Chanticleer Book Reviews

Author: mike-murphey

The 2023 CIBAs Grand Prize Winners for Fiction!
A Huge Congratulations to all of the 2023 Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards (CIBAs) FICTION Division Grand Prize Winners!

Every tier of the CIBAs is an important one, though few rise to be one of the coveted Division Grand Prize Winners.
- See Non-Fiction, Series, and Shorts Grand Prize Winners here!
- See the Official Overall Grand Prize winner Post here!
This post has links to each of the 16 individual CIBA FICTION Divisions’ Grand Prize and First Place Category Winners. We will have a separate post for Non-Fiction Award Winners which will include the Shorts Awards, and the Series Awards’ winners.

All First Place and Grand Prize winners were announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference at the CIBAs Ceremonies on Saturday, April 20th at the Chanticleer Banquet. It is a huge honor for us to have the opportunity to recognize all Finalists, First Place Winners, and Grand Prize Winners with you live and in-person!

One of the most memorable moments was Awarding Burl Harmon, a 100-year-old veteran, his First Place Ribbon for Military & Front Lines Non-Fiction

Let’s take a step back and look at where we came from to make this happen.

Want to join in the fun? Submit to the 2024 CIBAs today!

Now, presenting the links to the 2023 CIBA Fiction Division Awards Grand Prize Winners!

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 CYGNUS Awards for Science Fiction is:

The Shadow of War

By Timothy S. Johnston

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 OZMA Awards is:

A Vengeful Realm: The Scales of Balance, Book 1

By Tim Facciola

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 PARANORMAL Awards is:

Becoming Crone

By Lydia M. Hawke

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 GLOBAL THRILLER Awards is:

Jake Fortina and the Roman Conspiracy

By Ralph R. “Rick” Steinke

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 CLUE Awards is:

The Other Murder

By Kevin G. Chapman

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 Mystery & Mayhem Awards is:

A Haunting at Linley

by Michelle Cox

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 DANTE ROSSETTI Awards is:

Sour Flower

by Maryanne Melloan Woods

Manuscript

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 GERTRUDE WARNER Awards is:

EXOSTAR

The Lost Space Treasure Series, Book 1

by Rae Knightly

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 LITTLE PEEPS Awards is:

The Girl Who Recycled 1 Million Cans

by Shaziya M. Jaffer, Brad W. Rudover, and Jessica Alexanderson with Scrap University

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 LARAMIE Awards is:

The Last Man

by Thomas Goodman

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 CHAUCER Awards is:

The Merchant from Sepharad

by James Hutson-Wiley

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 GOETHE Awards is:

If Someday Comes

by David Calloway

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

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 CHATELAINE Book Awards is:

A Sea of Glass

by Gail Avery Halverson

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 MARK TWAIN Awards is:

Quantum Consequence:

Physics, Lust and Greed, Book 5

by Mike Murphey

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 SOMERSET Awards is:

You Can’t Fool a Mermaid

by Judy Keesler Santamaria

We have badges available starting with the Short List. If you need a digital badge reflecting your tier level, please email info@ChantiReviews.com with your division and rank, and we will send you one as soon as possible.

The 2023 CIBA Grand Prize Winners!

Make sure your Award gets the attention it deserves on Goodreads.com

In the Librarian Manual on Goodreads, you can go to your Book Edit Page — Literary Awards.

You want to list the Award for Chanticleer International Book Awards (CIBA) Winners, and be sure to include the year and what place you received. For example:

The year Long List, Short List, Semi-Finalist, Finalist, First Place, Division Grand Prize, or Overall Grand Prize Winner

Note from Goodreads: “To add a new award or edit an existing award, you’ll need help from one of our volunteer librarians or a staff member.” For assistance, post in the Goodreads Librarians Group.

Always double check that you’ve written everything correctly before posting it. The search function for Awards on Goodreads is both case and punctuation sensitive.

The Overall Grand Prize Winner for the 2023 CIBAs was Tim Facciola’s Book A Vengeful Realm: The Scales of Balance Book 1

The esteemed WRITER Magazine (founded in 1887) has repeatedly recognized the Chanticleer Authors Conference as one of the best conferences to attend and participate in for North America.
See Non-Fiction, Series, and Shorts Grand Prize Winners here!

See the Official Overall Grand Prize winner Post here!

You can see all our Amazing Finalists below:

2023 Fiction Finalists

2023 Non-Fiction Finalists

2023 Shorts and Series Finalists
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!

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 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.

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

The Chanticleer Team
May 9, 2024
The 2023 Humor and Satire Book Award WINNERS!
The Humor and Satire Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in Humor and Satire. The Humor and Satire Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).

Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring satire, humor, political ideology, parody, fantasy, and allegory or fable. We will put them to the test and choose the best among them.

1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners were announced at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony by T.K. Conklin 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 Humor and Satire BOOK AWARDS First Place Category Winners and the Humor and Satire Grand Prize Winner.

Join us in celebrating the following authors and their works in the 2023 CIBAs.
- Mike Murphey – Quantum Consequence: Physics, Lust and Greed Series, Book 5
- Eileen O’Finlan – All the Furs and Feathers
- Allyson Rice – The Key to Circus-Mom Highway
- Marco Ocram – The Awful Truth About The Herbert Quarry Affair
- Lou Dischler – The Rising
- Steven Mayfield – The Penny Mansions
- Tom Strelich – Water Memory
The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 Humor and Satire Awards is:

Quantum Consequence: Physics, Lust and Greed Series, Book 5

by Mike Murphey

You can see all of our amazing 2023 Humor & Satire Finalists here! 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!

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.

Additionally, we also post on Twitter. Chanticleer Facebook and Twitter handle is @ChantiReviews

Or click here to go directly to Chanticleer’s Twitter feed.

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 1, 2024
QUANTUM CONSEQUENCE: Physics Lust and Greed Series Book 5 by Mike Murphey – Time Travel, Action & Adventure, Satire

Quantum Consequences, the fifth book in the Physics, Lust, and Greed Series by Mike Murphy, mixes conflicts from the past, present, and future as a group of time travelers clash over the fate of multiple worlds.

Marta and Marshall have to protect Baptiste, a child living under the rule of his mother’s abusive boyfriend, Ignace Aguillard. When their friend Cecil is murdered, Baptiste inherits his money and stake in a secret governmental facility beneath the Arizona desert, the Historical Research Initiative Complex. To keep that money out of Aguillard’s hands and confirm whether Aguillard truly killed Cecil, Marta and Marshall take Baptiste to the HRI, revealing its true nature as the hub of interdimensional time travel.

Meanwhile, a team of assassins and former HRI personnel, Gillis, Lexi, and Elvin, are instructed by a future version of Lexi to kill John Dexter– Lexi’s bitter ex and future higher-up in the dystopian Christian Fundamentalist States of America. They break into the HRI, now seemingly abandoned, to figure out whether they should take the job.

But the two groups run into much greater trouble than just each other.

A paramilitary squad under the employ of Amazon, a set of AI with delusions of grandeur, and even the metaphysical custodians of the quantum corridor upon which time travel trespasses try to flex their will over the HRI. All the while, an even more mysterious force orchestrates murder and corporate-political schemes, working in the shadows of the future.

True to its name, Quantum Consequences brings together a menagerie of storylines from earlier in the series, as the characters’ time-traveling work catches up to them. This complex story is skillfully wrangled as each action echoes onward to cause problems further down the line. Marshall suffers the mistakes of cosmic bureaucracy that leave him with a body from another universe, Marta’s alternate self flees from the authorities, and John Dexter tries to guide his past self to escape from mob ties and secure his political power in the future.

This story shares its infinite universes through engaging characters and a strong sense of humor.

Even as they reckon with the power to change the past, these characters remember their human ties, joking with, protecting, and loving the people who connect them to the world. Although time travel wipes away much of their memories, enough remains for them to slowly build a sense of the greater powers at play.

This use of time travel allows author Murphey to create moments of great tension, but also hilarious coincidences and well-executed dramatic irony. The story twists in wonderful and unexpected ways as different character perspectives show readers entirely new angles on events that seemed simple at first.

Quantum Consequences will draw readers in with grounded conflicts that get to the heart of characters like Marshall, Marta, and Baptiste, then expand to otherworldly concerns with entire universes at stake, and ultimately return to see these characters confront the issues weighing on them.

An excellent mix of satire, humor, and drama breathes life into this sci-fi adventure.

Tongue-in-cheek political commentary connects the events of this strange future to those of our modern day, and though Quantum Consequences doesn’t shy away from dark subject matter in its conflicts, running jokes and ridiculous situations keep the tone light throughout.

While this comedic tone is occasionally strained by the contrast with cruel villains, it holds up very well throughout the finale. As disparate conflicts come crashing together deep in the HRI, flashes of action and vital decisions shape an ever more intense story for this series.

March 15, 2024
The 2023 Shorts Award FINALISTS for Novellas, Essays, and Collections
The Short Story Awards recognize emerging talent and outstanding works in Short Stories, Essays, and Novellas. The Short Story Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards program.

The Chanticleer International Book Awards program discovers today’s best works. The Short Stories Awards discovers the Best New Shorts in Fiction and Narrative Non-Fiction. These books have advanced to the next judging rounds. We will put them to the test and choose the best among them.

These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from the 2023 Short List to the Shorts Book Awards Finalists. All FINALISTS will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC24).

The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 25 CIBA divisions’ Finalists.

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

These titles are the FINALISTS of the 2023 Shorts Book Awards novel competition for Collections, Novellas, and Essays!

Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works in the 2023 CIBAs.
- Seán Thomas Dwyer – Tiptoeing Past the Dragon
- Miguel Angel Hernandez Jr. – Miami Vengeance: A Griffin Knight Conspiracy Mystery
- Elizabeth Chesla – You Cannot Forbid the Flower
- Celaine Charles – Stained Glass Secrets and Star Wishes
- David Joseph – I Didn’t Know What to Say, So I Just Said Thanks
- Louise Lenahan Wallace – The Windows of his Heart
- Brittany Eden – Wishes
- J. I. Rogers – The Korpes File Series – Short Stories: Vol 1
- Liese Sherwood-Fabre – The Life and Times of Sherlock Holmes, Volume 4
- D. C. Gomez – Recruited
- Miguel Angel Hernandez Jr. – The Windy City Terror: A Griffin Knight Horror Mystery
- Vali Benson – Blood and Silver
- Mary Ann Bernal – AnaRose and the Templar’s Quest
- JuJu – The Costly Wish
- Jeffrey Matthews – The Case of the Disappearing Beaune: A Sherlock Holmes Christmas Story
- Gary Baysinger – A Kind of Homecoming
- Paper Lantern Writers – Unlocked
- Scott Swanson – Philly’s Bridge And Other Northwest Stories
- Elizabeth Rau – The Good Slope
- Mack Little – Shelter in a Hostile World
Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.

PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!

This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the FB post. However, for FB 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.

Additionally, we also post on Twitter. Chanticleer Twitter’s handle is @ChantiReviews

Or click here to go directly to Chanticleer’s Twitter feed.

Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2022 SHORTS Awards is:

God, the Mafia, My Dad, and Me

by Lori Lee Peters

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2022 Short Story Awards is:

Old Man Baseball

by Mike Murphey

See the full list of Shorts 2022 Winners here (Collections and Novellas)

And Here (Short Stories and Essays)

We are now accepting submissions into the 2023 Shorts Book Awards for Romance Fiction. The 2023 CIBA winners will be announced at CAC 2024.

Please click here for more information.

Winners will be announced at the 2023 CIBA Awards Ceremony, sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference April 18-21, 2024! Register Today!

The Chanticleer Authors Conference

Featuring authors like D.D. Black, Screenwriter Kim Hornsby, book doctor Christine Fairchild, and Mark Berridge, our twelfth annual conference is shaping up to be excellent! You won’t want to miss out on the best tips around the business of being an author!

April 18-21, 2024! Register Today!

Seating is Limited. The esteemed WRITER Magazine (founded in 1887) has repeatedly recognized the Chanticleer Authors Conference as one of the best conferences to attend and participate in for North America.

Join us for our 12th annual conference and discover why!
March 14, 2024
The 2023 Shorts Award FINALISTS for Short Stories and Essays
The Short Story Awards recognize emerging talent and outstanding works in Short Stories, Essays, Novelettes, Novellas, Short Story Collections and Anthologies. The Short Story Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards program.

The Chanticleer International Book Awards program discovers today’s best works. The Short Stories Awards discovers the Best New Shorts in Fiction and Narrative Non-Fiction. These books have advanced to the next judging rounds. We will put them to the test and choose the best among them.

These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from the 2023 Short List to the Shorts Book Awards Finalists. All FINALISTS will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC24).

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

Note: These are for Short Stories and Essays. There is a separate post for Novellas, Collections, and longer Essays

These titles are the FINALISTS of the 2023 Shorts Book Awards novel competition for Collections and Anthologies!

Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works in the 2023 CIBAs.
- Catherine Brown – The Heart of Kublai Khan’s Menagerie Keeper
- Catherine Brown – Finding Namaste
- Luray Embers – No Cat Is An Island
- A.J. McCarthy – A Rock
- A.J. McCarthy – The Strike
- Brian Feutz – Pity the Peasants
- Alice McVeigh – Pride and Perjury: A Jane Austenesque short story
- Brittany Eden – Candles in the Dark from Fantasea
- Logan D. Irons – Bridge of Kings
- PJ Devlin – Sea Purses
- Susan Lynn Solomon – Sabbath
- Marie Sutro – Son Down
- Larry Sherrer – Spirit Letters
- Sharon E. Cathcart – Rose in Bloom
- S.M. Stevens – The Wallace House of Pain
- Robert S Phillips – The Great River
Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging!

PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!

This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the FB post. However, for FB 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.

Additionally, we also post on Twitter. Chanticleer Twitter’s handle is @ChantiReviews

Or click here to go directly to Chanticleer’s Twitter feed.

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2022 SHORTS Awards is:

God, the Mafia, My Dad, and Me

by Lori Lee Peters

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2022 Short Story Awards is:

Old Man Baseball

by Mike Murphey

See the full list of Shorts 2022 Winners here (Collections)

and here (Short Stories and Essays)

We are now accepting submissions into the 2023 Shorts Book Awards for Romance Fiction. The 2023 CIBA winners will be announced at CAC 2024.

Please click here for more information.

Winners will be announced at the 2023 CIBA Awards Ceremony, sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference April 18-21, 2024! Register Today!

The Chanticleer Authors Conference

Featuring authors like D.D. Black, Kim Hornsby, book doctor Christine Fairchild, and Mark Berridge, our twelfth annual conference is shaping up to be excellent! You won’t want to miss out on the best tips around the business of being an author!

Seating is Limited. The esteemed WRITER Magazine (founded in 1887) has repeatedly recognized the Chanticleer Authors Conference as one of the best conferences to attend and participate in for North America.

Join us for our 12th annual conference and discover why!
March 14, 2024
The 2023 Shorts Award Short List for Novellas, Essays, and Collections
The Short Story Awards recognize emerging talent and outstanding works in Short Stories, Essays, and Novellas. The Short Story Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards program.

The Chanticleer International Book Awards program discovers today’s best works. The Short Stories Awards discovers the Best New Shorts in Fiction and Narrative Non-Fiction. These books have advanced to the next judging rounds. We will put them to the test and choose the best among them.

These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from the 2023 Long List to the Shorts Book Awards Short List. The Short Listers will compete for the Finalist positions.

All FINALISTS will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC24).

The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 25 CIBA divisions’ Finalists.

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

These titles are in the running for the Finalists of the 2023 Shorts Book Awards novel competition for Collections, Novellas, and Essays!

Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works in the 2023 CIBAs.
- Michele L. Sayre – A Ghoulish Good Time – Tales to Make You Scream
- Seán Thomas Dwyer – Tiptoeing Past the Dragon
- Miguel Angel Hernandez Jr. – Miami Vengeance: A Griffin Knight Conspiracy Mystery
- Elizabeth Chesla – You Cannot Forbid the Flower
- David Joseph – I Didn’t Know What to Say, So I Just Said Thanks
- Louise Lenahan Wallace – The Windows of his Heart
- Brittany Eden – Wishes
- J. I. Rogers – The Korpes File Series – Short Stories: Vol 1
- Liese Sherwood-Fabre – The Life and Times of Sherlock Holmes, Volume 4
- D. C. Gomez – Recruited
- Miguel Angel Hernandez Jr. – The Windy City Terror: A Griffin Knight Horror Mystery
- Vali Benson – Blood and Silver
- Mary Ann Bernal – AnaRose and the Templar’s Quest
- JuJu – The Costly Wish
- Jeffrey Matthews – The Case of the Disappearing Beaune: A Sherlock Holmes Christmas Story
- Elizabeth R. Jensen – Fire and Wolves: A Tale of Etria
- Ekta R. Garg – The Truth About Elves
- Gary Baysinger – A Kind of Homecoming
- Paper Lantern Writers – Unlocked
- Celaine Charles – Stained Glass Secrets and Star Wishes
- Scott Swanson – Philly’s Bridge And Other Northwest Stories
- Turtle – A Grading of the Human Species
- Laurie Stevens – The Devil and Daniela Webster
- Mack Little – Shelter in a Hostile World
Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.

PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!

This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the FB post. However, for FB 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.

Additionally, we also post on Twitter. Chanticleer Twitter’s handle is @ChantiReviews

Or click here to go directly to Chanticleer’s Twitter feed.

Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2022 SHORTS Awards is:

God, the Mafia, My Dad, and Me

by Lori Lee Peters

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2022 Short Story Awards is:

Old Man Baseball

by Mike Murphey

See the full list of Shorts 2022 Winners here (Collections and Novellas)

And Here (Short Stories and Essays)

We are now accepting submissions into the 2023 Shorts Book Awards for Romance Fiction. The 2023 CIBA winners will be announced at CAC 2024.

Please click here for more information.

Winners will be announced at the 2023 CIBA Awards Ceremony sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

Winners will be announced at the 2023 CIBA Awards Ceremony, sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference April 18-21, 2024! Register Today!

The Chanticleer Authors Conference

Featuring authors like D.D. Black, book doctor Christine Fairchild, and Mark Berridge, our twelfth annual conference is shaping up to be excellent! You won’t want to miss out on the best tips around the business of being an author!

Seating is Limited. The esteemed WRITER Magazine (founded in 1887) has repeatedly recognized the Chanticleer Authors Conference as one of the best conferences to attend and participate in for North America.

Join us for our 12th annual conference and discover why!
February 12, 2024
The 2023 Shorts Award Short List for Short Stories and Essays
The Short Story Awards recognize emerging talent and outstanding works in Short Stories, Essays, Novelettes, Novellas, Short Story Collections and Anthologies. The Short Story Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards program.

The Chanticleer International Book Awards program discovers today’s best works. The Short Stories Awards discovers the Best New Shorts in Fiction and Narrative Non-Fiction. These books have advanced to the next judging rounds. We will put them to the test and choose the best among them.

These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from the 2023 Long List to the Shorts Book Awards SHORT LIST. Entries below are now in competition for the 2023 Semi-Finalist positions. Finalists will be selected from the Semi-Finalists. All FINALISTS will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC24). The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 25 CIBA divisions’ Finalists.

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

Note: These are for Short Stories and Essays. There is a separate post for Novellas, Collections, and longer Essays

These titles are in the running to be Semi-Finalists of the 2023 Shorts Book Awards novel competition for Collections and Anthologies!

Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works in the 2023 CIBAs.
- Catherine Brown – The Heart of Kublai Khan’s Menagerie Keeper
- Catherine Brown – Finding Namaste
- Luray Embers – No Cat Is An Island
- A.J. McCarthy – A Rock
- A.J. McCarthy – The Strike
- Brian Feutz – Pity the Peasants
- Alice McVeigh – Pride and Perjury: A Jane Austenesque short story
- Brittany Eden – Candles in the Dark from Fantasea
- Logan D. Irons – Bridge of Kings
- Sallie Barr Palmer – Conversation with a Vampire
- Susan Lynn Solomon – Sabbath
- Marie Sutro – Son Down
- Larry Sherrer – Spirit Letters
- PJ Devlin – Sea Purses
- Morgan Sloan – The Awakening
- Sharon E. Cathcart – Rose in Bloom
- S.M. Stevens – The Wallace House of Pain
- Robert S Phillips – The Great River
- George T. Arnold – Confession of a “Grammarholic”
Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging!

PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!

This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the FB post. However, for FB 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.

Additionally, we also post on Twitter. Chanticleer Twitter’s handle is @ChantiReviews

Or click here to go directly to Chanticleer’s Twitter feed.

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2022 SHORTS Awards is:

God, the Mafia, My Dad, and Me

by Lori Lee Peters

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2022 Short Story Awards is:

Old Man Baseball

by Mike Murphey

See the full list of Shorts 2022 Winners here (Collections)

and here (Short Stories and Essays)

We are now accepting submissions into the 2023 Shorts Book Awards for Romance Fiction. The 2023 CIBA winners will be announced at CAC 2024.

Please click here for more information.

Winners will be announced at the 2023 CIBA Awards Ceremony, sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference April 18-21, 2024! Register Today!

The Chanticleer Authors Conference

Featuring authors like D.D. Black, book doctor Christine Fairchild, and Mark Berridge, our twelfth annual conference is shaping up to be excellent! You won’t want to miss out on the best tips around the business of being an author!

Seating is Limited. The esteemed WRITER Magazine (founded in 1887) has repeatedly recognized the Chanticleer Authors Conference as one of the best conferences to attend and participate in for North America.

Join us for our 12th annual conference and discover why!
February 8, 2024
Don’t have time for a full book? The Shorts Awards Hall of Fame has Something for Everyone! Submissions Open Now!

Short and Sweet? We want your prose today!

The Shorts Awards are here to bring you excellence in Novellas, Story Collections, or Individual Short Stories and Essays

***Got a Short to Share?***

You’ve got until August 31st to share your Stories with us and Enter the 2023 CIBAs!

For Short Prose and Collections

Join us as we delve into the Hall of Fame for Grand Prize Winners of the Shorts Awards – a realm where short fiction goes beyond genre. Starting in with the 2021 winners while the reviews for 2022 are processed!

New York: Give Me Your Best or Your Worst
By Elizabeth Crowens

Prepare to be carried away to bustling, vivacious streets as you read Elizabeth Crowens’ New York: Give Me Your Best or Your Worst.

This captivating literary anthology is a love letter to the great city from a group of brilliant artists and authors, which delves into the multifaceted lives of New Yorkers.

Short fiction and a few poems describe the ins and outs of New York living. Murder mysteries, revenge, family struggles, family sagas, and, of course, the most important questions regarding real estate. Finding the perfect place to live in the city may be difficult, but this story brings into vivid relief the heart of what makes New York special: the people.

Read More Here

Homegoing
By Toni Ann Johnson

Homegoing by Toni Ann Johnson is an intimate portrait of a middle-aged African-American woman dragging herself hand over hand out of grief and despair.

This story begins with her aching, echoing pain after the one-two punch of a miscarriage and the dissolution of her marriage. Her journey takes her back to the upper-middle-class white suburb where she grew up, through childhood memories that refuse to be denied and to, of all times and places, a funeral.

Something and someone is supposed to be buried. Certainly the deceased. But quite possibly the woman who has held on to her losses and her grudges long enough to poison her own future.

Read More Here

Savonne, Not Vonny
By Robin Lee Lovelace

Robin Lee Lovelace evokes a world in which the mystical intertwines with the everyday in Savonne, Not Vonny, a coming-of-age story set in rural Louisiana.

Nine-year-old Savonne lives in a small room at the back of Mama Gwen’s whorehouse, in Indianapolis in the ’60s. Her mama is one of the working girls, and her father is Mama Gwen’s own son. Savonne’s daddy dotes on her, and Mama Gwen loves Savonne like the daughter she never had; the two of them together make a loving home for Savonne, in the midst of their raucous brothel.

By contrast, Savonne’s birth mother rarely pays her any mind. A “crazy-ass woman” with a temper “as hot as a Mississippi afternoon,” Coco is not at all opposed to beating the bejesus out of someone. In a fury one night, she does something that cannot be undone, and in her headlong flight out of town, she takes Savonne with her.

Read More Here

A Week at Surfside Beach
By Pierce Koslosky Jr.

Vacationers from all walks of life converge on Portofino II-317C, South Carolina, a quaint blue beach house, in Pierce Koslosky Jr.’s short story collection, A Week at Surfside Beach.

From May 30th-December 26th each group of people comes to stay one week at a time, to forget their cares of the big city, to work, to celebrate, or to simply get away. Surfside Beach has much to show them, including temperamental weather.

The small town itself offers a charming supermarket where fishing supplies, whoopie pies, and local southern favorites can be found. The Christmas vacationers, the final of the thirteen beach house renters, struggle to find a tree in time; a real tree simply wouldn’t allow enough space for the family to sleep, and the fake tree would cost too much. But they find arts and crafts supplies in town, to fashion a paper Christmas tree during a day of rainy weather.

Read More Here

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2022 SHORTS Awards for Collections is:

God, the Mafia, My Dad, and Me

by Lori Lee Peters

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2022 SHORTS Awards for Short Stories is:

Old Man Baseball

by Mike Murphey

You can see the full list of winners for longer work here and for shorter work here.

Now that you’re set on your next reads, what are you waiting for? The only way to join this amazing list of Shorts Winners is to submit today!

Those who submit and advance will have the chance to win the Overall Grand Prize of the CIBAs and $1000!

Be Part of the Legacy: Join the Illustrious Roster of Winners

As the deadline for the 2023 Shorts Awards approaches, we extend our heartfelt congratulations to all the exceptional achievers who have come before.

Seeking avenues for your non-fiction prowess? Explore all our Divisions that provide platforms for various genres and styles.

With over $30,000 in rewards and prizes given away every year, what are you waiting for? Submit today!

The Grand Prize Winners of the 2022 Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards!

August 18, 2023
Spotlight on the 2023 Shorts Awards, a Division of the CIBAs!

Times is short, and maybe your prose is too!

The Shorts Awards close at the end of August!

Submit your work by 8/31/23

“Short stories are tiny windows into other worlds and other minds and other dreams. They are journeys you can make to the far side of the universe and still be back in time for dinner.”
― Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman

The Shorts Awards: Celebrating the Power of Concise Storytelling

The Shorts Awards, one of our newer divisions, have quickly become a cherished space for recognizing and celebrating the magic of short prose. While initially limited to fiction, the overwhelming demand from our authors prompted us to also embrace short non-fiction. As always, our commitment to meeting authors’ needs remains unwavering, and we’re thrilled to provide this platform for their literary achievements.

Short Prose: Where Seeds of Creativity Flourish

Short prose serves as both a starting point and a catalyst for literary journeys. It offers emerging writers a brilliant entryway to the world of publishing, allowing them to introduce their unique voices to readers. These brief narratives can often ignite the spark for larger projects, as exemplified by Robin Lee Lovelace’s Savonne Not Vonny, a hint of what was to come with her captivating collection A Wild Region. Lovelace’s brilliantly weird and magical tales tales of wonder and enchantment blossomed from the seed of short fiction.

Robin Lee Lovelace with her excellent fiction

Whether it’s mystery, romance, science fiction, or fantasy, short stories can transport readers across a spectrum of emotions and genres. This concise format becomes a canvas for authors to explore diverse themes and experiment with various narrative styles. Just as Karen Russell’s wonderful School for Girls Raised by Wolves provides the a launch point for her acclaimed novel Swamplandia short fiction often serves as the fertile ground where authors sow the seeds of larger tales.

Capturing Moments, Echoing Emotions

The succinct nature of short stories allows readers to hold an entire world in their hearts with a single reading. As Paolo Bacigalupi aptly noted, short fiction delivers targeted narratives—vivid hand grenades of ideas that explode in the reader’s mind, leaving an indelible mark. The brevity enables authors to encapsulate specific moments, emotions, and characters, resulting in stories that linger and provoke reflection. Indeed, while longer works may scatter across memory, short prose remains vivid and focused.

“Short fiction seems more targeted – hand grenades of ideas, if you will. When they work, they hit, they explode, and you never forget them. Long fiction feels more like atmosphere: it’s a lot smokier and less defined.”

― Paolo Bacigalupi

Paolo Bacigalupi

Evolving Ideas, Inspiring Creativity

The evolution of ideas often commences in the realms of short fiction. Authors nurture fledgling concepts within these concise narratives, which may eventually flourish into extensive novels or novellas. The transformation of small tales into grand sagas speaks to the inherent power of short stories as seeds that germinate into larger, more intricate narratives.

The Shorts Awards shine a spotlight on talented authors who are forging their paths through short prose. This division acts as a stepping stone for emerging writers, enabling them to connect with readers and gain recognition. Stories birthed within this realm can be the catalyst for a writer’s creative journey, ultimately leading to the exploration of diverse storytelling forms.

As Ezra Pound once said, “Poetry is a sort of inspired mathematics.” In a similar vein, short fiction celebrates the art of crafting narratives with precision, each word chosen with care and intention. The Shorts Awards showcase this brilliance, highlighting the power of brevity to ignite imagination, evoke emotions, and leave lasting impressions. Whether through fiction or non-fiction, these stories showcase the beauty of concise storytelling that resonates deeply within us.

Discover the Short Treasures

We invite you to explore the Shorts Awards section and immerse yourself in the world of captivating short stories and essays. Engage with these tales, share your experiences, and celebrate the remarkable journey that unfolds within each succinct narrative. We’re delighted to be able to recognize the excellent short stories, essays, novellas, and collections that come through these Awards. Sometimes, the little things really do matter the most.

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2022 SHORTS Awards for Collections and Anthologies was: God, the Mafia, My Dad, and Me by Lori Lee Peters

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2022 SHORTS Awards for Short Stories and Essays was Old Man Baseball by Mike Murphey

Reviews of each of these titles are forthcoming, and you can see the full list of Shorts Awards Winners here and here.

All the 2022 Grand Prize Winners are pictured below! See them all here.

Join the Grand Prize Winners and submit today!

Join the amazing CIBA Winners today!

August 10, 2023
The 2022 CIBAs Grand Prize Winners for Non-Fiction, Shorts, and Series!
A Huge Congratulations to all of the Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards (CIBAs) Division Non-Fiction, Book Series, and SHORTS Grand Prize Winners!

Every tier of the CIBAs is an important one, though few rise to be one of the coveted Division Grand Prize Winners.
- See all Fiction Grand Prize Winners here
- See the Overall Grand Prize Winner here
All First Place and Grand Prize winners were announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference at the CIBAs Ceremonies on Saturday, April 29th at the Chanticleer Banquet. We have a separate post for Fiction, the Shorts Awards, and the Series Awards.

Now let’s take a step back and look at where we came from to make this happen.

Want to join in the fun? Submit to the 2023 CIBAs today!

Now, presenting the Non-Fiction Awards Grand Prize Winners!

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2022 I&I Awards is:

Emotional Magnetism

by Sandy Gerber

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2022 NELLIE BLY Awards is:

Saints & Soldiers

by Rita Katz

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2022 HARVEY CHUTE Awards is:

Reconfigurement

by E. Alan Fleischauer

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2022 MIND & SPIRIT Awards is:

A Sky of Infinite Blue

By Kyomi O’Connor

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2022 HEARTEN Awards is:

Inner Trek
– a reluctant pilgrim to the Himalayas

By Mohan Ranga Rao

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2022 MILITARY & FRONT LINE Awards is:

Lost in Beirut: A True Story of Love, Loss, and War

by Ashe & Magdalena Stevens

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2022 JOURNEY Awards is:

A Fraction Stronger

by Mark Berridge

Now, presenting the Shorts & Series Awards Grand Prize Winners!

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2022 SHORTS Awards for Collections and Anthologies is:

God, the Mafia, My Dad, and Me

by Lori Lee Peters

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2022 SHORTS Awards for Short Stories and Essays is:

Old Man Baseball

by Mike Murphey

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2022 SERIES Awards is:

The Curtis Jefferson Series

by Vince Bailey

We have badges available starting with the Short List. If you need a digital badge reflecting your tier level, please email info@ChantiReviews.com with your division and rank, and we will send you one as soon as possible.

The 2022 Grand Prize Winners!

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.

To ALL the WINNERS: You will receive an OFFICIAL EMAIL NOTIFICATION with Digital Badges and more information.

Grand Prize Division Winners will receive a customized digital badge. When we receive it from our graphic artist, we will also post here and in the Grand Prize Division Winners Official Posting.

Thank you for participating in the 2022 CIBAs! We are looking forward to reading your future entries.

Team Chanticleer

Make sure your Award gets the attention it deserves on Goodreads.com

In the Librarian Manual on Goodreads, you can go to your Book Edit Page — Literary Awards.

You want to list the Award for Chanticleer International Book Awards (CIBA) Winners, and be sure to include the year and what place you received. For example:

The year Long List, Short List, Semi-Finalist, Finalist, First Place, Division Grand Prize, or Overall Grand Prize Winner

Note from Goodreads: “To add a new award or edit an existing award, you’ll need help from one of our volunteer librarians or a staff member.” For assistance, post in the Goodreads Librarians Group.

Always double check that you’ve written everything correctly before posting it. The search function for Awards on Goodreads is both case and punctuation sensitive.

The Overall Grand Prize Winner for the 2022 CIBAs

was Michelle Cox’s Book A Spying Eye

The esteemed WRITER Magazine (founded in 1887) has repeatedly recognized the Chanticleer Authors Conference as one of the best conferences to attend and participate in for North America.
See all Fiction Grand Prize Winners here

See the Overall Grand Prize Winner here
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.

Additionally, we also post on Twitter. Chanticleer Facebook and Twitter handle is @ChantiReviews

Or click here to go directly to Chanticleer’s Twitter feed.

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.

To ALL the WINNERS: You will receive an OFFICIAL EMAIL NOTIFICATION with Digital Badges and more information.

Grand Prize Division Winners will receive a customized digital badge. When we receive it from our graphic artist, we will also post here and in the Grand Prize Division Winners Official Posting.

Thank you for participating in the 2022 CIBAs! We are looking forward to reading your future entries.

Team Chanticleer
May 22, 2023