Celebrating the Twelve Days of Christmas – One Day at a Time
“But Jiminy Crickets, it’s after December 25th! Is it not too late for the 12 Days of Christmas?” you say.
Not to fear, Chanticleerians! The 12 Days of Christmas begins on December 26th! And it continues to the 6th of January – Three Kings Day. The four weeks leading up to Christmas are known as Advent.
Some say that December 25th is the first day of Christmas, but we are going with the medieval date of the 26th because revelry could not take place on the 25th as it was a holy day. And the Twelve Days of Christmas is about revelry!
So if you haven’t finished wrapping presents, sending out those cards, and baking cookies—don’t worry—you’ve got an extra 12 days!
Happy Holidays to You from the Chanticleer Team!
On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Nine Ladies Dancing
Eight Maids A-Milking
Seven Swans A-Swimming
Six Geese A-Laying
Five Golden Rings
Four Calling Birds
Three French hens (Chanticleer’s favorite #justsaying)
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree
On the Ninth Day of Christmas, Chanticleer brings to me…
Nine SEO Boosts!
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. When you purchase an Editorial Review from Chanticleer, we do our best to keep up with all the latest trends that ensure your book is picked up by search engines like Google.
Key Word Optimization: We choose a word or phrase that is most likely to lead to your book, usually your title.
Excerpt Optimization that utilizes your keyword.
Title Optimization for the length of our review title as it appears in search engines.
Promoted in our Newsletter and Social Media.
Sentence Optimization: We make sure all reviews use the appropriate number of words to best improve their Flesch reading score.
Use of transitions between thoughts.
Heading Optimization: We use our blurbs to stand out in describing your book while also showing search engines what’s most important to pick up.
Tagging.
Links to the Author’s website, an Amazon Sales Page, and to our Local Village Books’ sale page for your book if it’s available through Ingram.
Editorial Reviews are powerful tools that are only limited by imagination! Don’t let your book go undiscovered! You can learn more about SEO here.
Celebrating the Twelve Days of Christmas – One Day at a Time
“But Jiminy Crickets, it’s after December 25th! Is it not too late for the 12 Days of Christmas?” you say.
Not to fear, Chanticleerians! The 12 Days of Christmas begins on December 26th! And it continues to the 6th of January – Three Kings Day. The four weeks leading up to Christmas are known as Advent.
Some say that December 25th is the first day of Christmas, but we are going with the medieval date of the 26th because revelry could not take place on the 25th as it was a holy day. And the Twelve Days of Christmas is about revelry!
So if you haven’t finished wrapping presents, sending out those cards, and baking cookies—don’t worry—you’ve got an extra 12 days!
Happy Holidays to You from the Chanticleer Team!
On the Eighth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Eight Maids A-Milking
Seven Swans A-Swimming
Six Geese A-Laying
Five Golden Rings
Four Calling Birds
Three French hens (Chanticleer’s favorite #justsaying)
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree
On the Eighth Day of Christmas, Chanticleer brings to me…
Eight Writing Craft Books
On The Roost we’ve started a Writing Craft Book Group that reads and discusses books specifically on writing craft. While the information from book to book can repeat a little bit, the conversation is always excellent.
A rough estimate of the number of writing craft books available
Let us know if you have a book group that helps inform your writing life!
Celebrating the Twelve Days of Christmas – One Day at a Time
“But Jiminy Crickets, it’s after December 25th! Is it not too late for the 12 Days of Christmas?” you say.
Not to fear, Chanticleerians! The 12 Days of Christmas begins on December 26th! And it continues to the 6th of January – Three Kings Day. The four weeks leading up to Christmas are known as Advent.
Some say that December 25th is the first day of Christmas, but we are going with the medieval date of the 26th because revelry could not take place on the 25th as it was a holy day. And the Twelve Days of Christmas are about revelry!
So if you haven’t finished wrapping presents, sending out those cards, and baking cookies—don’t worry—you’ve got an extra 5 days!
Happy Holidays to You from the Chanticleer Team!
On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Seven Swans A-Swimming
Six Geese A-Laying
Five Golden Rings
Four Calling Birds
Three French hens (Chanticleer’s favorite #justsaying)
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree
Seven Swans A-Swimming by Carolyn Bell
International Holiday Traditions – The Seventh Day of Christmas is also known as New Year’s Day!
Kiffer’s family tradition (Southern U.S.) is to eat Hoppin’ John on New Year’s Day. Eating black-eyed peas, pork, greens (kale or spinach), and cornbread
for good luck, health, peace, and prosperity in the new year.
In Japan, people welcome the new year with a bowl of soba noodles made from buckwheat. The noodles symbolize longevity and the buckwheat resilience.
In Italy, people wear red underwear on the first day of the new year to bring good luck.
Walloon (Belgium) and Flemish (Netherlands) farmers wish their livestock a happy new year along with extra feed or treats.
And people go for a dip in freezing cold water around the world —brrrrrr—polar bear plunges!
What do you do to celebrate New Year’s Day?
On the Seventh Day of Christmas, Chanticleer brings to me…
Seven Tiers of Achievement
While winning an Award always feels amazing, one of the best parts about signing up for a Book Award Program is the long-tail digital marketing that comes with it. What do we mean by that?
Every time your book advances in our Awards, we post about it on our website, on our social media, and in our newsletter. This puts your name and your book out in front of thousands of people, and it tells search engines that you’re doing something right. Being discoverable is key as more and more books are published every year. You can see our Book Awards Program here and submit today!
Celebrating the Twelve Days of Christmas – One Day at a Time
“But Jiminy Crickets, it’s after December 25th! Is it not too late for the 12 Days of Christmas?” you say.
Not to fear, Chanticleerians! The 12 Days of Christmas begins on December 26th! And it continues to the 6th of January – Three Kings Day. The four weeks leading up to Christmas are known as Advent.
Some say that December 25th is the first day of Christmas, but we are going with the medieval date of the 26th because revelry could not take place on the 25th as it was a holy day. And the Twelve Days of Christmas are about revelry!
So if you haven’t finished wrapping presents, sending out those cards, and baking cookies—don’t worry—you’ve got an extra 6 days!
Happy Holidays to You from the Chanticleer Team!
On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Six Geese A-Laying
Five Golden Rings
Four Calling Birds
Three French hens (Chanticleer’s favorite #justsaying)
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree
International Christmas Traditions – The Sixth Day of Christmas is also known as New Year’s Eve!
Brazil – Everyone in Brazil wears white on Christmas Eve for good luck and peace!
Japan – Shogatsu or visiting a local temple to exchange last year’s lucky charms for new ones.
Denmark – At midnight, Danes will jump off a chair or sofa to literally jump into the new year. It is considered good luck to do so!
Various countries: Eating lucky foods is tradition on New Year’s Eve
The French usher in the New Year with a stack of pancakes.
In the Netherlands, people eat doughnuts and ring-shaped foods.
In Spain, Portugal, and much of Latin America, for example, it’s 12 grapes or raisins, and in Italy, 12 spoonfuls of lentils—one with each of the 12 chimes of the clock at midnight.
What are your good luck traditions for New Year’s Eve?
On the Sixth Day of Christmas, Chanticleer brings to me…
Six Beta Readers!
Beta Readers are crucial to understanding your book better. Like an MOV, Beta Readers are helpful once you have finished your book and are happy with what you’ve written (often two or three drafts in). They will help you spot any plot holes and inconsistencies in your work. The best Beta Readers give you a little feedback on your work that goes beyond “I liked it,” and they are frequently not writers themselves, but test subjects in your target audience.
Celebrating the Twelve Days of Christmas – One Day at a Time
“But Jiminy Crickets, it is the 28th of December! Is it not too late for the 12 Days of Christmas?” you say.
Not to fear, Chanticleerians! The 12 Days of Christmas begins on December 26th! And it continues to the 6th of January – Three Kings Day. The four weeks leading up to Christmas is known as the Advent.
Some say that December 25th is the first day of Christmas, but we are going with the medieval date of the 26th because revelry could not take place on the 25th as it was a holy day. And the Twelve Days of Christmas is about revelry!
So if you haven’t finished wrapping presents, sending out those cards, and baking cookies—don’t worry—you’ve got an extra seven days!
Happy Holidays to You from the Chanticleer Team!
On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Five Golden Rings
Four Calling Birds
Three French hens (Chanticleer’s favorite #justsaying)
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree
Not one ring to bind them in this case.
Of course, there is another age-old interpretation of the Five Golden Rings is that they refer to five ring-necked birds such as Ring-necked Pheasants or the European Goldfinches in keeping with the bird theme of the song.
International Christmas Traditions – Portugal
A Portuguese Christmas tradition is that small groups of people will go door to door in their neighborhoods singing songs. Usually the singers are accompanied by instruments. Sometimes they are in traditional dress, sometimes not. They typically open with a song to ask the resident for food and/or drink, and then continue about the birth of Jesus, good wishes for a happy new year, and for drinks and treats. If a resident doesn’t treat the singers well or refuses to open his door, they may sing songs jokingly mocking them. If the singers are treated well, they will sing about how handsome and beautiful the hosts are and how generous and nice they are.
The troubadouring does not take place until after Christmas Day and continues on to Three Kings Day also known as Epiphany.
On the Fifth Day of Christmas, Chanticleer brings to me…
Five First Place Blue Ribbons!
Generally, we only offer 5 of our coveted First Place Blue Ribbons per division, with one person going on to win the Overall Grand Prize.
There are 25 Book Award Divisions offered at Chanticleer, with genre divisions for Fiction and Non-Fiction as well as Series Awards and Shorts Awards. All our Divisions are soon to be open for 2023! Submit today!
Celebrating the Twelve Days of Christmas – One Day at a Time – Day Four
“But Jiminy Crickets, it’s after December 25th! Is it not too late for the 12 Days of Christmas?” you say.
Not to fear, Chanticleerians! The 12 Days of Christmas begins on December 26th! And it continues to the 6th of January – Three Kings Day. The four weeks leading up to Christmas are known as Advent.
Some say that December 25th is the first day of Christmas, but we are going with the medieval date of the 26th because revelry could not take place on the 25th as it was a holy day. And the Twelve Days of Christmas is about revelry!
So if you haven’t finished wrapping presents, sending out those cards, and baking cookies—don’t worry—you’ve got an extra 8 days!
Happy Holidays to You from the Chanticleer Team!
On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Four Calling Birds
Three French hens (Chanticleer’s favorite #justsaying)
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree
Four Calling Birds — I couldn’t resist – Kiffer
Four Calling Birds were also known as Four Colly Birds aka Blackbirds, an English Thrush.
International Christmas Traditions – Germany
Ski-jumping tournaments start in Oberstdorf, Allgau, Germany on December 29th! Vierschanzen Tournee is where the 50 qualified ski jumpers compete against each other in one on one duels. The competition is held at four different times on four different hills culminating on Three Kings Day. Click here to learn more about this gravity defeating sport.
On the Fourth Day of Christmas, Chanticleer brings to me…
Four Days of Workshops
The Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC) is the marquee annual event we hostfeaturing best-selling authors and top industry professionals and editors alike. The focus of CAC23 is always on the business of authorship, with Masterclasses on Thursday and panels and speakers on the following three days. Our dates for 2023 are April 27-30 at the beautiful Hotel Bellwether right on Bellingham Bay.
Early Bird Prices are in effect through the end of December. Register today and find out why 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.
Celebrating the Twelve Days of Christmas – One Day at a Time
“But Jiminy Crickets, it is the 28th of December! Is it not too late for the 12 Days of Christmas?” you say.
Not to fear, Chanticleerians! The 12 Days of Christmas begins on December 26th! And it continues to the 6th of January – Three Kings Day. The four weeks leading up to Christmas is known as the Advent.
Some say that December 25th is the first day of Christmas, but we are going with the medieval date of the 26th because revelry could not take place on the 25th as it was a holy day. And the Twelve Days of Christmas is about revelry!
So if you haven’t finished wrapping presents, sending out those cards, and baking cookies—don’t worry—you’ve got an extra 10 days!
Happy Holidays to You from the Chanticleer Team!
On the third day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Three French hens (Chanticleer’s favorite #justsaying)
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree
Three French Hens by Kate Chidley
The Three French Hens represent Faith, Hope, and Charity.
In France, it is tradition to have thirteen desserts (Les Treize) desserts at the Le Reveillon—Christmas Eve Dinner that begins about 8 p.m. and continues until well past midnight. Desserts may consist of Buche de Noel, cookie assortments (each different kind counts), nougats, candied fruits, nuts, and so on.
On the Third Day of Christmas, Chanticleer brings to me…
Three Editorial Services
Line Editing
If your story still has developmental issues (dialogue, plotting, character development, etc.), your work would benefit from a Line Edit. Line Editing is a line-by-line edit to make sure that each sentence pushes the story forward and creates just the right amount of pacing and tension. Each and every word should count! This is a collaborative edit that is done with the author in approximate chunks of seventy pages at a time.
Copy Editing
A Style Sheet Guide is created that is the basis of your story bible. A Style Sheet Guide will ensure that your characters’ names, place names, conventions (examples are: Happy Christmas instead of Merry Christmas or blond or blonde or using kilometers instead of miles), jargon, pet names, time frame, and more — the attention to detail that will set your work apart from the fray.
Proofreading
A proof read with a third set of fresh eyes is the final reading to catch the inevitable typos and glitches.
Why Take the Time for all these services?
No one knows a book like their author, and still, it’s crucial to have multiple sets of eyes on the work. Chanticleer’s Editorial Services are competitively priced, and can help take your book to the next level needed for publication or querying agents and publishers.
Celebrating the Twelve Days of Christmas – A Day at a Time
“But Jiminy Crickets, it is the 27th of December! Is it not too late for the 12 Days of Christmas?” you say.
Not to fear, Chanticleerians! The 12 Days of Christmas begins on December 26th! And it continues to the 6th of January – Three Kings Day. The four weeks leading up to Christmas is known as the Advent.
Some say that December 25th is the first day of Christmas, but we are going with the medieval date of the 26th because revelry could not take place on the 25th as it was a holy day. And the Twelve Days of Christmas is about revelry!
So if you haven’t finished wrapping presents, sending out those cards, and baking cookies—don’t worry—you’ve got an extra 11 days!
The second day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree
Two Turtle Doves are a representation of love and loyalty and friendship.
Which brings us to why in Japan, Christmas is considered the holiday for lovers (rather than family time). Couples plan romantic dates, special dinners out, and engagement promises.
Click on the link below to enjoy PENTONIX’s version of The Twelve Days of Christmas. Pentatonix is a fabulous international a cappello singing group.
Happy Holidays to You from the Chanticleer Team!
On the Second Day of Christmas, Chanticleer brings to me…
Two Essential Reviews
Editorial Reviews
Everyone knows about the Editorial Review. It’s best to start submitting for these once your book is at the Proofreading stage, and once you have a publication date in mind. These are powerful tools filled with blurbs that you can use to market your work.
Of course, the Editorial Review should go on your book’s Amazon page, and every blurb you can pull out can be put everywhere else your book should be marketed. Those different blurbs should appear here at a minimum:
Your website
Goodreads
Barnes & Noble
Beyond that, you can post to places like StoryGraph, and you can use each blurb as a new post on social media. The reason you rotate your blurbs is to make them always feel fresh and engaging to the audience who follows you. The Review can also be used in publishing packets, press releases, and any other way you can imagine!
Manuscript Overviews
Less well-known, the Manuscript Overview (MOV) provides a birds-eye view of your work. This service catches plotholes, character inconsistencies, and those big ideas that authors need feedback on once they feel confident in the story as a whole. The best part is the way a MOV can save authors time and money in the long run by helping them to create the most polished work they can before turning to the next round of editing services.
Stay Tuned for the Third Day of Christmas, and Happy Holidays to all!
Yes, just like the well-known Christmas Carol, we have our own version! For these twelve days, we’ll share a bit of our Chanticleer wisdom and cheer with you!
“But Jiminy Crickets, it is the 26th of December! Is it not too late for the 12 Days of Christmas?” you say.
Not to fear, Chanticleerians! The 12 Days of Christmas begins on December 26th! And it continues to the 6th of January – Three Kings Day. The four weeks leading up to Christmas is known as the Advent.
So if you haven’t finished wrapping presents, sending out those cards, and baking cookies—don’t worry—you’ve got an extra 12 days!
Some say the Twelve Days tradition is wishing good luck and cheer for each of the following months in the new year.
Others say the first six of the days are to pay homage to the previous year and six of the days that are in the new year bringing hope and glad tidings for coming times.
The Twelve Days of Christmas would be a welcome break for those who worked the land.
The twelve days of Christmas run from December 26th until January 6th (Three Kings Day).
If you are singing the song, and you miss or mess up a verse, you owe your opponent (the person singing the round before you a kiss or a sweet treat or grant a favor).
On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me a partridge in a pear tree.
Happy Holidays to You from the Chanticleer Team!
On the First Day of Christmas, Chanticleer brings to me…
One Curated Online Community!
We’re immensely proud of The Roost, a place where any Partridge in a Pear Tree would be happy to make its nest. In thinking about our authors, we have The Roost set up for weekly write-ins, discussions of Writing Craft Books, as well as advice on the Author’s Journey.
Couple this with access to authors at all stages of the writing journey, and you have a powerhouse community that isn’t dependent on an outside social media site that might suddenly take a downward turn.
Writing might seem like a solitary activity, but it is truly done in community. Whether you find that in The Roost or elsewhere, we’re happy to share some space in your life!
Stay Tuned for the Second Day of Christmas, and Happy Holidays to all!
And for our weekly informative posts on writing craft, marketing, book promotion, and more.
There is a beautiful Icelander holiday tradition that we are quite fond of here at Chanticleer.
The small Nordic island, with a population of only 329,000 people, is extraordinarily literary. They love to read and write. According to Rosie Goldsmith of the BBC, “The country has more writers, more books published and more books read, per head, than anywhere else in the world.”
Many Icelanders give books as Christmas gifts as part of Jolabokaflod, and from Christmas Eve until the New Year there is an unspoken reading frenzy.
Iceland’s National Treasures And High Literacy Rate
Icelanders are obsessed with preserving their language. You will find that the bestselling teen novels –Twilight, Harry Potter, Hunger Games, etc. – have all been translated to Icelandic.
Books and literacy are huge in Icelandic culture. To properly understand it, you have to realize that our national treasures are not really beautiful buildings or famous art pieces or collections like so many other countries have. They are manuscripts, preserved on sheepskin, for hundreds and hundreds of years.
Reading is very important for us, both in schools and in society in general. The literacy rate is somewhere around 99%. I don’t believe there is anyone in Iceland that doesn’t know how to read unless there are some specific challenges or disabilities involved.–The Uncorked Librarian .com
And, of course, knitting also goes along with this beloved holiday tradition and so does hot chocolate!
Jolabokaflod or Yule Book Floodhappens once a year on Christmas Eve in Iceland. The flood begins with the release of a catalog of new publications from the Icelandic Publishers Association. And it is distributed FREE to each and every Icelandic home. The majority of books sold in Iceland are sold from September to early November. Of course, these books are in print. E-pubs are not given. This tradition started in 1944.
The Icelanders even have a popular TV show,Kiljan,that is entirely devoted to books. Authors appear on prime TV shows.Book readings and author events are treated like rock star events.
“In Iceland book lives matter in every sense of that phrase: The shelf-life of the book, the lives in the book, the life of the writer and the life of the reader. God bless the Jolabokaflod.”~Hallgrimur Helgason
To an Icelander, the very best Christmas present is a book! This tradition hails from WWII when many items and food were rationed. These sentiments may always have existed, in one way or another, since Icelanders have been saga-nerds for thousand of years.
Loved ones gather – perhaps virtually this year – and gift one another books. What happens next? They spend the night reading together. What a delightful holiday tradition!
Recommended Books, Holiday and Otherwise, from Chanticleer
We want to take the time to share Reviews of some of our favorite books that we’ve had the pleasure of reading in the last year.
First off
The Devil Pulls the Strings By J.W. Zarek Overall Grand Prize Winner 2021
The protagonist and all-around decent guy, Boone Daniels, is in a heap of hurt in JW Zarek’s new Young Adult novel, The Devil Pulls the Strings.
One would think being plagued by an evil spirit wendigo since age six would be enough inconvenience to last a lifetime, but when Boone jousts with his best bud at a Ren Faire and accidentally deals a mortal blow, the hurt he experiences suddenly lands on a sliding scale of 1 to 1 million. And Boone Daniels becomes a millionaire, so to speak.
No ordinary guy, Boone makes a living as a handyman and swashbuckling knight at Renaissance Faires around Missouri. He’s also uniquely gifted with a form of eidetic memory coupled with synesthesia. What’s that? Simply put, synesthesia allows people to see colors and taste things when they hear music – and an eidetic memory allows folks to memorize whatever they’ve seen or heard one time. But that’s not all. Boone can time-travel, make friends with almost any feline or shapeshifter, and convince a certain immortal he’s worth more as an ally than a snack. No kidding, Baba Yaya loves human meat.
When the Wind Chimes By Mary Ting
Chatelaine Grand Prize Winner
In When the Wind Chimes by international best-selling author Mary Ting, Kate Summers wants to make this Christmas extra-special for her older sister, Abby, and four-year-old nephew.
A year ago, she’d given up Christmas with her family to spend the holiday with her boyfriend, Jayden, whom she had caught cheating on her the next day. Not only is she hoping to erase that memory, but she also has another even more important reason to make this Christmas special. A few months after her disastrous break-up with Jayden, her brother-in-law, Steve, passed away from cancer, so Abby and Tyler will be spending their first Christmas alone.
After taking a leave from her job as a graphic designer in LA, Kate flies to Poipu, Kauai, determined to make this an amazing holiday, but on her way to her sister’s house, she meets a mysterious man, who gives up his cab for her. Kate can’t get the handsome stranger out of her head, and when she sees him again in her sister’s art gallery–and destroys his expensive shirt with paint–she is both mortified and excited.
Angel on Assignment
By Wanda Carter Roush
Little Peeps First Place Winner
During the holiday season, it’s easy to become distracted from the true meaning of Christmas. In Angel on Assignment Wanda Carter Roush tells the story of this holiday and the important role that angels play.
Borrowing from the idea of Elf on the Shelf, this charming Children’s book teaches that angels are sent on assignment to help people. If you are ever scared, you need not be afraid because an angel is there to protect you. Children will love rolling up their sleeves and getting busy as they take the story to the next level and create their very own angel, and thus begin their own family tradition of having an angel on assignment.
Wanda Carter Roush is a former Sunday school teacher and children’s church director. She is the mother of five and was inspired by her youngest daughter to write this story to instill hope and peace of mind in children when they are scared. Angel on Assignment also challenges children to act as angels on assignment and always be on the lookout for those who need help because even the smallest deed can have a strong effect.
Scrooge and Cratchit Detectives: The Dark Malevolence By Curt Locklear
Curt Locklear’s The Dark Malevolence, book 2 in the Scrooge and Cratchit: Detectives series is an immersive Victorian murder mystery that sets readers firmly in the era alongside two of our favorite characters from the most famous novelist of its time, Charles Dickens.
Once again Locklear hits the high notes of Dickens and Doyle as he paints good old London town in the days before electricity and public sanitation. We follow our heroes, Scrooge, Cratchit, and Lockie, as they put their talents to work to solve not one, but four mysteries.
With a cast straight out of the classics, Locklear references Shakespeare as well as developing his “something is afoot” mystery. Upon taking the case of Mrs. Evangeline Peabody’s missing husband, the mystery soon becomes a murder case. The husband is found dead and a local police officer, or “Metropolitan,” is found mauled to death. Mystery-one leads to murders one and two, and each event leads readers to another crime, another suspect, and another victim.
The Long Desert Road By Alex Sirotkin Chatelaine Grand Prize Winner
Alex Sirotkin’s debut novel,The Long Desert Road,navigates the emotional arcs of life in contrast with the greater expanse of the cosmos. Here a young woman must face her addictions while the people around her try to move beyond her backlash.
We meet Henry Spinoza, a 44-year-old quirky science writer. He ponders his life as half over, looks for the right woman, and wonders if there isn’t more to existence.
For twenty years, Henry, a science writer, has been researching a non-fiction book on the universe that he intends to write. Henry’s feeling “bored, boring, and budget-conscious…the trifecta of gloom,” as he puts it. But in the middle of this ennui, his sister-in-law invites him to dinner, along with her divorced friend, Isabel Dalton, an attorney, and “the setup is afoot.”
Whenever possible, our reviews link directly to the author’s website, our own local Village Books, and Amazon to make purchasing books as easy as possible for our readers. Don’t let yourself be without a good Christmas Eve read this Jolabokaflod.
Got a book that would make a great Holiday Read?
Chanticleer Editorial Reviews are promoted on our website, social media, newsletter, and quarterly print magazine. We believe in continued relationships with our authors to always be helping them continue their publishing journey.
Your writing deserves to be discovered. Let us help.
Grand Prize Winners from CAC22. From left to right we have James Conroyd Martin, J.W. Zarek, Ron McManus, Nicole Evelina, Murray Richter, Andrea Vaughan, and Alex Sirotkin
