Chanticleer Book Reviews

Author: crystal-king

  • June SPOTLIGHT on CHAUCER AWARDS – Early Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Romantic Fiction, Crusades, Medieval

    June SPOTLIGHT on CHAUCER AWARDS – Early Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Romantic Fiction, Crusades, Medieval

    Pre 1750 Historical Fiction Award

    Do you have an early historical fiction manuscript or recently released novel? Submit your work to the CIBA 2019 CHAUCER Awards by
    June 30, 2020, and see how your work stacks up against others. 

     

    We know you want to – because we never tire of promoting our authors’ achievements!

    As in Chaucer’s words in the Nun’s Priest Tale of the Canterbury Tales,

    “For crowing there was not his equal in all the land.”

     

    Click here to find out more. 

    We titled the Chanticleer International Book Awards (CIBAs) division for Pre-1750s Historical Fiction the Chaucer Awards, after the English poet and author of the Canterbury Tales, because #CHAUCER.

    But seriously, did you know that The Canterbury Tales is considered one of the greatest works in the English language? In fact, it was among the first non-secular books written in Middle English to be printed. So, yeah, #Chaucer

    A woodcut from William Caxton’s second edition 0f the Canterbury Tales printed in 1483

    Some interesting tidbits about Geoffrey Chaucer

            • born c. 1342/43 probably in London. He died on October 25, 1400
            • his father was an important London vintner
            • His family’s finances were derived from wine and leather
            • Chaucer spoke Middle English and was fluent in French, Latin, and Italian
            • He guided diplomatic missions across the continent of Europe for ten years where he discovered the works of Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio whose The Decameron had a profound influence on Chaucer’s later works
            • He married well as his wife received an annuity from the queen consort of Edward III
            • His remains are interred in the Westminster Abbey

     

     As our deadline draws near, don’t miss this opportunity to earn the distinction your historical fiction deserves!  Enter today!

    Welcome to the CHAUCER BOOK AWARDS HALL OF FAME

    Click on the links below to read the Chanticleer Review of the award-winning work!

    Pre 1750 Historical Fiction Award

     

    The 2018 Chaucer Book Awards Grand Prize Winner:

    The SERPENT and The EAGLE  by Edward Rickford 

     

     

    2018 Chaucer Book Awards for Pre-1750s Historical Fiction First in Category Winners:

     

     

     

     

     

    The 2017 Chaucer Book Awards Grand Prize:

    The Traitor’s Noose: Lions and Lilies Book 4 by Catherine A. Wilson and Catherine T. Wilson

    2017 Chaucer Book Awards for Pre-1750s Historical Fiction First in Category Winners:

     

     

     

     

     

     

    The 2016 Chaucer Book Awards Grand Prize Winner:

    (Chaucer Book Awards was the Historical Fiction division until we divided it for the 2016 CIBAs into two divisions because of the number of entries:

    Goethe Book Awards for post-1750s Historical Fiction and Chaucer Book Awards for pre-1750s Historical Fiction).

    The Towers of Tuscany by Carol M. Cram

     

    2016 Chaucer Book Awards for Pre-1750s Historical Fiction First in Category Winners:

             

             

             

             

             

             

            The 2015 Chaucer Book Awards Grand Prize Winner:

            (Chaucer Book Awards was the Historical Fiction division until we divided it into two divisions for the 2016 CIBAs because of the number of entries:

            Goethe Book Awards for post-1750s Historical Fiction and Chaucer Book Awards for pre-1750s Historical Fiction).

            Valhalla Revealed by Robert A. Wright

            Valhalla Revealed by Robert A Wright

             

            2015 Chaucer Book Awards for Pre-1750s Historical Fiction First in Category Winners:

             

             

             

             

             

            The 2014 Chaucer Book Awards Grand Prize:

            (Chaucer Book Awards was the Historical Fiction division until we divided it into two divisions because of the number of entries:

            Goethe Book Awards for post-1750s Historical Fiction and Chaucer Book Awards for pre-1750s Historical Fiction).

            The Love of Finished Years  by Gregory Erich Phillips

            2014 Chaucer Book Awards for Pre-1750s Historical Fiction First in Category Winners

             

            The 2013 Chaucer Book Awards Grand Prize Winner:

            Propositum - Front Cover 2

            Propositum by Sean Curley

            2013 Chaucer Book Awards for Pre-1750s Historical Fiction First in Category Winners:

            • Adventure/Young Adult:  I, Walter by Mike Hartner
            • N.A. Western:  Crossing Purgatory by Gary Schanbacher
            • World War II (European):  Deal with the Devil by J. Gunner Grey
            • Adventure/Romance/YA: “Lady Blade” by C.J. Thrush
            • Nordic History:  The Jøssing Affair by J.L.Oakley
            • Regency:  Traitor’s Gate by David Chacko & Alexander Kulcsar
            • Women’s Fiction/WWII: Wait for Me  by Janet K. Shawgo
            • Medieval/Dark Ages: Divine Vengeance by David Koons
            • Women’s Fiction/World History: Daughters of India by Kavita Jade

            What are you waiting for? Before long the CHAUCER Book Award deadline will be history.

            Submit your manuscript or recently released Historical Fiction (pre-1750s) to the Chanticleer International Book Awards!

            Want to be a winner next year? The deadline to submit your book for the Chaucer awards is June 30, 2020. Enter here!

            Grand Prize and First Place Winners for 2019 will be announced on September 5, 2020.

            Any entries received on or after June 30, 2020, will be entered into the 2021 Chaucer Book Awards. The Grand Prize and First Place for 2020 CIBA winners will be held on April 17, 2021.

             As our deadline draws near, don’t miss this opportunity to earn the distinction your historical fiction deserves!  Enter today!

            The CHAUCER Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards – the CIBAs.

            The 2020 winners will be announced at the CIBA  Awards Ceremony on September 5, 2020, which will take place during the 2020 Chanticleer Authors Conference. All Semi-Finalists and First Place category winners will be recognized, the first-place 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! 

            Don’t delay! Enter today! 

          • FEAST of SORROW by Crystal King – Ancient Rome, Biographical, Family Saga

            FEAST of SORROW by Crystal King – Ancient Rome, Biographical, Family Saga

             

            In the twenty-sixth year of Augustus Caesar’s reign, Marcus Gavius Apicius purchased nineteen-year-old Thrasius for twenty thousand denarii, enough money to buy more than sixty normal slaves, but Thrasius is more than the typical slave. Born to a slave woman who died in childbirth and whose name he never knew, Thrasius has trained for seven years as a cook in the kitchens of Flavius Maximus, a man known for his unforgettable dinners, and Apicius hopes the young coquus will lead him to the ultimate culinary fame, gastronomic advisor to Caesar himself.

            Grateful to be saved from the cruelty of the slave trader, Thrasius throws himself headlong into the new role and proves tremendously successful, but an ominous prophecy given to Apicius on the day he purchased Thrasius looms over every achievement. As Apicius climbs higher and higher in the Roman political world, Thrasius becomes an ever-growing asset eventually becoming more advisor than cook and feels the pressure of helping Apicius accomplish his fame at any cost, even his family and friends. His chase for fame becomes both consuming and destructive. Though Apicius refuses to see the price of his obsession, Thrasius knows a reckoning is coming and prays the gods can save him from the man who controls his life.

            This masterful thirty-year tale rejuvenates life in ancient Rome, a place where favors become life-changing, where people are bought and sold, and where death could reside in a glass of wine or in a snake-filled box. The complex, rich storyline, entwines real Romans with endearing fictional characters. Readers will recognize historical figures like Pliny and Ovid, who burst to life on the pages of this novel. Though perhaps not as well-known as some of the other characters, Marcus Gavius Apicius, an overly ambitious man who bankrupted his vast fortunes with his sumptuous cenas and expensive gifts, is credited with the first cookbook and a cooking school. Readers will see the rise and fall of this man who desired fame over everything. His single-minded ambition is contrasted with Thrasius, his fictional foil in many respects. Where Apicius wants his recipes in every Roman kitchen and his name spoken in jealous whispers, Thrasius seeks only to create good food and safe life for his love, Passia.

            Fate plays a major role in the lives of the characters and poses important philosophical questions throughout the novel. From the opening pages, the importance Romans placed on omens, fortunes, and premonitions is evident. Apicius, a man who refuses to acknowledge the undesirable part of his sinister fortune, often with acts with dire consequences, begging the question is fate fixed, or do men create their own? In taking charge of his destiny, does he, in essence, destroy himself?

            Even when he is told that he will have “as much sadness as there is success,” he continues to connive and conspire until he loses everything. He finally gains his coveted position but at the expense of a man’s life and a debt which will take everyone he loves.

            In his blindness to everything but fame, he turns this prophecy into truth, bringing about the “greater failures [clustered] to the sides” of each success. Even the wholesome Thrasius isn’t immune to the question of fate versus free will when he curses Sejanus, a cruel, unscrupulous man. Though his curse takes twenty-five years to come to fruition, Thrasius wonders how much blood is on his hands when the culmination of the curse also results in the death of people Thrasius loves. Has he doomed himself by fiddling with fate? In taking fate into their own hands, both Apicius and Thrasius pay enormous costs.

            Obscene wealth and devastating poverty. The height of fame and the desolation of obscurity. On the backs of many, one man builds his legacy while another prays for freedom. Feast of Sorrow creates a world where curses are feared, blessings hinge on blood sacrifice, and history becomes real.

            Feast of Sorrow by Crystal King won 1st Place in the CIBA 2017 Chaucer Awards for Early Historical Fiction.