Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: CAC

The CIBAs Goethe 2022 Short List for Late Historical Fiction
The Goethe Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in post-1750s Historical Fiction. The Goethe Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).

The Goethe Book Awards competition is named for Johann Wolfgang von Goethe who was born at the dawn of the new era of enlightenment on August 28, 1749.

Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring Late Period Historical Fiction. Regency, Victorian, 18th Century, 19th Century, 20th Century, World and other wars before the 20th century, history of non-western cultures, set after the 1750s, we will put them to the test and choose the best among them.

The other three Historical Fiction Genres are the Laramie Awards for Americana Fiction, the Chaucer Awards for Early Historical Fiction, and the Hemingway Awards for 20th c. Wartime Fiction.

These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from all 2022 Goethe Late Historical Fiction Long List to the 2022 Goethe Book Awards SHORT LIST. Entries below are now in competition for 2022 Goethe Semi-Finalist positions. Finalists will be selected from the Semi-Finalists. All FINALISTS will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC23).

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

We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 29th, 2023 at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2023 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

These titles are in the running for the SEMI-FINALISTS of the 2022 Goethe Book Awards novel competition for Post-1750s Historical Fiction!

Join us in cheering on the following Short List authors and their works in the 2022 CIBAs.
- Leah Angstman – Falcon in the Dive
- Jenny Brav – The Unbroken Horizon
- Eric Schumacher Ramirez – Children of Kings
- Jeff Winstead – The Last Battle of the Revolution
- Josanna Thompson – A Maiden’s Journey
- Daniel V. Meier, Jr. – Blood Before Dawn
- Pat Benedict Jurgens – Falling Forward: A Woman’s Journey West
- Scott Kauffman – Saving Thomas
- Jody Hadlock – The Lives of Diamond Bessie
- Rita Bozi – When I Was Better
- Judith F. Brenner – The Moments Between Dreams
- Brigitte Goldstein – Court of Miracles
- Kent Politsch – Beebe and Bostelmann
- Susanne Dunlap – The Portraitist
- Gail Hertzog – Crossing the Ford
- Lilianne Milgrom – L’Origine: The secret life of the world’s most erotic masterpiece
- Robert W. Smith – Running with Cannibals
- Todd M. Johnson – The Barrister and the Letter of Marque
- Brett Savill – Lie of the Land
- Alice McVeigh – Harriet: A Jane Austen Variation
- Jennifer Newbold – The Private Misadventures of Nell Nobody
- Tamar Anolic – Tales of the Romanov Empire
- Julieta Almeida Rodrigues, Ph.D. – Eleonora and Joseph. Passion, Tragedy, and Revolution in the Age of Enlightenment
- Leslie Johansen Nack – The Blue Butterfly, A Novel of Marion Davies
- James D. Nealon – Confederacy of Fenians
PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!

This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the FB post. However, for FB to allow us to tag an author, that author must LIKE our page and Follow Chanticleer Reviews.

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

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

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

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

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2021Goethe Awards is:

After the Rising & Before the Fall

By Orna Ross

Click here to see the 2021 Goethe Book Award Winners for Late Historical Fiction.

We are now accepting submissions into the 2023 Goethe Book Awards for Post-1750s Historical Fiction. The 2022 CIBA winners will be announced at CAC 2023.

Please click here for more information.

For our other Historical Fiction Awards, please see the following:
Winners will be announced at the 2022 CIBA Awards Ceremony sponsored by the 2023 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

April 27-30, 2023! Register Today!

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

Join us for our 11th annual conference and discover why!
December 27, 2022
Spotlight on the 2022 Short Story Awards

Celebrating the Art of the Short but Spectacular Writing

“A good [short story] would take me out of myself and then stuff me back in, outsized, now, and uneasy with the fit.” ― David Sedaris

The Short Story Book Awards is a new and fast-growing Chanticleer Book Award Division. Featuring any of our 23 Fiction or Non-Fiction genres, these Awards are different from our other programs in that they have two tracks: One that features Individual Works and another that features Collected Works.

Open until 12/31/22!

Generally, we announce 5 First Place Winners and 1 Grand Prize Winner for Individual Works and the same for Collected Works. This lets each type of work shine. You can see the Grand Prize Winners and Finalists of our 2020 inaugural Short Story Awards here and the 2021 Winners here for collected works and here for individual works.

Short Stories and Essays stand well apart from their 50,000+ word counterparts in both Fiction and Non-Fiction. N.K. Jemisin, three-time Hugo Award Winner for her brilliant Broken Earth Trilogy, credits writing short stories as the method by which she learned how to create tightly written stories with no fluff. Her talent shines in her collection How Long ’til Black Future Month?

In working with a shorter format, a writer must commit to only putting in what matters to their story. This is true of longer formats, but readers are much less forgiving when a short story or essay feels trivial.

“A short story must have a single mood and every sentence must build towards it.” ― Edgar Allan Poe

The Shorts Hall of Fame from Chanticleer

We’re honored to have received so many excellent submissions in the past. Is your story the next one we’ll discover? Check out these Best Books from Chanticleer.

A Week at Surf Side Beach
By Pierce Koslosky Jr.
2020 Shorts Grand Prize Winner for Collections

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

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

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

Continue Reading here

Savonne, not Vonny
By Robin Lee Lovelace
2020 Shorts Grand Prize for Novellas

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

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

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

See the novella here.

Note: Savonne, Not Vonny, is due to be released as part of Lovelace’s collection, A Wild Region. Keep an eye on her website here for the latest updates. The collection is expected to be published on April 28, 2023.

New York, Give Me Your Best or Your Worst
By Elizabeth Crowens
2021 Shorts Grand Prize Winner for Collections

A strong collection of work and art, powered by inspiration and the beauty of New York.

The Review for New York: Give Me Your Best or Your Worst is still forthcoming, but we featured author Elizabeth Crowens’ accomplishment in putting together this unique anthology here.

See Crowens’ website here.

Homegoing
By Toni Ann Johnson
2021 Shorts Grand Prize Winner for Novellas

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

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

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

Continue Reading here

Thank you for celebrating these Shorts Awards Grand Prize Winners with us!

Have a Short piece of Fiction, Non-Fiction, or a Collection? Your work deserves to be discovered. Submit today!

At the End: “Write a short story every week. It’s not possible to write 52 bad short stories in a row.” ― Ray Bradbury

IN-Person Registration for the Chanticleer Authors Conference is Open
– April 27-30, 2023! Register Today! –

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

Join us for our 11th annual conference and discover why!

December 16, 2022
The 2022 CIBAs Paranormal Book Awards Long List for Supernatural Fiction
The Paranormal Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in Supernatural Fiction. The Paranormal Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).

Chanticleer International Book Awards (the CIBAs) is looking for the best books Paranormal books featuring magic, the supernatural, weird otherworldly stories, superhumans (ex. Jessica Jones, Wonder Woman), magical beings & supernatural entities (ex. Harry Potter), vampires & werewolves (ex. Twilight), angels & demons, fairies & mythological beings, and magical systems.

These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from all 2022 Paranormal Supernatural Fiction entries to the 2022 Paranormal Book Awards LONG LIST. Entries below are now in competition for 2022 Paranormal Shortlist. The Short Listers will compete for the FINALIST positions. Finalists will be selected from the Short List. All FINALISTS will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC23).

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

We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 29th, 2023 at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2023 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST of the 2022 Paranormal Book Awards novel competition for Supernatural Fiction!

Join us in cheering on these Long List authors and their works in the 2022 CIBAs.
- Eva Doherty Gremmert – The Fairy Fort
- Daniela Valenti – The Ghosts of Evil (Book 3 of the Sentinel 10 series)
- Nancy Canyon – Ghost Rocks
- Brooke Maddaleni – Let Me Go
- Jody Hadlock – The Lives of Diamond Bessie
- Robert Herold – Totem of Terror
- Daniela Valenti – Sentinel 10, The Edge of Destiny
- David Fitz-Gerald – Caught in a Trance
- J.D. Toepfer – Route 666: Highway to Hell
- Novella Jean – The Bell Lady of Blairmont Manor
- Xerkado – Planet Jerlexia: The Flamists
- Michael J. Grasso – A Dark Age Resurgent
- Joe Lyon – Temple of Valor: Astar’s Blade: Part Three
- Lloyd Jeffries – A Portion of Malice (Ages of Malice, Book I)
- Rebecca Kightlinger – The Lady of the Cliffs: Book Two of The Bury Down Chronicles
- Kaylin McFarren – Requiem For A Queen
- Florence Tholozan – The Chinese Woman from the Painting
- Gina Detwiler – Forbidden
- Isaac Thorne – Hell Spring
- Sharon Shipley – The Wylder Ghost and Blossom Cherry
- D. Lieber – The Assassin’s Legacy
- T.K. Conklin – Guarded Hearts
- Cass Kay – Legacy Witches
- Sharon Sutila – The Stealing
- Jenny Allen – Blood Lily
- Anika Savoy – The Ghost in Her
- Gail Hertzog – Crossing the Ford
- Karen S. Bell – Like a Lily Among the Thorns
- Stu Jones – S.H.R.E.D. Gorgon Rising
- Brenda Stanley – Only in Darkness
- Rhett C. Bruno & Jaime Castle – Cold As Hell
- Nola Nash – Traveler
- Nola Nash – Crescent City Sin
Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.

PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!

This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the FB post. However, for FB to allow us to tag an author, that author must LIKE our page and Follow Chanticleer Reviews.

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

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

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

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2021 PARANORMAL Awards and OVERALL GRAND PRIZE WINNER of 2021 is:

The Devil Pulls The Strings

By J. W. Zarek

The 2022 PARANORMAL Book Awards winners will be announced at CAC23 on April 29, 2023. Save the date for CAC23, scheduled April 27-30, 2023, our 11-year Conference Anniversary!

Submissions for the 2023 PARANORMAL Book Awards are open until the end of September. Enter here!

Don’t delay! Enter today!

N-Person – April 27-30, 2023! Register Today!

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

Join us for our 11th annual conference and discover why!
December 15, 2022
The 2022 LITTLE PEEPS Book Awards Long List for Early Readers & Picture Books
The Little Peeps Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in Early Readers. The Little Peeps Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).

Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring stories of all shapes and sizes written to an audience for Early Readers. Story books, Beginning Chapter Books, Picture Books, Activity Books, and Educational Books. These books have advanced to the Long List for the 2022 CIBAs. (For Young Adult Fiction see our Dante Rossetti Awards, for Middle Grade Readers see our Gertrude Warner Awards.)

These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from all 2022 Little Peeps Early Readers entries to the 2022 Little Peeps Book Awards LONG LIST. Entries below are now in competition for the 2022 Little Peeps Shortlist. The Short Listers will compete for the Semi-Finalist positions. Finalists will be selected from the Semi-Finalists. All FINALISTS will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC23).

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

We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 29th, 2023 at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2023 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST of the 2022 Little Peeps Book Awards novel competition for Early Readers!

Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works in the 2022 CIBAs.
- Deborah Bailey and Stephanie Matolyak – A Farm Animals’ Day at the Fair
- Charly Froh – The Dragon and the Unicorn: The Magic of Friendship
- Beth Bacon – The Panda Cub Swap
- Sherrie Cosens – The Trouble With A Flying Mouse
- Philippa Rae – Harold Goes To School
- Sara Tabibzadeh – Two Cherries
- Ghazal Mousavi – I’m Scared Too!
- Masoud Malekyari – Being the Best
- David Rodriguez III – The Many Adventures of Bruiser The Jack Russell Terrier MVP: Most Valuable Pup
- Ruthie Godfrey – God Made It All
- Anthony C. Delauney – Lilly and May Learn Why Mom and Dad Work
- Cynthia Kern OBrien – Marky the Magnificent Fairy
- Dyanna Morrison – For the Love of Buddy
- Travis D. Peterson – Ada and the Helpers
- Fragile Tossa – Climate Change Team
- Stephan Theo and JL Morin – Tuck-a-tuck Dragon
- Helen M. Waters – A Story About Sprout
- Lori Croy – The Hole Story
- Micai Reigo Nethercott – Buddy and Bailey’s Alaskan Adventure
- Richard Ceasor – Grandma I Don’t Want To Go To Sleep: A Forever Love Tale
- Susan Conrad – Inside my Sea of Dreams: The Adventures of Kami and Suz
- Matilde Léon – The Money-Smart Mermaid
- Ellie Smith – Tex the Explorer Journey to the Oceans
- Cynthia C. Huijgens – A Fish Called Andromeda
- C.L. Olsen – Old Crabby Turtle
- Valerie Ramer – Alastair McAllister Goes to School
- Peggy Sullivan – Montana Cats
- Danielle Diestl – Lily May and the Ruby Shoes Blues
- Maggie Bates – Ravens Roost
- Cheryl Denise Bannerman – The Gecko Without An Echo
- Kathleen J. Shields – The First Unibear
- Anthony C. Delauney – Dash and Nikki and The Jellybean Game
- Carina Ho, Jesse Byrd – Mighty Mara
- S McMichael – Happenstance Farms Catch That Pony
- S McMichael – Happenstance Farms A New Home
- Nan Evenson – Good Night (Not Really): Let’s Count Forward AND Backward
- David Horn – Eudora Space Kid: The Lobster Tale
- Cindy L. Rodriguez – Three Pockets Full: A story of love, family, and tradition
- Kathy Joy – Will You Hold my Story?
- Auralee Arkinsly – Roo’s Fine Flapping Day
- Abbe Rolnick – Bubbie’s Magical Hair
- Eve Cabanel – Eli and the mystery of the Hallowshine dragon
Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.

PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!

This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the FB post. However, for FB to allow us to tag an author, that author must LIKE our page and Follow Chanticleer Reviews.

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

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

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

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

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2021 LITTLE PEEPS Awards is:

Victoria and the Big, Brave Breath

by Andrea Vaughan

See the Full List of 2021 Winners here

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

Please click here for more information.

Winners will be announced at the 2022 CIBA Awards Ceremony sponsored by the 2023 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

IN-Person – April 27-30, 2023! Register Today!

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

Join us for our 11th annual conference and discover why!
December 8, 2022
The 2022 Long List JOURNEY Book Awards for Overcoming Adversity in Narrative Non-Fiction
The Journey Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Overcoming Adversity in Narrative Non-Fiction and Memoir. The Journey Book Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (CIBAs).

Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring true stories about adventures, life events, unique experiences, travel, personal journeys, global enlightenment, and more. We will put books about true and inspiring stories to the test and choose the best among them. See our full list of Non-Fiction Divisions here.

These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from all 2022 Journey Non-Fiction entries to the 2022 Journey Book Awards LONG LIST. Entries below are now in competition for 2022 Journey Short List. The Short Listers will compete for the Semi-Finalist positions. Finalists will be selected from the Semi-Finalists. All FINALISTS will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC23).

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

We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 29th, 2023 at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2023 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST of the 2022 Journey Book Awards novel competition for Overcoming Adversity in Non-Fiction!

Join us in celebrating the Long List authors and their works in the 2022 CIBAs.
- Ian Gregory – On Insanity
- Sandi Paris – Catching Rain
- Michael Wohl – In Herschel’s Wake
- Ashe and Magdalena Stevens – Lost in Beirut: A True Story of Love, Loss and War
- Norris Comer – Salmon in the Seine: Alaskan Memories of Life, Death, & Everything In-Between
- Laura Whitfield – Untethered: Faith, Failure, and Finding Solid Ground
- Nicholas Chittick – A PRISONER’S FIGHT: The Pandemic as Seen From Inside the Illinois Department of Corrections
- Linda Murphy Marshall – Ivy Lodge: A Memoir of Translation and Discovery
- C.J. Hudson – Destiny Lives on Fairhaven Street
- Kim Fairley – Swimming for My Life
- Kyomi O’Connor – A Sky of Infinite Blue- A Japanese Immigrant’s Search for Home and Self
- Carter Obasohan – Notes From Out West
- Roselle Madrone, Robin Detmer, & Kris Dutter – The Open Book: A Family Memoir of Adventure, Trauma, and Resilience
- D. Terrence Foster, MD – The Stress Book: Forty-Plus Ways to Manage Stress & Enjoy Your Life
- Mark Berridge – A Fraction Stronger
- Joseph G. Krygier with Victor Breitburg – A Rage To Live: Surviving The Holocaust So Hitler Would Not Win
- Katherine Caire – Accidental Sisters
- Donna McCart Welser – Rue’s Butterfly
- Lyn Barrett – Crazy: Reclaiming Life from the Shadow of Traumatic Memory
- Simone Yemm – Stalked by Demons, Guarded by Angels: The Girl with the Eating Disorder
- Philip Lister – A Short Good Life: Her Father Tells Liza’s Story of Facing Death
- Tina Scott – The Forbidden Fruit: A True Story of Sex, Drugs, and the Afterlife
- M. E. Schuman – The Understory: A Female Environmentalist in the Land of the Midnight Sun
- Meredith O’Brien – Opening The Door: My Journey Through Anorexia To Full Recovery
- Susan Frances Morris – The Sensitive One
- Stuart Nagero – Truth is Indestructible
- Amelia Zachry – Enough – A Memoir of Mistakes, Mania, and Motherhood
- Carolyn DiPasquale – Reckless Grace: A Mother’s Crash Course in Mental Illness
- Jackie Carol Haines – Pinball, the Stray I Needed
- Benjamin Plumb – The Satisfied Introvert: A Memoir About Finding Safety in an Extroverted World
- Mike Coleman – The Way from Me to Us
- Linda Kolsky – Heavenly Hindsights: How One Mother Found Meaning in her Life After the Death of Her Child
- Gabriel Bron – The Journey Home: Portraits of Healing
- Catherine Ehrlich – Irma’s Passport: One Woman, Two World Wars, and a Legacy of Courage
- Melissa Harris – One Pound, Twelve Ounces
- Denise Collins – What Happened to John
- Lynette Ingram – Flares from a Fallout Shelter
- Linda Lee Henderson – Wake Up Mom!
Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.

PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!

This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the FB post. However, for FB to allow us to tag an author, that author must LIKE our page and Follow Chanticleer Reviews.

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

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

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

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

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2021 JOURNEY Awards is:

Better Off Bald: A Life in 147 Days

Andrea Wilson Woods

The 2022 JOURNEY Book Awards winners will be announced at CAC23 on April 29, 2023. Save the date for CAC23, scheduled April 27-30, 2023, our 10 year Conference Anniversary!

Submissions for the 2023 JOURNEY Book Awards are open until the end of July. Enter here!

Don’t delay! Enter today!

IN-Person – April 27-30, 2023! Register Today!

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

Join us for our 11th annual conference and discover why!
December 6, 2022
The 2022 CIBAs Long List for Ozma Book Awards for Fantasy Fiction
The Ozma Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in Fantasy Fiction. The Ozma Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).

Chanticleer International Book Awards discovers the best books in the Ozma Awards featuring magic, the supernatural, imaginary worlds, fantastical creatures, legendary beasts, mythical beings, or inventions of fancy that author imaginations dream up without a basis in science as we know it. Epic Fantasy, High Fantasy, Sword and Sorcery, Dragons, Unicorns, Steampunk, Dieselpunk, Gaslight Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, or other out-of-this-world fiction. These books have advanced to the Long List in the 2022 CIBAs OZMA division.

These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from all 2022 Ozma Fantasy Fiction entries to the 2022 Ozma Book Awards LONG LIST. Entries below are now in competition for 2022 Ozma Short List. The Short Listers will compete for the FINALIST positions. Finalists will be selected from the Short List. All FINALISTS will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC23).

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

We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 29th, 2023 at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2023 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST of the 2022 Ozma Book Awards novel competition for Fantasy Fiction!

Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works in the 2022 CIBAs.

The 2022 OZMA Long Listers!
- Linnea Taner – Skull’s Vengeance
- Eva Doherty Gremmert – The Fairy Fort
- David Bush – General Jack and the Battle of the Five Kingdoms
- Philip Carlisle – Surviving Eros
- Sarah Morrell – Beauty Within
- Glen Dahlgren – The House of Prophecy (the Chronicles of Chaos book 2)
- Victory Witherkeigh – The Girl
- KC Cowan – Raeka’s Story
- McKinley Aspen – Praesidium
- J. L. Sullivan – From Brick & Darkness
- M. K. Wiseman – Magical Intelligence
- D. K. Marley – Kingfisher
- Edward Pontacoloni – The Rookery
- Jamie Edmundson – An Inheritance of Ash and Blood
- Catherine Raphael – Journey to the Heart Stone
- K.L. Kolarich – House of Bastiion
- Stavros Saristavros – Tome of Syyx
- Steven Michael Beck – Soar a Burning Sky
- Kevin Moore – Book of Demons
- D.R. Martin – Grim Knights (The Grim Chronicles Book 1)
- K.N. Salustro – The Roar of the Lost Horizon
- D. Lieber – The Treason of Robyn Hood
- AG Flitcher – Boone and Jacque: Cytrus Moonlight
- Helen Garraway – Sentinals Across Time
- J.L. Delavega – Smoke and Other Storms
- S.G. Blaise – The Last Lumenian
- Amy Wolf – Dragons of Light and Chaos
- Robert Cole – The Falcons of Gebtu
- Sarah K. Balstrup – The Way of Unity
- Rhett C. Bruno & Jaime Castle – Cold as Hell
- C.D. Allen – Seagrass Maggie
- Grayson W. Hooper – Shadebringer
- T. L. Augury – Who’s Stirring the Brew now?
Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.

PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!

This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the FB post. However, for FB to allow us to tag an author, that author must LIKE our page and Follow Chanticleer Reviews.

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

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

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

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

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2021 OZMA Awards is:

Plague of Flies: Revolt of the Spirits, 1846

by Laurel Anne Hill

The 2022 OZMA Book Awards winners will be announced at CAC23 on April 29, 2023. Save the date for CAC23, scheduled April 27-30, 2023, our 11-year Conference Anniversary!

Submissions for the 2023 OZMA Book Awards are open until the end of October. Enter here!

Don’t delay! Enter today!

IN-Person – April 27-30, 2023! Register Today!

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

Join us for our 11th annual conference and discover why!
December 2, 2022
The Road So Far | November Deadline for Humor & Satire

Don’t let the joke be on you!

There’s still time to submit for the Humor and Satire Book Awards!

You can have the last laugh by submitting to the Humor and Satire Book Awards.

The Humor and Satire Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in Humor and Satire. The Humor and Satire Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).

Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring satire, humor, political ideology, parody, fantasy, and allegory or fable. The Deadline for the 2022 Humor and Satire Book Awards is the end of November.

Looking to learn more about the Humor and Satire Awards? Click here!

A Newer Division of the CIBAs, the Humor and Satire is quickly establishing itself as a book award program for humor, satire, lampoons, and allegory.

Let’s take a look at some of the 2021 winners from the 10th Anniversary Chanticleer Author’s Conference!

Binge

By Anne Pfeffer

Twenty-seven-year-old Sabrina “Bree” Hunter has the chance to grasp her dream of being a published author, but will her binge eating spell the end of that dream?

After years of working for a demanding B-list talent agent in Los Angeles, Bree earned a publishing deal with Fast Track Books. She should celebrate, thrilled that her life will finally go down the right path since her graduation from Dartmouth. However, Bree has a problem that isn’t easily fixed. Her publisher expects the skinny beauty on her webpage, a picture taken many years previously.

Since the days of the photo, Bree has become a compulsive eater. She spends every moment of her day obsessing over junk food. Bree turns to food to comfort her, console her, and to bring her joy. This addiction has caused her to gain forty pounds since college. Finding dieting on her own harder than she expected, Bree agrees to attend a support group meeting. Her sister, Lena’s, boyfriend has recently found success in breaking his addiction to drugs and alcohol.

Hot Air

By Charlie Suisman

Arnold Falls bristles with zany events, quirky locals, and colorful newbies. Above all, this memorable enclave buoys its people through heart, soul, wit, and a true sense of collective spirit.

Jeebie Walker returns as the story’s central narrator.

The successful voice-over artist stands as a solid fixture in the town, now in a loving relationship with his partner Will. A volunteer fireman, illustrator, and candidate for an MA in Conservation Biology, Will jokingly claims that Jeebie makes “bossing others around” a superpower.

The Kissing Rabbi: Lust, Betrayal, and a Community Turned Inside Out

By Andy Becker

Based on a true story, Andy Becker’s tale The Kissing Rabbi is a smart, witty, and engaging novel that takes readers into the heart of a Jewish community in the Pacific Northwest.

Here a young, self-serving rabbi sets a town on edge when his salacious desires and personal financial agenda are brought to light by the people he was brought there to serve.

Rabbi Mishegas Dreidel, a young orthodox leader, arrives in the quiet town of Destiny, Oregon. His intentions seem noble as he opens up a synagogue in his basement and establishes a flock of dedicated followers.

Babs and Basil, and the Hounds of the Hollywood Baskervilles

By Elizabeth Crowens

This book is still a manuscript, but we’re excited for it to come out!

A cute premise and a light-hearted beginning. Babs and Basil, and the Hounds of the Hollywood Baskervilles features humor, mystery, and action throughout that’s easy to read and follow.

An excellent book for older readers and Hollywood movie buffs that can catch the myriad of references. The lightheartedness storyline buoys the reader along naturally. A kindly read to escape into and keep your spirits afloat.

My Only Sunshine: Getting Straight with the Bomb

By Lou Dischler

Lou Dischler delivers an intricately woven story about one well-meaning boy who tries to make sense of the crazy he’s been born into. Get ready for one belly laugh of an adventure in My Only Sunshine.

Welcome to the Louisiana low country, home of 9-year-old Charlie Boone, a kid growing up in 1962. Charlie, a most unreliable narrator, concerns himself with giant wingless wasps and biting red velvet ants. Combine his critter-concerns with the legend of the giant slugs, the story of his mother taken up by a hurricane, and the episode of the puddle he and his brother dug that grew into a pond, then turned into a lake, and we have one wildly imaginative ride well-worth taking.

Dischler delivers an epic tale that shifts from Charlie’s first-person point-of-view with his youthful ignorance coloring his observations to his Uncle Dan’s and “Aunt” Lola’s in third-person point-of-view. While Charlie ages and grows in wisdom as the story progresses, his uncle never seems to gain a lick of sense. Dischler skillfully applies the laws of magic realism to Charlie’s wonderful way of viewing his world. Uncle Dan’s story, on the other hand, derives from an inept conman’s rap-sheet – from failed grifts to bank robbery bungles that succeed only by accident. Dischler guides us, normalizing the ridiculous to the point that the characters jump off the page and set up camp in your living room.

The Grand Prize Winner!

Certified

By Roger Wilson-Crane

Certified by Roger Wilson-Crane is a multi-award-winning comedy-drama, following one man down three sharp turns in his life trajectory.

Based on real-life events, Certified shows the narrator’s birth, marriage, and death, three of the most significant milestones in human life. The book is divided into three sections.

“One Unexpected Birth” explores his flawed string of relationships until he meets Dawn, the love of his life. However, a woman from the past makes a comeback, threatening to shatter his newly found happiness.

“One Hapless Wedding” careens about his well-planned wedding in Puglia, Italy, which is trampled by Justin Timberlake who wants the same venue. “One Bizarre Death”, on the other hand, follows the loss of the narrator’s loved one and the pain and confusion that surrounds an unexpected death. Certified is full of humor, heart, and unexpected gems that one might find in a trunk of well-lived memories.

Need more Humor in your life? Check out these books that won the 2020 Humor and Satire Awards!

The sky is the limit when it comes to Humor

Even Data from Star Trek likes Mark Twain

HOW DO YOU HAVE YOUR BOOKS RECOGNIZED? Submit them to the Chanticleer International Book Awards – Click here for more information about The CIBAs!

The last day to submit your work is November 30, 2022. We invite you to join us, to tell us your stories, and to find out who will take home the prize ribbons at CAC23 in April.

As our deadline draws near, don’t miss this opportunity to earn the distinction your novel deserves! Enter today!

The Humor and Satire Book Awards for Satirical and Allegorical fiction is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards – the CIBAs.

ENTER NOW!

Don’t delay! Enter today!

November 23, 2022
NEW: The Military and Front Line Awards from Chanticleer
The Military & Front Lines Book Awards recognize emerging talent and outstanding works in Narrative Non-Fiction and Memoir, exploring the lives of those who serve their country and others. The Military & Front Lines Service Book Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (CIBAs).

We have long wanted to hold a Book Award Division for Narrative Non-Fiction that highlights the Service to Others embodied by those in our Military and Front Line Workers. You can enter the 2022 Military and Front Line Book Awards today!

All of us at Chanticleer have family that has served. Kiffer Brown grew up as a military brat with many members of her family serving.

2nd Lt Billy Wayne Flynn, U.S. Army. West Point Graduate

Second Lieutenant Billy Wayne Flynn was killed in action, Vietnam, January 23, 1967. He was 24 years old. Billy Wayne gave to me a book of poetry from his studies at West Point before he left for Viet Nam. He was my cousin. It was my first book of poetry and has his notes. I was in fourth grade. I still have it and treasure it. – Kiffer

Robert Gerard Beaumier Sr. who served in WWII

My father would often tell the story of how his dad, Robert, was in France during World War II. At one point a dog came and wouldn’t stop barking at his unit, no matter how much they told it to go away. Finally, Robert said “Va t’en!” and immediately the dog ran off. Everyone was suitably impressed that the dog spoke French! – David

The new Division honors the following Non-Fiction Narratives:
- Military and Armed Forces Service Narratives
- Medical Stories focused on Nurses, Doctors, Health Care Workers, and other Essential Workers
- Stories of Community Service Workers such as Firefighters and Police
- CARE, Peace Corps, Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, and other service organizations
- Work in Agencies that serve their Community and Government
- Families of those who serve in these Community Roles
Recognizing Winners from the inaugural 2021 Military and Front Line Awards

FLY SAFE: Letters from the Gulf War and Reflections from Back Home
By Vicki Cody

Not many people can capture the emotions that coincide with war, but Vicki Cody joins the ranks of those who do in her wartime memoir, Fly Safe: Letters from the Gulf War and Reflections from Back Home.

This powerful memoir shows us the behind-the-scenes lives of the women, children, and families left at home while their soldiers set off for war, bringing us close to their raw vulnerability. Fly Safe fascinates as it informs readers of what one wife experiences as her commander husband leads his battalion to the middle east.

Read more here

DEAR BOB: Bob Hope’s Wartime Correspondence with the G.I.s of World War II
By Martha Bolton with Linda Hope

During World War II, Bob Hope traveled almost ceaselessly to outposts large and small, entertaining US troops – and inspiring them; Martha Bolton brings the extent of this work to light in Dear Bob.

Writer Martha Bolton worked with and for comedian Bob Hope. Now, with Hope’s daughter Linda, she has gathered and organized the letters written to Bob by the soldiers he helped.

Read more here

Keep Telling Stories – They Are Needed!

Submit Here!

We are always honored to be trusted with any book at Chanticleer. It is a pleasure to highlight these stories with their own division.

“Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.“–Mark Twain

“How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!” – Maya Angelou

“A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.” —Joseph Campbell
November 8, 2022
The 2022 CHATELAINE Book Awards for Romantic Fiction – The Long List – CIBAs 2022
The Chatelaine Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in Romantic Fiction. The Chatelaine Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).

Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best new books featuring romantic themes and adventures of the heart, historical love affairs, perhaps a little steamy romance, and stories that appeal especially to fans of affairs of the heart to compete in the Chatelaine Book Awards (the CIBAs). We will put them to the test and choose the best among them.

These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from all 2022 Chatelaine Romantic Fiction entries to the 2022 Chatelaine Book Awards LONG LIST. Entries below are now in competition for 2022 Chatelaine Shortlist. The Short Listers will compete for the Finalist positions. All FINALISTS will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC23).

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

We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 29th, 2023 at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2023 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST of the 2022 Chatelaine Book Awards novel competition for Romantic Fiction!

Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works in the 2022 CIBAs.
- Jerry Gundersheimer – Reach: A Nexus of Life and Love
- Reenita Malhotra Hora – Operation Mom
- Valerie Taylor – What’s Not True
- Evie Alexander – Kissing Games
- Tonya Ulynn Brown – The King’s Inquisitor
- Anthony R. Licata – Caesar Obsessed: Passion, Conquest, and Tragedy in Gaul
- Jacek Waliszewski – Air Boat
- Susan K. Hamilton – Stone Heart
- Carol Van Den Hende – Orchid Blooming
- Linda Cardillo – A Place of Refuge
- Antonia Gavrihel – Back to One
- KC Cowan – The Bennets: Providence & Perception
- M. I. Dugast – Ekstasis – The Return of the Sovereign Heart
- Amy Schisler – The Good Wine
- Josanna Thompson – A Maiden’s Journey
- Wendy Rich Stetson – Hometown
- D. Lieber – A Very Witchy Yuletide
- Marie Jones – Those We Trust
- T.K. Conklin – Outlaw’s Redemption
- Debra Whiting Alexander – A River for Gemma
- Suzanne Smith – Lilah’s Limit
- Patricia Ann Williams – The Garret on Boulevard Voltaire
- Cinda K. Swalley – The Golden Hearts Club
- Emma Lombard – Grace on the Horizon
- Eve M. Riley – The Refusal
- S.G. Blaise – The Last Lumenian
- Manmohan Sadana – Healing Strings
- Gail Meath – Agustina de Aragón
- Gail Hertzog – Crossing the Ford
- Kelly Miller – Captive Hearts
- Mary Kolles and Mary James – Cyber Nothing
- Mike Owens – It Had to Be You
- J Fremont – Magician of Light
- E.F. Dodd – Risky Restoration
- Clare Flynn – Jasmine in Paris
- Alice McVeigh – Harriet: A Jane Austen Variation
- Joy Ross Davis – The Hit Man’s Wife
- Cheri Champagne – To Woo A Troublesome Spy
- Cheri Champagne – The Charming Spy
- Daniela Valenti – Sentinel 10: The Crystal Skull
- Anna Casamento Arrigo – The Shadow’s Secrets
- E.E. Burke – Tom Sawyer Returns
Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.

PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!

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

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2021 CHATELAINE Awards is:

The Long Desert Road

by Alex Sirotkin

See the full list of Chatelaine 2021 Winners here

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

Please click here for more information.

Winners will be announced at the 2022 CIBA Awards Ceremony sponsored by the 2023 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

IN-Person – April 27-30, 2023! Register Today!

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

Join us for our 11th annual conference and discover why!
November 7, 2022
Series Spotlight: Themes and Research for Success!
Sometimes a story is too big for just One Book

You have an idea. Not just any idea, a big idea! We’re talking ten thousand pages, hundreds of thousands of words, the next Great Doorstop of a novel!

Consider breaking that up into a series!

It might be easier to split up the book digitally

Smaller books are more accessible, and a series keeps you in the front of your readers’ minds. With books consistently coming out, winning awards, and receiving reviews, the marketing for those happens much more naturally than having to bring out a backlist of unrelated novels. When a book takes place in a series, a reader who read an earlier book already knows they’re going like what they pick up.

With the incredible versatility of a book series, we now offer the Book Series Awards for Genre Fiction in addition to progressive discounts on multiple book reviews.

But where to start? How do you link your series together? What goes into finishing an actual series?

Enter Your Series Today!

Series Theme

Theme is the central idea of the series. Your theme informs the main character’s goal, their motivation to pursue that goal, and the threats to their success.

Your stories are grounded in the theme. A hero who saves the world from evil plans will experience different challenges than two teenage friends who love to solve small-town mysteries. The theme helps you maintain the tone of each book in the series. If one book is filled with irony and another is deadly serious, your readers will be disappointed and stop reading. That’s why your theme is important to the success of the entire series.

There’s no guaranteed formula, but you can start out by doing some serious research into great series that have already succeeded. The tools you discover will help fashion unique work for you and your voice.

Let’s Dive in!

Research and Read

All good story research starts somewhere

Everyone will tell you to be a great writer, you should be a great reader. Think about the series you want to write, and ask yourself: What authors do I admire who are doing something similar? You’re going to want to look through their books for all that we will discuss here, as well as comparing it to your own understanding of structure and what makes a good story.

If you aren’t sure where to start, you can reference this wonderful article on plotting by Jessica Morrell here.

Jessica Page Morrell

In it, she covers some of what authors need to consider when writing, such as:
- What is the inciting event or threat?
- Environment
- Risks to take with your characters
And if you want more, you can refer to this article on story structure by David Beaumier that looks at
- Dialogue
- Character
- Plot
- Voice
- Beats
- Show vs Tell
Now that you have your list and a running understanding of what’s making the books work, you can take notes on what your favorite series are doing that makes them your favorite series! Your notes should cover the important events in each book, and then ask yourself what the overall point of the book was, and finally how did that book fit into the series as a whole.

The Chanticleer Authors Conference is the place to go to hone your writing skills!

With regards to character, you’ll want to examine which central characters return, and how many new characters come on the scene (these are named characters where you receive background on them and they have a non-trivial impact on your main cast).

At the end, do a comparison of themes between books and ask how they relate to other books in the series.

Here are some of our favorite series that also won First Place in the Series Awards! you could look through for ideas. Let us know if any of them are similar to what you want to write!

M. K. Wiseman – The Bookminder series

You can read the review here for The Bookminder

Kaylin McFarren – Threads

Read the reviews here for Buried Threads, Banished Threads, and Twisted Threads

Mark Newhouse – The Devil’s Bookkeepers

Read the reviews here for The Noose, The Noose Tightens, and The Noose Closes

Nicole Evelina – The Guinevere’s Tale Trilogy

Read the reviews here for Daughter of Destiny and Camelot’s Queen

Have a Book Series that deserves recognition? Submit now to our Book Series Awards here by the end of November!

The 2021 Series Grand Prize Winner was Nicole Evelina, author of The Guinevere’s Tale Trilogy.

See the 2021 Series Award Winners here!

Enter before the end of November!

Helpful Links Recap:

Prepping to Write – Plotting, Inciting Incidents, Atmosphere, Characters – Brainstorming Tips for the NaNoWriMo Season by Jessica Morrell

Understanding Story Structure by David Beaumier

The traditional publishing tool that indie authors can use to propel their writing careers to new levels? https://test.chantireviews.com/2016/05/15/the-seven-must-haves-for-authors-unlocking-the-secrets-of-successful-publishing-series-by-kiffer-brown/
November 4, 2022