point
    • Avanti Centrae for VanOps: The Solstice Shadows
    • Joanne Jaytanie for Salvaging Truth, Hunters & Seekers, Book 1

     

     

     

     

    In 2018, Michael Pronko won the Global Thriller Awards with The Moving Blade.

     

     

    The 2018 Global Thrillers First in Category Winners are:

     

    • Magenta is Missing by Richard Garis
    • Dangerous Alliance by Randall Krzak
    • The War Beneath by Timothy S. Johnston
    • The Sunken Forest by R. Barber Anderson
    • Never Again by Harvey A. Schwartz   
    • Beyond Control by  Lawrence Verigin

     

     

     

    Sara Stamey took home the Grand Prize in 2017 for The Ariadne Connection

     

    The First in Category Winners for 2017: 

     

     

     

    Here are some winners that came before: 

    From the 2016 CLUE Awards:

     

    From the 2015 CLUE Awards:

    • Blended Genre: Timothy S. Johnston – The Tanner Sequence: The Furnace, The Freezer, The Void
    • Espionage/Spy: Michele Daniel – The Red Circle

    We also had Cybertech Thrillers and Political Thrillers such as John Trudel’s Raven’s Resurrection and the Raven’s Series.

    Here’s your assignment, if you choose to accept it…

     

    Submit your Thrillers in the following categories by October 31, 2020,  for a chance to bring home a First in Category WIN the 2020 CIBAs in Global Thrillers – or a Grand Prize – or maybe even the Overall Grand Prize! 

                • Historic
                • LabLit
                • Science Fiction
                • Dramatic
                • Action/Adventure
                • CyberTech

    If you never enter, you’ll never know!  

    Follow this link and enter today! 

    Tick Tock…

    (For light-hearted, cozy, or classic Mystery and Suspense entries see our Mystery & Mayhem Awards and for Thriller/Suspense/Hardboiled-Detective series, please see the CLUE Awards)

    Don’t delay! Enter today!

  • GLOBAL Chillers, Killers, High-Stakes Thrillers – We want them all! Welcome to the November SPOTLIGHT on Global Thrillers Awards

    GLOBAL Chillers, Killers, High-Stakes Thrillers – We want them all! Welcome to the November SPOTLIGHT on Global Thrillers Awards

    The clock is ticking… you’re working on a deadline while your husband is across town, picking up the kids. You’ve taken the day off and gone to the cabin. You have to write that last chapter … the one that will get your work noticed, like J.D. Barker or Stephen King kind of noticed.

    Then the inexplicable happens, as you type in the very last line and hit return, your screen goes black. You reach to plug in your computer, but it’s already plugged in… You jiggle the cords. You hit ESC. You hit RETURN. You unplug the thing and plug it back in again. Nothing. You do a hard reset…

    This time the screen powers on and a thin line travels across the middle of it. Then words appear…

    “You have until November 30, 2019, 11.59 p.m. to turn in your Global Thriller, or you will have no chance of winning…” 

    Don’t let this happen to you! Turn in your High-Stakes Thriller, your Chillers, your multiple Killers for a chance at the prize! But one thing is certain, if you don’t enter, you won’t have a chance of winning!

     

    Be like Michael Pronko who submitted his novel, The Moving Blade, all the way from Japan –

    and took home the 2018 CIBA Grand Prize in the Global Thriller Awards!

     

    Or, you can be like these 2018 Global Thriller Book Awards for Lab Lit & High Stakes Thriller Novels First in Category Winners!

    • Magenta is Missing by Richard Garis
    • Dangerous Alliance by Randall Krzak
    • The War Beneath by Timothy S. Johnston
    • The Sunken Forest by R. Barber Anderson
    • Never Again by Harvey A. Schwartz   
    • Beyond Control by  Lawrence Verigin

    Sara Stamey took home the Grand Prize in 2017 for The Ariadne Connection

    The First in Category Winners for 2017: 

    Here are some winners that came before: 

    From the 2016 CLUE Awards:

     

    From the 2015 CLUE Awards:

    • Blended Genre: Timothy S. Johnston – The Tanner Sequence: The Furnace, The Freezer, The Void
    • Espionage/Spy: Michele Daniel – The Red Circle

    We also had Cybertech Thrillers and Political Thrillers such as John Trudel’s Raven’s Resurrection and the Raven’s Series.

    Here’s your assignment, if you choose to accept it…

     

    Submit your Thrillers in the following categories by November 30, 2019, for a chance to bring home a First in Category WIN the 2019 CIBAs in Global Thrillers – or a Grand Prize – or maybe even the Overall Grand Prize! 

    • Historic
    • LabLit
    • Science Fiction
    • Dramatic
    • Action/Adventure
    • CyberTech

    If you never enter, you’ll never know!  

    Follow this link and enter today! 

    Tick Tock…

    (For light-hearted, cozy, or classic Mystery and Suspense entries see our Mystery & Mayhem Awards and for Thriller/Suspense/Hardboiled-Detective series, please see the CLUE Awards)

    Don’t delay! Enter today!

     

     

  • OCTOBER is PARANORMAL TIME for ALL things that go BUMP in the night!

    OCTOBER is PARANORMAL TIME for ALL things that go BUMP in the night!

    October is for OZMA, but of course, it also stands for Ooooooo-Oooooo!

    Ghosts and goblins and haunted places. Oh, my!

    Welcome to the PARANORMAL Book Awards!

    We’re ready. Are you?

    Paranormal Fiction Awards

    Every year during the month of October, we carve faces into our pumpkins, turning them into Jack O’Lanterns and set them burning on our porches to light the way for trick or treaters. We decorate our homes in spider webs and skeletons and all sorts of creepy crawlies. Now is the time of year we binge on all things haunted, possessed, inexplicable, unseen.

    Why?

    Because we are thrilled by the experience of riding high on candied apples and candy corn and relish being frightened – just a little – especially when we know the thing we’re frightened of is just a story, some tale we tell over and over at this time of year. Because this is the season when it’s perfectly acceptable to scream.

    Last year, Joy Ross Davis won the Grand Prize for her manuscript, The Mad Woman of Preacher’s Cove!  The story was just that good. We are waiting for the release!

    Joy Ross Davis!

    Send us your stories of dark places, alien abductions, magic and magical beings, the supernatural, vampires & werewolves, angels & demons, fairies & mythological beings, weird otherworldly tales… and gothic horror stories. We will put them to the test and discover the best among them for the 2019 Paranormal Book Awards, a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards – the CIBAs.

    The deadline for the Paranormal Awards is October 31, 2019.

    Don’t be frightened – enter here.

     

    Travel with us through the Paranormal Book Awards Hall of Fame…

    The 2018 PARANORMAL Book Awards Grad Prize for Supernatural Fiction is awarded to: 

    Joy Ross Davis for her manuscript, The Madwoman of Preacher’s Cove.

    “Joy Ross Davis is more than an eloquent storyteller!  A college professor, mother, daughter of Irish descent whose family settled in the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee, Joy loves all things Irish, including the Green Isle itself.  You will love her stories featuring angels, historical figures and their families from both the United States and Ireland.  Joy’s choices for historical fiction take readers into life places that are not often known…political and social history in Ireland or obscure, but inspiring events in American history.”

    She was awarded the Paranormal Grand Prize award at the CIBA ceremony by nonother than J.D. Barker himself—the master of suspense.

    Joy Ross Davis, Paranormal Grand Prize Book Award Winner

    The First in Category Winners are: 

    • Path of the Half Moon by Vince Bailey
    • Anthesteria by K.A. Banks
    • Suburban Vampire Ragnarok by Franklin Posner
    • Storm Island: A Kate Pomeroy Mystery by Linda Watkins
    • Peaches and Lace by Joy Ross Davis
    • The Balance and the Blade by Olivia Bernard    
    • The Sea Archer – Jeny Heckman

    The 2017 PARANORMAL Book Awards Grand Prize for Supernatural Fiction is awarded to:

    Van Ops – The Lost Power is a story in which “Alexander the Great’s obscure Egyptian weapon has been lost for eons. Can Maddy Marshall and covert agent Bear Thorenson find the ancient weapon in time to stop fragile post-Cold War peace from being forever shattered?”

    Avanti Centrae is the author of the international award-winning VanOps thriller series. Her work has been compared to that of James Rollins, Steve Berry, Dan Brown, and Preston/Child’s Pendergast series.

     

     

     

    2017 Paranormal Book Awards First Place Winners for Supernatural Fiction Novels are:

    • Willow’s Discovery by Joanne Jaytanie
    • Virtuous Souls by Pamela LePage
    • Rea by Lydia Staggs
    • A Pocketful of Lodestones, Time Traveler Professor Book 2 by Elizabeth Crowens
    • Dark Water by Chynna Laird

    The 2016 PARANORMAL Book Awards Grand Prize:

    Almost Mortal “Blending the high-octane thrust of a contemporary legal thriller with the magical realism of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, “Almost Mortal” cleaves a new, inventive niche in the legal thriller genre. This fast-paced legal thriller will leave the reader hungering for more. A terrific read!”

    Christopher Leibig is a novelist and a criminal defense attorney. He thinks about Fiction like this…”Fiction, while by its definition invented, need not tell that lie. In fiction, the devil is everywhere. And everyone has their story.”

     

     

     

    2016 Paranormal Book Awards First Place Winners for Supernatural Fiction Novels are:

     

    The 2015 PARANORMAL Book Awards Grand Prize:

    The Aurora Affair (retitled as Mobius) “… is a story about a skeptical heroine who discovers that her love affairs
    are the key to harnessing her own power to influence the world—for better if she does it right, or for worse if she fails.”

    Carolyn Haley “… is a freelance writer and editor who lives in rural Vermont. I write a mix of commercial copy, articles for regional and national publications, and edits diverse projects in fiction and nonfiction.” She writes award-winning novels in her spare time.

     

     

    2015 Paranormal Book Awards First Place Winners for Supernatural Fiction Novels are:

     

    The 2014 PARANORMAL Book Awards Grand Prize:

     An Ex to Grind in Deadwood is a wickedly funny paranormal mystery romance series that takes place in its namesake city in South Dakota.

     

    Ann Charles, USA Bestselling Author

    Ann Charles “…lives in the beautiful Northern Arizona mountains with her clever husband, charming kids, and an incredibly sassy cat. After many years and several colleges, she managed to obtain her Bachelor’s Degree in English with an emphasis on creative writing from the University of Washington.”

    2014 Paranormal Book Awards First Place Winners for Supernatural Fiction Novels are:

     

    The 2013 PARANORMAL Book Awards Grand Prize:

    The Watcher is a story where “…ancient history is only the beginning.”

     

     

    Lisa Voisin “… spent her childhood daydreaming and making up stories, but it was my love of reading and writing in her teens that drew her to Young Adult fiction.” 

     

     

     

    2013 Paranormal Book Awards First Place Winners for Supernatural Fiction Novels are:

    • Spirit Legacy by E.E. Holmes
    • Poe, Nevermore by Rachel M. Martens
    • The Immortal American by L. B. Joramo
    • The Dream Jumper’s Promise by Kim Hornsby
    • Montana Mustangs by Danica Winters
    • The Third Option by Ben A. Sharpton
    • Witch’s Malice by David Hutchison
    • Dancing on the Dark Side by Mairin Fisher-Fleming

     

    2012 1st Place Winner in the Paranormal Awards,

    Sacred Fires is a well written and crafted romantic paranormal novel with elements of intrigue and suspense along with a story set in a lush locale with mystic Aztec undercurrents. Greenfeder has succeeded in writing a fast-paced romantic suspense novel that is refreshingly different.

     

    Catherine Greenfeder “… continues to pursue her dream of getting her work published. To date, she has had five novels including a western historical, two adult paranormal novels, and two young adult paranormal novels published. She anticipates a few short stories and another young adult novel published in the near future.”

    Who will win the PARANORMAL Book Awards Blue Ribbons for 2019?

    Submit your works today!

    The last day for submissions into the 2019 Paranormal Book Awards is August 31, 2019.

    Click here for more information and submission form! 

    Don’t Delay! Enter Today! 

  • OCTOBER is for OZMA Book Awards and a Spotlight on ALL THINGS FANTASY – Fantasy Fiction Hall of Fame

    OCTOBER is for OZMA Book Awards and a Spotlight on ALL THINGS FANTASY – Fantasy Fiction Hall of Fame

    Join the Magic!

     

    Elana Mugdan and her dragon.
    Elana Mugdan and her dragon.

    Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for 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, Dieselpunk, Gaslight Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, or other out of this world fiction, we will put them to the test and choose the best among them and award them an OZMA Book Award! 

    Last year, Elana Mugdan, our Grand Prize winner, earned her title for Dragon Speaker, a story about a young girl who is charged with rescuing a dragon and, ultimately, saves her world in this wide-reaching fantasy conception of love, war, danger, and magic. Massive amounts of magic!

    Elana has plenty of Magic going on these days, but how about you? Do you have what it takes to be the next OZMA Grand Prize winner? If you don’t enter, you’ll never know!

    The last day to submit your work is October 31, 2019. We invite you to join us, to tell us your stories, and to find out who will take home the prize at CAC20 on April 18th, 2020.

     

    As our deadline draws near, don’t slip into an alternate reality and forget to enter your fantasy novel! We accept completed manuscripts and published works.

    Enter today!

    Ozma Awards for Fantasy Fiction

     

    We encourage everyone to attend our Awards Ceremony on April 18, 2019,  that will take place during the 2020 Chanticleer Authors Conference. First Place category winners will be whisked up on stage to receive their custom ribbon and wait to see who among them will take home the Grand Prize. It’s an exciting evening of dinner, networking, and celebrations!

    First Place category winners and Grand Prize winners will each receive a stunning awards package well worth the price of entry into the OZMA Awards competition!

     

     

    2018 Chanticleer Int’l Book Award Winners!

     

    The OZMA Book Awards for Fantasy Fiction

    Hall of Fame

    The 2018 OZMA Book Awards GRAND PRIZE WINNER for Fantasy Fiction Novels:

    Dragon Speaker by Elana A. Mugdan

    Elana took home the OZMA Grand Prize Ribbon

     

     

    Congratulations to the 2018 OZMA Book Awards for Fantasy Fiction Novels First in Category Winners!

    • Virtuous Souls by Pamela LePage
    • RAGNAROK: Demon Seed by Ea Bishop
    • Money Jane by T.K. Riggins
    • Heart Of Shadra by Susan Faw
    • Into the North: A Keltin Moore Adventure by Lindsay Schopfer
    • Antler Jinny and the Raven by Chris Dews
    • Luminess Legends: Dragon Ascendants by Paul E. Vaughn

     

    2017 OZMA Grand Prize Winner

    How to Set the  World on Fire by T.K. Riggins is a coming-of-age School of Magic novel that readers will find hard to put down.

     

     

    2017 First Place Winners include: 

    • Eva’s Soul by Sarah M. Morin
    • Daughter of Aithne by Karin Rita Gastreich
    • In Her World: The Dark-Winter War by John W. Lord
    • The One Apart: A Novel by Justine Avery
    • Runebinder by Alex R. Kahler
    • The Engine Woman’s Light by Laurel Anne Hill
    • The Bookminder by M. K. Wiseman   

    2016 OZMA Grand Prize Winner:

     

    Mythborn II Bane of the Warforged by Vijay Lakshman 

    Where myths and legends are brought to life!

     

    2016 First Place Winners:

    Our 2019 Chanticleer International Book Awards feature more than $30,000.00 worth of cash and prizes each year! 

    • All First in 2019 Category Winners receive a coveted Chanticleer Book Review Package (value $425) and go on to compete for the Ozma Grand Prize
    • The Ozma Grand Prize Winner is named Chanticleer Reviews Best Fantasy Fiction Book of the Year and goes on to compete for the Chanticleer Overall Grand Prize Best Book of the Year
    • The Overall Grand Prize Winner is named Chanticleer Reviews Best Book of the Year and awarded the $1000 prize
    • All winners receive a Chanticleer Prize Package which includes a digital badge, a ribbon and a whole assortment of goodies detailed below (winners outside the US pay a shipping & handling fee)

    That’s more than $30,000.00 worth of cash and prizes! The Fine Print.

    ~$1000 for one lucky Overall Grand Prize Winner
    ~$30,000+ in reviews, prizes, and promotional opportunities awarded to Category Winners

    Currently accepting entries. Deadline: Oct. 31st, 2019.

    What are you waiting for? Enter today!

  • CLUE AWARDS – Police Procedurals, Hard-Boiled Detectives, Thriller/Suspense/Mystery – in the SPOTLIGHT – CIBAS

    CLUE AWARDS – Police Procedurals, Hard-Boiled Detectives, Thriller/Suspense/Mystery – in the SPOTLIGHT – CIBAS

    So, how do you get a clue? 

    A hard-boiled detective pulls his overcoat a little closer, leans against the northern wall at Village Books in downtown Bellingham. Washington. The state.

    It’s late. It’s raining. It’s a typical Autumn night in the Pacific Northwest. So, what makes this night different than any other night?

    Glad you asked.

    Our gumshoe is hot on the trail of those killer stories that make you turn the page. You know the kind, police procedurals, good-man-gone-wrong tales, the who-dun-its and the why-didn’t-I-see-that-coming books that leave you breathless, reaching for the Alka-Seltzer or the next book in the series.

    Our gumshoe is nervous, see? He knows there’s more to discover out there, winners, maybe, that are just waiting to be discovered. That’s why he’s standing there, waiting. Oh, just a second… he’s gone now… Guess he got tired of waiting in the rain.

    But he left a message…

    “Get your manuscripts and novels ready, because the deadline to the 2019 CLUE Awards is coming before you know it. Submit your books and manuscripts to the best book awards on the planet by September 30, 2019, if you know what’s good for you.” 

    That was short and sweet. What are you waiting for?

    Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the very best books dealing with Detectives, P.I.s, Noir – stories that build suspense
    and pay off in spades. 

    The deadline for the 2019 CIBA CLUE Awards is September 30, 2019.

    Submit your work today right here.

     

    We thought you might enjoy some of our past winners…

    2018 CIBA Grand Prize Winner in CLUE – Timothy Burgess for California Son

    2018 1st Place Category Winners:  (Book reviews are slated for the ones without links). 

    • The Only One Left by Pamela Beason
    • Facing The Dragon by Philip Derrick
    • Forgotten Rage by Melodie Hernandez
    • Do Not Ask by Elaine Williams Crockett
    • Scare Away the Dark: A Stone Suspense by Karen Dodd
    • The Blind Pool by Paul McHugh
    • Hong Kong Central by Marilynn Larew

    2017 CIBA Grand Prize Winner in CLUE – Kaylin McFarren for Twisted Threads

    2017 1st Place Category Winners: (Book reviews are slated for the ones without links). 

    2016 CIBA Grand Prize Winner in CLUE – Keith Tittle for A Matter of Justice

    2016 1st Place Category Winners:

    2015 CIBA Grand Prize Winner in CLUE – Lonna Enox for Blood Relations

    Blood Relations by Lonna Enox

    2015 1st Place Category Winners:

    2014 CIBA Grand Prize Winner in CLUE – Rachel B. Ledge for The Red Ribbon

    The Red Ribbon by Rachel B. Ledge

    2014 1st Place Category Winners:

    Who is going to take home the Grand Prize for the 2019 CLUE Awards? It could be you! 

     

    The deadline is fast approaching!

    Submit your work today right here.

  • ALMOST MORTAL by Christopher Leibig — a high octane legal thriller

    ALMOST MORTAL by Christopher Leibig — a high octane legal thriller

    The physical and metaphysical collide in this award-winning legal thriller that promises to leave the reader hungering for more.

    Part saint, part sinner, Deputy Public Defender Sam Young has an uncanny ability to work the legal system to his best advantage. With a super-human ability to ride the thought waves of others, Sam plays his hand like a mesmerist, planting ideas like seeds in people’s minds, “massaging” their thoughts to suit his needs. But underneath his self-serving agenda is an almost naïve desire to do good – a desire that compels him to take on private cases outside of his overloaded court schedule, not to mention outside of the law.

    Sam’s mastery of the gray areas of the law hits a wall when drop-dead gorgeous Camille Paradisi, a nun from Sam’s former Parish, dumps the proverbial Catch-22 problem in his lap. The Rosslyn Ripper, a serial killer stalking their streets, is confessing. The catch? He’s using the protection of the confessional to unburden his soul.

    With the clock against him Sam must find a way to break through the protective barrier Camille has built around her priest and access the information needed to reveal the killer. The only clue she’s willing to relinquish is a time-worn journal left at the church. Whether its contents reflect the grandiose ramblings of a delusional mind or of the killer himself remains to be seen. But one thing is certain. The DNA recovered from its pages present improbable if not impossible results, propelling Sam into world where the physical and metaphysical collide.

    Attorney Sam Young is clearly a protagonist for the new millennium. Cynical, self-destructive and heroic to a fault, Sam Young is a modern-day standard bearer for the underserved segment of society. But no one in this extraordinary cast of characters is who they appear to be: leaving Sam to juggle conflicting agendas, hidden truths and a reality so mind-bending that it defies everything he believes.

    With equal doses of insight and imagination, author Christopher Leibig draws on his experience as a defense attorney to provide a keen sensory awareness of the hectic and often desperate inner workings of an ego-driven legal system.

    Blending the high-octane thrust of a contemporary legal thriller with the magical realism of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, “Almost Mortal” cleaves a new, inventive niche in the legal thriller genre. This fast-paced legal thriller will leave the reader hungering for more. A terrific read!