Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: CAC23

The 2024 Book Series Awards Spotlight for Fiction and Non-Fiction Series
Books!

Betcha can’t have just one!

We’re ready. Is your series?

We are Delighted to Celebrate the 2023 Winners of the Series Award!
- John J. Spearman – FitzDuncan
- James Hutson-Wiley – The Sugar Merchant
- Alice McVeigh – Warleigh Hall Press Jane Austen Series
- Tom Burkhalter – No Merciful War
- Dave Lager – The Ro Delahanty Novels
- Jode Millman – The Queen City Crimes Series
- Mark A. Gibson – Hamilton Place
The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 SERIES Awards is:

Ghosts Along the Oregon Trail

by David Fitz-Gerald

We are so looking forward to celebrating these incredible book series!

First though, let’s celebrate some recent books in a series that have come our way for review!

SUMMER CYCLONE: Magic at Myers Beach Book 4
By Alan B. Gibson

The citizens of the three fairy kingdoms clash, forced to live shoulder-to-shoulder alongside ungoverned Outliers. In Summer Cyclone, fourth book of Alan B. Gibson’s Magic at Myers Beach series, unassuming tea-shop manager Stefán tries to find love while keeping all of fairy society from fracturing.

The three fairy kings, Theos, Zsombor, and Christophe, evacuate their people to Myers Beach. It’s only here that they have any chance of recreating fairy dust after their old sources had been poisoned, and saving every fairy life. They take in the Outliers, remnants of a fallen kingdom, and at first find good will between the groups. But with thousands of fairies moving in, they have to keep everyone on a short leash or else risk humans catching wind of their new neighbors. Resentment of these strange Outliers builds.

Stefán, a close confidant to Theos, struggles to keep anti-Outlier sentiment at bay with the help of some enigmatic and knowledgeable new friends. Rumors of him giving the Outliers special treatment grow stronger as some fairies begin to suspect that he’s actually one of them.

Read more here!

SEA TIGERS And MERCHANTS: Salem Stories Book 2
By Sandra Wagner-Wright

Two families vie for power in mercantile 18^th-century Salem. Sea Tigers and Merchants, the second book in Sandra Wagner-Wright’s Salem Stories series, returns to a world of treacherous storms, tantalizing wealth, and the demands of high society on its children.

Elias Hasket Derby, Sr. has kept his promise to his wife Eliza—they rule Salem. Hasket’s merchant ships bring in great fortune, while Eliza holds court as the most influential woman in the city’s social spheres. And their ambitions have grown to meet their station. Hasket launches his riskiest endeavor—the Grand Turk, a ship so massive she’s nearly too heavy to be pulled out of the docks. Meanwhile Eliza, snubbed by George Washington’s stay at another family’s mansion, insists they build a house so grand it will put all others to shame.

Such success, of course, draws the envious eye of Hasket’s competitor.

Read more here!

MAYDAY: Land, Sea, and Air Series Book 2
By Sue C. Dugan

In Sue C. Dugan’s middle grade adventure, Mayday: Land, Sea, and Air Series Book 2, thirteen-year-old Jessie and her father, Adam, take an unexpected detour when their plane crashes on a secluded island.

On their final vacation before Adam begins chemotherapy for thyroid cancer, Jessie and her father take off in their Cessna aircraft over the boundless, azure Atlantic Ocean. Jessie’s anxiety about her father’s health is on high-alert during the trip, especially when she remembers her mother’s cancerous death.

Twenty minutes into their flight, the sky grows gloomy, and the wind picks up speed from all sides.

Read more here!

DREAMS And ILLUSIONS: Gabrielle Dorian Mysteries Book 1
By Rebecca Olmstead

Dreams and Illusions by Rebecca Olmstead is a delicate interplay of mysteries balanced on an emotional undercurrent, exploring the immutable ebb and flow of life to find resilience in the shadow of misfortunes.

In the bustling town of Whitman, Gabrielle co-owns the boutique Belle Femme with her best friend, Kate. Radiating the tranquil aura of an empowered business owner, Gabrielle is a caring woman, but burdened with a secret she hides from everyone. Gabrielle is blessed—or perhaps cursed—with prophetic dreams.

Almost as if they are a glimpse into the future, Gabrielle wrestles with dreams that foretell an ominous fate. Soon she is confronted with a series of distressing events that thrust her into a mystery.

Read more here!

We can’t stop reading books, so please send us more!

Enter the Book Series Awards by the end of October!

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!
October 21, 2024
The 2024 Humor and Satire Spotlight for books that make us laugh!
No Funny Business!

The Humor and Satire Awards are open through the end of October!

We are delighted to celebrate the 2023 Winners of the Humor and Satire Awards!
- Eileen O’Finlan – All the Furs and Feathers
- Allyson Rice – The Key to Circus-Mom Highway
- Marco Ocram – The Awful Truth About The Herbert Quarry Affair
- Lou Dischler – The Rising
- Steven Mayfield – The Penny Mansions
- Tom Strelich – Water Memory
The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 Humor and Satire Awards is:

Quantum Consequence: Physics, Lust and Greed Series, Book 5

by Mike Murphey

More posts are to come celebrating these amazing winners, but we’re here to tickle your appetite with these great books we’ve reviewed in the meantime!

THE GARDEN PLOT DIARIES
By Endy Wright

Endy Wright’s The Garden Plot Diaries is a delightful collection of four short stories about life, relationships, and consequences.

Wright captures the gossip and rivalries between factious groups of town folk, all between sixty and ninety-something, who have known each other since childhood and carry the grudges to prove it. Our delightful narrator professes, “I am a rambling old man with a tale to tell and in no hurry to tell it.” So, settle in.

Hailing himself from New Hampshire, Wright has set these stories in Monadnock, a New England town/region which he peoples with a menagerie of colorful octogenarians who drink, dance, and feud. In the voice of his narrator again, “[these are stories] of chaos creeping into God’s Garden.” Wright’s stories certainly do deliver a wonderful kind of chaos and pandemonium usually expected in a kindergarten class.

Read more here!

LIAR, ALLEGED: A Tell-All: Celebrities, Sex and All the Rest
By David Vass

Liar, Alleged: A Tell-All: Celebrities, Sex, and All the Rest is a raw and mature memoir, the account of a resilient individual, David Vass, who had felt ‘instinctively’ different and shunned since he was a child.

Vass was born in Baltimore as the seventh child of eight. His large family knew nothing more than chaos and absurdity, biting poverty, a violent father, and an eternal hand-to-mouth crisis. At an early age, he had recognized his inextinguishable fascination with other males, a discovery that he would later bring himself to express to his mother. He was pretty confident that being gay was core to who he would become.

By the time he was twenty-four, David’s parents had already passed on. But as fate would have it, he would come to meet ‘the mother he never had’ in the jazz legend Anita O’Day. She dealt with problems of alcohol, drugs, and men; the outcome had been nine abortions, stubborn guilt, and infamy as a heroin addict. Nevertheless, the two would become close confidantes until Anita’s demise at the age of eighty-seven.

Read more here!

DRUNK TALK
By Mike Davis & TL Banks

Authors Davis and Banks have combined forces to create this humorous but practical look at how people think and why they act as they do.

The essential message of this satiric volume is that most people tend to nurse false notions about their lives and the universe in general – notions that the authors rapidly and thoroughly debunk. They take the stance of a drunk hanging out at a bar, hearing about everything that goes on in people’s minds. In forty-eight segments, various human problems are examined, derided, and substituted for what many readers will consider far more rational viewpoints.

Some issues raised seem trivial – “Celebrities” who do not, as might be supposed, get to enjoy their fame since the general attitude toward them is “shut up and entertain us or else.” Other matters are significant. One of the longer treatises focuses on “Gods,” with the authors asserting that God is merely an imaginary projection, and religion only a means of seeing and believing what people want, “even if it’s not real or makes no sense.” A true, non-superstition-based belief system would impel people to help others more and take full responsibility for their actions.

Read more here!

Hot Air: An Arnold Falls Novel, Book 2
By Charlie Suisman

Charlie Suisman returns to the unique fictional town of Arnold Falls in his humorous novel, Hot Air.

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.

Read more here!

EVERYTHING THAT WAS
By Conon Parks, Chris Sempek, Mike MacNeil, Larry Knight

Everything That Was echoes myriad broken emotions born of the world in turmoil after 9/11, intricate and politically bold, and as disturbing in its brutal humanity as it is satisfying with witty jests.

The 9/11 terrorist attack has shattered the psyche of the American people. A volcanic eruption of questions demands the whys and hows of the attack. From this anger, a massive war on terror begins. This historical fiction reflects the chaos of 9/11 and its ensuing global chaos – resulting in a series of violent endeavors and events. Throughout Everything That Was, one can find a swarm of fragmented ideologies, mini memoirs of war veterans, and witness accounts – all screeching reasons for the attack, the ensuing war, and its consequences: political, ideological, and theological.

The book’s very structure expresses the central ideas of its content, making for an affecting read.

Read more here!

Whether the story makes us stop and pause or burst out laughing, we’re so happy to have reviewed these books!

Is your Humor or Satire Book Ready to turn it up to 11?

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
October 10, 2024
The 2024 CYGNUS Awards Short List 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 Long List to the SHORT LIST. These entries are now in competition for the 2024 Cygnus Semi-Finalists List. 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.

These titles are in the running for the SEMI-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
- David T. Isaak – Tomorrowville
- D. L. Wilburn Jr. – The God Protocol: Judgment
- Jeremy Clift – Born in Space: Unlocking Destiny
- C.P. Schaefer – Western Lights
- 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
- Zach Fortier – Volk’s Bane
- I.D. Marie – The Tyrant’s Daughter
- Jayson Adams – Ares
- A. R. Black – No Man’s Land
- Nina Munteanu – Thalweg
- Jude Berman – The Die
- John Be Lane – The Future Lies
- Aaron Arsenault – The Climate Diaries: Book One: The Academy
- Russell Klyford – Emergent Mars
- Liz Cummings – Down the Rabbit Hole
- Michael A. Richards – FounderLand
- 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

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!
August 15, 2024
The CYGNUS 2024 CIBAs Long List 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 in the first look rounds from all 2024 CYGNUS Science Fiction entries to the 2024 Cygnus Book Awards LONG LIST. These entries are now in competition for the 2024 Cygnus Short List. The Short Listers will compete for the Semi-Finalists positions. FINALISTS will be chosen from the Semi-Finalists and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference, 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.

These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST 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
- Chris Rasmussen – Upstream
- Joseph Anderson – Eden 2b
- Neil V. Young – Children of the Stars
- David T. Isaak – Tomorrowville
- Rod Galindo – Distress Call
- D. L. Wilburn Jr. – The God Protocol: Judgment
- Jeremy Clift – Born in Space: Unlocking Destiny
- C.P. Schaefer – Western Lights
- 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
- Zach Fortier – Volk’s Bane
- I.D. Marie – The Tyrant’s Daughter
- Jayson Adams – Ares
- Laurie Stevens – The Return
- Marc Corwin – The Lasso Unravels: When All Hell Breaks Loose
- A. R. Black – No Man’s Land
- Nina Munteanu – Thalweg
- Jude Berman – The Die
- John Be Lane – The Future Lies
- Aaron Arsenault – The Climate Diaries: Book One: The Academy
- Russell Klyford – Emergent Mars
- Liz Cummings – Down the Rabbit Hole
- Michael A. Richards – FounderLand
- 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

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!
July 28, 2024
The 2024 Ozma Spotlight for Fantasy Fiction! Explore the Categories, the Overlaps, and find your Next Great Read!
The search for the best Fantasy Fiction continues!

The submissions for the 2024 Awards is well underway, and Ozma closes submissions at the end of July!

Fantasy isn’t just elves and magic. There is so many possibilities for a Fantasy Tale and we love that!

Let’s Dive into the Categories!
- Magic, Heroes and Villains is classic High Fantasy like Lord of The Rings.
- Coming of age is Fantasy typically looks at someone coming into their own, like Egwene al’Vere in The Wheel of Time, but it can also be aimed at a younger audience. For YA Fantasy see Dante Rossetti and for Middle Grade Fantasy check out the Gertrude Warner Awards!
- Steampunk and Dieselpunk are a type of Alternative history and Counterculture, Steampunk being Victorian era sci-fi or fantasy, or both, with an emphasis on steam powered or gaslight technology and historical fashions.
  - Dieselpunk is a similar category but more like an industrial Art Deco, Film Noir aspects with aesthetics of the World Wars and Early Cold War. The video game series Bioshock, or Bladerunner could be seen as examples of Dieselpunk . There are quite a few different types of ‘punk’. Cyberpunk is one of the more well known, using 1980s futuristic aesthetics.
- Historical Fantasy is similar to the previous, but with less of the Science Fiction elements. History with magic instead of History with weird tech.
- Modern and Urban Fantasy is exactly what it sounds like. Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files is a good example. Fantasy, but realistic. Magical Realism stands on its own, and can be found as a Category in the Somerset Awards!
- Last, but not least is Myths and Legends and Fairy Tales. Classic Fantasy elements, Fairies, King Arthur, folktale type stories.
Fantasy can even have many crossovers with Science Fiction! The cast of Star Trek: Next Generation shows just the same thing.

Looking for your next Fantasy Read? Check out some of these incredible books we’ve reviewed!

THE CLAIMING: Fractured Kingdoms Book 1
By J.A. Nielsen

The illegitimate son of a human king accidentally binds himself to a Fae princess in J.A. Nielsen’s YA adventure, The Claiming. As war bears down on the kingdom of Telridge, can the two of them break the spell in time?

Lord Ferrous, ruler of Telridge, smells conflict coming for his people. Even so, he denies a mysterious request from the king of the Winter Fae, and sets his sons to prepare their land for war. His eldest, Prince Dirk, gathers his knights and begins to evacuate the common people to the protection of Telridge castle. His younger son Spense, born out of wedlock to the castle’s head cook, uses his finicky magic to Claim a bridge over a powerful river. If he succeeds, the passing will be barred to their enemies. But he fails to realize that the powerful living force he encounters isn’t the bridge at all.

Dewy, crown princess of the Summer Fae, is Claimed instead of the bridge. Her aunt, Lady Radiant, must exile her from their lands. While Dewy’s careless spirit chafed under Radiant’s authority, she grieves for her lost home.

Read More Here!

The Second Book in the Award-Winning Fractured Kingdom Series comes out September 4, 2024! It’s available for pre-order now!

A CIRCLE Of STARS: Four Crowns Series Book 1
By Erin Lark Maples

If you’re looking for a beach read with supernatural intrigue, A Circle of Stars by Erin Lark Maples will draw you in from page one. Ember “EJ” James, a newly-arrived stranger in the strange land of Prescott, AZ, immediately begins navigating unfamiliar territory, both physically and metaphysically.

Forty-something EJ doesn’t know it yet, but when she agreed to take over her deceased uncle Hollis’s shop in Prescott, she stumbled into a world of magical realism. The plant shop, as it turns out, is more than just that—it hides secret access to other realms, which supernatural beings will go to great lengths to access. Much like the plants in the shop, this tale is dark, tangled, and intriguing beyond belief.

Anyone else may have felt helpless. But EJ remains upbeat, charmingly self-deprecating, and resourceful to the end. There’s a great joy in seeing how she works through her new surroundings, unfazed by (almost) everything they throw her way.

Read More Here!

SUMMER THUNDER: Magic at Myers Beach Book 1
By Alan B. Gibson

Lily struggles to keep her business, her son, and her home. But in Summer Thunder, first book of the Magic at Myers Beach series by Alan B. Gibson, Lily’s luck begins to turn as she connects with the enigmatic beach king Theos.

With the help of her friend and fellow business owner Greta “the Witch,” Lily tries to revitalize her fairy-themed decoration and figurine store. Her divorce from her abusive ex-husband Kelly is pending, and she must present a calm and reliable home to ensure full custody of her son Jamie. But when her kindly landlord, Ms. Coffey, passes away, she’s confronted with two options: lose her prime business location and upstairs apartment, or somehow make enough money to buy the building herself.

Enter Theos, a kitesurfing champion with adoring fans. He shows true appreciation for Lily’s fairy figurines, bringing her many more sales. But more importantly, Theos becomes deeply interested in Lily herself. Their romance begins on rocky footing, as Theos has a strange air about him and seems to vanish whenever a storm comes into town. But when he begins modelling for a new fairy figurine – aptly named Theos, the King – the two are drawn inevitably closer.

Read More Here!

MISTRESS Of LEGEND: Guinevere’s Tale Book 3
By Nicole Evelina

In Mistress of Legend, the enticing finale of Nicole Evelina’s Guinevere’s Tale trilogy, matters are life-and-death by the second sentence, pulling readers deep into Guinevere’s fate in this retelling of Arthurian legend.

We come upon heroine Guinevere in the midst of an ill-fated romance with Lancelot. It’s far from her first troubled entanglement, but the stakes rise as she’s severely injured and faces even more threats, pursued by possible enemies. The novel’s beginning is woven with backstory, which adds suspense to the drama unfolding in Guinevere’s present. This summarizing might be slow for readers familiar with the series, but makes the story accessible for those who haven’t picked up the first two books.

Many more characters appear, waving the web of intrigue Guinevere finds herself caught in.

Evelina builds this setting through well-researched cultural details, like the holidays and rites of Guinevere’s pagan world, and the symbolism and ideology of the Christianity that threatens to blot her world out.

Read More Here!

Plus, check out our 2023 Overall Grand Prize Winner, A Vengeful Realm by Tim Facciola!

A roaring start with a queen planning her husband’s execution while full of regret for what must be done. Magic is forbidden, knights and gladiators are doing their best to make their way through a complex political world, and the prince is just trying to keep his family safe. Excellent for anyone who loves Brandon Sanderson!

Thank you to everyone who submitted to the 2023 Ozma Awards! We can’t believe that the whole adventure starts again when the Ozma Awards close on July 31st, 2024.

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.

Submit to the Ozma Awards today!
July 18, 2024
The 2024 Ozma Hall of Fame for the Best Fantasy Fiction
Is this Just Real Life, or is This Fantasy?

What do Legolas’ Elf Eyes see? Great Fantasy Books!

Legolas (Portrayed by Orlando Bloom) From Lord of The Rings

The Ozma Awards for Fantasy Fiction are a Division of Chanticleer Book Awards and help us find some amazing fantastical stories.

Fantasy fiction can be anything from High fantasy with elves and magic, to Alternative History, Steampunk, and Folk Legends.

Submissions Deadline for the OZMA Book Awards for Fantasy Fiction is July, 31, 2024.

**Send Us Your Story by the End of July**

If you’ve been looking for a Fantasy to read, try out some of our Award winners!

A Vengeful Realm Book 1: The Scales of Balance
By Tim Facciola

We’re coordinating the review with Tim to go out in October with his next book release! The full series is out now, and you won’t regret reading it! Check out his website here and see it on Amazon here!

Soar a Burning Sky
By Steven Michael Beck

Earth is linked in a symbiotic relationship with its spirit twin, a hidden utopia called EonThera. But as the paradise begins to inherit the harsh realities of Earth’s drastic climate change, EonThera urges action – before both realms collapse, in Steven Michael Beck’s Soar a Burning Sky.

What if there was an “earthly paradise,” a mirror of Earth – a terratopia that is an awe-inspiring existential representation of how amazing planet Earth could be? This fantasy fiction presents a synergic relationship between Earth and this soul, as together they sustain the Ticking – a heartbeat that nurtures both. But as Clayton Cramer puts it, “Abandon all thoughts of Utopia – humans are involved.”

As a result of the two realms’ mutual existence, one’s failing health accounts for the fall of the other. The soul of Earth, EonThera, is collapsing. It is plain that the enemy is ignorance, primarily Earth’s, and with this knowledge comes the recruitment of the four unlikely Earthly warriors to aid the two realms before they fall from a burning sky.

Visit Steven Michael Beck’s website here for the latest updates!

Plague of Flies
By Laurel Anne Hill

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.

Read More Here

Divinity’s Twilight: Rebirth
By Christopher Russell

Divinity’s Twilight: Rebirth by Christopher Russell is the opening of a High Fantasy epic about the rise and fall of vast empires.

The story grows from unfinished business between three brothers gifted with magic and power but chose different paths to achieve safety and security for themselves and the people who followed them.

These different paths culminated in a battle where the fate of their world is balanced precariously on a knife’s edge. Darmatus and Rabban are engaged in a war to the death with their oldest brother Sarcon. Sarcon believes the road to that safety lies in power alone, that the only way to be secure is to crush all his enemies, no matter how heinous the deeds required.

Read More Here

Manufactured Witches
By Michelle Rene

Sixteen-year-old Nat is a boxcar kid. It’s the Dust Bowl era, and Nat has lost everything: his grandmother, his family home, and a sense of belonging. He hops trains across Texas in search of a place for himself amid so much loss. Outside of Amarillo, Nat feels a peculiar sensation, a tug from destiny, that pulls him toward the small town of Tanglewood. However, instead of finding a job and some much-needed food, he discovers Polly Jones, a teenager like himself, chained to a post with a sign above her reading, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch.”

Nat can’t bring himself to abandon her to the small-minded, fearful townsfolk and immediately becomes her protector until the arrival of Camille Renoir Lavendou, a local woman who operates Miss Camille’s Home for Wayward Children. No one dares stop Camille from releasing Polly and taking both teens with her because Camille is reputed to be in the “witchin’ business” herself. Nat’s excitement at the prospect of food and a place to stay quickly turns to disbelief and wariness when he steps inside Camille’s sanctuary. What he thought was a ploy on Camille’s part to keep the nosey townsfolk at bay doesn’t seem to be a trick at all when he meets those who are under Camille’s care.

Read More Here

Remember to add your next reads to your StoryGraph or Goodreads account! Now that you’re set on your next five reads, what are you waiting for? The only way to join this amazing list of Ozma Winners is to submit today!

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

Our Chanticleer International Book Awards feature more than $30,000.00 worth of cash and prizes each year!
- All First Place Winners Receive a coveted Chanticleer Blue Ribbon and discounts on our Roost Membership and Editorial Reviews.
- All Division Grand Prize Winners a coveted Chanticleer Book Review Package
- The Ozma Grand Prize Winner is named Chanticleer Reviews Best Fantasy Fiction Book of the Year and goes on to compete for the Chanticleer Overall Grand Prize Best Book of the Year
- The Overall Grand Prize Winner is named Chanticleer Reviews Best Book of the Year and awarded the $1000 prize
- All winners receive a Chanticleer Prize Package which includes a digital badge, a ribbon and a whole assortment of goodies detailed below (winners outside the US pay a shipping & handling fee)
That’s more than $30,000.00 worth of cash and prizes! The Fine Print.

~$1000 for one lucky Overall Grand Prize Winner
~$30,000+ in reviews, prizes, and promotional opportunities awarded to Category Winners

You know you want it…

Currently accepting entries. Deadline: July 31, 2024

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! Here are some recent achievements from our authors:
Reach out with your news to info@ChantiReviews.com
July 11, 2024
The 2023 Military and Front Line Book Award WINNERS for Service to Others Non-Fiction
The Military & Front Lines Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of 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).

Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring experience in the Military and Armed Forces Service, Medical Services, Stories of Community Service Workers and First Responders, Service Organizations, Work in Agencies that service communities, and Service Life. 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.

1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners were announced at the 2023 CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony by Strider Klusman on Saturday, April 20th, 2024 at the Four Points By Sheraton in beautiful Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

This is the OFFICIAL 2023 LIST of the MILITARY & FRONT LINE BOOK AWARDS First Place Category Winners and the MILITARY & FRONT LINE Grand Prize Winner.

Please join us in cheering on the following authors and their works in the 2023 CIBAs.
- Daniel L Pinion – Chop That Sh*t Up! Leadership and Life Lessons Learned While in the Military
- Benjamin Sledge – Where Cowards Go to Die
- Eric M. Liddick – All the Memories That Remain: War, Alzheimer’s, and the Search for a Way Home
- John Thomas Hoffman – The Saigon Guns
- JoAnna Rakowski – Chasing the Daylight
The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 MILITARY & FRONT LINE Awards is:

Chasing the Daylight

by JoAnna Rakowski

You can see all of our amazing 2023 Military & Front Line Finalists! Congratulations to all and thank you for submitting!

Well done climbing the CIBA Levels of Achievement!

Special Recognition: Burl Harmon

We had the immense pleasure to host 2022 Military and Front Line First Place Winner Burl Harmon and his wife, Dr. Nanette Davis who won a 2023 Journey Award. Mr. Harmon is a 100-year-old veteran, and it was incredibly moving to have him in attendance.

Combat Missions by Burl Harmon won the 2022 Military & Front Line First Place Award

While not a Journey Winner, there was no way these Blue Ribbon Winners were going to pass on a photo with Burl. From Left to right we have Dr. Nanette Davis, Sarah Martin, Burl Harmon, Lori Lee Peters, Erika Shepard, and Julie Morrison.

PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!

Attn CIBA Winners: More goodies and prizes will be coming your way along with promotion in our magazine, website, and advertisements in Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards long-tail marketing strategy. Welcome to the CIBA Hall of Fame for Award Winners!

This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the Facebook post. However, for Facebook 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 Facebook and Twitter handle is @ChantiReviews

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

A Note to ALL the WINNERS: The coveted CIBA Blue Ribbons will be mailed out starting in June. We will contact you with an email to verify your mailing address and other items. You will receive an OFFICIAL EMAIL NOTIFICATION with Digital Badges and more information.

We will post at least two 2023 CIBA Divisions’ OFFICIAL Winners per business day starting April 24, 2024. We do a final sweep and reconciliation prior to making the Official CIBA Posts for the 2023 First Place and Grand Prize Winners. We thank you in advance for your patience and understanding. There are many moving parts involved with the Chanticleer International Book Awards Program.

Grand Prize Division Winners will receive a customized digital badge. When we receive it from our graphic artist, we will also post here and in the Grand Prize Division Winners Official Posting.

Thank you for participating in the 2023 CIBAs! We are looking forward to reading your future entries.

Team Chanticleer!
May 6, 2024
The 2023 Chanticleer Int’l Book Award Finalists for Shorts and Series Finalists!
A Huge Congratulations to all of the Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards (CIBAs) Shorts and Series Finalists!

Every tier of the CIBAs is an important one, though few manage to rise this far in the ranks.

For our Shorts and Series Authors, this post has links to all of the Finalist Awards for the 3 CIBA Division Lists we have for Longform work like collections, anthologies, and novellas; Short Prose like Short Stories and Essays; and Series. We will have a separate post for Fiction and Non-Fiction.

All Finalists in attendance will be recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference, and we will announce the Winners at the CIBAs Ceremonies on Saturday, April 20th at the Chanticleer Banquet. We can’t express how excited we are to be able to do this in person with our fully vaccinated and boosted staff in a healthy metro area.

Now let’s take a step back and look at where we came from to make this happen.

The remaining tiers are the First Place Winner, the Grand Prize Winners, and finally, the coveted Overall Grand Prize Winners. The Overall Grand Prize Winner takes home the $1000 and more! See the Book Award details here.

Now, presenting the links to the Non-Fiction Awards Finalists
The Official 2023 CIBA Lists of the First Place and Grand Prize Winners for all Divisions of the CIBAs will start to be posted after April 21st, 2024.

We have badges available starting with the Short List. If you need a digital badge reflecting your tier level, please email info@ChantiReviews.com with your division and rank, and we will send you one as soon as possible.

The 12th Anniversary Chanticleer Authors Conference is April 19-21, 2024

Don’t Delay, Register Today!

Goodreads Icon

Make sure your Award gets the attention it deserves on Goodreads.com

In the Librarian Manual on Goodreads, you can go to your Book Edit Page — Literary Awards.

You want to list the Award for Chanticleer International Book Awards (CIBA) Winners, and be sure to include the year and what place you received. For example:

The year Long List, Short List, Semi-Finalist, or Finalist.

Note from Goodreads: “To add a new award or edit an existing award, you’ll need help from one of our volunteer librarians or a staff member.” For assistance, post in the Goodreads Librarians Group.

Always double check that you’ve written everything correctly before posting it. The search function for Awards on Goodreads is both case and punctuation sensitive.

The Overall Grand Prize Winner for the 2022 CIBAs was Michelle Cox’s book A Spying Eye

Remember, you don’t have to be present to win, but it sure is a lot more fun!

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.
March 25, 2024
The 2023 Chanticleer Int’l Book Award Finalists for Non-Fiction!
Three Cheers for for the CIBAs 2023 Non-Fiction Book Awards Finalists!

Every tier of the CIBAs is an important one, though few manage to rise this far in the ranks.

For our Non-Fiction Authors, this post has links to all of the Finalist Awards for the 7 CIBA Divisions we have for Non-Fiction. We will have a separate post for Fiction and one more post for the Shorts Awards and Series Awards.

All Finalists in attendance will be recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference, and we will announce the Winners at the CIBAs Ceremonies on Saturday, April 20th, 2024 at the Chanticleer Banquet.

Now let’s take a step back and look at where we came from to make this happen.

The remaining tiers are the First Place Winner, the Grand Prize Winners, and finally, the coveted Overall Grand Prize Winners. The Overall Grand Prize Winner takes home the $1000 and more! See the Book Award details here.

Now, presenting the links to the Non-Fiction Awards Finalists
The Official 2023 CIBA Lists of the First Place and Grand Prize Winners for all Divisions of the CIBAs will start to be posted after April 21st, 2024.

We have badges available starting with the Short List. If you need a digital badge reflecting your tier level, please email info@ChantiReviews.com with your division and rank, and we will send you one as soon as possible.

The 12th Anniversary Chanticleer Authors Conference is April 19-21, 2024

Don’t Delay, Register Today!

Goodreads Icon

Make sure your Award gets the attention it deserves on Goodreads.com

In the Librarian Manual on Goodreads, you can go to your Book Edit Page — Literary Awards.

You want to list the Award for Chanticleer International Book Awards (CIBA) Winners, and be sure to include the year and what place you received. For example:

The year Long List, Short List, Semi-Finalist, or Finalist.

Note from Goodreads: “To add a new award or edit an existing award, you’ll need help from one of our volunteer librarians or a staff member.” For assistance, post in the Goodreads Librarians Group.

Always double check that you’ve written everything correctly before posting it. The search function for Awards on Goodreads is both case and punctuation sensitive.

The Overall Grand Prize Winner for the 2023 CIBAs was Michelle Cox’s book A Spying Eye

Remember, you don’t have to be present to win, but it sure is a lot more fun!

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.
March 23, 2024
The 2023 Military and Front Line Book Award Finalists for Service to Others Non-Fiction
The Military & Front Lines Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of 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).

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 2023 Military & Front Line Non-Fiction entries to the 2023 Military and Front Line Book Awards SHORT LIST. Finalists will be selected from the Short List. All FINALISTS will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC24).

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 20th, 2024 at the Four Points by Sheraton in beautiful Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

These titles are the FINALISTS of the 2023 Military & Front Lines Book Awards for Narrative Non-Fiction.

Please join us in cheering on the following authors and their works in the 2023 CIBAs.
- Daniel L Pinion – Chop That Sh*t Up! Leadership and Life Lessons Learned While in the Military
- Benjamin Sledge – Where Cowards Go to Die
- Pietro Emanuele Garbelli – The Doctor’s Voice – Empowering Solutions to Physicians’ Frustrations, Burnout and Healthcare Inefficiencies
- Elizabeth Auld – Ma Chère Maman–Mon Cher Enfant: The Letters of Lucien and Louise Durosoir, 1914-1919
- Eric M. Liddick – All the Memories That Remain: War, Alzheimer’s, and the Search for a Way Home
- Adam Ankrum – Halloween Horror True E.R. Terror
- Trevor Greene – March Forth: The Inspiring True Story Of A Canadian Soldier’s Journey Of Love, Hope and Survival
- John Thomas Hoffman – The Saigon Guns
- Suzanne M Elshult & Guy Mansfield – A Dog’s Devotion: True Adventures of a K9 Search and Rescue Team
- JoAnna Rakowski – Chasing the Daylight: One Woman’s Journey to Becoming a U.S. Army Intelligence Officer
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. FB rules — not ours.

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 the next rounds of judging!

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2022 Military & Front Line is:

Lost in Beirut: A True Story of Love, Loss, and War
By Ashe & Magdalena Stevens

Click here to see the 2022 Short List for Military and Front Line Non-Fiction Awards.

We are now accepting submissions into the 2024 Military & Front Line Book Awards. The 2024 CIBA winners will be announced at CAC 2025. Please click here for more information.

See our Full List of Non-Fiction Divisions here!

Winners will be announced at the 2023 CIBA Awards Ceremony, sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference April 18-21, 2024! Register Today!

The Chanticleer Authors Conference

Featuring authors like D.D. Black, Screenwriter Kim Hornsby, book doctor Christine Fairchild, and coach and inspiring Mark Berridge, with more to be announced. CAC is shaping up to be excellent! You won’t want to miss out on the best tips around the business of being an author and achieving your publishing goals.

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 12th annual conference and discover why!
March 1, 2024