Chanticleer Book Reviews

Author: john-trudel

  • 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! 

  • PRIVACY WARS by John D. Trudel – a cyber-tech thriller

    PRIVACY WARS by John D. Trudel – a cyber-tech thriller

    “You have zero privacy anyway. Get over it.”  Scott McNealy, CEO, Sun Microsystems, January 1999

    Thrust into a conference room with trigger-happy guards, Privacy Wars opens with negotiations taking place between a software company and one of its clients. The tension is high as this particular client demands special concessions for its privacy software that Cybertech refuses to offer. Fans of Trudel’s work will recognize Cybertech and John Giles from his book Soft Target.

    Set in the not-so-distant future, through a series of “astronomical deficits and a dark period of crony capitalism, corruption, socialism, and frequent national embarrassments,” America has lost its strength as a world power, and Asia has taken its place. Desperate for a solution, the U.S. president enters into secret agreements with Japan for a loan, deals which suggest treasonous behavior and abuses of authority. The biggest casualty will be Cybertech, whose software creates problems for those who think no information should be private.

    Cybertech realizes that it is being targeted through a series of bogus lawsuits and violation claims, crippling its ability to function. When “Iron John,” Giles’ son, Will, now CEO of Cybertech, realizes the attacks might be personal, he goes into hiding and heads for the hills, leaving everything behind, with minimal resources for surviving in the woods. Will is confronted by a mysterious woman who gives him instructions to ensure his survival, and he has little choice but to trust her.

    The attacks on Cybertech escalate from bureaucratic tyranny to an all-out physical war. An organization called the Peace Enforcers, which operates as though they are above any law, conducts acts of war on US soil with no provocation. In conjunction with a martial-arts trained killer named Tanaka, who enjoys torturing and killing, Cybertech staff find themselves at the Peace Enforcer’s mercy, and Will, who has no defensive training, insists on returning to the corporate offices to try to help his staff.

    The consequences of this action are a major turning point in the story: our hero finds himself assisted by ancient technologies of advanced civilizations, the Viracocha, who go back to the building of the pyramids. Fortunately for us, Trudel includes well-researched explanations into the theories after the end of the story: what might appear to be fantasy and science fiction may have some real-world credence.

    The dogged romantic pursuit of Will by his protector, Becky, who is described in favorable dimensions, complete with advanced degrees and connections in high places, adds a sense of intimacy to the story. Trudel has a mastery of using media’s humorous mis-reportings (as he puts them) that  create unintentional heroes. Each section of the book starts with a real attributed quote pertaining to the story line, some going back to ancient times, and others that are there for Trudel to remind the reader of America’s constitutional roots.

    Privacy Wars by John D. Trudel, explores and confronts the issues that are involved with absolute privacy in software, corporations and government from several perspectives with the need to balance personal privacy and corporate privacy with the need for national defense. Trudel is known for his catch phrase “Thrillers are fiction…until it happens.” And he knows how to write a thriller!

  • GOD’S HOUSE by John Trudel, an international thriller

    GOD’S HOUSE by John Trudel, an international thriller

    Jack Donner can’t get a break. He blames himself for the deaths of those he was close to, and even one he was hired to protect. While bringing the body home from the Middle East, he gets detained in the United States by low level agents over a missing stamp in his passport. Worse yet, he has to use his real identity this time. While his CIA connections eventually get him out of hot water, his troubles are only beginning.

    The body Jack brings home belongs to a man who had the technology that could change the world’s power balance forever. A system that produces efficient, clean energy, but could also be used as a weapon of mass destruction. The company behind it, Enertech, was attacked in Lagos where it lost most of its staff.

    A young, attractive widow, Anne, is left with the assets, but she wasn’t involved with operations. She has no idea what her husband was working on. Jack planned on retiring, but is talked into staying on as a private citizen commissioned to recover Enertech’s technology along with trying to keep Anne safe during the process.

    Anne and her late husband, Bob, were members and supporters of a local mega-church called The Sanctuary, run by a charismatic woman, Liz, with ties to nefarious foreigners. Liz speaks at the United Nations, visits the Dalai Lama frequently, and spreads the gospel of wealth, non-violence, and world peace.

    Anne turns to Liz and a few close friends for emotional support during this difficult time. She also turns over everything she knows about the company to Jack. This leaves him with a lot of data and few answers, and puts him under the scrutiny of watchful eyes at The Sanctuary.

    Things are not right around Anne’s empty estate. Jack needs help to keep her and himself safe, but there are never quite enough resources at his employer’s disposal to do so. While trained in firearms, he’s not a huge fan of them. He’s more of a technologist than a soldier.

    Enertech faces bankruptcy. The pressure to sell to a foreign investor is on, starting a race against time. Problem is, Jack can’t find the answers needed to unlock the key to the technology. One clue keeps him going: a message from Bob to his late wife that is hidden in some kind of cipher, tucked away in the pages of a cheesy novel.

    Anne and Jack start developing their own story, though Jack has reservations about getting romantically involved. Everyone he cares about ends up dead. He’s seen too much bloodshed to risk another loss. He about earns a frequent-user pass to the ER trying to protect Anne, and now he has to keep both her and her only close relative out of danger in Brazil.

    Will Jack be able to come through for Anne and Enertech? The stakes are high in both cases.

    Those Anne trusts raise doubts about Jack. He has doubts about himself, recalling many episodes revealing the horrors of non-staged, real life gunfire and bloodshed, losing friends in wartime.

    One of the character’s German accent reads so spot-on you almost hear it. Those who follow events in the Middle East will resonate with John’s novels. His novels seem more fact than fiction; they lend credence to Trudel’s tagline: “Thrillers are fiction until it happens.”

     This fast-paced thriller will have you turning pages quickly to piece together puzzles with surprising twists. You would never know that John Trudel’s God’s House is his debut novel. It reads like it was written by a seasoned author.

     

  • SOFT TARGET by John Trudel

    SOFT TARGET by John Trudel

    In this action-packed, rocket-paced, pistol-smart thriller, Soft Target is a harrowing journey involving high level U.S. government and military officials, the NSA, CIA, and FBI, Islamic terrorists, SEALS, NGOs and unexpected allies. Set aside any notions of how conspiracy theories begin: you’ll have a few of your own after reading Trudel’s heart-pumping tale of bio-weaponry, kidnapping, espionage and treason.

    We are first introduced to Mike, a Marine General who suffered great personal losses but an overall victory in Yemen years earlier. The incursion left him in a wheelchair for a time, but he remained useful to the administration. The story is set in an era of a more conservative government.

    President Hale suspects a leak from within his own congress–maybe from someone frequenting the ‘bubble’ for private exchanges. He assigns Mike the task of finding the source of the leak, which is putting an NSA project of high importance at risk. Mike is also tasked to protect the project’s manager, Gerry Patton. Both she and the project, headed by her father, have suffered under governmental bureaus that would just as soon see it, and her, disappear.

    Mike is escorting Gerry from her home when the real action begins, suddenly and shockingly. Although no war is declared, a war is on: it is one that can only be won via intelligence and communication. Not that tanks, fighter planes, helicopters, and guns (some of which are described in detail) don’t play a prominent role in Trudel’s  thriller.

    The Pacific Northwest sets the scene for a carefully planned infiltration of jihadists, picking on Oregon for its lax security and, what some consider, screwball laws protecting minorities from criminal investigation. Gerry’s father is in danger, and little can be done about it. Loopholes and “catch-22s” keep hands tied and responsibilities shifted until hard evidence can allow any action against the suspects.

    Soft Target does not hold back when it comes to exposing bureaucratic nonsense, mountains of red tape and petty frustrations that slow progress in a time-sensitive situation, but are also not limited to the US. No one really trusts each other when they first meet, especially when they are representing different branches of government. Bonds made long ago are still strong, and respect does develop between teams forced to work together. It’s safer not to trust anyone or share any information not absolutely necessary. Gerry and Mike test each other time and again, breaking down solid ramparts in order to work as a team. Even the reader is left out of some intel—sometimes we are in the bubble with the President, and sometimes we are waiting in the wings. But, Mr. Trudel does not leave us in the lurch forever.

    The story is driven mostly by dialogue, some of which delves deep into ancient history, exploring the first uses of intentional bio-weaponry, and thoughts about what really wins wars. The reader needs to pay close attention to detail to follow along in some of the more intense situations, as these details can be easily overshadowed by the whiz-bang actions of a high-consequence military action unfolding in present time.

    The relationships developed in the story are believable, the key players changing both for better and for worse. I grew to appreciate the “short, ugly woman” [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][sic] with the abrasive personality and hard-as-nails façade. I was rooting for Mike to be the superhero: kill all the bad guys and run off into the sunset with Gerry, but this is not a predictable story with a predictable ending.

    Soft Target will challenge your beliefs as to what you hear in the news, how events are spun, how perceptions are managed, and even what is moral and ethical when it comes to protecting and defending our country—no matter where on the political spectrum you find yourself.

    Trudel’s Soft Target is a captivating and entertaining cyber-thriller that takes place in a future U.S.A.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]