Tag: Best Books

  • The 2024 Little Peeps Book Awards Hall of Fame for Children’s Books and Early Readers!

    Need a book for your Little Peep?

    a baby chick sitting in the grass with purple flowers.

    ***The CIBAs wants your Children’s Literature Today!***

    You have until September 30th to share your children’s story and enter the 2o24 CIBAs

    Two little chicks, fresh from their egg
    Enter Here

    The Little Peeps Book Awards features the best of the books that we read to our children and the young people who matter so much in our lives! Love of literature starts right away, and we’re proud to support these books for kids!

    Let’s Take a look at the Grand Prize Winners for the Little Peep Awards!

    The Girl Who Recycled 1 Million Cans
    By Shaziya M Jaffer, Brad Rudover and Jessica Alexanderson (Scrap University)
    Illustrated by Adam Trask

    The Girl Who Recycled 1 Million Cans, by Shaziya M. Jaffer, Brad W. Rudover, & Jessica Alexanderson, is perfectly written for children between three and eight years old.

    Eye-catching colorful graphics by Adam Trask, fun characters, and a wonderfully lighthearted storyline uphold this book’s message of protecting the environment. Both children and adults will feel empowered to help our planet one can at a time.

    An adventurous young girl named Ellie wants to buy a Unicorn. To earn the money she needs, Ellie plans to collect and recycle one million cans. But she soon realizes that her plans may need to take a different track. Together with her community of friends, who show great teamwork and perseverance, environmental lessons continue on with fantastic results.

    Read More Here

    Raven's Roost Cover

    Ravens Roost
    Written & Illustrated by Maggie Bates

    Maggie Bates’s Ravens Roost is a Children’s book that explores the illustrated nighttime adventures of a woman with her friend, a small frog.

    This story teaches children how to be curious about forest animals, even in the middle of a wind storm. Bates is new to writing Children’s books, and cares deeply for the natural world. Her rapport with animals likely inspired her debut tale.

    Ravens Roost begins with a frog sitting on a roof, wondering where ravens go at night. The woman who lives in the house decides to help the frog follow his curiosity on an adventure. First, she climbs up a tree to watch ravens soar overhead. She admires the moon and notices the birds perching in her favorite tree. She climbs down and starts her trek along a forest path as night falls and the wind picks up. The woman tucks her frog friend into her pocket for safety. Along their journey, the frog and the woman share a special friendship.

    Read More Here

    Victoria and the Big Brave Breath

    Victoria and The Big, Brave Breath
    By Andrea Vaughan
    Illustrated by Ryan Feltman

    Andrea Vaughan’s Victoria and the Big Brave Breath is a beautifully illustrated children’s book, written to ease conversations about anxiety and worry with a child.

    This story teaches children how to calm their nerves by focusing on their breath, using a clever onomatopoeia to help. Vaughn’s book is a timely must-read!

    Victoria and the Big, Brave Breath starts with a little girl named Victoria recognizing that she is often worried. She lists examples (trying new foods, going to the doctor, playing in the park) of her anxieties. Physically-speaking, Victoria’s hands sweat, her knees shake and her tummy hurts when her feelings appear. Her teddy bear best friend Baxter has a suggestion for her to ease these unfamiliar (and uncomfortable) feelings.

    Read More Here

    Great as a Button Cover

    Great as a Button
    By Masoud Malekyari
    Illustrated by Sebastiao Peixoto

    Masoud Malekyari’s Great As a Button is a delightful children’s book that places a soulful little plastic adornment at center stage in a thought-provoking story that offers up a positive lesson about self-worth.

    This tale unfolds from a first person POV as a lonely, black plastic button falls off a shirt. The button ruminates over its plight of feeling too plain to be noticed, and wishes perhaps to be a sock, a key, or a pair of glasses, i.e., a more important item that the button surmises someone would go out of their way to look for.

    Read More Here

    Galdo's Gift Cover

    Galdo’s Gift: The Boovie
    By Trevor Young and Eleanor Long

    In Galdo’s Gift: The Boovie, Eleanor Long & Trevor Young create an interactive animated story that helps children learn about their unique gifts through an imaginative tale and diverse vocabulary.

    The first page opens with a poem sharing a personalized gift with the reader. Then, we meet the frog King, and his kingdom Galdovia. His land is “where the wild wind whistles while the songbird sings” and he narrates the story, voiced by Brian Murphy.

    The townsfolk of Galdovia move on the page in textured illustrations. They need a hero to undertake an important adventure, with the promise of a gift from the King to whoever completes this quest. Enter four great heroes who start their journeys in the hope of earning the King’s reward.

    Read More Here

    The Tooth Collector Fairies: Home From Decay Valley Book 2
    By Denise Ditto
    Illustrated by Gabhor Utomo

    The need for good dental care and its effect on the tooth fairies working behind the scenes is colorfully highlighted in this action-packed book for children of all ages.

    Author Denise Ditto has created a delightful fantasy realm where fairies — like the prankster Jolene, the dedicated Batina, and proud, fast-flying Lucas — learn to collect and process teeth left for them by children everywhere. Jolene has finally gotten her Tooth Collector credentials and can join friends in their assignments. The story follows Batina into the messy room of a boy named Scooter, whose tooth shows signs of deplorable brushing habits. When she brings the tooth back to Brushelot for inspection, she fears the worst.

    Read More Here


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

    The Chanticleer Int'l Book Awards Overall Grand Prize sticker for the CIBAs

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

    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

     

     

     

  • The 2024 Clue Book Awards Hall of Fame For Suspense/Thriller!

    Who’s at the door at this late hour?

    Clue Awards for Suspense Thriller Novels

    It’s the Clue Awards closing at the end of September!

    The Clue Awards features the best suspense and thriller books, including both fiction and true crime! We are delighted to feature these amazing authors from the last five years of Clue Grand Prize Awards!

    Here is the official  Hall of Fame for the Grand Prize Winners of the Clue Awards!

    The Other Murder Cover

    The Other Murder
    by Kevin G. Chapman

    In The Other Murder by Kevin G. Chapman, two ambitious journalists find themselves at the knife’s edge as they seek to uncover the entire truth of a gruesome double homicide.

    “An error does not become truth because of multiplied propaganda, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it.” –Mahatma Gandhi

    Hannah, a journalist with the American Cable News network, is pulled away from a date by her editor to cover the breaking news of a shooting in Washington Square Park. The victim is Angelica Monroe, a White girl from Westchester County and a sophomore at NYU. She was shot at a close range, as shown by the dark hole above her left eye.

    The murder becomes much more mysterious and complicated when Paulo, a reporter for a small community newspaper, makes a connection between Angelica’s murder and the shooting of a Latino teen, Javier Estrada, on the other side of the park on the same night.

    Read More Here

    The Vines
    By Shelley Nolden

    Shelley Nolden’s debut novel, The Vines, embraces multiple genres as it chills, fascinates, and horrifies, from historical and magical realism to fantasy and horror.

    Nolden has melded fanaticism, medical anomalies, and the frailties of human behavior together with a historic setting, creating a narrative Kudzu vine that grows rapidly and spares nothing in its path. This particular vine consists of two main branches that intertwine, bridging time and linking parallel realities, one past, one present.

    The Gettler men of Long Island, New York have shepherded a secret medical research project for generations, with the exception of Finn, the youngest man in the family.

    Read More Here

     

    A Venomous Love
    By Chris Karlsen

    Detective Rudyard Bloodstone is facing the most bizarre crime spree of his career as a copper on the Victorian streets of London. Someone is using a poisonous Cape cobra as a weapon.

    What begins as a simple robbery scheme turns deadly when a wealthy businessman is killed via cobra attack, the crimes go from strange to deadly. Rudyard (Ruddy) and his partner, Archie Holcomb, have few clues and no idea what would cause such a change in the criminal’s behavior.

    When the criminal returns to the estate and attacks the victim’s daughter, Ruddy’s suspicions are confirmed.

    Read More Here

     

    Salvaging Truth
    By Joanne Jaytanie

    Famed marine biologist and researcher Claudia Rawlings is presumed dead. When Claudia’s research vessel goes down, her daughter Riley goes on a desperate search to discover what happened, eventually turning to Dagger Eastin, co-owner of Hunters and Seekers a marine salvage business. Dagger soon realize this isn’t a simple search and reclaim mission when someone takes a shot at him during an exploratory dive with Riley.

    Former Navy SEALs, Dagger, and his partners Kaleb LaSalle and Stone Garrison are the definitions of relentless, and they quickly become embroiled in the investigation that has caught the attention of some very influential people, all seeking Claudia’s important research. And while Riley learns that her mother has left behind clues to her missing research, the Hunters and Seekers pull out all the stops to help and protect her. The wild scavenger hunt sends Dagger and Riley on a trip to discover the truth, but Russian spies, big oil cronies, and psychopathic hitmen lurk around every corner.

    Read More Here

    California Son
    By Timothy Burgess

    California Son, the second installment in the Liam Sol Mystery series by Timothy Burgess, presents another action-packed mystery for protagonist Liam Sol to solve. Honorably discharged after his tour of duty in Vietnam, Liam returns to his primarily Hispanic neighborhood of Baja La Bolsa, a coastal town near LA, California, where trouble finds him.

    In his role as a journalist, Liam takes interest in the daily pleas of a Hispanic mother to find her son’s murderer, pleas that the mostly white La Bolsa Police seem to ignore. After an article he writes in hopes of renewing interest in the case appears in La Bolsa Tribune, the mother is found dead in her apartment. No stranger to death or violence, Liam soon finds himself on the personal side of a hunt for the killer of not only the son but also the mother.

    Read More Here


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

     

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

    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

  • SIX days left to enter the Clue and M&M Book Awards!

    Eight Divisions close at the end of September!

    Don’t let your book miss out!

    Only 6 days left to submit your books to these prestigious CIBA Divisions and embark on an extraordinary journey to success. With over $30,000 in prizes awarded annually, now is the time to make your mark!

    The Clue Award for Thriller and Suspense Fiction and The Mystery and Mayhem Awards for Cozy and Not-so-Cozy Mysteries are still open!

    Best Book Grand Prize for the Chanticleer Int'l Book AwardsCongratulations to the Winners of the 2023 M&M Awards for Cozy and Not-so-cozy Mystery!

    Cozy Mystery Fiction Award

    • Liese Sherwood-Fabre – The Adventure of the Purloined Portrait
    • Gail Grant Park – We Are Shadows: An Irish Ghost Story
    • Rebecca Olmstead – Dreams and Illusions
    • Elizabeth Crowens – Hounds of the Hollywood Baskervilles
    • Patrick E. Craig – The Quilt That Knew
    • E. W. Finke – Coyote’s Wail
    • Lyn Squire – Immortalised to Death

    And a huge round of applause for the 2023 Mystery & Mayhem Awards Grand Prize Winner:

    A Haunting at Linley

    A Henrietta and Inspector Howard Novel

    by Michelle Cox 

    A Gold Ribbon dividing this section from the next

    Congratulations to the Winners of the 2023 Clue Awards for Thriller and Suspense!

    Thriller Suspense Fiction Award

    • Daniel V. Meier Jr. – Guidance to Death
    • Frederick Douglass Reynolds – Saint Bloodbath
    • Michelle Cox – A Haunting at Linley
    • Jode Millman – The Empty Kayak
    • Raymond Paul Johnson – The Raven Society: Conspiracy Ignited
    • Margaret Mizushima – Standing Dead: A Timber Creek K-9 Mystery

    And a huge round of applause for the 2023 Clue Awards Grand Prize Winner:

    The Other Murder

    By Kevin G. Chapman

    A Gold Ribbon dividing this section from the next

    The CIBAs offer more than just recognition — they provide 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.

    The tiers of achievement for the CIBAs (Chanticleer Int'l Book Awards)

    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 3-6, 2025) where Winners from all 25 Book Award Divisions will be announced and honored.

    In a world hungry for good books, your story deserves to be heard. Submit now and leave a lasting impression.

    Let’s celebrate exceptional storytelling together!

    Blue button that says Enter a Writing Contest

    Your book deserves to be discovered

    Don’t Delay! Enter Today!

    The Clue Awards, and The M&M Awards

  • The Dante Rossetti 2024 Hall of Fame for YA Fiction!

    Got a Young Adult in your life?

    Dante Rossetti Awards for YA Fiction

    The Dante Rossetti Awards finds the best books for them!

    The Dante Rossetti Awards celebrate stories that bridge the gap between childhood and adulthood. Young readers exist in a liminal space, and we are pleased to feature Young Adult Fiction in the Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards!

    Join us in celebrating the previous Grand Prize Winners of the Dante Rossetti Awards!

    blue and gold badge recognizing Sour Flower by Maryanne Melloan Woods for winning the 2023 Dante Rossetti Grand Prize

    Sour Flower

    A Manuscript

    By Maryanne Melloan Woods

    The review is forthcoming, but this is our gut reaction to this beautiful story:

    Makes you cry in a good way with extraordinary beats. Coming of age and slice of life coupled with a story of redemption and finding terra firma after tragedy. Visceral, humorous, and very human.

    Learn more about Maryanne at her website here!

    Wages of Empire

    Wages of Empire
    By Michael J. Cooper

    Michael J. Cooper’s latest historical fiction novel, Wages of Empire, draws readers into the perilous journey of sixteen-year-old Evan Sinclair and his father into WW1. On this path, their lives will intersect with such historical figures as TE Lawrence, Gertrude Bell, the Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann, the Arab nationalist Faisal ibn Hussein, the proto-Nazi and advisor to the German kaiser Guido von List, and Kaiser Wilhelm II himself.

    Set in the summer of 1914 we find Evan living in the American southwest where his father moved the family from England for his Oxford sabbatical. Evan struggles to cope with his mother’s death in childbirth and yearns to escape his father’s controlling grip. As war breaks out in Europe, Evan decides to leave home and join the fight, without telling his father.

    Read More Here

    TARO Legendary Boy Hero of Japan Cover

    Taro: The Legendary Boy Hero of Japan
    By Blue Spruell

    Adventure, classic tales, fantasy, and exciting action combine in TARO: Legendary Boy Hero of Japan, a well-poised debut novel by award-winning author Blue Spruell.

    In the turbulent final decades of the sixteenth century, feudal Japan reeled in mayhem as the central hereditary dictatorship collapsed, and tyrannical powers fought to control the empire. TARO: The Legendary Boy Hero of Japan is the story of how one man revolutionized a nation by taking its reigns and forging a new destiny through his depths of compassion and determination.

    The story begins with Taro as a young boy. As an heir to the Takeda family, Taro enjoyed reading, much to his father’s disapproval, as he wanted him to follow in his footsteps as a skilled Samurai. Tragedy changes Taro’s presumed destiny when his parents are murdered in a fierce power struggle, leaving him an orphan. Shortly after, a witch saves him from drowning and begins Taro’s new life of adventure, introducing him to a world of mythical creatures. On this new journey, Taro discovers shocking secrets about his lineage, and with them, his ultimate purpose in medieval Japan.

    Read More Here

    Cover of The Best Week That Never Happened by Dallas Woodburn

    The Best Week That Never Happened
    By Dallas Woodburn

    Dallas Woodburn’s debut novel The Best Week that Never Happened is a roller-coaster ride through Hawaii and the mysterious depths of its briny deep, sparkling with unreal magic, a poignant romance, and incessant hope.

    Tegan Rossi, a freshly graduated eighteen-year-old, awakens in the secretive hideout she discovered with Kai Kapule as two eight-year-old children on her first trip to Hawaii Island. She needs to make amends with Kai as they had a major squabble over something very important that she now oddly forgets. When Tegan catches up with Kai in Hawaii, she enters her best week yet – the Best Week That Never Happened.

    The first-person narrative is a fusion of Tegan’s past three years ago and ten years ago, as well as a mystified chronicling of her present with Kai on the Big Island of Hawaii.

    Read More Here

    But Not Forever
    By Jan Von Schleh

    Like most fifteen-year-olds, Sonnet McKay loves a good adventure. Still, when she, her siblings, and cousins discover a deserted Victorian mansion in the middle of the woods outside a ghost town near Seattle, they get much more than they bargained for. In an upstairs bedroom, Sonnet inadvertently steps inside a time travel portal and is whisked away to 1895. In her place stands Emma Sweetwine, an identical doppelganger for Sonnet.

    Emma’s family was prominent when Monte Cristo was a booming mine town, but life is not what it seems for the oldest of the Sweetwine children. With a mother who seems to despise her and a secret engagement, Emma’s life is oppressive and controlled – a sharp contrast to the spirited, independent Sonnet. With no idea how or why they were switched, Sonnet and Emma must quickly adjust to their new environments and rely only on their closest friends and family. But like any good story, time is running out for the girls as both of their lives rush in opposite directions. They must find a way back to their own times before their chance is gone forever.

    Read More Here

    Whispers
    By Lynn Yvonne Moon

    Whispers by Lynn Yvonne Moon explores the issue of incest through the life of twelve-year-old Musetta, whose father has just died. We meet Musetta at her father’s funeral and realize that this girl is dealing with serious issues. Still, more than grief, she’s filled with rage – and relief. And we cannot blame her. Whispers is filled with enough intrigue and family secrets to glue readers’ eyeballs to the page and hug their parents when they reach the end of the tale.

    Musetta can’t get the attention of her grieving mother, and she’s not sure who she can turn to for help. Who will believe her story? But she knows what happened to her. After her father’s funeral, she believes the Friday night ritual of rape is over and that the molestation will stop. However, it’s not quite that easy.

    First off, there are voices in her bedroom walls – and worse, the molestation continues. Is it her father’s ghost? She can’t go to her mother for help, and she won’t go to the law unless her mother is by her side. Who would believe her over her late father’s reputation as an upstanding citizen and the favorite local judge?

    Read More Here


    You know you want it…

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

  • The 2024 Chaucer Book Awards Spotlight for Early Historical Fiction

    A Tale as Old as Time

    The Chaucer Awards for Historical Novels

    Join one of Chanticleer’s oldest and most prestigious Book Awards today!

    The Chaucer Awards are named after Geoffrey Chaucer, the author of The Canterbury Tales. But Chaucer was hardly the only writer of past ages. Female writers of the past are often overlooked, so during this Award cycle, we’re going to highlight some of them in Chaucer posts.

    The Disk of Enheduanna, discovered in 1927 by Leonard Wooley, now in the Penn Museum

    The oldest known writer in history is Enheduanna

    She was High Priestess of the Sumerian Moon Goddess Nanna, and Daughter of Sargon the Great, the first King of the Akkadian empire. Living in approximately 2300 BCE, she composed 42 temple hymns and 3 stand-alone poems. While her Father was uniting Mesopotamia and creating one of the worlds first empires, she was uniting their religions, her hymns being used to combine the worship of Inanna and Ishtar. One of her poems, Inanna and Ebih, even has the distinction of being the first text to have illustrations.

    Another female writer, Murasaki Shikibu, wrote Genji Monogatari, also known as The Tale of Genji in about 1000- 1012 CE in Japan.

    The Tale of Genji is considered to be one of the worlds first Novels, directly inspired by her life as a Lady-in-waiting in the Royal court. What’s interesting about her novel is how much of it centers on the female perspective, of the women in Genji’s life and how they shaped his fate. While the book is an amazing example and look into Japanese Culture at that time, it also still has points that are still able to be seen in Modern Japanese society. It is however thought that the last 10 chapters may have been written by her daughter, poet Daini no Sanmi.

    However, the Chaucer Awards focus on work written in the last 3 years.

    The Categories for the Chaucer award are:

    • Pre-Historical Fiction- Anything before written history. Neolithic and Neanderthal type stories. The Clan of The Cave Bear by Jean Auel or The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle are good examples.
    • Ancient Historical Fiction- Greek, Roman, Egyptian; Classical History
    • Dark Ages, Medieval, Renaissance
    • Elizabethan/Tudor
    • 1600s
    • World/International History Pre-1750s
    • Americas- Historical Fiction Pre-1750s
    • Legend Based Pre-1750s Historical Fiction (Arthurian, Beowulf, Chaucer)
    • Norse/Celtic
    You know you want it…

    Enter Today!

    We are delighted to celebrate the 2023 Winners of the Chaucer Awards who have already started to make their mark on the genre!

    • Gina Buonaguro – The Virgins of Venice
    • Griffin Brady – The Hussar’s Duty
    • Robert S Phillips – Elodia’s Knife
    • Rozsa Gaston – Margaret of Austria
    • Rebecca Kightlinger – The Lady of the Cliffs: The Bury Down Chronicles, Book Two
    • C.V. Lee – Token of Betrayal

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

    The Merchant from Sepharad

    By James Hutson-Wiley

    blue and gold badge recognizing The Merchant from Sepharad by James Hutson-Wiley for winning the 2023 Chaucer Grand Prize


    Now it is our pleasure to celebrate some of the Early Historical Fiction that’s come to us lately!

    EDGED In PURPLE
    By John W. Feist

    Edged in Purple by John W. Feist welcomes readers to a place outside of time and space, a liminal space where characters of myth wait to return to their fated stories.

    The Fold is a beautiful land, a near-utopia shepherded– literally– by Thetis and Peleus of Greek mythology. They raise the heroine of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, Perdita, after her father had accused her mother of betraying him with another, the whole sad story a product of his own paranoia.

    Perdita’s story is proceeding as it was written. She has already met Florizel, the man who should be the hero of her romance– when her story is intersected by another. Just as The Winter’s Tale features royal courts, doomed relationships, mistaken identities, and family murder, so too does an ancient Greek drama: the Oresteia of Aeschylus, the story of Agamemnon after the Trojan War.

    Read more here!

    DAUGHTER Of HADES
    By Mack Little

    Mack Little’s historical fiction novel Daughter of Hades explores the lives of slaves during the age of pirates.

    Little’s research shines in her thoughtful presentation of the Caribbean islands, the escaped slaves who found freedom amongst them, the lives of buccaneers and maroons, and their daring and dangerous exploits.

    On the first page, Little introduces us to Geraldine, or “Dinny”, running for her life from her owner, Owen Craig, who has just raped her.

    Read more here!

    THE SHERIFF: Book Three of The Druid Chronicles
    By A.M. Linden

    The Sheriff Cover

    The Sheriff, the third installment of A.M. Linden’s Druid Chronicles series about 9th-century life in Anglo-Saxon England, fully immerses readers in that distant era with all of its joys, conflicts, and hardships.

    Trained from his youngest years in the military, Stefan has learned both battle skills and leadership, with the ability to approach a situation without causing it to get out of hand. He is fiercely loyal, but continually denied a larger role in the kingdom’s army. His latest indignity came with the king assigning him as sheriff of Codswallow, a paltry village. With a retinue of less than 10 people including his slave, he has to collect taxes and keep the peace.

    The novel shows two major episodes. The first follows his Codswallow days, including his relationship with Jonathan, owner of the Three Dragons Inn. Stefan learns that Jonathan is paying protection money to keep bandits away from the inn, and carries out a series of plans to discover who is, what we could call, the crime boss.

    Read more here!

    ELODIA’S KNIFE
    By Robert S. Phillips

    Elodia is a young woman driven by dreadful circumstances to act with deadly force in the Robert S. Phillips novel Elodia’s Knife.

    What Elodia hoped would be her leap away from danger instead left her surrounded by perilous threats that now threaten to consume her. Armed with her courage, determination, instincts, and a trusty knife, Elodia faces a hostile world in foreign territory.

    Not all are against her though. Allies– even a friend– can be found, if Elodia can summon the bravery to listen to her feelings and own deep wishes.

    Read more here!


    Thank you to these wonderful authors for shedding light on the past with us!

    The tiers of achievement for the CIBAs

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

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

    Your book deserves to be discovered

    Sources:

  • 10 Days Left to submit to the Dante Rossetti and Little Peeps Awards!

    Eight Divisions close at the end of September!

    Eight excellent divisions close at the end of September!

    Don’t let your book miss out!

    Only 10 days left to submit your books to these prestigious CIBA Divisions and embark on an extraordinary journey to success. With over $30,000 in prizes awarded annually, now is the time to make your mark!

    The Dante Rossetti Award for Young Adult Fiction and The Little Peeps Awards for Children’s and Early Readers are still open!

    Best Book Grand Prize for the Chanticleer Int'l Book AwardsCongratulations to the Winners of the 2023 Dante Rossetti Awards for YA Fiction!

    Dante Rossetti Awards for YA Fiction

    • Kerry Chaput – Chasing Eleanor
    • Lynn Yvonne Moon – Fish Scales
    • Sophia Krich-Brinton – A Song Like the Wind
    • J.A. Nielsen – The Claiming
    • Trish MacEnulty – Cinnamon Girl
    • S.R. Klusman – Luna: Book 2 of The Adventures of Rhone & Stone

    And a huge round of applause for the 2023 Dante Rossetti Awards Grand Prize Winner:

    Sour Flower

    manuscript

    by Maryanne Melloan Woods

    blue and gold badge recognizing Sour Flower by Maryanne Melloan Woods for winning the 2023 Dante Rossetti Grand Prize

     

    A Gold Ribbon dividing this section from the next

    Congratulations to the Winners of the 2023 Little Peeps Awards for Children’s and Early Readers!

    Early Readers and Picture books

    • Beth Davis – Lacinda the Lion is a Super Youneek Beast
    • Adalgisa and David Nico – Fish in the Desert: The Untold Story of the Death Valley Pupfish
    • Ruth Amanda – Geckos in the Garden
    • Jonna Laster – Nutshell Regatta
    • Shaziya M. Jaffer, Brad W. Rudover , Jessica Alexanderson – The Girl Who Recycled 1 Million Cans
    • T.K. Sheffield – The Night Icelandic Horses Saved Christmas Eve
    • Raven Howell – Friends Come in all Sizes

    And a huge round of applause for the 2023 Clue Awards Grand Prize Winner:

    The Girl Who Recycled 1 Million Cans
    by
    Shaziya M. Jaffer, Brad W. Rudover, Jessica Alexanderson

    A Gold Ribbon dividing this section from the next

    The CIBAs offer more than just recognition — they provide 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.

    The tiers of achievement for the CIBAs (Chanticleer Int'l Book Awards)

    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 3-6, 2025) where Winners from all 25 Book Award Divisions will be announced and honored.

    In a world hungry for good books, your story deserves to be heard. Submit now and leave a lasting impression.

    Let’s celebrate exceptional storytelling together!

    Your Book Deserves to be Discovered!


    The Dante Rossetti Awards and The Little Peeps Awards are waiting for you!

  • The 2024 Clue Spotlight for Thriller/Suspense

    Lock Your Doors and Leave the Lights on!

    Thriller Suspense Fiction Award

    The Clue Awards are the Darker Side of Mysteries!

    The Clue Award is our Division for the more gritty, darker, crime noir type mystery novels. For the light hearted, cozy mysteries see the Mystery & Mayhem Award.

    While most of our categories in this Award are for fictional mysteries, unlike the other Fiction Divisions, Clue also has a Non-Fiction category for True Crime and Investigation books. Instead of putting it into a Non-Fiction Division we took a note from what many bookstores do and put the Non-fiction Mysteries with the Fictional ones.

    Book Riot featured the differences between True Crime and Thrillers:

    True crime aficionados liked the deep dive into the psychology of it all. Jack El-Hai, a true crime writer who recently published The Lost Brothers, wrote, “I’m only an occasional reader of murder mysteries. Many fictional works about murder are about finding out who did it, and the narrative concludes with that discovery or with catching the perpetrator. I’m more interested in why they did it and the aftermath for everyone affected by the crime.”

    True Crime books can also be very important on bringing light to unsolved crimes and helping to solve them. Michelle McNamara’s I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, which after the authors death, her husband, actor Patton Oswalt, worked with some other writers to finish the book. It was finally published 2 months before the arrest of The Golden State Killer. While her book did not directly affect finding the perpetrator, it did bring crucial publicity towards a largely forgotten case. It was later turned into an HBO documentary series!

    The Categories of the Clue Awards are:

    • Detective/Crime
    • Suspense/Thriller
    • Private Eye/Noir
    • Legal/Medical/Police Procedural
    • US Political Thriller
    • Spy/Espionage/Undercover
    • True Crime/Investigation
    It would be a crime to miss out!

    Don’t Delay! Enter Today!

    We are delighted to celebrate the 2023 Winners of the Clue Awards who have already started to make their mark on the genre!

    • Daniel V. Meier Jr. – Guidance to Death
    • Frederick Douglass Reynolds – Saint Bloodbath
    • Michelle Cox – A Haunting at Linley
    • Jode Millman – The Empty Kayak
    • Raymond Paul Johnson – The Raven Society: Conspiracy Ignited
    • Margaret Mizushima – Standing Dead: A Timber Creek K-9 Mystery

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

    The Other Murder

    By Kevin G. Chapman

    A Gold Ribbon dividing this section from the next

    We’re excited to feature Kevin and our other winners, but before we do that, here are some of the best reviewed Thrillers that have come our way recently!

    ECHO From A BAYOU
    By J. Luke Bennecke

    Echo from a Bayou Cover

    John Bastian’s life is falling apart, but after a serious accident, he gains another one. In J. Luke Bennecke’s suspense thriller, Echo from a Bayou, John must tie up the loose ends of a man who died decades ago.

    One misfortune after another beats John down. His wife divorces him, and his California business is going bust. On a ski trip to boost his mood, he fails to save a man from falling to his death out of a slopes-bound cable car. The next day, on the mountain, John slams head-first into a tree.

    He’s not the only one who wakes up in his hospital bed.

    Read more here!

    THE EXCURSION
    By T.O. Paine

    The Excursion Cover

    The Excursion by T.O. Paine is a horror thriller with enough twists and turns to satisfy even the most jaded reader.

    Two people tell this story. Charly, a woman in her 30s, faces her emotionally damaged family. Randall, meanwhile, works as an agent of Zaroff Excursions, a hunting club for the uber-wealthy with an interest in an extreme form of hunting where the prey is much more intelligent than a deer or bear.

    On a cold Thanksgiving weekend, Charly and a few other members of her family travel to an isolated cabin in the mountains above Denver. Her car gets stuck in a snowdrift, leaving her stranded, but that’s only the start of her trouble. She finds that the cabin has been rented by Randall’s company for that same weekend, forcing her family to share the lodge with strangers.

    Read more here!

    REVELATIONS: Ro Delahanty Series Book 6
    By Dave Lager

    Revelations Cover

    Ro Delahanty bears heavy weights on her shoulders—a decades old conspiracy, the complexities of polyamorous love, and troubling family secrets—all of which she will begin to face in Revelations, book 6 of Dave Lager’s Ro Delahanty series.

    The wealthy, powerful Pribyl family is up to something sinister in their new scrap shipment business, Ro is sure of it. But she has to prove it to herself before she can even start to convince anyone else. And as much as she’d like to dive head-first into that mystery, she has many more problems to solve as a Fort Armstrong County Sergeant Deputy.

    An unsanctioned party threatens to become a dangerous mob, setting fire to a half-constructed house. Ro’s bold, decisive nature comes under fire from a rival at the Sheriff’s office. Worse, a major change in that office could upend the foundation of Ro’s life and even rob her of the comradery she and her colleagues rely on.

    Read more here!

    IDENTIFIED: A Hacker Thriller
    By John Wilander

    Identified Cover

    Identified by John Wilander is a dystopian novel about the omniscient power of our potential cyber future.

    West, a young man, spent 15 years in prison for hacking government systems. His mother, a highly visible activist against his imprisonment, is also trying unsuccessfully to get her health insurance to pay for her fight against a deadly medical condition. In Identified West believes the government is responsible for illegally blocking her insurance and vows to find out who’s behind the effort and put his mom back on the insurance rolls.

    This is no easy task. Cybersecurity is now a fully linked global enterprise called the G20S, an expansion of today’s G20 nations. Virtually every form of human activity across the world can be logged by the system. It will take a small crew of talented hackers who call themselves the Survivors to develop unique hacker tools for West to break into the system, find the guilty, and get his mother insured. At every point, success could slip out of their grasp.

    Read more here!


    Thank you to these wonderful authors for sharing their spine-tingling reads with us!

    The tiers of achievement for the CIBAs

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

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

    Your book deserves to be discovered

  • The 2024 Dante Rossetti Spotlight for Young Adult Fiction!

    Has your book come of age?

    Dante Rossetti Awards for YA Fiction

    Then it’s time to enter the Dante Rossetti Awards!

    The Dante Rossetti Award for Young Adult Fiction is named for Dante Rossetti (1828-1882), Poet, Artist, and founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

    Better known for his art, he was also rather prolific in his poem writing, and translating Italian poetry into English. Dante and all 3 of his siblings were writers, his sister Christina was also rather prolific in poetry writing, his other sister Maria was an essayist before becoming a nun, and his brother William was a well known editor and literary critic.

    They weren’t the only literary inclined people in his family. Their uncle, John Polidori, who was also Lord Byron’s doctor, wrote The Vampyre in 1819, the first published modern vampire story.

    His brother is also the one who wrote down the aims of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848:

    • To have genuine ideas to express
    • To study Nature attentively, so as to know how to express them
    • To sympathize with what is direct and serious and heartfelt in previous art, to the exclusion of what is conventional and self-parading and learned by rote
    • And most indispensable of all, to produce thoroughly good pictures and statues

    One of his paintings can be seen on the badge for the Chatelaine Award, Blue Silk Dress painted in 1868, depicts Jane Morris, wife of artist, writer and designer William Morris, and one of Rossetti’s lovers.

    Blue Silk Dress, painted in 1868, which we use on the badge for the Chatelaine Award

    In other famous art pieces related to Rossetti, his wife Elizabeth Siddall was a model for many artists in the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, most famously in John Everett Millais’ Ophelia

    Ophelia by John Everett Millais, painted in 1852

    The reason we chose Dante Rossetti to represent our Young Adult Award is because of the views of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, focusing on defying social norms, observing nature, and creative freedom. Compared to writing aimed at teenagers, learning how to deal with the world around them, while also making their own mark and changing how society thinks, we think it fits pretty well.

    The Dante Rossetti Categories are:

    • Contemporary
    • Sci-Fi and Paranormal
    • YA Adventure and Romance
    • YA Historical
    • Dystopian/Edgy/Urban
    • Mystery/Thriller/Suspense

    Blue button that says Enter a Writing ContestEnter the Dante Rossetti Awards today!

    We are delighted to celebrate the 2023 Winners of the Dante Rossetti Awards who have already started to make their mark on the genre!

    • Kerry Chaput – Chasing Eleanor
    • Lynn Yvonne Moon – Fish Scales
    • Sophia Krich-Brinton – A Song Like the Wind
    • J.A. Nielsen – The Claiming
    • Trish MacEnulty – Cinnamon Girl
    • S.R. Klusman – Luna: Book 2 of The Adventures of Rhone & Stone

    The Grand Prize Winner for the 2023 Dante Rossetti Awards is:

    Sour Flower

    A Manuscript

    By Maryanne Melloan Woods

    blue and gold badge recognizing Sour Flower by Maryanne Melloan Woods for winning the 2023 Dante Rossetti Grand Prize

    That’s not all!

    Take a look at these great YA reads that have come our way!

    THE WINTER HEIR: Fractured Kingdoms Book 2
    By J.A. Nielsen

    The Winter Heir Cover

    The Winter Heir, the second book in J.A. Nielsen’s Fractured Kingdoms series, picks up where the first book, The Claiming, leaves off—with its protagonists struggling under the weight of a vital bargain.

    Lady Dew Drop, Dewy to her friends—and her frenemies—is languishing in the court of the Winter Fae, a summer princess nearly frozen in both heart and spirit as she does her best to fulfill the pact she made with the Winter King. Meanwhile, the man who got her into this mess, the human mage and illegitimate princeling of Telridge—Spence Ferrous—tries to fulfill the deal for her.

    But the story is much bigger than these two young lovers. The Winter King is dying without a legitimate heir. And it’s his own proud, arrogant fault. As much as both the humans and the Summer Fae would be willing to let him suffer the consequences of his own actions—he’s not the only one who will.

    Read more here!

    HAVE YOU SEEN ME
    By Alexandrea Weis

    Have You Seen Me Cover

    In Alexandrea Weis’s YA mystery thriller, Have You Seen Me? something is wrong at Louisiana’s Waverly School. Deadly wrong.

    This private educational institute for the state’s wealthiest has an unsettling record of young women disappearing. Three, from decades ago, were never found. In the last few years, a girl by the name of Margaret vanished, and now her sister Lindsey has followed suit. Despite numerous investigations, no clues have surfaced. Moreover, the steely head of the school, Sara Probst, uses intimidation and fear to keep the school operating at any cost.

    Were these disappearances just high-spirited women who left on their own accord, or was there something more sinister at play? And now, after Lindsey’s disappearance, it seems a serial killer has returned after all these years.

    Read more here!

    LUNA: Rhone and Stone Book 2
    By Strider S.R. Klusman

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

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

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

    Read more here!

    PLAGUE Of FLIES: Revolt of the Spirits, 1846
    By Laurel Anne Hill

    Plague of Flies Cover

    Sixteen-year-old Catalina Delgado’s hopes of marrying her love are troubled by strange, unnatural dangers, in Laurel Anne Hill’s novel, Plague of Flies.

    Like every dutiful daughter in 1846, Catalina worries about her reputation. However, she must also gain the approval of Ángelo Ortega’s family. Unfortunately, when three strangers ride onto her family’s small ranch in Alta California, she knows that more than her dreams are at risk. Alta California has just been invaded by the men of the Bear Flag, and Catalina fears what will become of her homeland now that it has been claimed by the Yankees. The nearby ranch owned by the valiant General Vallejo has been raided, owners and their servants terrorized and held captive. Plus Bear Flaggers have murdered additional friends of Catalina’s family on a beach.

    In connection with the recent killings, the three strangers are harbingers of a dire prophecy repeated to Catalina by a dying vaquero. Catalina is destined to be carried off by a spirit man riding a black Andalusian stallion. She will be tasked to do the bidding of Coyote, a trickster spirit who is trying to stop the advancement of the Bear Flaggers. Catalina grapples with her uncertainty and disbelief, but she desperately wants to save her family. When Spirit Man appears to her, she must ask herself how far she is willing to go to keep her loved ones alive.

    Read more here!


    Thank you for joining us to celebrate these YA Books!

    The tiers of achievement for the CIBAs

    We hope to see your work in the 2024 Dante Rossetti Awards!

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

    Your book deserves to be discovered

  • JAKE FORTINA And The ROMAN CONSPIRACY by Ralph R. “Rick” Steinke – Global Thriller, Terrorism, International Mystery & Crime,

     

    blue and gold badge recognizing Jake Fortina and the Roman Conspiracy by Ralph R 'Rick' Steinke for winning the 2023 Global Thriller Grand PrizeTalk about a ripped-from-the headlines thriller in Jake Fortina and the Roman Conspiracy!

    In this multinational geopolitical thriller by Ralph R. “Rick” Steinke, a power-crazed Russian oligarch wants to usurp the current Russian dictator to take his place as the head of the government. He forms his own paramilitary force to steal priceless paintings from a Vatican church with plans to resell them for billions to fund his campaign. But why stop there? He also explodes illicit small-scale atomic weapons to further destabilize the Russian leader and cast himself as the country’s new czar.

    Meanwhile, a crazed U.S. right wing military adjutant buys loads of AK-47s from the Italian mafia to arm U.S. paramilitary groups intent on enforcing their own far-right views in America.

    Jake Fortina, an Army foreign area officer with special training to handle international and political-military duties at embassies and in international duties, is on vacation in Italy with his new bride when he runs into an old military chum who pretends he doesn’t recognize Jake and speaks with a Russian accent. That sets off alarm bells for Jake who manages to photograph the man along with his car’s license plate. That information is turned over to his superiors which opens the door to the rogue oligarch’s nefarious plans. He overhears the right-wing U.S. officer launch a drunken tirade against the American “left wing” government while in the company of an Italian military officer with suspicious ties to the Mafia. That leads to investigations of the weapons transfers to the U.S. paramilitary movement and a reported assassination attempt on a U.S. politician.

    Steinke breaks the mold by pairing a thriller with nuclear stakes to a careful and scholarly level of detail.

    From the price of AK-47s on the black market, the history of a fine wine, to a detailed examination of an officer’s dedication to this country, this novel delivers a healthy dose of information, history, and the fabric of being a member of this elite corps of public servants. More of a clear cut story without the murkiness of a John LeCarre. Fortina is part of a world fashioned and lived in the military. Highly educated, loyal to country, with a military life forged in the hills of Afghanistan and at the tables of the world’s finest restaurants in his role as attaché in Rome. Steinke presents a different kind of thriller hero. There is little ambiguity regarding who the good guys are, nor of the clarity of decision-making and the chain of command to which Jake and others ascribe to.

    For readers intrigued by how the real world handles existential threats, including but not limited to roiling Kremlin politics, rogue nuclear weapons in evil hands, and the U.S. paramilitary threat, Jake Fortina and the Roman Conspiracy is an important and intriguing novel.

  • The 2024 CYGNUS Awards Semi-Finalists for Science Fiction

    The 2024 CYGNUS Awards Semi-Finalists for Science Fiction

    The Cygnus Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Science Fiction, Steampunk, Alternative History, and Speculative Fiction. The Cygnus Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (The CIBAs).

    Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring space, time travel, life on other planets, parallel universes, alternate reality, and all the science, technology, major social or environmental changes of the future that author imaginations can dream up for the CYGNUS Book Awards division. Hard Science Fiction, Soft Science Fiction, Apocalyptic Fiction, Cyberpunk, Time Travel, Genetic Modification, Aliens, Super Humans, Interplanetary Travel, Climate-Fiction, and Settlers on the Galactic Frontier, Dystopian, our judges from across North America and the U.K. will put them to the test and choose the best among them.

    These titles have moved forward from the 2024 Cygnus Short List to the SEMI-FINALISTS. Finalists will be chosen from the Semi-Finalists and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference, CAC25.

    We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 5th, 2025 in beautiful Bellingham, WA at the Four Points by Sheraton sponsored by the 2025 Chanticleer Authors Conference

    A Wreath with the words "CAC 2025" on it to celebrate the Chanticleer Author's Conference!

    These titles are in the running for the FINALISTS of the 2024 Cygnus Book Awards novel competition for Science Fiction!

    Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works!

    • Timothy S. Johnston – A Blanket of Steel
    • Daniel Lawrence Abrams – Immortality Bytes: Digital Minds Don’t Get Hungry
    • Janet Post – Vee: Shooting Star
    • Joseph Anderson – Eden 2b
    • Neil V. Young – Children of the Stars
    • Jeremy Clift – Born in Space: Unlocking Destiny
    • Derek Wachter – The Dark Side of the Moon
    • Mark Sabbas – The Monarchs
    • Sean M. Tirman – Hounds of Gaia (The Marrower Saga, Book One)
    • Don Stuart – Darwin’s Dilemma
    • Sheri T. Joseph – Edge of the Known World
    • Alexandru Czimbor – Sentience Hazard
    • Peter Dingus – Deep Time
    • Jaime Castle – Purgatory
    • Alexander Boldizar – The Man Who Saw Seconds
    • Jayson Adams – Ares
    • A. R. Black – No Man’s Land
    • Jude Berman – The Die
    • John Be Lane – The Future Lies
    • Aaron Arsenault – The Climate Diaries: Book One: The Academy
    • Russell Klyford – Emergent Mars
    • S.G. Blaise – Meddling Mages
    • PJ Caldas – The Girl from Wudang
    • Thomas Weaver – Artificial Wisdom
    • Ellen Ricciutti – One Time or Another
    • Shami Stovall – The Half-Life Empire
    • Lynn Yvonne Moon – Journey’s Travels – Mirrors

    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.

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

    We will also be promoting this list in our Newsletter, which you can sign up for here!

    Congratulations once more to the 2023 Cygnus Grand Prize Winner

    The Shadow of War

    By Timothy S. Johnston

    Blue And Gold badge recognizing The Shadow of War by Timothy S. Johnston for winning the 2023 Cygnus Grand Prize

    Click here to see the full list of 2023 CYGNUS Book Award Winners for Science Fiction.

    We are now accepting submissions into the 2025 CYGNUS  Book Awards for Science Fiction.

    Please click here for more information.

    Winners will be announced at the 2024 CIBA Awards Ceremony that is sponsored by the 2025 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

    April 3 – 6, 2025! Save the Date for Registration!

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

    Join us for our annual conference as we enter our second decade and discover why!