Tag: 4 Star

  • THINKING ABOUT THINKING: America’s Yeomanry and Cognoscenti by Thomas Christ – Comparative Politics, United States Politics, Social Theory

     

    Thinking About Thinking is a literary endeavor by Thomas Christ to inform, educate, and bridge the clashing ideological trench in the United States.

    Thomas Christ commits to a theoretical exploration that serves as both a political and social commentary – a mission to untangle the intricate web of ideologies that have driven American politics.

    The twelve comprehensive sections of this work provide explicit responses to ideological polarization. Beginning with an exploration of interweaving technological, social, economic, and political constituents, Thinking About Thinking offers a theory of ideology in early twenty-first-century American politics. Drawing on Karl Marx’s core concepts, Christ offers an in-depth breakdown of how these constituents interact to have a substantial impact on society.

    As the work further ventures into the intricate terrain of ideologies, a profound effort unfolds to discover their elusive origins. Demonstrating technology as a powerful catalyst for change, it explores the concept of “cultural lag” – the challenge cultural norms face in keeping up with technological advancements.

    By disassembling the myriad forces that mold one’s convictions, Christ unveils the processes of belief generation, propagation, and assimilation. This leads to a profound quest into the realm of human psychology, to find the incentives that drive individuals to embrace broader ideas.

    The next discussion focuses on ideologies as symbols of affiliation, examining two opposing worldviews in American culture: the Yeomanry (traditionalists) and the Cognoscenti (intellectuals). Following sections delve into the time of Donald Trump’s administration and its connection to the Yeomanry, revealing a nuanced view of the ideological shift in modern America.

    Presenting a roadmap for overcoming ideological divides and promoting a reasonable, evidence-based approach to sensitive matters, the final section of this work is dedicated to discussing strategies to bridge this ideological rift.

    In its presentation of ideas, Thinking About Thinking displays a graceful unity of coherence and clarity. The concepts it details are succinctly described, easily digestible despite their complexity.

    A thoughtful perspective emerges, drawing from historical context and our own time’s challenges. Thinking About Thinking serves as a comprehensive resource for intellectual and sociopolitical dialogue. It encourages analytical thought and facilitates a thorough understanding of America’s ideological situation.

    This venture into the convoluted realm of American political beliefs encourages empathy and understanding across ideological lines, empowering readers with a profound understanding of contemporary American politics. Thinking About Thinking is a call to action – a road map for a more united and peaceful America.

     

    Chanticleer Book Reviews 4 star silver foil book sticker

  • IF YOU FIND ME WORTHY By Pam Landen – Contemporary Romance, Women’s Fiction

     

    If You Find Me Worthy introduces forty-six-year-old Kate Baker, a woman who knows her own mind. As the former owner of a million-dollar private jet charter service, Kate is well established in the world of aviation as well as the world of CEOs.

    Having started her career in the technology field, Kate is returning to her roots when her friend and former business partner asks her to use her technical expertise to assess the disaster recovery plan of North American Bank. She negotiates to exchange her assistance for a look into the bank’s lending practices for her study on the prejudice against female business owners.

    Kate is certainly not looking for love. Having lost her husband to ALS years previously, she is focused only on her work, her son Stuart, and golf. However, when she meets Curtis Michaels, the CEO of North American Bank for the last seven years, she immediately feels an unfamiliar, and unwelcome, attraction. So begins If you Find Me Worthy by Pam Landen.

    Curtis finds Kate exceptionally intriguing. He can’t help but constantly challenge the beautiful blonde.

    A widower himself, Curtis has raised his daughter Sarah alone and carries the scars of his former bad relationship. He knows he shouldn’t even think about approaching Kate since she is temporarily working for his bank, but he can’t help himself.

    The more Kate learns about Curtis, the more she realizes their similarities in the business and personal worlds, but Curtis’s demons threaten their fledgling relationship before it has a chance to truly blossom. She questions her ability to maintain her distance from the man who so clearly needs her help, but will the two be able to defeat the memories of his former life?

    This novel’s greatest strength is character development.

    Both Kate and Curtis have extreme depth. The pain from their former spouses has created a pain simultaneously unique to the characters while bearing striking similarities. Kate’s husband, Sam, left Kate with extreme feelings of inadequacy despite her running a successful business and caring for him during his illness. Their story is one Kate is embarrassed to admit to Curtis.

    Unbeknownst to Kate, Curtis has his own shameful secret concerning his dead wife Carol. His trauma is, perhaps, the most critical to the novel’s plot as it keeps him from seeking future happiness with Kate. Though perfect for each other, the two have a chasm of hurt between them. The strength Kate has found through therapy and self-actualization won’t allow her to settle for less than Curtis’s full heart, but finding the patience to help him get the counseling he needs proves difficult. Numerous times, their relationship stands on shaky ground, but the growth of their love is endearing.

    A major theme of the novel revolves around Kate’s research project – the treatment of women in business.

    Kate must repeatedly prove herself in this “man’s world.” She faces extreme sexism from Jake, the lead marketing representative for the bank. His constant berating, questioning, and name-calling push Kate to her limit, but she refuses to allow Curtis to step in on her behalf. With few women in positions of power within the bank, Kate’s journey is entirely uphill with Curtis often throwing roadblocks in her path as well to test her business acumen.

    An interesting twist is Kate’s acceptance of Curtis’s behavior. She sees Curtis as a flirt rather than an opponent. Though Curtis has macho-man control issues, his treatment of Kate is chivalrous and giving. She willingly gives up power to him on occasion, and she seems mostly unbothered by that power release. His validation of her feminism makes her feel like a beautiful, treasured woman for the first time in her life, and, in some way, actually accentuates her feminine power.

    Behind the details of business and technology lies a touching romance. Recommended!

  • SISTERS Of CASTLE LEOD by Elizabeth Hutchison Bernard – Historical Fiction, Sisterhood, Women’s Biographies

     

    Sisters of Castle Leod by Elizabeth Hutchison Bernard tells the story of Lady Sibell Mackenzie, Countess of Cromartie by her own rights, and the implacable, lifelong sibling rivalry between Lady Sibell and her younger sister Constance, in a fictionalized biography.

    The two sisters became equally famous – if not equally wealthy or respected – in early 20th century Britain in entirely separate spheres while sniping at each other all along the way. As their story moves from their childhood rivalries to the adult consequences of their actions, the sisters grow further apart and more resentful of each other. Or so it seems. The story is told entirely from Sibell’s point of view. The reader never learns Constance’s true motives, only what Sibell believed they were.

    They were opposites in every way.

    Sibell was a serious intellectual who took her many responsibilities – including those to her younger sister – equally seriously. While Constance seemed to be a person of action without thought to consequence. It seems the younger sister expected someone else to always take responsibility for her actions – her father when they were children, and her sister now that they are adults.

    Their divide was exacerbated by the conflict between Constance’s inability to believe in anything that she couldn’t see or touch while Sibell held a deep and abiding respect for spiritualism. Sibell pursued her beliefs ardently, shaping the course of her life. When their story comes to an end, the best hope that Sibell has for reconciliation with her often estranged sister lay only in the next life.

    The most fascinating part of this story of sibling rivalry is that, at its heart, it’s all true.

    Sibell and Constance Mackenzie were not only real people, but they truly were famous in their day, if in opposite ways, for the historical events told in Sisters of Castle Leod.

    While there are brief periods of rapprochement, Sibell and Constance are too different in nearly every aspect of their personalities to overcome the initial rivalry over who held the most of their father’s affection. Each believed it was the other and never moved on from that belief.

    The reader’s sympathies lie with Lady Sibell, as hers are the eyes through which the story is told. At the same time, Lady Constance is a much more vivid and active character, but because Lady Sibell sees all of her sister’s actions and motivations through the lens of their long-held resentments, the reader never knows whether Constance was quite the villain her sister made her out to be.

    Many of Sibell’s thoughts, motivations, time, and attention are paid to her spiritualist beliefs.

    She was certain that the spiritual world influenced the material world around her. Readers who share her beliefs or who are open-minded about spiritualism may find her digressions compelling. However, readers who, like Constance, confine their beliefs to the pragmatic aspects of the world may wish that the story had focused more on the world as Sibell actually saw it than the world that she believed was unseen but revealed only to her.

    In either case, the story of the Sisters of Castle Leod presents a compelling portrait of two very real women in the early years of the 20th century who were famous – not on account of who they married but because of what they, themselves thought, believed, and did. Even if, in spite of their sisterhood, they never did manage to believe in each other.

  • A PORTION OF MALICE by Lloyd Jeffries – Paranormal, Christian Thriller, Action, Suspense

     

    God visits a punishment of immortality on three men in Lloyd Jeffries’ A Portion of Malice, the first in the Ages of Malice series. The leader of these immortals, Cain the first murderer, seeks to even the scales by taking all of God’s children away from Him.

    In the modern day, Emery, a renowned journalist fallen on personal tragedy, was planning suicide before the immortal Roman Longinus found him. Longinus brings him to meet Thaddeus Drake, a man with the uncanny ability to make peace between warring nations. Drake reveals himself to be the biblical Cain and offers Emery all the money and luxury he could ever need if he simply tells Cain’s story. Emery agrees, and upon seeing the terrible mark on Cain’s hand, can’t deny the truth of his immortality.

    Cain and Longinus introduce Emery to their fellow immortal, Igneus. While Emery learns more about these strange men and how Jesus rejected Cain’s begging for forgiveness, earning his eternal rage, he becomes pulled into their far-reaching conspiracy. Cain and his companions long ago formed the secret organization X’Chasei, and over two millennia have become the undisputed masters of the world. However, Cain is not content with this power alone, and as he begins to enact the prophecies of Revelations, Emery realizes how dangerous these people truly are.

    The plots of X’Chasei catch Emery in a whirlwind of power, implication, and scripture.

    While Cain holds a deep hatred for God, he also understands Him far better than anyone else could; he has walked with God, has heard His voice, and knows the true extent of His word. John the Apostle was also made immortal, given a sacred task by Jesus, and in retribution, Cain exiled him to Patmos and stole a record of divine visions given to John. Cain remains a mysterious figure throughout the story, keeping Emery guessing as to his true plans, and whether there could be any way to stop him.

    Longinus and Igneus serve Cain’s plot, though both Emery and the reader only get to see the final, disconnected steps of it. This story becomes a mystery of biblical proportions, with disparate plotlines winding together for the climax.

    Even as he orchestrates murder and revolts to get his way, Cain remains a sympathetic character. His companions share that humanity, making a fascinating cast of villains.

    For millennia, Cain wandered the Earth as a vagabond, unable to settle in any one place, with the guilt of his brother’s death hanging around his neck. Even so, he sought forgiveness from the son of God. When he’s rebuked, the reader sees the extent of his despair, his suffering, and even some truth to his claim that “God prefers blood.” His fury mingles with a deep longing, a loneliness that defines him. While, two thousand years later, he rejects the idea of God’s forgiveness, he desperately wishes to make amends to his brother Abel.

    While Longinus enjoys his place of power over the mortals of this world, he cows to Cain, showing a hint of vulnerability even as he kills for the sake of X’Chasei. However, Igneus is the only one of them who truly connects with Emery. Smaller and prone to fear, Igneus has spent his eternity dwelling on the cruelty he’s surrounded by and finds a kindred spirit in this mortal man brought into their circle.

    Author Lloyd Jeffries offers beautiful and painful descriptions of both the modern world and biblical times.

    The characters’ emotions become palpable, and they speak to each other with weight behind their words. The climax could have delivered more completely on the themes of Cain’s story, but A Portion of Malice holds a strong tension that will keep readers excited to follow all of these people – mortal and immortal – to the next part of this imaginative series.

  • Get Lit for Spooky Season! The Latest Halloween Reads from Chanticleer

    Don’t be Scared of the Dark

    A Spooky Skull on Books
    Some say Yorick’s skull still rests on his TBR

    Unless you need to be…

    Fear often tells us where to use caution, to play it safe, and how to know what’s best. Our favorite way to get a scare is from the books we love to read.

    What are the Spookiest Genres?

    A creepy hand shadow coming through a doorway
    Knock knock…it’s the villain from the last book you read

     

    Well, there can be plenty of honest debate on the subject. For us, we often find the Paranormal, Suspense, and High Stakes Thrillers are the creepiest stories.

    And we can’t forget Southern Gothic—shudders and chills even in a hothouse environment! More on that tomorrow on All Hallows Eve!

    Leading the pack is the modern masterpiece Dracul by J.D. Barker and Dacre Stoker featuring vampires including Dracul himself. Dracul is everything horror can and should be. It doesn’t rely on gore, but rather captivating storytelling; and yet, the terror and intrigue are unrelenting. 

     

    Of course, we’ve said before that the reasons we like to be scared range anywhere from wanting that rush of dopamine that fright can offer, to better understanding the terrors of modern-day society. What better way to do that than reading some hair-raising literature?

    Recommended Reads to Scare you and Make you Think from Chanticleer!

    Starting off strong, we have In the Underwood by Kourtney Spadoni.

    First Place Winner of the Shorts Awards, the art in this is reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland, but the focus is much more on depression and anxiety, two of the most difficult things for us to confront in the world.

    In the Underwood Cover

    In the Underwood by Kourtney Spadoni is a memoir in graphic novel form, a thoughtful and gentle story about a young girl struggling with mental health issues, and learning how to keep them at bay as she grows up.

    What if Alice’s adventures in the strange and fabulous Wonderland were the result of a mental health crisis instead of a story? In the Underwood draws metaphors inspired by Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll and evokes the mood of Robert Frost’s classic poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.”

    Author Spadoni relates with a simple narrative and delicate art style how as a child she was prone to severe bouts of anxiety, leading to her crying uncontrollably in her classes and avoiding other children in social situations. Now that can be scary!

    Next, we have The Insane God by Jay Hartlove.

    A current Short Lister for the 2022 Cygnus Awards, Hartlove’s tale follows a trans woman’s experience fighting the eldritch beings of H.P. Lovecraft. The cover makes it clear! This book will give you the tingles! A great book for social commentary.

    The Insane God Cover

    Sarah, a transgender schizophrenic teenager, has spent the past seven years in a psychiatric ward. When all her symptoms of schizophrenia disappear after receiving a special necklace from a nurse, she must learn to live in a world that moved on without her, in The Insane God by Jay Hartlove.

    She receives strange visions of two opposing gods in battle with each other, which Sarah and her brother Nate work together to understand. The reality of these visions threatens to endanger the lives of everyone on Earth unless they change the course of an eternal battle.

    The Insane God touches on topics such as mental illness, mental health, gender identity, and racism.

    A little closer to home, we have Past This Point by Nicole Mabry

    This Global Thriller First Place Winner was actually written before the COVID-19 pandemic, with eerie echoes into the future of a pandemic apocalypse that focuses on one woman’s mission to reunite with her family.

    Past This Point Cover

    Nicole Mabry draws from her own life, the impact of a deadly snowstorm, and the subsequent shutting down of the subways to create Past This Point, an action-packed dystopian novel featuring a strong woman who seeks a way out of a world gone mad.

    Karis Hylen is working in New York City a massive snowstorm shuts down the city. A total quarantine of the city becomes quarantine for half of the nation.

    Last, but not least, we have a classic psychological thriller in The Mask of Midnight by Laurie Stevens

    This suspenseful novel took home a Clue First Place Win for its intricate story where the killer and detective are already acquainted.

    The Mask of Midnight Cover

    The Mask of Midnight by Laurie Stevens centers on a game of cat and mouse, made sinister and horrifying by the intricate plots of a murderer.

    When L.A. Police Detective Gabriel McRay arrests serial killer Victor Archwood, known as the Malibu Canyon Murderer, he has no idea that the killer has some serious vengeful plans directly involving him. Archwood is a most clever, resourceful “mouse” who confounds McRay, the Los Angeles Police department, the L.A. district attorney, and an entire jury through skillful lawyering and a commanding interpretation of the evidence. Despite what appears to be an airtight case against a mass murderer, a jury finds him not guilty.


    Got a Spooky Read? Submit to the Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards Today!

    2022 CIBA DEADLINES FOR OCT 31
    OZMA – Fantasy Fiction
    Global Thrillers – High Stakes & Lab Lit
    Paranormal – Supernatural Fiction

    The only thing scarier is not entering!


    Chanticleer Editorial Services – when you are ready

    Did you know that Chanticleer offers editorial services? We do and have been doing so since 2011.

    Tools of the Editing Trade

    Our professional editors are top-notch and are experts in the Chicago Manual of Style. They have and are working for the top publishing houses (TOR, McMillian, Thomas Mercer, Penguin Random House, Simon Schuster, etc.).

    If you would like more information, we invite you to email Kiffer or Sharon at KBrown@ChantiReviews.com or SAnderson@ChantiReviews.com for more information, testimonials, and fees.

    We work with a small number of exclusive clients who want to collaborate with our team of top-editors on an on-going basis. Contact us today!

    Chanticleer Editorial Services also offers writing craft sessions and masterclasses. Sign up to find out where, when, and how sessions being held.

    A great way to get started is with our manuscript evaluation service. Here are some handy links about this tried and true service: https://test.chantireviews.com/manuscript-reviews/

    And we do editorial consultations. for $75.  https://test.chantireviews.com/services/Editorial-Services-p85337185

     

  • RUNEBINDER By Alex R. Kahler – YA Post-Apocalyptic Thriller

    Runebinder is a dark post-apocalyptic young adult thriller that follows eighteen-year-old water and earth user Tenn, as he is torn between two opposition sides of a deadly fight for survival.

    The discovery of magic caused the old world to disappear forever, leaving a reality where to live is a daily struggle of simply surviving another day. Monsters named Howls roam the world searching for survivors to feast on, but they are nothing compared to the powerful Kin that are waging a violent war against what remains of humanity.

    During a food scouting mission, Tenn and his companions become surrounded by Howls. Under orders to not use magic to keep the location of their army secret from the approaching army of necromancers, Tenn’s Water sphere unexpectedly unleashes an unprecedented amount of power, destroying every Howl in the surrounded area instantly. Tenn is confused by how his magic could act on his own, and Tenn is soon sought by the opposing sides in the endless war for survival who both believe Tenn is the key to their success.

    The opening installment to The Runebinder Chronicles, Runebinder is a fast-paced action-packed novel that will keep readers wanting to know what happens next.

    The world-building descriptions are reminiscent of the quick and drastically changed world of a zombie apocalypse. It has only been a few years since magic reached the point of no return after the creation of the Howls. The decay seems too advanced for the few short years since everything changed, but is believable when considering the power magic has.

    Runebinder makes use of the “Chosen One” literary trope, which is arguably an overused plot structure, especially in young adult literature. Perhaps, as the series progresses, Kahler will create a unique take on the “Chosen One” storyline, but in Runebinder alone, it is not. The characters are developed well and quite complex once far enough into the story. The style and tone flow easily, which makes for a quick page-turning experience.

    It’s hard not to view Runebinder, which was first published in 2018, differently after living through a global pandemic, but reading it now makes it more accessible and engrossing.

    Tenn’s world changed forever in an instant. Magic emerged and grew slowly, but the world Tenn knew died suddenly once it reached a critical point. There’s a theme in Runebinder of the feeling of never feeling safe after losing normalcy. How does one keep going when everything seems hopeless and there is nothing left to fight for? Yet, Tenn keeps fighting to survive and life another day in the smallest hope that a better world will one day be possible.

    Runebinder by Alex R. Kahler is a post-apocalyptic young adult story about the power of hope in a world where no hope should exist, yet does despite all odds.

  • LINCOLN’S HAT and the TEA Movement’s Anger by David Selcer – Historical Fiction, Political, Literary

    LINCOLN’S HAT and the TEA Movement’s Anger by David Selcer – Historical Fiction, Political, Literary

    Laramie Book AwardsSet in the chaotic era of the American Civil War, Lincoln’s Hat provides an intelligent look at the many streams of thought that make up our political framework today, and how they may clash in times of upheaval.

    Harlan Pomeroy is a young Kentuckian setting off for college in 1855 when he encounters Sally Hairston, a free black girl who will later bear him a child. Pomeroy never forgets her. He will use his education to become a journalist, joining a political movement known as the “Know- Nothings,” a group that despises President Lincoln in part because of his loose immigration policies that draw Germans, Irish, Jews and atheists into the country. When the Know-Nothings attempt to assassinate Lincoln, they end up with his hat, which they give to Pomeroy for examination. Tucked in it he finds a letter of support to Lincoln from the author of the Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx. This adds further fodder to Pomeroy’s hatred of the President whom he now sees as a supporter of socialism, an ideology he believes will “rot the country from within.”

    Pomeroy has allies who share his views and plot yet another assassination attempt that also fails. Leading a new movement called The Enlightened Americans, or TEA party, Pomeroy joins forces with actor John Wilkes Booth in a scheme to kidnap Lincoln. But after Booth’s bold assassination of Lincoln, Pomeroy will become a target for the Pinkerton agency and flees west to escape their investigations.

    Lincoln’s Hat captures the imagination while presenting a character, fully believing in the rightness of his actions, yet unable – or unwilling – to fully contemplate the consequences of them; a problem that always makes for good story-telling. The Know-Nothings anti-immigration stance demonstrates their sense of nationalism, even though some understand their propaganda as racially motivated. Pomeroy and his friends little realize that their “exaltation of the rights of individuals,” as Selcer puts it, will result in endangering the general good.

    In driving home these points, Selcer makes use of long, complicated conversations among his central characters and a blend of real and imagined events relevant to the story. His behind-the-scenes depiction of Lincoln as both high-minded and no-nonsense are an engaging addition to his story. Selcer has done extensive research on the historical period during and following Lincoln’s presidency which is admirable.

    With a fast-moving plot and political intrigue, Lincoln’s Hat gives us history with a human face.