Chanticleer Book Reviews

Author: mark-a-gibson

The 2025 Somerset Spotlight for Literary & Contemporary Fiction
Celebrating Literary Excellence

The Somerset Awards are looking for the best in Contemporary Novels

Literary and contemporary fiction has the power to illuminate the depths of human experience, transforming personal stories into universal truths that resonate across cultures and generations. The finest works in this genre challenge, inspire, and offer profound insights into what it means to be human. The Somerset Awards for Literary and Contemporary Fiction celebrate these exceptional voices, recognizing authors who craft narratives that bridge the personal and political, the intimate and the historical, creating literature that both reflects our world and shapes our understanding of it.

Celebrating Our Overall Grand Prize Winner!

We’re thrilled to celebrate our 2024 Somerset Division Grand Prize Winner, Reenita Malhotra Hora for her powerful novel Vermilion Harvest: Playtime at the Bagh. But this recognition reaches even higher as Hora’s remarkable work also claimed our Overall Grand Prize, earning her the prestigious $1000 cash prize in addition to a Chanticleer Editorial Review and Author Interview. This extraordinary honor reflects the exceptional quality of her storytelling and the universal resonance of her narrative.

Set against the politically charged backdrop of 1919 Amritsar, India, Vermilion Harvest weaves a compelling love story between Aruna, an Anglo-Indian Hindi schoolteacher, and Ayaz, a passionate Muslim law student whose political activism threatens their forbidden romance. As military tensions escalate toward the tragic Jallianwala Bagh massacre of April 13th, 1919, Aruna must navigate not only the complexities of cross-cultural love but also the desperate urgency of warning her beloved about Colonel Dyer’s impending attack.

What makes Hora’s work exceptional is her ability to serve as a cultural bridge, capturing the nuanced position of her protagonist who exists between Indian and Anglo communities while maintaining hope even as circumstances darken. Our judges praised the author’s professional skill and eloquent narrative voice, noting how she masterfully balances historical depth with intimate romance. The novel succeeds in making unfamiliar historical events accessible while preserving their emotional weight, creating what one judge described as “a believable and compelling story” that wraps “love, hate, denial, and betrayal inside a single love story capturing today’s hope with yesterday’s despair.”

See our Review of Vermilion Harvest Here

The Somerset Awards honor the full spectrum of literary and contemporary fiction, celebrating works that push boundaries and explore the human condition:
- Contemporary Themes features stories that grapple with modern life’s complexities, from urban alienation to digital-age relationships, capturing the zeitgeist of our current moment.
- Literary showcases works distinguished by exceptional prose, complex character development, and thematic depth that elevate fiction to art.
- Women’s Fiction & Family Themes explores the intricate dynamics of family relationships, women’s experiences, and generational stories that resonate across demographics.
- Social/Psychological Themes delves into the human psyche and societal issues, examining how external forces shape internal landscapes and vice versa.
- Magic Realism blends fantastical elements with realistic narratives, creating stories where the extraordinary illuminates everyday truths. Think Gabriel García Márquez or Isabel Allende.
- Adventure/Suspense and Action/Adventure prove that literary fiction can be thrilling, combining sophisticated storytelling with pulse-pounding plots.
- Connections celebrates stories about human relationships, community bonds, and the threads that tie us together across differences and distances.
Roses in December
By Mark A. Gibson

A Series First Place Winner!

Roses in December is the epic conclusion to Mark A. Gibson’s compelling two-part family saga, Hamilton Place. Now focusing on the family’s next generation, James Hamilton Jr.—Jimmy—follows in the footsteps of the father he never met, a Vietnam War hero who died in battle, and ultimately finds his own path in life.

Pressured by a conning mother-in-law only out for monetary gain, the elder Jimmy’s widow, Becca, is pushed to marry Mack Lee, her deceased husband’s older brother who proves to be a cheating and abusive husband. Trapped in this loveless marriage, Becca hopes that attending church will remove her son from the toxic influence of her new husband and set him on the right path to a good life. But it’s the discovery of young Jimmy’s superior photographic memory that opens the door to a brighter future, and he sets a course to an outstanding medical career, coupled with military service in Afghanistan.

Gibson delivers the recent past with a great sense of immediacy, showing events that ripple into our contemporary world using pop references that are relevant in today’s world.

Read More Here

When Walls Talk
By Geralyn Hesslau Magrady

Toni has the chance to start her own business in the building of her family’s old bakery. But history waits within those walls. In Geralyn Hesslau Magrady’s novella, When Walls Talk, Toni and her father uncover secrets they could never have expected.

The Russo Bakery, with its 1920s architecture had been the family business since the four Russo brothers first opened its doors. Decades later, Toni and her widowed father plan a complete redesign of what their ancestors made to fulfill her dream of owning a bookstore. As the walls fall around the Russo family business, a long-hidden truth brings about profound personal changes for Toni.

Toni takes this giant leap into the unknown, unsure if she’s even prepared to own a business. But the bookstore is the key to her hope for a better future, her only path to escaping a past tragedy.

Read More Here

Not That Kind of Call Girl
By Nova Garcia

A Somerset First Place Winner!

In Nova Garcia’s novel, Not That Kind of Call Girl, Julia Navarro-Nilsson balances a lot heavy responsibilities on her plate. She’s the supervisor of the Cascade City Chronicle call center, has just had her first child, and is dead set on saving her newest employee from a lifetime of abuse.

As a Mexican-American, Julia knows first-hand how difficult life can be for a minority woman, so when Carmen Cooper shows up for a job interview, Julia is determined to hire the young college student even though her story and answers to Julia’s question are sketchy. This reluctance to share her personal information intrigues Julia, but Carmen’s life turns out to be much more challenging than Julia would have ever dreamed.

Sussing out the truth behind the timid young woman’s clearly fictional story, Julia turns detective with the help of her reporter friend, Jerry. The two are dogged in their search and discover a secret so deep that it will rock Hollywood — that is, if she can juggle her new baby, her neglected husband, her sexually harassing boss, and an unending visit from her critical mother.

Read More Here

The Faraway Mountains
By Radu Guiasu

The Faraway Mountains by Radu Guiaşu is a fascinating blend of fiction and autobiography that brings to light the restrictive nature of the Communist Era in Romania and throughout the Eastern European Bloc. Experienced through the eyes of a group of friends, their persistence to find their friend perfectly illustrates the importance of human connection, even within the cold confines of a communist country.

Guiaşu begins his story as a chronicle of the entwined lives of childhood friends Victor, Dan, and Alex—who embark on a quest to find their lost comrade, Gabriel. Along their journey, they debate the important issues of their day.

Their discussions reveal the intricacies of daily life from the broad, to the particular. Topics like the oppressive regime in the country, the egregious ineptitude of some high-ranking officials, the deterioration of living conditions, and the recent and shameful destruction of numerous architectural gems are discussed right alongside the possibility of the national football championship game being another sham, the rising cost of foreign blue jeans on the black market, and the record heat wave they left behind in the capital.

This work pays homage to those exceptional individuals who, in spite of the harsh conditions their government forced on them, retained their moral rectitude, bravery, and irreverent sense of humor. It is also a condemnation of everyone who worked in tandem with these oppressive systems.

Read More Here

Confluence
By Mary Elizabeth Gillilan

In Confluence by Mary Elizabeth Gillilan, Maya has lived much of her life where she feels safe—at home with her Buddhist mother in the small town of La Conner, Washington. But a surprise discovery about Maya’s past pushes her to explore a wholly unfamiliar corner of the world.

Living with cerebral palsy, and a self-professed homebody, Maya is the queen of getting out of plans. But at sixty-five, two years after her mother passed, Maya finds a suitcase with her grandmother’s diary, several photos, and a letter written by her mother hidden inside.

In the letter, Maya learns she was born in a place called Sangam and her father could still be living there. The letter names a nun who helped deliver Maya and founded a hospital in that area, Yeshe Maya. Hesitant to leave her comfort zone, Maya waits to write to Yeshe Maya for a year. It takes even longer for Maya to work past all that is holding her back from the call of adventure.

Read More Here

These reviews represent just a glimpse of the literary excellence and contemporary insights waiting to be discovered in today’s finest fiction.

See the Chanticleer Difference for Yourself!

We’re excited about all the exceptional literary and contemporary fiction we receive every year for both the CIBAs and for our Editorial Reviews. Throughout this year’s Somerset Book Awards, we had the pleasure of promoting numerous outstanding novels as they advanced through our competition tiers. The Chanticleer International Book Awards offers an incredible $30,000 in cash, prizes, and promotion across all divisions!

This is the journey from beginning to end for the CIBAs! Every list you make means more promotion for you and your work as each advancement tier is posted right here on our website, on our social media, and also out in our newsletter! Your book deserves to be discovered.

Don’t Let Your Literary Voice Go Unheard!

The literary and contemporary fiction market continues to hunger for authentic voices and compelling narratives that speak to our shared human experience. Whether your work explores contemporary social issues, delves into psychological complexity, bridges cultural divides, or pushes the boundaries of traditional storytelling, the Somerset Awards provide the recognition and promotional platform your literary excellence deserves.

Literary fiction has the unique power to transform readers, offering not just escape but enlightenment, empathy, and understanding. From intimate character studies that reveal universal truths to sweeping narratives that capture historical moments, every skillfully crafted literary work has the potential to become part of the cultural conversation. Don’t let your voice remain unheard—submit to the Somerset Awards today and join the distinguished authors who’ve found their literary community through Chanticleer!

Submit to the Somerset Awards today! Deadline: October 31st

You know you want it…
October 13, 2025
Cover Design Fiction First Place Roundup 2024

The Cover Design Awards recognizes emerging new talent and outstanding works in every genre. The Grand Prize Winner, Strider Klusman’s book, Luna will be promoted for years to come in our annual Hall of Fame article, as well as be featured on the Cover Design contest page year ’round!

The best part about being a Chanticleer Int’l Book Award Winner is the love and attention you get all year ‘round!

The 2024 Clue Winners were announced at the 2025 Chanticleer Authors Conference in April, and you can see the official winners post here!

Join us in celebrating the very first group of First Place Cover Design Winners!

Margaret Porter – A Change of Location

Hannah Ballard’s most successful relationship: her career.

Her superpower is an uncanny ability to discover perfect movie settings while avoiding the limelight herself. She’s involved in pre-production for a film based on a bestselling historical novel when a chance meeting with an aristocratic landowner leads her to Somerset and his estate in picturesque Milver Vale—the ideal backdrop for a period drama. Martin Latimer, Marquess of Milverston, believes the release of a high-profile motion picture can increase tourism and bolster the local economy. And he hopes to spend more time with its intriguing location manager.

After Hannah suffers a professional setback, proximity and mutual passion propel the couple into an exhilarating affair. But Martin soon becomes a magnet for the scandal-hungry media, forcing Hannah into a painful and damaging decision.

Powering through heartbreak is hard. Especially when coping with unemployment—and dealing with members of her fractured family. For their protection, she must part from the nobleman asking her to stay with him. Who makes her believe that, at long last, she actually could be falling in love.

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

Travis Davis – One of Four

A 2024 Hemingway First Place Winner!

From New York Harbor to the battlefields of France, relive World War I through the eyes of an unknown soldier, as told through his diary. See how the 100-year-old diary brings a father and his estranged son back together by retracing his experiences fighting in the battlefields of France in 1917 – 1918 to his final resting place—the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.

His diary was found next to his lifeless body by a young French girl who witnessed his death and bravery as he tried to protect his fellow soldiers. How the unknown soldier felt and what he experienced fighting on the Western Front in World War One —his day-to-day struggles and life as a private and then as an NCO. As he led his men into combat. The pride and fear he felt and the overwhelming stress he encountered, sometimes frozen with fear from the sheer brutality of modern warfare from all sides. His bravery in combat and leadership in training and on the battlefield. How he coped as he watched his fellow soldiers, battle buddies, and friends die one after another. Some from battlefield injuries from conventional weapons and gas attacks, but also diseases from the unsanitary conditions of trench warfare and influenza. His only wish was to come out alive, a wish that would never come true.

But return home, he did.

From Chanticleer:

One of Four: World War One Through the Eyes of an Unknown Soldier by Travis Davis is a compassionate and intimate portrait of the tenuous and unforgiving First World War, as shown through the eyes of an American soldier on France’s front lines. Based on real people and events in 1918 France, One of Four begins with a young French girl, Camille, who stumbles upon a diary lying next to an unknown American soldier. He was killed among his comrades in a German ambush near the banks of the Aire River, as he tried to protect his fellow soldiers. When Camille comes of age, she leaves her hometown to seek a better life in Paris. There, she is killed after joining a German resistance group. But before her death, she tucked the soldier’s diary in her Bible and hid it in a local bookstore.

Decades later, a man by the name of Walter travels to France with his son, Alex, to whom he’d become estranged after the painful divorce from Alex’s mother. He hopes this will be a journey of healing and exploration and that their time together will revive their shaky relationship. While there, Alex purchases the Bible left by Camille many years ago. By reading the hidden diary entries of the soldier together, Alex and Walter’s relationships takes an unexpected turn.

Read More Here

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

Ann Phillip – Grand Theft Death

Patricia Schuster acquires both independence and furniture polish after inheriting her grandmother’s house and antique business. Her new life in the Northern California town of Lakeville is in jeopardy, however, when she is falsely arrested for stealing a rare 1950’s Cadillac and is blackmailed by Jimmy, a toothpick-wielding used-car salesman. When the real car thief ends up dead, she turns to her grandmother’s friends—four women in their golden years who play fast and loose with the law. But how far over the line will Patricia have to go to find a killer and clear her name?

From Chanticleer:

Grand Theft Death is best read when you need a break from reality. Don’t read it if your two feet are firmly placed in all things serious. In fact, don’t read it if you are even thinking of going to the serious side of life. This book is as realistic as a Saturday morning cartoon – and twice the fun.

The characters are delightfully quirky, the situation fun and surprising, and the action as snappy as popping corn. The heroine, Patty Schuster, is kind, sincere, wry, and unique, at the same time so easygoing that she can roll with the endless punches the plot throws at her and carry on with a good heart.

Good thing, since the plot treats Patty like a punching bag.

She starts out in jail, falsely arrested for car theft, then gets tangled up with thieves, spies, forgers, smugglers, bad cops, good cops, sleazy hoteliers, double-crossing gangsters, nosy neighbors, felonious grannies, and divorcing parents—not to mention murder of the friend in trouble she tried to help, which led to her arrest.

Read More Here

Find it Locally or on Amazon!

Laura C. Rader – Hatfield 1677

A 2024 Chaucer First Place Winner!

Colonist Benjamin Waite, a devoted husband, father, and skilled military scout in King Philip’s War, reluctantly obeys orders to guide a brutal attack against a camp of Algonquian Natives.

After the catastrophic event, Benjamin is burdened with guilt and longs for peace. But the Algonquians, led by the revered sachem Ashpelon, retaliate with vengeance upon Ben’s Massachusetts town of Hatfield, capturing over a dozen colonists, including his pregnant wife Martha and their three young daughters.

Hatfield 1677 is a tale of three interwoven yet diverging journeys of strength and survival. Benjamin is driven by love and remorse to rescue his family; Martha is forced into captivity and desperately striving to protect her children; and Ashpelon is willing to risk everything to ensure the safety and freedom of his people.

Based on the lives of the author’s ancestors, this riveting and unforgettable novel gives voice to three vastly different experiences in North America during a time before the creation of the Declaration of Independence. Then, the land was but a wilderness and a battleground; equality was not yet perceived as self-evident; and liberty and happiness were nothing more than dangerous pursuits.

Find it Locally or on Amazon!

Mark A. Gibson – A Song That Never Ends

A 2023 Series Award First Place Winner!

Home.

For over three hundred years, that’s what the Hamilton family has called a shrinking swath of farmland in the Appalachian foothills of South Carolina.

Home.

That’s the failing tobacco farm where Walter and Maggie Hamilton choose to raise their three children. Walter has big plans to make the farm more profitable, but his plans are interrupted by World War II and family heartbreak. Walter returns from the war a changed man and finds Maggie, too, has changed, neither of them for the better. But at least their family is together again at…

Home.

More than anything, that’s where their eight-year-old son, Jimmy Hamilton, wants to be. However, after an unspeakable tragedy, he’s sent away from the only life he’s ever known to live with a kindly uncle in North Carolina.

Home.

That’s where Jimmy is finally going to be, unless fate has plans of its own…

A Song that Never Endsis the first installment of the Hamilton Place series, an epic family saga extending from the Great Depression to present day. Through war and peace, love and loss, triumph and tragedy, follow the Hamilton family on their journey from a run-down farm in South Carolina, through the jungles of Vietnam, to the top of the world in New York City, and beyond the gardens of stone at Arlington.

From Chanticleer:

A Song That Never Ends, the first volume of a two-part series by Mark A. Gibson, opens a dramatic fictional saga of the Hamilton family from the late 1930s Depression era, to 1967 and the Vietnam conflict. Here against the backdrop of a South Carolina tobacco farm, we come to witness a family in turmoil.

The calm and reserved Walter Hamilton and his rebellious, impulsive wife Maggie strive to build a life and raise a family. But the couple is tested by a series of misfortunes—miscarriages and stillbirths, and Walter’s enlistment during WWII leaving him with guilt-induced PTSD as he deals with the memory of fallen comrades.

At the center of this heartfelt story is James, the middle child, who at the tender age of eight is forced from his home due to a horrific accident and sent to live with a widower uncle.

Read More Here

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

Gail Noble-Sanderson – The Book of Rules

A 2022 M&M First Place Winner!

Wales, 1946. In the beautiful seaside village of Mumbles, Drew Davies, a young Welsh woman, is determined to pursue a career in a profession that has been historically denied to women. Living with her grandparents in their charming stone cottage, Drew’s quiet life changes course suddenly when murder, espionage, and a cast of scoundrels and saints enter the picture, but not even murder can stop Drew in her tracks. This is the first historical cozy mystery in Gail’s new Drew Davies Railway Mysteries series.

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

C.L. Olsen – Old Crabby Turtle

Most bullies are hurting somewhere inside. This magical and heartwarming tale about an old giant sea turtle and a tiny little fish teaches us about BRAVERY, TRUST, FORGIVENESS, and HOPE. And to HELP others in need, no matter how different we are.

This is the story of an old sea turtle with a rusty fish hook stuck in his foot! He is quite crabby about his unfortunate situation, and likes to terrorize the little sea creatures. One day he catches little fishy, and plans to have him for dinner until little fishy tells the old turtle that if he will trust him and let him go, he will come back with his friend Mr. Swordfish, and he can saw that old rusty fish hook off so he will feel better!

A portion of the profits from this book are donated to the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue & Rehabilitation center.

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

R.W. Meek – The Dream Collector Book 1: Sabrine and Sigmund Freud

The Dream Collector immerses the reader into the exciting milieu of late 19th Century Paris when art and medicine were in the throes of revolution, art turning to Impressionism, medicine turning to psychology. In 1885, Julie Forette, a self-educated woman from Marseilles, finds employment at the infamous Salpêtrière, hospital and asylum to over five thousand disabled, demented and abandoned women, a walled city ruled by the famed neurologist and arrogant director, Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot.

Julie Forette forms a friendship with the young, visiting intern Sigmund Freud who introduces her to the altering-conscious power of cocaine. Together they pursue the hidden potential of hypnotism and dream interpretation. After Freud receives the baffling case of the star hysteric, Sabrine Weiss, he is encouraged by Julie to experiment with different modes of treatment, including “talking sessions.” Their urgent quest is to find a cure for Sabrine, Princess of the Hysterics, before Dr. Charcot resorts to the radical removal of her ovaries.

In Paris, Julie finds a passion for the new art emerging, Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, and forms friendships with the major artists of the period, including Pissarro, Monet, and Degas. Julie becomes intimately involved with the reclusive Cezanne only to be seduced by the “Peruvian Savage” Paul Gauguin. Julie is the eponymous ‘Dream Collector’ collecting the one unforgettable, soul-defining dream of the major historical figures of the period.

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

Deborah Swenson – Till My Last Breath, Book 1 of the Desert Hills Trilogy

A 2021 Chatelaine First Place Winner!

Emily Sweeney, MD, is a vibrant young trauma physician at a major Seattle medical center who is tragically taken from the comfort of her 21st Century life. Suddenly, dropped into the 1880s unforgiving frontier, she is determined to survive, or die all over again. Using her knowledge and skills as a physician, Emily struggles to save a stranger in the desert hills of the Arizona Territory. In the end, can she return to her previous life and leave behind the man she’s come to love?

Caleb Young, a once-prominent Boston attorney in 1880, is haunted by his past filled with lies and deception. Hoping to outrun his demons, he willingly leaves his privileged life behind. Heading straight into unforeseen trouble, he is shot for revenge and left to die in the desert hills. Now, dependent on a beautiful woman who appears out of nowhere using her hands and heart to save him, will he finally have a reason to live.

Two lives forged out of truth and trust, can their love survive, or will it take its last breath?

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

And now, the first ever GRAND PRIZE WINNERS in Non-Fiction for the Chanticleer Cover Design Awards!

Strider S.R. Klusman – Luna, Rhone and Stone Book 2

A 2023 Dante Rossetti First Place Winner!

For a country kid, the odd styles and new-fangled contraptions of the steam era were beyond Rhone’s comfort zone, but he was here to do a job, if he managed to graduate from the OPR Academy.

Using his front as a nobleman’s son, Rhone and his unique partner, Stone, are sent to an easy first assignment, the little harbor town of Corgy. But he quickly discovers the mayor dislikes him and that pirates are hounding the shipping trade. With one disliking him, and he disliking them both, things weren’t starting off well. Unfortunately, it was his job to fix problems and he was glad he had Stone along to help.

Only when he met Bella, the fiery waitress at The Common House, and Captain Black, of The Backwater Mistress, did he find his answer and an entirely uplifting experience you won’t want to miss.

From Chanticleer:

Luna, the second book in Strider S.R. Klusman’s YA Rhone and Stone Series, follows Rhone and his alien partner Stone as they develop a ship that can sail through the air.

The two train to become agents for the Office of Public Recrimination, urged to join by their friend – and now boss – Aundrea. Rhone struggles through training with the help of his trusty partner, but a much more difficult test remains before them – their first assignment.

Aundrea sends them to Corgy, a port town, without explaining their mission. But it doesn’t take long for Rhone to encounter troubles from shore and sea alike.

He and Stone meet Mayor Dugan, who takes an instant dislike for Rhone, posing as a wealthy merchant’s son. But it’s his front, designed so by the ladies of the OPR, and commands a great deal of respect and authority from the locals, if not Bella. Sometimes it’s difficult not to forget his actual purpose for being at Corgy. As an agent of the OPR, he must solve the town’s greatest problem, a rash of pirate attacks on Corgy’s vital ocean-borne trade; if they continue, Corgy won’t survive.

Read More Here

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

Thank you for joining us to celebrate the 2024 Cover Design First Place and Grand Prize Winners!

Your book can join the Tiers of Achievement, but only if you submit to the Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards!

Got a great Fiction Book? The 2025 Cover Design Awards are open through the end of July!

Submit to the Cover Design Awards Today!

July 11, 2025
The 2024 Chanticleer Cover Design Awards (CCDAs) WINNERS for Fiction
The Chanticleer Cover Design Awards (The CCDAs) for Fiction recognizes artistic excellence across genre in great cover design. The CCDAs are a new Award Division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (The CIBAs).

Our design is inspired by books designed by the incomparable Coraline Bickford-Smith. Her simple, beautiful, and evocative designs do so much to make the book work as a visual ambassador, capturing the essence of story and compelling potential readers to pick it up, click on it, or share it with others. A well-designed cover signals professionalism, sets expectations for your genre, and serves as a powerful marketing tool to stand out in both digital and physical spaces.

Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring clear genres, audience, time periods, typography, and longevity across genres of Historical Fiction, Romance, Literary, Satire, Speculative Fiction, and Youth Reads.

1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners were announced at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony by Diane Garland on Saturday, April 5th, 2025 at the Bellingham Yacht Club in Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

This is the OFFICIAL 2024 LIST of the COVER DESIGN AWARDS First Place Category Winners and the COVER DESIGN Grand Prize Winner.

Join us in cheering on the following authors and their covers!
- Margaret Porter – A Change of Location
- Travis Davis – One of Four
- Ann Philipp – Grand Theft Death
- Laura C. Rader – Hatfield 1677
- Mark A. Gibson – A Song That Never Ends
- Gail Noble-Sanderson – The Book of Rules
- C.L. Olsen – Old Crabby Turtle
- R.W. Meek – The Dream Collector Book I Sabrine and Sigmund Freud
- Deborah Swenson – Till My Last Breath Book One in the Desert Hills Trilogy
The Grand Prize Winner for the 2024 CCDA COVER DESIGN Awards is:

Luna – The Adventures of Rhone & Stone, book 2

By Strider S.R. Klusman

You can see all of our amazing 2024 Cover Finalists! Congratulations to all and thank you for submitting!

PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!

Attn CIBA Winners: More goodies and prizes will be coming your way along with promotion in our magazine, website, and advertisements in Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards long-tail marketing strategy. Welcome to the CIBA Hall of Fame for Award Winners!

This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the Facebook post. However, for Facebook to allow us to tag an author, that author must LIKE our page and Follow Chanticleer Reviews.

Please click here to visit our page to LIKE, COMMENT, and SHARE on Facebook.

A Note to ALL the WINNERS: The coveted CIBA Blue Ribbons will be mailed out starting in May. We will contact you with an email to verify your mailing address and other items. You will receive an OFFICIAL EMAIL NOTIFICATION with Digital Badges and more information.

NOTE: We will post at least two 2024 CIBA Divisions’ OFFICIAL Winners per business day starting April 14, 2025. We do a final sweep and reconciliation prior to making the Official CIBA Posts for the 2024 First Place and Grand Prize Winners. We thank you in advance for your patience and understanding. There are many moving parts involved with the Chanticleer International Book Awards Program.

Thank you for participating in the 2024 CIBAs! We are looking forward to reading your future entries.

The Chanticleer Team
April 20, 2025
The 2023 Book Series First Place Winners Roundup

The Series Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in Genre Fiction (and now Non-Fiction). The Grand Prize Winner, David Fitz-Gerald’s Series, Ghosts Along the Oregon Trail will be promoted for years to come in our annual Hall of Fame article, as well as be featured on the Series contest page year ’round!

The best part about being a Chanticleer Int’l Book Award Winner is the love and attention you get all year ‘round!

While these Award Winning Series are all Multi-book sagas, we are going to showcase the most important part of a Series. The beginning. Having a good start makes it memorable. The first book is the foundation, laying the first stitches into what later becomes a whole tapestry, telling their story.

Join us in celebrating the 2023 First Place Series Winners!

John J. Spearman – FitzDuncan

Introducing Casimir “Caz” FitzDuncan, a resident of the medieval kingdom of Aquileia. He makes his living retrieving things when the law will not help.

A woman has come to him, seeking his assistance in escaping a contract to marry a nobleman with a foul reputation. After their meeting, she is kidnapped not far from his residence.

Caz is accused of abducting her and forced to investigate her disappearance. Aided by his friend Freddy, Lord Rawlinsford, and Freddy’s mysterious cousin Lucy, Caz works to find the kidnapper.

Be careful Caz, the closer you get to finding the truth, the more tangled you are in a web designed specifically to trap you.

In this fantasy adventure book series you will be whisked away in a medieval time of magical realism, masters of sword fighting, and action & adventure that won’t allow you to put the book down.

Will Caz be able to rescue an innocent victim and save himself when skill with a sword is not enough?

Find it Locally and on Amazon

James Hutson-Wiley – The Sugar Merchant

When Thomas’s family is annihilated in a raid, his life changes forever. Wandering for days, starving and hopeless, he is rescued by a monk and is taken to live at the abbey of Eynsham. There he receives a curious education, training to be a scholar, a merchant and a spy. His mission: to develop commerce in Muslim lands and dispatch vital information to the Holy See.

His perilous adventures during the 11th century’s commercial revolution will take him far from his cloistered life to the great trading cities of Almeria, Amalfi, Alexandria and Cairo.

But the world in which he lives is chaotic. Struggling with love and loss, faith and fortune, can Thomas carry out his secret mission before conflict overtakes him?

Spanning the tumultuous medieval worlds of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, The Sugar Merchant is a tale of clashing cultures, massive economic change and one man’s determination to fulfil his destiny.

From Chanticleer: 2019 Chaucer 1st Place Winner

Narrated by a boy who grows up in a monastery and is trained to be a spy, The Sugar Merchant is set in the late 11th Century when the Great Crusades were on the verge of erupting in Europe and the Middle East.

When Thomas is forced to flee after rebels attack his family, he is finally discovered, ragged and starving, by a giant of a man named Leofric. Taken under the wing of the monks at Eynsham Abbey, Thomas is educated while accepting the strict discipline of the Benedictine order. In his late teens, he is surprised and disappointed to learn he will not join the Order but will be employed as an agent and spy. His task will be to find, secretly copy and send back manuscripts written by Islamic scholars. These documents contain knowledge that the Catholic Church needs to maintain its control.

Accompanied by Leofric, who taught him the arts of war based on his own checkered past as a mercenary, Thomas travels to Spain, to the city of Granada (called Gharnatah at the time). His travels will take him through the known Catholic realms and beyond, and, paradoxically, afford him the chance to meet, befriend and be aided in the abbey’s mission by good men of other faiths, both Muslim and Jew. As a cover for his work for Eynsham, he adopts a persona as a merchant of sukkar, or sugar, a commodity that will soon have excellent trading value. When a beautiful Muslim girl crosses his path, all that he has been taught will come into question as he strives to do what he believes to be right.

Read More Here

Find it Locally and on Amazon

Alice McVeigh – Susan: A Jane Austen Prequel

Sixteen-year-old Susan Smithson – pretty but poor, clever but capricious – has just been expelled from a school for young ladies in London.

At the mansion of the formidable Lady Catherine de Bourgh, she attracts a raffish young nobleman. But, at the first hint of scandal, her guardian dispatches her to her uncle Collins’ rectory in Kent, where her sensible cousin Alicia lives and “where nothing ever happens.”

Here Susan mischievously inspires the local squire to put on a play, with consequences no one could possibly have foreseen. What with the unexpected arrival of Frank Churchill, Alicia’s falling in love and a tumultuous elopement, rural Kent will surely never seem safe again…

Find it Locally and on Amazon

Tom Burkhalter – Everything We Had

November 1941: War is coming to the Pacific.

In Europe, the Nazis are triumphant. England is under siege by air and sea. France has fallen to the Nazi Wehrmacht, which in turn fell on Soviet Russia. The Red Army is reeling in full retreat, with the Nazis at the gates of Moscow itself.

In the Pacific, Japan has been at war with China since 1937. Her war industries depend upon imports of scrap metal and oil from what are now the Allied nations. When an embargo is placed on imports to Japan, they are left with a year’s supply of oil to supply their armed forces.

Japan surrounds American possessions in the Philippines on three sides. The US Army is making a desperate, last-minute attempt to reinforce the Philippines garrison, but the clock is ticking for the Japanese, with their oil running out. The armed forces of Imperial Japan may attack the Philippines at any moment.

Two brothers, Jack and Charlie Davis, are pilots in the US Army Air Forces. They are part of the reinforcements sent to the Far Eastern Air Force, charged with air defense of the Philippines.

For Jack and Charlie, in a time when the US is on the brink of world war, a simple question must soon be answered: what will I do when the Japanese come?

From Chanticleer:

Everything We Had, book one of Tom Burkhalter’s No Merciful War series is an inexorable thrill that will grip readers tight. It starts with a poker game, through which a main character’s luck soon becomes evident. But will that luck hold out?

Jack—the poker player—and Charlie—Jack’s older brother—have been separated by war, even though that war has yet to be declared. Everything We Had focuses more on the machinations leading up to US involvement in World War II than on actual combat. The gears of war that have so many young men caught in them move with gradual but inevitable force, and so Everything We Had takes a more thoughtful approach to a historic moment in time.

Connecting with the characters is a gradual process as you get to know the intricacies that make up their individual personalities. This sets the reader up to feel the emotions of the characters as they face an uncertain fate, and throughout the book the author’s clear and methodical research shines with details such as specific views, locations, and—most notably—comprehensive descriptions of the airplanes Jack and Charlie pilot. This allows the reader to become deeply familiar with the motivations of the characters and the capabilities of the airplanes they fly.

The importance of their family gradually emerges, too, through their mother’s letters and their memories of their father who flew racing planes. The more readers learn, the more attachment they feel to these characters, giving weight to the growing danger they face.

Read More Here

Find it Locally and on Amazon

Dave Lager – Ro’s Handle

An overzealous rookie cop. A biased old-boys club. Will she have to shoot her way in? Ro Delahanty never let her dream of becoming a cop out of her sights. Between years of black-belt judo lessons and sharpshooting championships, she thought she could handle anything the academy threw her way. But as the only female rookie on the force, she soon discovers it’ll take a warrior’s determination to get out from behind the desk and into the action.

Knowing she’ll have to work twice as hard for half the respect, she refuses to let distractions like a new boyfriend block her target. And her sacrifices will be well worth it if she can secure a “handle” that brands her as an equal instead of the butt of a joke. When a simple field assignment spirals into a heavily-armed hostage standoff, will Ro and her trusty Sig Sauer P229 .357 aim true or will she miss the shot she’s trained her whole life to take?

Ro’s Handle is the first book in the gritty Ro Delahanty police procedural series. If you like tenacious heroines, crime scene drama, and high-octane shootouts, then you’ll love David Lager’s torn-from-the-headlines tale. Buy Ro’s Handle and test your aim on a straight-shooting criminal case today!

Find it on Amazon

Jode Millman – Hooker Avenue

2022 Clue 1st Place Winner

Being a Good Samaritan is hazardous.

Amid a violent Hudson Valley thunderstorm, Jessie Martin discovers a woman lying unconscious in a roadside ditch. The badly beaten victim, Lissie Sexton, a local prostitute, claims she’s escaped the attack of a killer.

Jessie’s more than a casual driver who passes by; she’s a criminal-defense attorney. And Lissie is more than an ordinary hooker. She’s the key witness in a cold case under investigation by Jessie’s estranged longtime friend, Detective Ebony Jones.

And now Ebony can’t find her witness. Jessie’s new boss has sent Lissie into hiding. If Jessie reveals Lissie’s location she compromises her client, her firm and her professional ethics. If she doesn’t, she risks alienating not just Ebony but the entire police department backing her.

A simple act of compassion forces Jessie to choose between her duty and her friend.

Find it Locally and on Amazon

Mark A. Gibson – A Song that Never Ends

Home.

For over three hundred years, that’s what the Hamilton family has called a shrinking swath of farmland in the Appalachian foothills of South Carolina.

Home.

That’s the failing tobacco farm where Walter and Maggie Hamilton choose to raise their three children. Walter has big plans to make the farm more profitable, but his plans are interrupted by World War II and family heartbreak. Walter returns from the war a changed man and finds Maggie, too, has changed, neither of them for the better. But at least their family is together again at…

Home.

More than anything, that’s where their eight-year-old son, Jimmy Hamilton, wants to be. However, after an unspeakable tragedy, he’s sent away from the only life he’s ever known to live with a kindly uncle in North Carolina.

Home.

That’s where Jimmy is finally going to be, unless fate has plans of its own…

A Song that Never Ends is the first installment of the Hamilton Place series, an epic family saga extending from the Great Depression to present day. Through war and peace, love and loss, triumph and tragedy, follow the Hamilton family on their journey from a run-down farm in South Carolina, through the jungles of Vietnam, to the top of the world in New York City, and beyond the gardens of stone at Arlington.

From Chanticleer:

A Song That Never Ends, the first volume of a two part series by Mark A. Gibson, opens a dramatic fictional saga of the Hamilton family from the late 1930s Depression era, to 1967 and the Vietnam conflict. Here against the backdrop of a South Carolina tobacco farm, we come to witness a family in turmoil.

The calm and reserved Walter Hamilton and his rebellious, impulsive wife Maggie strive to build a life and raise a family. But the couple is tested by a series of misfortunes—miscarriages and stillbirths, and Walter’s enlistment during WWII leaving him with guilt-induced PTSD as he deals with the memory of fallen comrades.

At the center of this heartfelt story is James, the middle child, who at the tender age of eight is forced from his home due to a horrific accident and sent to live with a widower uncle.

James proves to be an extremely intelligent and talented youngster who longs for a connection to his family. In the meantime, he learns from his gracious uncle to deal with dire situations and unexpected circumstances in life, as well as the importance of having a charitable heart. Under the tutelage of this kind, caring, and nurturing man, the story begins to evolve into a coming-of-age tale.

Read More Here

Find it Locally and on Amazon

Thank you for joining us to celebrate the 2023 Series First Place Winners!

Your book can join the Tiers of Achievement, but only if you submit to the Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards!

Got a great Fiction Book? The 2024 Series Book Awards are open through the end of October!

Submit to the Series Awards Today!

October 27, 2024
The 2024 Somerset Book Awards Spotlight for Literary & Contemporary Fiction
Get Lit!

The Somerset Awards is our Division for Mainstream, Contemporary and Literary Fiction. Named for author and playwright W. Somerset Maugham.

William Somerset Maugham (pronounced MAWm), born January 25 1875 and died December 16, 1965, was one of the most popular and highly paid authors of the 1930s. During the WWI he served in the ambulance corps and then was recruited into the British Secret Service. He traveled widely, most notably to India, Southeast Asia, and Russia before the 1917 revolution, which influenced his writing. He was a contemporary of Hemingway, E. E. Cummings, William Faulkner, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, and Evelyn Waugh.

Maugham is known for his writing’s diversity that consists of plays, short stories, and distinctive novel genres that have been adapted to film. He is well known for The Razor’s Edge, Of Human Bondage, The Moon and Sixpence, Cakes and Ale, The Magician, Rain, The Painted Veil, and his first work: Liza of Lambeth. He has twenty novels to his credit, twenty-five plays, and sixteen collections of short stories.

The categories for the Somerset Awards are:
- Contemporary Themes
- Adventure/Suspense
- Literary
- Women’s Fiction and Family Themes
- Magic Realism
- Action/Adventure
- Connections
- Social/Psychological themes
Enter Your Work Today!

We are delighted to Celebrate the 2023 Winners of The Somerset Awards!
- David Fitz-Gerald – If It’s the Last Thing I Do
- J.A. Wright – Eat and Get Gas
- B. Lynn Carter – Jus Breathe
- Leslie Liautaud – Black Bear Lake
- James Gish, Jr. – When Blackbirds Dream
- Jennifer Gold – Halfway to You
- Donna Norman-Carbone – All That is Sacred
- Nova Garcia – Not That Kind of Call Girl
The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 SOMERSET Awards is:

You Can’t Fool A Mermaid

by Judy Keeslar Santamaria

We will celebrate those incredible Somerset Winners in due time. Right now, we’re going to focus on some of the best literary work we’ve received recently!

WHEN WALLS TALK
By Geralyn Hesslau Magrady

Toni has the chance to start her own business in the building of her family’s old bakery. But history waits within those walls. In Geralyn Hesslau Magrady’s novella, When Walls Talk, Toni and her father uncover secrets they could never have expected.

The Russo Bakery, with its 1920s architecture had been the family business since the four Russo brothers first opened its doors. Decades later, Toni and her widowed father plan a complete redesign of what their ancestors made to fulfill her dream of owning a bookstore. As the walls fall around the Russo family business, a long-hidden truth brings about profound personal changes for Toni.

Toni takes this giant leap into the unknown, unsure if she’s even prepared to own a business. But the bookstore is the key to her hope for a better future, her only path to escaping a past tragedy.

Read more here!

UNPAVED
By Anthony Horton

Unpaved by Anthony Horton is a pensive novel of how returning to one’s roots can reveal hints on how to move forward after a lifetime of grief.

Russell Nowak-McCreary is a man whose life has been proudly shaped by formidable women. His mother, Judith, was a prominent cardiac surgeon at the reputable St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London. His wife, Anna, thrived as a student of Judith’s and has risen to the top of Boston’s best medical campus. And Russell’s work partner Sarah Westroes joined his company, Datatel, as its CEO with a relentless drive to expand its footprint in the tech industry. His childhood was spent without a father figure, only excepting the fond memories of a single summer at his grandfather’s cabin in the Canadian wilderness.

As he returns to the remote cabin of his youth to set his mother’s affairs in order, Russell takes this time alone to finally process all that he lost.

Read more here!

ROSES In DECEMBER: Hamilton Place, Book 2
By Mark A. Gibson

Roses in December is the epic conclusion to Mark A. Gibson’s compelling two-part family saga, Hamilton Place. Now focusing on the family’s next generation, James Hamilton Jr.—Jimmy—follows in the footsteps of the father he never met, a Vietnam War hero who died in battle, and ultimately finds his own path in life.

Pressured by a conning mother-in-law only out for monetary gain, the elder Jimmy’s widow, Becca, is pushed to marry Mack Lee, her deceased husband’s older brother who proves to be a cheating and abusive husband. Trapped in this loveless marriage, Becca hopes that attending church will remove her son from the toxic influence of her new husband and set him on the right path to a good life. But it’s the discovery of young Jimmy’s superior photographic memory that opens the door to a brighter future, and he sets a course to an outstanding medical career, coupled with military service in Afghanistan.

Gibson delivers the recent past with a great sense of immediacy, showing events that ripple into our contemporary world using pop references that are relevant in today’s world.

Read more here!

SPLINTERED DREAMS: The Dare to Love Series Book 1
By Diana Lynn

After decades spent in a loveless, broken marriage, Crisa wants another chance at love. In Splintered Dreams, a romance novella by Diana Lynn, she must first stumble through her own insecurities to find it.

When Crisa’s husband, Alan, dies unexpectedly she is left with a stark emptiness inside her heart. Her marriage had been a sham. Her husband’s infidelity and lies crushed her idea of love and left her with questions about who she is, what she wants, and will she ever trust someone with her heart again. Casual sexual relationships can’t fill the void. She needs true love.

Physical intimacy is only part of what Crisa desires. She yearns for the kind of love that lasts a lifetime.

Read more here!

These thoughtful books from Contemporary to Literary to Magical Realism are the kind of books you’ll talk about for years to come. Should yours be here?

The Somerset Book Awards are open through the end of the month!

This is the journey from beginning to end for the CIBAs Levels of Achievement is so worthwhile! Every list you make means more promotion for you and your work as each list is posted right here on our website, on our social media, and also out in our newsletter!

Your book deserves to be discovered
October 18, 2024
The 2024 Hemingway Book Awards Spotlight on 20th & 21st c. Wartime Fiction
The History of War is always important

Especially in Historical Fiction

The Hemingway Awards is our Division for Historical Fiction of 20th Century Wartime. Named for famed War Correspondent and Author Ernest Hemingway, his writings embody much of what this award covers. He didn’t write only war related content, but A Farewell to Arms and For Whom The Bell Tolls are both amazing looks into the rather tumultuous early 20th century.

These are the categories for the 2024 Hemingway Awards for 20th and 21st century Wartime Fiction:
- World War 1
- World War 2
- Women in War
- Occupation/ Diaspora
- Espionage
- Love in Wartime
- Specific Campaign/ Theater/ Battle
The dropping of a nuclear bomb in Stanley Kubrik’s dark satire “Dr. Strangelove”

Submit Your Work Today!

We are delighted to celebrate the 2023 Winners of the Hemingway Awards!
- J.L. Oakley – The Brisling Code
- Kathryn Gauci – In the Shadow of the Pyrenees
- Michael J Cooper – Crossroads of Empire
- Ivan Luiz Hernandez – Isla Vulnerable
- Linda Stewart Henley – Kate’s War
- Jerena Tobiasen – Tsarina’s Crown
- William McClain – Alice’s War
The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 Hemingway Book Awards is:

The Silver Waterfall

A Novel of The Battle of Midway

by Kevin Miller

We love stories about wartime history here at Chanticleer. Here are some of the best books we’ve reviewed recently.

AN EMPTY HOUSE DOESN’T SNEEZE
By David Scott Richardson

In David Scott Richardson’s YA WWII historical novel, An Empty House Doesn’t Sneeze, teenager Scott Johannsen—“Scotty” to his mom and friends—leads us on an adventure through the wartime Ravenna neighborhood in Seattle, Washington.

Boeing manufactures B-17s, his grandparents and neighbors grow victory gardens, his parents build a bomb shelter in their basement, and mandatory blackouts occur every night. Scotty navigates a chaotic world filled with danger and wonder yet finds security with family and friends in this heartfelt story.

Scotty runs with his pack—James, Marty, and Burr. We witness what lengths they will go to on a search for chocolate. With Ravenna Park as a backyard and Puget Sound just a short drive away, Scotty’s life is filled with exploration of the natural world. His fishing adventures with his dad in the Sound become an exciting way to supplement his family’s food rations as he dreams about netting a fighting salmon.

Read more here!

ROSES In DECEMBER: Hamilton Place, Book 2
By Mark A. Gibson

Roses in December is the epic conclusion to Mark A. Gibson’s compelling two-part family saga, Hamilton Place. Now focusing on the family’s next generation, James Hamilton Jr.—Jimmy—follows in the footsteps of the father he never met, a Vietnam War hero who died in battle, and ultimately finds his own path in life.

Pressured by a conning mother-in-law only out for monetary gain, the elder Jimmy’s widow, Becca, is pushed to marry Mack Lee, her deceased husband’s older brother who proves to be a cheating and abusive husband. Trapped in this loveless marriage, Becca hopes that attending church will remove her son from the toxic influence of her new husband and set him on the right path to a good life. But it’s the discovery of young Jimmy’s superior photographic memory that opens the door to a brighter future, and he sets a course to an outstanding medical career, coupled with military service in Afghanistan.

Gibson delivers the recent past with a great sense of immediacy, showing events that ripple into our contemporary world using pop references that are relevant in today’s world.

Read more here!

AFTER ME
By J. Shep

The arrival of a mysterious package makes for an enticing beginning in J. Shep’s After Me. Inside we find a manuscript with the same text as the book we’re about to read. This inventive start lends a sense of realism and truth to what follows and creates a vivid yet hazy quality, like memory itself.

After Me travels back in time to rural France just after World War II. The setting appears idyllic at first—almost unbelievably so. Still, there’s a disturbing undercurrent felt from the start. Not from an unwanted presence, but rather from an absence.

Told from the perspective of Ellande, a young boy, he recounts the summer his parents die in an accident and he and his nine-year-old little sister, Madeleine-Grace, are sent to their extended family’s summer home in France. Their care seems competent at first—but cracks in the façade gradually emerge as Ellande begins his tale.

Read more here!

EVERYTHING WE HAD: No Merciful War Book 1
By Tom Burkhalter

Everything We Had, book one of Tom Burkhalter’s No Merciful War series is an inexorable thrill that will grip readers tight. It starts with a poker game, through which a main character’s luck soon becomes evident. But will that luck hold out?

Jack—the poker player—and Charlie—Jack’s older brother—have been separated by war, even though that war has yet to be declared. Everything We Had focuses more on the machinations leading up to US involvement in World War II than on actual combat. The gears of war that have so many young men caught in them move with gradual but inevitable force, and so Everything We Had takes a more thoughtful approach to a historic moment in time.

Connecting with the characters is a gradual process as you get to know the intricacies that make up their individual personalities. This sets the reader up to feel the emotions of the characters as they face an uncertain fate, and throughout the book the author’s clear and methodical research shines with details such as specific views, locations, and—most notably—comprehensive descriptions of the airplanes Jack and Charlie pilot. This allows the reader to become deeply familiar with the motivations of the characters and the capabilities of the airplanes they fly.

Read more here!

These authors keep the recent past alive for us! We thank them for documenting these times and sharing their stories!

We hope to see your work in the 2024 Hemingway Awards!

This is the journey from beginning to end for the CIBAs Levels of Achievement is so worthwhile! Every list you make means more promotion for you and your work as each list is posted right here on our website, on our social media, and also out in our newsletter!

Your book deserves to be discovered
October 9, 2024
ROSES In DECEMBER: Hamilton Place, Book 2 by Mark A. Gibson – Family Saga, Contemporary Fiction, War in Afghanistan

Roses in December is the epic conclusion to Mark A. Gibson’s compelling two-part family saga, Hamilton Place. Now focusing on the family’s next generation, James Hamilton Jr.—Jimmy—follows in the footsteps of the father he never met, a Vietnam War hero who died in battle, and ultimately finds his own path in life.

Pressured by a conning mother-in-law only out for monetary gain, the elder Jimmy’s widow, Becca, is pushed to marry Mack Lee, her deceased husband’s older brother who proves to be a cheating and abusive husband. Trapped in this loveless marriage, Becca hopes that attending church will remove her son from the toxic influence of her new husband and set him on the right path to a good life. But it’s the discovery of young Jimmy’s superior photographic memory that opens the door to a brighter future, and he sets a course to an outstanding medical career, coupled with military service in Afghanistan.

Gibson delivers the recent past with a great sense of immediacy, showing events that ripple into our contemporary world using pop references that are relevant in today’s world.

There is no shying away from the thorny reality of world conflicts and tragedies, such as the 9/11 terror attacks. Jimmy’s budding empathy and photographic memory become both a blessing and a curse when all the best and worst parts of his life are only one visual recall away. This unique and imaginative narrative follows Jimmy as he grows into a man named James who must come to terms with his most painful experiences.

Roses in December develops on the themes of love, loss, and resilience revealed in its predecessor, A Song That Never Ends, with thematic vines are grafted together into a deeply rewarding whole.

Many of the same elements from the first book return in this two-part series, with its details now paying off, from a special photograph the Vietnam medic uses to cover a chest wound, to James referencing the unique bandage to his hospital interns. Roses in December is laced with connective details that immerse the reader in the lives of its characters as family mysteries come to light, including the long-held secret that Becca has kept from her son, James. And the story comes full circle when the adult James shares the full family history with his own children.

While Roses in December can certainly stand on its own, reading Gibson’s books in sequence will help lay a solid foundation for this generational saga. It will also serve to impart a core of knowledge about the characters and their relationships, and their development within the family’s overall dynamic. Together these volumes prove a truly satisfying duo, with Roses in December blossoming into a beautiful conclusion to the Hamilton Place Series.

September 11, 2024
Happy Birthday Goethe! Extending the 2024 Goethe Awards for Late Historical Fiction
Happy Birthday Goethe!

We’re delighted to celebrate Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s birthday! Check out these awesome events that happened during Goethe’s Lifetime!
- 1750 – The Industrial Revolution began in England
- 1756 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria
- 1761 – The problem of calculating longitude while at sea was solved by John Harrison
- 1765 – James Watts perfects the steam engine
- 1770 – Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany
- 1774 – Goethe’s romantic novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther, propels him into European fame
- 1774 – Goethe’s play Gotz von Berlichingen, a definitive work of Sturm und Drang premiers in Berlin
- 1776 – America’s 13 Colonies declare independence from England. Battles ensue.
- 1776 – Adam Smith publishes the Wealth of Nations (the foundation of the modern theory of economics)
- 1776 – The Boulton and Watt steam engines were put to use ushering in the Industrial Revolution
- 1783 – The Hot Air Balloon was invented by the Montgolfier brothers in France.
- 1786 – Le Nozze di Figaro by Mozart premiered in Vienna
- 1789 – George Washington is elected the first president of the United States of America
- 1780 – Antoine Lavoisier discovers the Law of Conservation of Mass
- 1789 – The French Revolution started in Bastille
- 1791 – Thomas Paine publishes The Rights of Man
- 1792 – Napoleon begins his march to conquer Europe
- 1799 – Rosetta Stone discovered in Egypt
- 1802 – Beethoven created and performed The Moonlight Sonata
- 1802 – A child’s workday is limited to twelve hours per day by the British parliament when they pass their first Factory Act
- 1804 – Napoleon has himself proclaimed Emperor of France
- 1808 – Atomic Theory paper published by John Dalton
- 1811 – Italian chemist Amedeo Avogadro publishes a hypothesis, about the number of molecules in gases, that becomes known as Avogadro’s Law
- 1811 – Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility was published anonymously. It was critically well-received
- 1814 – Steam driven printing press was invented which allowed newspapers to become more common
- 1818 – Mary Shelley publishes Frankenstein
- 1832 – Goethe’s Faust, Parts 1 & 2 are published posthumously (March 22, 1832)
You asked, we listened

We tend to be a little more high tech at Chanticleer

New Deadline for the Goethe Awards: September 30, 2024

At the request of both our Authors and our Readers we have moved the closing date of the Goethe Awards to September 30, 2024!

This pairs it with its Historical Fiction partner the Chaucer Award. As we settle into this new schedule, we’re hearing great feedback from authors regarding the best times for them to submit their work. This depends on conferences and workshops (many of which are genre specific) where they can regularly receive feedback and writing retreats that allow them to finish their manuscripts.

Thank you to everyone who reaches out and makes our Awards a success every year!

September is right around the corner! Don’t miss out!

Chaucer is the older brother of sorts to the other Historical Fiction divisions. Awhile back we got so many submissions to Chaucer, we had to split them up to judge them all properly. So now, Chaucer is Pre-1750 and Goethe is Post-1750.

Why do we like Johann Wolfgang von Goethe so very much? It’s simple! He’s the guy who wrapped up everything we believe in with this simple sentence:

“Whatever you can do or dream, you can begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.” – Goethe

A great mantra for writers, don’t you think!

Why 1750?

Well, many historians see that time as the start of the Early Modern Age. With Revolutions the world over, and Governmental Changes moving away from Monarchies and constitutions giving the normal people rights, not just the wealthy. And at the same time, the Industrial Revolution and Age of Enlightenment.

The Goethe Award is named for Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, famed German writer, scientist and polymath. Seen on the badge for this award, in a portrait of him in around 1775

Goethe in 1828, painted by Joseph Karl Stieler

We chose Goethe as the namesake for this award not only because we are fans of his writing. Born in 1749, his lifetime saw some of the biggest events and technological advances. Both the American and French Revolutions, the start of the Industrial Revolution in England (which started in about 1750), the invention of Steam Engines, and some of the most influential written works of history. As such, he embodies the era of Historical Fiction this award covers and beyond.

Here are some great books set during the time of the Goethe Awards!

THE SPOON: The Story of Two Families’ Survival of the Hungarian Revolution
By Lisa Voelker
Goethe Awards First Place Winner

Lisa Voelker’s historical fiction novel, The Spoon, takes us back to the 1950s in Hungary during the daring student uprising, and attempted revolution, in Buda and Pest. The author weaves historical facts with fiction in the form of family lore that has been handed down for generations.

We follow scores of people whose lives intersected during this uprising of 1956. The revolution was, at its inception, a time of joyous upheaval, but in less than two weeks became one of devastating dissolution. People fled Hungary by the thousands, but not before giving the Soviet Union a taste of their discontent.

Voelker introduces Rebeka, a member of the Varga family with old ties to the bourgeoisie, who lived a life of privilege on a farm east of Buda and Pest. As well as Peter, a member of the Turea family who attends Budapest Technical University, where students began demonstrating against the Hungarian Government that was under Soviet control.

Read more here!

EVERYTHING WE HAD: No Merciful War Book 1
By Tom Burkhalter
Series Awards First Place

Everything We Had, book one of Tom Burkhalter’s No Merciful War series is an inexorable thrill that will grip readers tight. It starts with a poker game, through which a main character’s luck soon becomes evident. But will that luck hold out?

Jack—the poker player—and Charlie—Jack’s older brother—have been separated by war, even though that war has yet to be declared. Everything We Had focuses more on the machinations leading up to US involvement in World War II than on actual combat. The gears of war that have so many young men caught in them move with gradual but inevitable force, and so Everything We Had takes a more thoughtful approach to a historic moment in time.

Connecting with the characters is a gradual process as you get to know the intricacies that make up their individual personalities. This sets the reader up to feel the emotions of the characters as they face an uncertain fate, and throughout the book the author’s clear and methodical research shines with details such as specific views, locations, and—most notably—comprehensive descriptions of the airplanes Jack and Charlie pilot. This allows the reader to become deeply familiar with the motivations of the characters and the capabilities of the airplanes they fly.

Read more here!

A SONG THAT NEVER ENDS: Hamilton Place Book 1
By Mark A. Gibson
Series Awards First Place

A Song That Never Ends, the first volume of a two part series by Mark A. Gibson, opens a dramatic fictional saga of the Hamilton family from the late 1930s Depression era, to 1967 and the Vietnam conflict. Here against the backdrop of a South Carolina tobacco farm, we come to witness a family in turmoil.

The calm and reserved Walter Hamilton and his rebellious, impulsive wife Maggie strive to build a life and raise a family. But the couple is tested by a series of misfortunes—miscarriages and stillbirths, and Walter’s enlistment during WWII leaving him with guilt-induced PTSD as he deals with the memory of fallen comrades.

At the center of this heartfelt story is James, the middle child, who at the tender age of eight is forced from his home due to a horrific accident and sent to live with a widower uncle.

Read more here!

THE BRISLING CODE
By J.L. Oakley
Hemingway First Place Winner

In The Brisling Code, a fast-paced first installment of her historical thriller series, Oakley weaves a brilliant portrayal of the perils met by the Norwegian Resistance during WWII.

Layered perspectives—from resistance workers, traitors, and even an SS Officer—create a rich world through which readers can understand the sacrifices that were made to free our world from the tyranny of Nazi Germany.

Immersed in volatile Nazi-occupied Bergen, Norway, fearless young intelligence agent Tore Haugland and his team of organizers work tirelessly to protect the essential work of the Norwegian resistance.

Read more here!

Thank you to everyone who has entered the CIBAs, with a special recognition to those who keep the past alive! Good books for young people matter!

The winners of the Dante Rossetti Awards will be announced during the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference. First-place winners receive the coveted Chanticleer Blue Ribbon, and the Grand Prize laureate commands the spotlight, epitomizing the exceptional YA Fiction genre talent.

Submit today!

The Grand Prize Winners of the 2023 Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards!
August 27, 2024
A SONG THAT NEVER ENDS: Hamilton Place Book 1 by Mark A. Gibson – Family Saga, Historical Fiction, Coming of Age

A Song That Never Ends, the first volume of a two part series by Mark A. Gibson, opens a dramatic fictional saga of the Hamilton family from the late 1930s Depression era, to 1967 and the Vietnam conflict. Here against the backdrop of a South Carolina tobacco farm, we come to witness a family in turmoil.

The calm and reserved Walter Hamilton and his rebellious, impulsive wife Maggie strive to build a life and raise a family. But the couple is tested by a series of misfortunes—miscarriages and stillbirths, and Walter’s enlistment during WWII leaving him with guilt-induced PTSD as he deals with the memory of fallen comrades.

At the center of this heartfelt story is James, the middle child, who at the tender age of eight is forced from his home due to a horrific accident and sent to live with a widower uncle.

James proves to be an extremely intelligent and talented youngster who longs for a connection to his family. In the meantime, he learns from his gracious uncle to deal with dire situations and unexpected circumstances in life, as well as the importance of having a charitable heart. Under the tutelage of this kind, caring, and nurturing man, the story begins to evolve into a coming-of-age tale.

Clearly a character driven work, author Gibson aptly weaves themes of love, loss, and resilience throughout.

Though James is unjustly relocated it ultimately proves a positive experience, spending time away from his own dysfunctional family including a depressed mother who drowns her sorrows in vitriol, a ne’er do well, self-centered brother, and a father wrapped up in his own laments. We see how the twists of life shape the character and emotions of these engaging individuals.

While the story prologue opens in 1967, the narrative quickly moves to the 1930s and subsequently keeps a steady pace as chapters move the action ahead in chronological order.

Gibson carefully places the story within its historical context by showcasing details of each passing era. Here readers will witness the struggles to provide and survive during an economic depression, and the feelings of family separation and a husband’s need to serve in WWII. Years later we see a son follow suit and get shipped off to fight an unfavorable conflict in the jungles of Vietnam. In another instance, when enthusiastic teens rebuild an old roadster, Gibson provides a solid history of stock car racing and its roots with the bragging rights of bootleggers.

Gibson keeps his audience invested up until the final moments when the closing page notes “To Be Continued…” It’s the perfect set-up for the second volume to continue with the Hamilton family saga. Whatever Gibson has in store for his readers is sure to be another well-crafted experience rich in both character and detail.

July 24, 2024
The 2023 Book Series Award WINNERS for Genre Fiction
The CIBA FICTION SERIES Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in any of our 16 Fiction Divisions where the author has written a series. The Fiction Series Book Awards is a division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (CIBAs).

Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs) is seeking for the best book series in all of its fifteen fiction divisions: Mysteries, Suspense Thrillers, Espionage/High Stakes, Young Adult, Middle-Grade Readers, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Supernatural and Paranormal, Romance, Historical Fiction.

1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners were announced at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony by Diane Garland on Saturday, April 20th, 2024 at the Four Points by Sheraton in beautiful Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

This is the OFFICIAL 2023 LIST of the SERIES BOOK AWARDS First Place Category Winners and the M&M Grand Prize Winner.

Join us in congratulating the following award-winning authors and their works in the CIBAs

Fantasy – OZMA
- John J. Spearman – FitzDuncan
Early Historical Fiction – CHAUCER
- James Hutson-Wiley – The Sugar Merchant
Late Historical Fiction – GOETHE
- Alice McVeigh – Warleigh Hall Press Jane Austen Series
20th Century Wartime Fiction – HEMINGWAY
- Tom Burkhalter – No Merciful War
Mystery – CLUE
- Dave Lager – The Ro Delahanty Novels
- Jode Millman – The Queen City Crimes Series
Americana – LARAMIE
- David Fitz-Gerald – Ghosts Along the Oregon Trail
Contemporary/Literary – SOMERSET
- Mark A. Gibson – Hamilton Place
The Grand Prize Winner for the 2023 SERIES Awards is:

Ghosts Along the Oregon Trail

by David Fitz-Gerald

You can see all of our amazing 2023 Series Finalists! Congratulations to all and thank you for submitting!

Well done climbing the CIBA Levels of Achievement!

PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!

Attn CIBA Winners: More goodies and prizes will be coming your way along with promotion in our magazine, website, and advertisements in Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards long-tail marketing strategy. Welcome to the CIBA Hall of Fame for Award Winners!

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A Note to ALL the WINNERS: The coveted CIBA Blue Ribbons will be mailed out starting in June. We will contact you with an email to verify your mailing address and other items. You will receive an OFFICIAL EMAIL NOTIFICATION with Digital Badges and more information.

NOTE: We will post at least two 2023 CIBA Divisions’ OFFICIAL Winners per business day starting April 24, 2024. We do a final sweep and reconciliation prior to making the Official CIBA Posts for the 2023 First Place and Grand Prize Winners. We thank you in advance for your patience and understanding. There are many moving parts involved with the Chanticleer International Book Awards Program.

Thank you for participating in the 2023 CIBAs! We are looking forward to reading your future entries.

The Chanticleer Team
May 7, 2024