The Hemingway Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of 20th and 21st Century Wartime Fiction. The Hemingway Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (The CIBAs).
The Hemingway Book Awards competition is named for Ernest Hemingway who was born July 21, 1899.
Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring 20th Century Wartime Fiction in Historical Fiction; Romance and Romantic Fiction; Mysteries, Thrillers, and Suspense Fiction of the time; Literary works and Satire and anything else that author imaginations can dream up for the HEMINGWAY Book Awards division. We will put them to the test and choose the best among them.
For Post-1750s Historical Fiction, see our Goethe Awards here. For other Historical Fiction categories, please see more details here.
These titles have moved forward from the 2025 HEMINGWAY Wartime Fiction Long List to the 2025 Hemingway Book Awards SHORT LIST. These entries are now in competition for the 2025 Hemingway Semi-Finalists. FINALISTS will be chosen from the Semi-Finalists and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference, CAC26.
We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 18th, 2026 in beautiful Bellingham, WA sponsored by the 2026Chanticleer Authors Conference.
These titles are in the running for the SEMI-FINALISTS of the 2025 Hemingway Book Awards novel competition for Wartime Fiction!
Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works!
Adam Frosh – The Ghetto
Chris Karlsen & Jennifer Conner – Broken Faces
Don Jacobson – Ghost Flight: A World War II Pride and Prejudice Variation
Dorothea N. Buckingham – Code Name Rascal
Elizabeth Crowens – Round Up the Unusual Suspects
Florence Chien – Hollow Whispers of the Wind
Hillary Tiefer – The Secret Ranch
J.A. Nunn – The Stuff What Actually Is
Jacek Waliszewski – Code Name Trifecta
Jane Loeb Rubin – Over There
Jay A. Cornils – The Cross of Lorraine
Jerena Tobiasen – Tsarina’s Jewels
John Winn Miller – Rescue Run Capt. Jake Rogers Daring Return To Occupied Europe
Kate Birkin – Ava and Shalom
Kim Dempster – The Color of Mourning
Kit Sergeant – The Doctor of Auschwitz the Powerful True Story of One Woman’s Courage
Kyle Palmer – The Last Rival a Time of Our Choosing
Leslie R. Schover – Fission a Novel of Atomic Heartbreak
M. G. Lamb – The Deserters
Mike H. Mizrahi – The Weight of Loyalty
Ralph R. Rick Steinke – Vital Mission: A Jake Fortina Series Love Story
Sergio Bossi and Paolo Zanardi – Wellington HZ182 When a Little Girl Defused the Bomb
Sharon Maas – Soldier’s Girl
Sherry Maysonave – Tatae’s Promise
Steven Mayfield – Sixty Seconds
Steven Schindler – Cover for Me
Tim Rees – The Falklands Engagement
Travis Davis – War on the Porch: A Doughboy’s Interview
Wade Monk – The Imperfect Hand of Fate
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 Facebook post. However, it is easier for us to tag authors when they have Liked and Followed us on Facebook.
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.
The Hemingway Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of 20th and 21st Century Wartime Fiction. The Hemingway Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (The CIBAs).
The Hemingway Book Awards competition is named for Ernest Hemingway who was born July 21, 1899.
Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring 20th Century Wartime Fiction in Historical Fiction; Romance and Romantic Fiction; Mysteries, Thrillers, and Suspense Fiction of the time; Literary works and Satire and anything else that author imaginations can dream up for the HEMINGWAY Book Awards division. We will put them to the test and choose the best among them.
For Post-1750s Historical Fiction, see our Goethe Awards here. For other Historical Fiction categories, please see more details here.
These titles have moved forward in the first look rounds from all 2025 HEMINGWAY Wartime Fiction entries to the 2025 Hemingway Book Awards LONG LIST. These entries are now in competition for the 2025 Hemingway Short List. The Short Listers will compete for the Semi-Finalists positions. FINALISTS will be chosen from the Semi-Finalists and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference, CAC26.
We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 18th, 2026 in beautiful Bellingham, WA sponsored by the 2026Chanticleer Authors Conference.
These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST of the 2025 Hemingway Book Awards novel competition for Wartime Fiction!
Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works!
Adam Frosh – The Ghetto
Adrian Boas – A Gentle Empire
Brad Huestis – The Big Bad
Chris Karlsen & Jennifer Conner – Broken Faces
David Tenenbaum – Eastward Bound
Don Jacobson – Ghost Flight: A World War II Pride and Prejudice Variation
Dorothea N. Buckingham – Code Name Rascal
Elizabeth Crowens – Round Up the Unusual Suspects
Florence Chien – Hollow Whispers of the Wind
Hillary Tiefer – The Secret Ranch
J.A. Nunn – The Stuff What Actually Is
Jacek Waliszewski – Code Name Trifecta
Jane Loeb Rubin – Over There
Jay A. Cornils – The Cross of Lorraine
Jerena Tobiasen – Tsarina’s Jewels
John Winn Miller – Rescue Run Capt. Jake Rogers Daring Return To Occupied Europe
Kate Birkin – Ava and Shalom
Kim Dempster – The Color of Mourning
Kit Sergeant – The Doctor of Auschwitz the Powerful True Story of One Woman’s Courage
Kyle Palmer – The Last Rival a Time of Our Choosing
Leslie R. Schover – Fission a Novel of Atomic Heartbreak
M. G. Lamb – The Deserters
Mike H. Mizrahi – The Weight of Loyalty
Ralph R. Rick Steinke – Vital Mission: A Jake Fortina Series Love Story
Sergio Bossi and Paolo Zanardi – Wellington HZ182 When a Little Girl Defused the Bomb
Sharon Maas – Soldier’s Girl
Shawn Hays and Stephen Hays – What Light Was
Sherry Maysonave – Tatae’s Promise
Steven Mayfield – Sixty Seconds
Steven Schindler – Cover for Me
Tim Rees – The Falklands Engagement
Travis Davis – War on the Porch: A Doughboy’s Interview
Wade Monk – The Imperfect Hand of Fate
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 Facebook post. However, it is easier for us to tag authors when they have Liked and Followed us on Facebook.
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.
Only 5 days left to submit your books to these prestigious CIBA Divisions and begin your journey to discovery. The deadline is 8/31/25. Now is the time to make your mark!
The Chaucer, Goethe, Laramie and Hemingway Awards are still open!
Congratulations to the 2024 Winners of the Chaucer Award for Early Historical Fiction!
Dean Cycon –A Quest for God and Spices
Liz Sevchuk Armstrong –To Remain Vigilant
Rozsa Gaston –Anne Boleyn at Margaret of Austria’s Court
C.V. Lee –Betrayal of Trust
Logan D. Irons –Sands of Bone
Jean Gill –Among Sea Wolves
Laura C. Rader –Hatfield 1677
And a round of applause for the 2024 Chaucer Grand Prize Winner!
Maid Of Honour
Anne Boleyn at Margaret of Austria’s Court
By Rozsa Gaston
Congratulations to the 2024 Winners of the Goethe Award for Late Historical Fiction!
Janis Robinson Daly – The Path Beneath Her Feet
Sandra Wagner-Wright – Sea Tigers & Merchants: A New American Generation
James Conroyd Martin – Napoleon’s Shadow Wife: A Novel of Countess Marie Walewska
Florence Reiss Kraut – Street Corner Dreams, A Novel
Leo Daughtry – Talmadge Farm
Jeza Belle – Blood Rouge
R.W. Meek – The Dream Collector, Book II “Sabrine & Vincent van Gogh”
Sherry V. Ostroff – The Wall at the Sugar Factory
And a round of applause for our 2024 Goethe Grand Prize Winner!
Abigail’s Song
By Alina Rubin
Congratulations to the 2024 Winners of the Laramie Award for Americana Fiction!
David Fitz-Gerald –First Drive
Georgina Hogue –Cloud Cap
Heather Miller –Yellow Bird’s Song
C.M. Huddleston –Esther
Karen Lynne Klink –At What Cost, Silence? Book 1 of The Texian Trilogy
Charlie Steel –Tom Sharp: The Man and the Legend
Daniel Greene –Northern Shadows (Northern Wolf Series Book 5)
And a round of applause for our 2024 Laramie Grand Prize Winner!
Sarita
By Natalie Musgrave Dossett
Congratulations to the 2024 Winners of the Hemingway Award for 20th and 21st Century Wartime Fiction!
R L Pace –Rising Son
Katherine Koch –The Sower of Black Field: Inspired by the True Story of an American in Nazi Germany
Tim Turner and Moisey Gorbaty –The Reluctant Conductor
Kay Smith-Blum –Tangles
Kathryn Gauci –Midnight in Istanbul
Travis Davis –One of Four: World War One Through the Eyes of an Unknown Soldier
Bharati Sen –My War, My Child
H. W. “Buzz” Bernard –When Heroes Flew
And a round of applause for our 2024 Hemingway Grand Prize Winner!
Of White Ashes
By Constance Hays Matsumoto and Kent Matsumoto
The CIBAs offer a ladder to success with a range of achievement tiers and expert long tail marketing strategies. From the highly anticipated Long List to the prestigious Overall Grand Prize Winner, the CIBA lists energize both authors and readers, maximizing your digital footprint and expanding your fan base.
We are always eager to support the Best Books through the CIBAs. Join the ranks of celebrated authors who have already taken this critical step in their publishing.
Your book deserves to be discovered, celebrated, and shared with the world. Don’t miss the chance to showcase your talent and gain valuable exposure at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (April 17-19, 2026) where Winners from all 28 Book Award Divisions will be announced and honored.
Your story deserves to be heard. Submit now and leave a lasting impression.
Wartime Fiction set in the twentieth century asks us to reflect most keenly on the most difficult times in our recent history. At Chanticleer, we are here to face war time history with the Hemingway Awards in Historical Fiction; Romance and Romantic Fiction; Mysteries, Thrillers, and Suspense Fiction of the time; Literary works and Satire and anything else that author imaginations can dream up.
Please note that fictional accounts of the United States Civil War should be submitted to the Laramie Book Awards for Americana Fiction. It is sobering to note that more human life was lost in the Civil War than in ALL of the wars, battles, and skirmishes that the U.S. has participated in added together. Civil wars are considered to be the deadliest of all wars.
Historical Book Awards here at Chanticleer Reviews and the CIBAS.
The CIBAs started with one historical fiction division, The Chaucer Book Awards, which split off the Goethe Book Awards for post-1750s historical fiction. Then the Goethe Book Awards split off a new division, the Hemingway Book Awards for Wartime Fiction.
The Hemingway Awards might be young, but we already have Five Amazing Grand Prize Winners to share with you!
Of White Ashes
By Constance Hays Matsumoto and Kent Matsumoto
Our review for the newest Grand Prize Winner is forthcoming. In the meantime, here is what GoodReads readers have been saying:
“In “Of White Ashes,” Constance Hays Matsumoto and Kent Matsumoto tell the tales of two individuals and how their lives intertwine during one of the most horrific times in history: World War II. Based on the true stories of Mr. Matsumoto’s parents, this utterly captivating novel represents historical fiction at its finest, and most heartbreaking.” -Amy
“Constance and Kent have written an insightful story about the experience of Japanese Americans during WWII. The weaving of a love story with history is so well done and it draws the reader into the story and inspires you to turn page after page. Ultimately, it is about the human story to survive, grow and find love amidst the circumstances life brings to us. Artfully done, many lessons from the past but lessons we can use for the future.” -Michael
“I found my favorite novel of the year, in this tragic but beautiful story of two families, each experiencing WWII in different countries and in different ways, who meet and are able to blend their experiences and suffering into rich and satisfying lives.”
The Silver Waterfall: A Novel of the Battle of Midway
By Kevin Miller
In The Silver Waterfall, author retired U.S. Navy Captain Kevin Miller reveals the intricate and deadly turns of the Battle of Midway, a combat shaped by transforming warfare, and one that would in turn shape the rest of WWII’s Pacific Theater.
After their surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese Navy seeks to draw American aircraft carriers into an ambush, to secure Japanese power over the Pacific. In a time of great upheaval for warfare technology, aircraft carriers dominated both sea and sky. So, to destroy the USS Enterprise, Yorktown, and Hornet, Chūichi Nagumo— commander of the Japanese First Air Fleet— brings to bear his own four carriers, HIJMS Akagi, Hiryū, Kaga, and Soryu.
But the Americans had cracked the Japanese communication codes, so as the First Air Fleet launches their provoking attack against the Midway Islands, the American carriers are already steaming into position. From June 4th to June 6th of 1942, planes filled the skies above the remote Pacific waters, both American and Japanese pilots dashing back and forth, knowing that either they sink the enemy’s carriers, or they’ll have none of their own to return to.
Robert W. Smith tells the story of a forgotten war and the fractured peace that follows in his powerful historical fiction novel, Running with Cannibals.
It has been said that “War is hell.” It has also been opined that “It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it.” Running with Cannibals is a no-holds-barred, candid portrayal of a war that is glossed over in U.S. history, the Philippine-American War of 1899-1902. It was the first war fought overseas by the U.S.
Running with Cannibals begins with an unnamed man on the run from an unjust accusation bought with blood and money.
A young boy in Norway makes a discovery while playing with his dog, opening the mystery of EO-N by Dave Mason, a detective story spanning multiple decades and both sides of the Atlantic, a deep dive into the horrors of Nazi Germany, and a heartfelt love story.
A small metal fragment leads to the discovery of a downed WWII twin-engine Mosquito fighter-bomber hidden in snow and glacial ice for nearly 75 years. The crash site yields an initial set of clues, one of which finds its way across the world to Alison Wiley, a biotech CEO in Seattle. Having recently lost her mother, and, a few years earlier, her brother in Afghanistan, she finds her days full of despair, but the discovery makes a distant connection to her long-lost grandfather, and she flies to Norway. There, she meets Scott Wilcox, a Canadian researcher assigned to investigate the discovery after his government learned that the crashed aircraft belonged to the Royal Canadian Air Force. Their attraction is both intellectual and emotional, but the quest to uncover the plane’s mysteries and the fate of Alison’s grandfather place any romance to the side.
At first, the crash doesn’t appear exceptional, until certain contradictory and confusing clues emerge that make it clear that the circumstances that led to the plane’s fate were anything but simple.
During World War II “quisling” became a byword for a particular type of traitor, one who not only betrays their own country but also actively collaborates with the invaders. The origin of the term was taken from an actual person, a Norwegian named Vidkun Quisling, who didn’t merely cooperate with the Nazis but actually headed a collaborationist regime in his own country.
The Quisling Factor takes place in the immediate post-war period, as the Nuremberg Trials are gearing up in Germany. Norway is conducting its own post-war legal purge of collaborators at all levels of government.
The story is a direct follow-up to the author’s award-winning World War II novel, The Jøssing Affair. This second novel focuses on the physical and emotional toll of war, and its precarious weight of peace on the survivors.
Now that you’re set on your next reads, what are you waiting for? The only way to join this amazing list of Hemingway 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!
You know you want it…
Are you a Chanticleer Author who has some good news to share? Let us know! We’re always looking for a reason to crow about Chanticleerians! Reach out with your news to info@ChantiReviews.com
Ernest Hemingway understood that war reveals both the worst and best of human nature, the capacity for cruelty and the resilience of the human spirit, the cost of conflict and the bonds forged in extremity. The Hemingway Awards carry forward this literary tradition, celebrating authors who explore the profound impact of modern warfare on individuals, families, and entire generations caught in history’s most turbulent moments.
From the trenches of World War I to the complex conflicts of the 21st century, these stories preserve experiences that must not be forgotten. They honor the soldiers who fought, the civilians who endured, the families who waited, and the communities forever changed by the reverberations of war. In an age when conflicts can feel distant or abstract, wartime literature serves as an essential bridge to understanding war’s true human cost.
The Sacred Trust of Wartime Stories
Writing authentic wartime fiction requires both historical knowledge and deep empathy for human suffering. These stories serve as witnesses to history, preserving experiences that statistics and headlines cannot capture. They help readers understand that behind every battle, occupation, or campaign are individual human stories of courage, sacrifice, love, and survival. Whether based on family histories, extensive research, or personal experience, these narratives create emotional connections that ensure historical events remain meaningful to new generations.
The authors recognized by the Hemingway Awards understand that wartime fiction carries special responsibilities, to honor those who served and suffered, to accurately portray the complexities of conflict, and to illuminate the lasting impacts of war on both individuals and society.
Celebrating Our 2024 Grand Prize Winner!
We’re deeply honored to recognize Constance Hays Matsumoto and Kent Matsumoto, whose powerful novel Of White Ashes claimed the 2024 Hemingway Grand Prize with a story that captures the emotional impact of tragic events from a child’s heart and perspective. Inspired by their own family histories, the authors craft a sweeping narrative that follows two Japanese Americans whose lives are shattered by Pearl Harbor: Ruby Ishimaru, who loses her liberty and is forced from Hawaii to mainland incarceration camps, and Koji Matsuo, who endures the menacing clouds of war in Japan while concealing a dangerous family secret.
When destiny brings Ruby and Koji together in post-war California, their magnetic chemistry must overcome the deep wounds of trauma that threaten to make their love another casualty of war. Of White Ashes exemplifies the finest wartime literature by illuminating “the remarkable lives of ordinary people who endure seemingly unbearable hardship with dignity and patience,” creating a story that compels reflection on both human resilience and the ongoing risk of history repeating itself. In addition to ongoing promotional features, Of White Ashes will be regularly promoted throughout the year and for the next five years in our upcoming Hall of Fame posts. Constance Hays Matsumoto and Kent Matsumoto will also be invited to participate in a Chanticleer 10-Question Interview, and Of White Ashes will receive a coveted Chanticleer Editorial Review.
Categories That Honor Every Wartime Experience
The Hemingway Awards recognize the full spectrum of modern wartime stories:
World War One – The Great War that changed the world forever, exploring the conflict that introduced modern warfare’s devastating scale
World War Two – The global conflict that defined a generation and reshaped international order
Women in War – Stories of the often-overlooked contributions and sacrifices of women during wartime
Occupation/Diaspora – Narratives of displacement, internment, exile, and the struggle to maintain identity under oppression
Espionage – The shadowy world of intelligence, resistance movements, and the moral complexities of wartime secrets
Love in Wartime – Romances tested by separation, danger, and the uncertainty that war brings to every relationship
Specific Campaign/Theater/Battle – Focused explorations of particular military operations, battles, or theaters of war
Each category represents a different lens through which to examine war’s impact on the human experience, from the grand sweep of global conflict to the intimate stories of individual survival and love.
Explore All Historical Fiction Divisions
The Hemingway Awards complete Chanticleer’s comprehensive celebration of historical fiction across all time periods:
Laramie Awards for Americana Fiction – First Nation stories, the American frontier, pioneer tales, Civil War narratives, and contemporary westerns
Whether your historical fiction explores ancient civilizations, peaceful periods, or the specific crucible of modern warfare, Chanticleer offers recognition for every historical perspective.
Looking at Wartime Literature Excellence
Check out some of these outstanding wartime fiction works we’ve celebrated recently!
The Rocket Man’s Daughter
By Bruce Gardner
The Rocket Man’s Daughter: A Novel of Family, Faith and Resistance in Nazi Germany by Bruce Gardner tells a harrowing story of German life under the Nazi Regime from 1934 to 1945.
Through the experiences of a young woman whose family is torn by competing loyalties, this riveting tale shines a rarely seen spotlight on some of the most heart wrenching moral dilemmas faced by German civilians and soldiers caught up in the crucible of fascist tyranny and war.
Klara Neumann is the Rocket Man’s Daughter. She’s only fourteen in 1934 when the Führer, Adolf Hitler, finally eliminates all rivals and consolidates his control of Germany under the Nazi Party.
Klara’s family represents a microcosm of the country’s middle socio-economic class, working in government-sponsored roles that demand slavish obedience to the Führer and his decrees. Her father, Erich, is the quintessential ‘rocket man’, a university professor dragged into the Nazi war machine to help his friend and colleague Dr. Wernher von Braun develop the deadly new V-2 rockets intended to terrorize Germany’s future enemies. Her mother, meanwhile, strives to be a dutiful Nazi wife, her brother an honorable Wehrmacht army officer, and her elder sister Elke the devoted leader of a female Hitler Youth section.
A towering achievement,Broken Faces: Historical Romance Based on True WWI Eventsby Chris Karlsen and Jennifer A Conner follows two young people who, for different reasons, embark on a journey to restore the self-esteem torn from wounded soldiers by bloody conflict.
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 28, 1914 plunged Europe into one of the most horrific wars in history. Daily British papers featured articles about a bleak future. London quickly felt the effects of the war, with stores closing and basic goods in limited supply.
Abigail Belorman, a young American woman and talented sculptor, had relocated to Britain with her newlywed husband Theo, the US ambassador to England. Pained by Theo’s emotional neglect, Abigail finds comfort in visiting injured soldiers who had returned from the front to a nearby hospital. Each of the young men there has a story to tell and wounds to recover from. Some, however, suffered irreparable damage to their faces, along with any chance at a normal life taken from them, and they will be forced into isolation.
Crossroads of Empire by Michael J. Cooper brings readers back into sixteen-year-old Evan Sinclair’s journey through the battlefields of WWI. The adventures and the war itself pick up right where the award-winning Wages of Empire left off.As in the first book, Evan begins his part of this story by going missing, this time not just from his father’s perspective, but from his own. Severely injured during his service with the Flemish resistance, Evan is discharged from a French field hospital. He’s on his way back to England by hospital ship when it is sunk by a German U-boat. When he reaches British shores as the sole survivor in a lifeboat, he’s left with amnesia and has no memory of who he is.
Evan’s search for his own identity leads him to Rosslyn Castle, the Sinclair family’s ancestral home in Scotland. There he unravels secret family histories and connections long buried. Finally, with assistance from a wise woman, Evan regains his memory. Without the protection the amnesia provided, he faces a host of painful and traumatic memories.
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 Fourbegins 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.
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 Hadfocuses 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 soEverything We Hadtakes 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.
These works demonstrate how the best wartime literature combines historical accuracy with profound emotional truth to honor both history and humanity.
See the Chanticleer Difference for Yourself!
We’re honored to receive the wartime stories that authors trust us with each year. The Chanticleer International Book Awards offers an incredible $30,000 in cash, prizes, and promotion across all divisions!
The Hemingway Awards provide recognition for stories that preserve crucial historical experiences while exploring the timeless themes of courage, sacrifice, and resilience. Whether you’re drawing from family history, extensive research, or historical records, these awards celebrate both the literary craft and moral responsibility required to tell wartime stories with authenticity and respect.
Your Wartime Story Matters
In an era when the veterans of major 20th-century conflicts are passing away, preserving their experiences through literature becomes increasingly important. Your wartime story, whether based on family history, historical research, or imagined experiences grounded in historical truth, helps ensure that the lessons of war and the resilience of the human spirit are not forgotten.
Wartime Fiction set in the twentieth century asks us to reflect most keenly on the most difficult times in our recent history. At Chanticleer, we are here to face war time history with the Hemingway Awards in Historical Fiction; Romance and Romantic Fiction; Mysteries, Thrillers, and Suspense Fiction of the time; Literary works and Satire and anything else that author imaginations can dream up.
Please note that fictional accounts of the United States Civil War should be submitted to the Laramie Book Awards for Americana Fiction. It is sobering to note that more human life was lost in the Civil War than in ALL of the wars, battles, and skirmishes that the U.S. has participated in added together. Civil wars are considered to be the most deadly of all wars.
Historical Book Awards here at Chanticleer Reviews and the CIBAS.
The CIBAs started with one historical fiction division, The Chaucer Book Awards, which split off the Goethe Book Awards for post-1750s historical fiction. Then the Goethe Book Awards split off a new division, the Hemingway Book Awards for Wartime Fiction.
The Hemingway Awards might be young, but we already have Four Amazing Grand Prize Winners to share with you!
The Silver Waterfall: A Novel of the Battle of Midway
By Kevin Miller
In The Silver Waterfall, author retired U.S. Navy Captain Kevin Miller reveals the intricate and deadly turns of the Battle of Midway, a combat shaped by transforming warfare, and one that would in turn shape the rest of WWII’s Pacific Theater.
After their surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese Navy seeks to draw American aircraft carriers into an ambush, to secure Japanese power over the Pacific. In a time of great upheaval for warfare technology, aircraft carriers dominated both sea and sky. So, to destroy the USS Enterprise, Yorktown, and Hornet, Chūichi Nagumo— commander of the Japanese First Air Fleet— brings to bear his own four carriers, HIJMS Akagi, Hiryū, Kaga, and Soryu.
But the Americans had cracked the Japanese communication codes, so as the First Air Fleet launches their provoking attack against the Midway Islands, the American carriers are already steaming into position. From June 4th to June 6th of 1942, planes filled the skies above the remote Pacific waters, both American and Japanese pilots dashing back and forth, knowing that either they sink the enemy’s carriers, or they’ll have none of their own to return to.
Robert W. Smith tells the story of a forgotten war and the fractured peace that follows in his powerful historical fiction novel, Running with Cannibals.
It has been said that “War is hell.” It has also been opined that “It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it.” Running with Cannibals is a no-holds-barred, candid portrayal of a war that is glossed over in U.S. history, the Philippine-American War of 1899-1902. It was the first war fought overseas by the U.S.
Running with Cannibals begins with an unnamed man on the run from an unjust accusation bought with blood and money.
A young boy in Norway makes a discovery while playing with his dog, opening the mystery of EO-N by Dave Mason, a detective story spanning multiple decades and both sides of the Atlantic, a deep dive into the horrors of Nazi Germany, and a heartfelt love story.
A small metal fragment leads to the discovery of a downed WWII twin-engine Mosquito fighter-bomber hidden in snow and glacial ice for nearly 75 years. The crash site yields an initial set of clues, one of which finds its way across the world to Alison Wiley, a biotech CEO in Seattle. Having recently lost her mother, and, a few years earlier, her brother in Afghanistan, she finds her days full of despair, but the discovery makes a distant connection to her long-lost grandfather, and she flies to Norway. There, she meets Scott Wilcox, a Canadian researcher assigned to investigate the discovery after his government learned that the crashed aircraft belonged to the Royal Canadian Air Force. Their attraction is both intellectual and emotional, but the quest to uncover the plane’s mysteries and the fate of Alison’s grandfather place any romance to the side.
At first, the crash doesn’t appear exceptional, until certain contradictory and confusing clues emerge that make it clear that the circumstances that led to the plane’s fate were anything but simple.
During World War II “quisling” became a byword for a particular type of traitor, one who not only betrays their own country but also actively collaborates with the invaders. The origin of the term was taken from an actual person, a Norwegian named Vidkun Quisling, who didn’t merely cooperate with the Nazis but actually headed a collaborationist regime in his own country.
The Quisling Factor takes place in the immediate post-war period, as the Nuremberg Trials are gearing up in Germany. Norway is conducting its own post-war legal purge of collaborators at all levels of government.
The story is a direct follow-up to the author’s award-winning World War II novel, The Jøssing Affair. This second novel focuses on the physical and emotional toll of war, and its precarious weight of peace on the survivors.
Now that you’re set on your next reads, what are you waiting for? The only way to join this amazing list of Hemingway 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!
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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”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
The Hemingway Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of 20th and 21st Century Wartime Fiction. The Hemingway Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (The CIBAs).
