Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards

The 2024 Humor and Satire First Place Roundup

The Humor and Satire Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Humorous, Satirical and Allegorical Fiction. The Grand Prize Winner, Alexander Boldizar’s book, The Man Who Saw Seconds, will be promoted for years to come in our annual Hall of Fame article to come, as well as be featured on the Humor and Satire contest page year ’round!

The best part about being a Chanticleer Int’l Book Award Winner is the love and attention you get all year!

The 2024 Humor and Satire Winners were announced at the 2025 Chanticleer Authors Conference in April, and you can see the official winners post here!

Join us in celebrating the 2024 First Place Humor and Satire Winners!

Bill Burkland – The Misconceived Conception of a Baby Named Jesus

On a warm Galilean night, Mary and Joseph get to know each other (in the biblical sense) in a secluded garden in Nazareth. Nine months later, Mary’s pious mother, seeing that her young, unwed daughter is pregnant, enlists the help of a pompous high priest to characterize the pregnancy as divine, of God’s seed. When Mary refuses to go along with her mother’s scheme, she and Joseph enter a battle with her parents over every aspect of the birth and the fate of their baby.

As word of a miraculous virgin birth spreads through Bethlehem, factions form, and allegiances shift among unscrupulous shepherds, dubious Wise Men, an elderly innkeeper, an earnest but malodorous peasant and an aging cat with a penchant for prophecy-all trying to answer the crucial question: Is the baby named Jesus truly the Son of God or merely a mortal born of earthly parents?

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

Julie L. Brown – No One Will Save Us

Her destiny was certain. Until it wasn’t.

Exploring her beloved forest, young Princess Chibuike “Chi” encounters a man unlike any she has seen. His skin is as pale as the moon that watches over the Queendom of Kana, a land where women rule fiercely and freely.

Ten dry seasons later, in 1619, Chi, now a seasoned warrior in the Kanaian army, and preparing for her own future as queen, faces a mystery that threatens the existence of Kana. The once-peaceful queendom is upended when nearby villagers disappear en masse, including their ruling families—and one of Chi’s closest friends. Chi vows to find her missing landspeople and bring them home, no matter where they are. She and the women warriors travel across the ocean to Jamestown, Virginia to face down the pale men who have built a trade in human beings. To change the course of history for her people and herself requires Chi to discover a new kind of bravery and her true destiny.

Julie L. Brown’s No One Will Save Us is a sweeping novel of alternative history that explores what it means to be free and the resilience it takes to keep it.

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

Dan Kopcow – Madcap Seranade

Eli, a precocious 16-year-old social misfit living on Long Island in August 1979, cons his way into a professional boys’ choir’s Italian and Vatican tour so he can discover his missing father’s legacy.

But when he meets his dream girl, Jane, and finds himself connected to an intricate murder plot involving a legendary drug, he must decide if singing for the Pope is worth losing his family and first love.

Jane, a rebellious 16-year-old American girl, is desperate to get back into favor with her school friends after accidentally calling a narc on them. When she is sent to a Roman convent for smuggling erotic novels, she realizes she must grow up fast if she’s going to escape from the nuns, solve her family’s mystery involving a mythical drug, keep clear of the authorities, and declare her love for Eli.

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

Marco Ocram – The Awful Truth About The Name of The Rose

“IT IS STAN,” screamed the unhinged monk. “STAN HAS COME AMONGST US!”
“Stan?” cried the abbot and I in bewilderment. “Who is Stan?”

I realized my mistake, and retyped the line.

“IT IS SATAN,” screamed the unhinged monk. “SATAN HAS COME AMONST US!”

Mega-selling author, Marco Ocram, is on the edge of a nervous breakdown, and needs complete rest.

Police Chief Como Galahad—Marco’s main character—needs a volunteer to go under-cover at the Abbey, a remote celebrity retreat run as a medieval monastery, where something fishy is afoot.

There’s only one solution—Marco books into the Abbey for a detox, just a few days before a hundred A-listers fly in for a grand gala dinner.

Could anything go wrong? Could Marco write a labyrinth of astounding twists to leave all the world’s top celebrities moments from an awful death? Will you be amazed by the ending? You bet!

Fast, funny, and utterly different. Welcome to the weird world of The Awful Truth.

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

Thank you for joining us to celebrate the 2024 Humor and Satire First Place Winners!

Your book can join the Tiers of Achievement, but only if you submit to the Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards!

Got a great Fiction Book? The 2025 Humor and Satire Book Awards are open through the end of October!

Submit to the Humor and Satire Awards Today!

October 15, 2025
The 2025 Humor and Satire Spotlight
When Wit Meets Wisdom

The Humor & Satire Awards: Books that make us laugh and think

Humor and satire holds up a mirror to society, revealing truths that might be too uncomfortable to face in more serious genres. From clever wordplay that brightens our day to sharp social commentary that challenges our assumptions, these works prove that laughter truly is one of humanity’s most powerful tools for understanding ourselves and our world. The Humor & Satire Awards celebrate authors who master the delicate art of making readers think while they chuckle, crafting stories that entertain, enlighten, and occasionally make us squirm with recognition.

Celebrating Our Grand Prize Winner!

We’re thrilled to celebrate our 2024 Humor & Satire Division Grand Prize Winner, Alexander Boldizar for his thought-provoking novel The Man Who Saw Seconds. This ingenious work follows Preble Jefferson, an ordinary man with an extraordinary gift: he can see exactly five seconds into the future. What begins as a seemingly useful ability becomes a nightmare when Preble dodges a bullet on a New York subway, causing another man to die in his place. Suddenly, government agencies take notice, transforming a simple manhunt into a military operation as they recognize the strategic potential of Preble’s gift.

Boldizar uses this fantastical premise to craft a brilliant satirical commentary on government overreach, surveillance culture, and the way institutions transform individuals into commodities. The novel explores weighty themes about the tension between personal freedom and systemic control, all while maintaining the propulsive energy of a thriller. As Preble fights to protect his family and preserve his humanity, readers are treated to a story that questions the nature of time, free will, and the systems we create to govern ourselves. The result is what the publisher calls “an adrenaline-pumping read that will leave you contemplating love, fear and the abyss.” Boldizar will receive a Chanticleer Editorial Review and be invited to participate in an Author Interview, offering insights into his approach to blending genre elements with satirical wit.

The Humor & Satire Awards celebrate the full spectrum of comedic and satirical literature, honoring works that make us laugh, think, and sometimes do both simultaneously:
- Humor features pure comedy that delights in wordplay, absurd situations, and the lighter side of life, proving that sometimes laughter really is the best medicine.
- Satire takes aim at society’s foibles and institutions with wit as sharp as a scalpel, using humor to expose hypocrisy, challenge authority, and inspire change through clever critique.
- Parody lovingly skewers familiar genres, characters, or cultural phenomena, celebrating what it mocks while offering fresh perspectives on well-worn territory.
- Allegory/Fable uses symbolic storytelling and moral lessons wrapped in entertaining packages, proving that the most profound truths often come disguised as simple tales.
- Political Ideology tackles the absurdities of governance, power, and social structures, using humor to make complex political concepts accessible and memorable.
- Fantasy and Alternative History – Non-SciFi – prove that even imaginary worlds can offer the perfect laboratory for exploring very real human behaviors and social dynamics.
Summer of Haight
By George Petersen

In The Summer of Haight, George Petersen opens a doorway into the hallucinatory dreamscape of 1967 San Francisco, where the counterculture’s bright ideals are shadowed by something far more sinister.

Forget the peace signs and flower crowns. This isn’t a nostalgic romp through Haight-Ashbury. It’s a slow-burning gothic mystery where the air smells of something rotting just beneath the incense, and reality unravels one eerie page at a time.

The Summer of Haight centers on Longfellow, a straight-laced, impeccably dressed British lawyer living in San Francisco. He’s logical, loyal, and just rigid enough to feel like he’s constantly one step out of place in the groovy chaos of 1960s counterculture. His best friend, the brilliant and eccentric scientist Dr. Jonathan St. Amour, seems to be riding high—hosting elite parties, building a private laboratory under his Victorian mansion, and showing off his mysterious new pet cat, Zelda, who wears a custom-cut diamond in the shape of a cat’s eye.

Things start to tilt sideways when Jonathan suddenly asks Longfellow to draft a new will—one that leaves everything to a man named Dr. Asmodeus Youngblood.

Read More Here

Cleave The Sparrow
By Jonathan Katz

Cleave the Sparrow by Jonathan Katz blends political satire, existential philosophy, and absurd humor to immerse readers in a complex, surreal dystopian narrative.

Tom is a reluctant political candidate stuck on the blurred line between truth and power. His mentor, Crick—a controversial figure for his political views—has an ultimate goal in mind that pulls Tom into its wake. Believing in the limitation of human perception and the illusory nature of the world, Crick endeavors to destroy a ‘cosmic projector’ that he supposes fabricates this false reality.

Cleave the Sparrow charts a course where Tom, as Crick’s successor, follows his holotapes to carry out this dream, plunging into political and scientific conspiracy and moral dilemmas—opening an unexplored trail to time travel, quantum mechanics, and existential dread.

Read More Here

Tomorrowville
By David T. Isaak

As Tomorrowville by David Isaak opens, it is in fact yesterday. 2008 to be specific. Toby Simmons, a Gen X programmer/engineer/hacker, is in the midst of something professionally fascinating but personally stupid.

Toby uses a state-of-the-art virtual reality system to surreptitiously peek into the apartment of the woman across the street. But he’s three stories up, and loses track of where his real feet are walking as he’s too busy following his virtual eyeballs, leading him to one of Wile E. Coyote’s famous maneuvers. He discovers that there’s nothing underneath him but air and a three-story drop to the pavement.

But just like that cartoon coyote, Toby comes back from the dead. It only takes a silly prank, a forgotten gin and tonic, and 80 years, as medical science makes great strides in bringing cryogenically frozen bodies back from formerly life-ending spinal destruction. Along with a whopping bill from the U.S. government– nearly five million dollars for all the many, many costs of Toby’s revival.

It’s 2088, and Toby Simmons has unwittingly become Rip Van Winkle. The world has changed while he’s been sleeping– although not, perhaps, nearly as much as it should have.

Read More Here

A Good Day and Other Mostly Humorous Stories and Lists
By Radu Guiasu

Through the thirty-six diverse writing efforts of A Good Day and Other Mostly Humorous Stories and Lists, Radu Guiasu masterfully combines wit, whimsy, satire, and personal contemplation.

These vignettes cover a wide range of topics, styles, and techniques. While they often seem to be typical “slice-of-life” moments, Guiasu clearly has a knack for finding humor in even the most absurd situations.

As a native Romanian now residing and teaching in Canada, Guiasu writes from his own knowledge and experience. He often broaches serious and meaningful topics, such as the world of academia, growing up under a dictatorship, and a love of nature.

The book’s title story, written while the author was a graduate student, follows a central character who cheerfully muses on fellow graduates not pursuing careers connected to their degree. Choosing not to sell out, he furthers his education and teaches high school to troubled students rather than drive a cab. Ultimately, he loses both his job and his girlfriend, thus deciding to celebrate his newfound freedom by writing about it.

Read More Here

These reviews represent just a glimpse of the clever storytelling and sharp insights waiting to be discovered in today’s humor and satirical literature.

See the Chanticleer Difference for Yourself!

We’re excited about all the witty and thought-provoking works we receive every year for both the CIBAs and for our Editorial Reviews. Throughout this year’s Humor & Satire Book Awards, we had the pleasure of promoting numerous entertaining titles as they advanced through our competition tiers. The Chanticleer International Book Awards offers an incredible $30,000 in cash, prizes, and promotion across all divisions!

This is the journey from beginning to end for the CIBAs! Every list you make means more promotion for you and your work as each advancement tier is posted right here on our website, on our social media, and also out in our newsletter! Your book deserves to be discovered.

Don’t Let Your Wit Go Unwitnessed!

The humor and satire market continues to thrive as readers seek both escapist entertainment and intelligent commentary on our increasingly complex world. Whether your work delivers pure comedic gold, biting social satire, clever parody, or thoughtful allegory, the Humor & Satire Awards provide the recognition and promotional platform your wit deserves.

Humor has the unique power to unite people across differences, challenge conventional wisdom, and make even the most serious topics approachable. From lighthearted tales that offer pure joy to satirical works that inspire social change, every skillfully crafted humorous work has the potential to become a reader’s go-to comfort read or their new favorite conversation starter. Don’t let your wit remain hidden in the shadows. Submit to the Humor & Satire Awards today and join the clever authors who’ve found their appreciative audience through Chanticleer!

Submit to the Humor & Satire Awards today! Deadline: October 31st

You know you want it…
October 13, 2025
The 2025 Laramie Long List for Americana Fiction
The Laramie Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Western, First Nations and Americana Fiction. The Laramie Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (The CIBAs).

Chanticleer Book Reviews is looking for the best books featuring Americana themes, First Nation stories, early North American History, cowboys & cowgirls in the Wild West, pioneering, and Civil War, and we will put them to the test and choose the best among them.

These titles have moved forward in the first look rounds from all 2025 LARAMIE entries to the 2025 Laramie Book Awards LONG LIST. These entries are now in competition for the 2025 Laramie Short List. The Short Listers will compete for the Semi-Finalists positions. FINALISTS will be chosen from the Semi-Finalists and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference, CAC26.

We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 18th, 2026 in beautiful Bellingham, WA sponsored by the 2026 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST of the 2025 Laramie Book Awards novel competition for Western and Americana Fiction!

Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works!
- Barbara Salvatore – Together To Gather Kí-Ku
- Bill Lynam – Sojourn To War
- Brett Shayler – Kickapoo Creek
- Chad Lester – House of Crimson Roses
- Charlie Steel – Two Women Conquer the West and Their Hearts
- Chuck Locklear – The Pines Know
- CK Van Dam – Iron Horse Claim
- David Fitz-Gerald – A Grave Every Mile: A Pioneer Western Adventure
- David Fitz-Gerald – Rathuun King of the Prairie
- Derek Wachter – Sons of the Promised Land
- Dwight Holing – The Broken Blood
- E. S. Raye – Gas Giant Gambit
- Erika Shepard – Molly’s Lament
- George T. Arnold – An Ounce of Death
- Imogen Martin – To the Wild Horizon
- J. E. Weiner – The Wretched and Undone
- Jeza Belle – The Freedom To Love
- Joan Koster – Prairie Cinderella
- John Hansen – The Medicine Line
- Julie Mcdonald Zander – The Reluctant Pioneer
- Karen Lynne Klink – War and Preservation
- Larry Boucher – The Scout
- M. B. Gibson – Pryor Knowledge Horse Racing Love and Slavery in the Antebellum South
- M. E. Torrey – Fox Creek
- Melora Fern – Whistling Women and Crowing Hens
- Robert L Jones – The Unbroken Trail
- Sally Rutledge Moore – Fever Season
- Suzanne Elizabeth Gillis – The Landlady of Maple Avenue
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 2024 Laramie Grand Prize Winner

Sarita

By Natalie Musgrave Dossett

Click here to see the full list of 2024 Laramie Book Award Winners for Western Fiction.

We are now accepting submissions into the 2026 Laramie Book Awards for Western Fiction.

Please click here for more information.

Winners will be announced at the 2025 CIBA Awards Ceremony that is sponsored by the 2026 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

April 17 – 19, 2026! 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!
October 2, 2025
The 2025 Chaucer Long List for Early Historical Fiction
The Chaucer Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Early Historical (Pre- 1750) Fiction. The Chaucer Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (The CIBAs).

The Chaucer Book Awards competition is named for Geoffrey Chaucer the author of the legendary Canterbury Tales. The work is considered to be one of the greatest works in the English language. It was among the first non-secular books written in Middle English to be printed in 1483.

Chanticleer International Book Awards is seeking the best books featuring Pre-1750s Historical Fiction, including pre-history, ancient history, Classical, world history (non-western culture), Dark Ages and Medieval Europe, Renaissance, Elizabethan, Tudor, 1600s, we will put them to the test and choose the best among them.

These titles have moved forward from all of the 2025 Chaucer entries to the 2025 Chaucer Awards LONG LIST. These entries are now in competition for the 2025 Chaucer Award Short List. Short listers compete for the Semi-Finalist positions. FINALISTS will be chosen from the Semi-Finalists and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference, CAC26.

We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 18th, 2026 in beautiful Bellingham, WA at the 2026 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST of the 2025 Chaucer Book Awards novel competition for Pre-1750s Historical Fiction!

Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works!
- Adam Alexander Haviaras – A Dragon Among the Eagles a Novel of the Roman Empire
- Albert A. Bell Jr. – Archippos the Trembler a Novel of Ancient Sparta
- Anne M. Beggs – By Arrow and Sword Book Two Dahlquin Series
- Barbara Stark-Nemon – Isabela’s Way a Novel
- Bryce Gibby – Esta
- Chuck Locklear – The Pines Know
- Elizabeth Clifford Murphy – The Faithful Harlot
- Erryn Lee – What Remains
- Fawn Brokaw Doyle – Salt People of the Cloud Houses the Story of Sarah Rapalje and Dutch Manhattan
- Gregory Michael Nixon – Diomedes in Kyprios
- Gregory Michael Nixon – The Diomedeia: Diomedes, The Peoples of the Sea, and the Fall of the Hittite Empire
- Helena P. Schrader – The Tale of the English Templar
- J. M. Elliott – Of Wind and Wolves
- J. Susanne Wilson – The Death and Life of Iphigenia
- J.C. Corry – The Storyteller’s Reputation: Geoffrey Chaucer Reluctant Spy
- Jane Bitomsky – A Foundling’s Lot
- Janet Wertman – Nothing Proved
- Jay A. Cornils – A Litany of Angels
- Jean K. Dudek – The Scent of Bright Light
- K.M. Butler – The Raven and the Dove
- Keira Morgan – The Importance of Wives
- Kim Gottlieb-Walker – Caterina by Moonlight
- Lisa Llamrei – Quest for Ma’at
- Liz Sevchuk Armstrong – To Be Worthy in Honor Book II of the Epic of Hotspur
- Lizzie Jenks – Devil in Our Hearts
- Logan D. Irons – City of Wolves
- Marc Ladewig – The King of the Wood
- Marcia Maxwell – I, Christine a Novel
- Michael J. Cooper – The Rabbi’s Knight
- Michaela Riley – Labyrinth of Shadows the Witch’s Rebirth Part I
- Nina Wachsman – The Courtesan’s Pirate
- Rachel Elwiss Joyce – Lady of Lincoln
- Richard G Nixon – The Legend of Fingerless Will Nixon the Scottish Borderlands 1508-1509
- Sarah V. Barnes – She Who Rides Horses: A Saga of the Ancient Steppe Book One
- Sarah V. Barnes – A Clan Chief’s Daughter: She Who Rides Horses Book Two
- Sonya Van De Graaff – The Painter From Seville
Congratulations once more to the 2024 Chaucer Grand Prize Winner for Historical Fiction

Maid of Honor

Anne Boleyn at Margaret of Austria’s Court

By Rozsa Gaston

Click here to see the full list of 2024 Chaucer Book Award Winners for Early Historical Fiction.

We are now accepting submissions into the 2026 Chaucer Book Awards for Pre-1750s Historical Fiction!

Please click here for more information.

Winners will be announced at the 2025 CIBA Awards Ceremony that is sponsored by the 2026 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

April 17 – 19, 2026! 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!
October 2, 2025
The 2025 Mind and Spirit Hall of Fame for Mindfulness and Enlightenment

Looking for Balance in your Life?

The Mind & Spirit Awards are here for you

***Enter your book today***

Mind and Spirit Non-Fiction

At the heart of the Mind & Spirit Awards is a celebration of transformation and enlightenment. It embraces the power of words to uplift, inspire, and guide, creating a ripple effect that resonates with readers on a soulful level. This division acknowledges the significance of the mind-spirit connection, delving into the realms of spirituality, mindfulness, well-being, and self-discovery.

Let’s celebrate the Grand Prize Winners of the Mind and Spirit Awards

Naked in the Now: Juicy Practices for Getting Present
By Marijke McCandless

Naked in the Now: Juicy Practices for Getting Present offers a playful yet impactful guide for those seeking vitality and inspiration. Through short, refreshing practices, readers explore vulnerability, authenticity, and self-compassion, fostering deeper connections with themselves and others. By committing to just minutes of daily practice, this book cultivates sustainable awareness and self-inquiry, rejuvenating one’s sense of vitality and joy. With an emphasis on mindfulness and emotional intelligence, it provides accessible tools to shift mindsets and embrace the present moment with curiosity and delight.

Buy it here!

Psychological Secrets for Emotional Success
By Dr. Kelly Rabenstein

Do you often feel that you sabotage your personal and work relationships? In Psychological Secrets for Emotional Success, Dr. Kelly Rabenstein teaches readers exactly what psychological techniques will help them strengthen and maintain their interpersonal connections.

Dr. Rabenstein is a licensed psychologist offering her extensive knowledge of how to make sound, conscious changes in mindset and perspective to help you thrive in relationships across the board. If a person can thrive, then they can be fully authentic to themselves and to those who surround them.

Psychological Secrets for Emotional Success follows the structure of thoughtful explanations and emotional explorations, followed by insightful exercises at the end of each chapter to help readers understand and improve both their workplace culture and personal interactions. These questions reveal where we stand and how to develop a more balanced life.

Dr. Rabenstein lays out the deceptively simple key to emotional success: a combination of awareness, education, and empathy.

Read More Here

A Sky of Infinite Blue
By Kyomi O’Connor

“It’s my armor,” Kyomi O’Connor realizes, as she sees herself continuing life as normal after her husband dies of cancer.

Grief brings with it many companions: childhood trauma, memories of difficult seasons of life, triumphant moments of growth, epiphanies, healing, love. In A Sky of Infinite Blue, Japanese immigrant Kyomi O’Connor allows grief to open her heart to the lessons of her past.

In particular, she recognizes emotional armor that since childhood, she has built up, torn down, and built up again. Through her relationship with her husband, her devoted Buddhist practice, and her trust in her “Self,” Kyomi makes meaning of her life and redeems her darkest memories. Readers walk through these memories with her as the book shifts between past and present.

Kyomi is deeply guarded as a child.

She struggles to deal with her family’s dysfunction, gradually learning to distance herself emotionally as a means of protecting herself. She fashions her armor, wearing it for years. But, after immigrating to the US, she finds a reason to begin taking it off.

Read More Here

Enlighten Up
By Beth Gibbs

Beth Gibb’s Enlighten Up! Finding Clarity Contentment and Resilience in A Complicated World is not a simple how-to book, but rather an invitation to begin a journey of self-discovery.

This journey follows the “five-layer method,” based on the Upanishads, a 3,000-year-old East-Indian wisdom tradition. After a quick history lesson on the pursuit of self-awareness, Gibbs walks readers through the five layers of achieving it, for a happy and fulfilling life. Throughout the book, Gibbs includes breaks for mindfulness and grounding exercises to get the most out of each section.

Gibbs writes about the assumption that the goal of enlightenment is to, “suppress or eliminate their emotions, live everlasting bliss, and face every situation with equanimity,” and how that assumption is unrealistic.

Read More Here

Exit The Maze
By Dr. Donna Marks

Exit The Maze: One Addiction, One Cause, One Cure by Dr. Donna Marks is a welcoming and comprehensive enchiridion of untapped wisdom that offers a step-to-step guide to getting out of any form of addiction.

No one sets out to become an addict; it catches us off guard. An addiction can happen quickly or slowly and can affect anyone regardless of intelligence, social class, ethnic group, or religion. With pitch-perfect prose, Dr. Donna Marks invites readers into the root causes of different forms of addiction, while offering pragmatic and evidence-based solutions that are bound to yield results.

Buoyed by the personal experiences of the author along with numerous case studies, Dr. Marks further offers deep insights into the inadequacies of traditional treatment models. For example, she notes that most rehab centers lack adequate staffing and overstep the limits of their capabilities. Another example is the famous 12 steps of fighting addiction which she believes do help to stop a behavior and develop a solid support system, however, she also sees that the program falls short.

Read More Here

Now that you’re set on your next reads, what are you waiting for? The only way to join this amazing list of Mind & Spirit 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!

Be Part of the Legacy: Join the Illustrious Roster of Winners

As the deadline for the 2025 Mind & Spirit Awards arrives, we extend our heartfelt congratulations to all the exceptional achievers.

Seeking avenues for your non-fiction prowess? Explore all our Non-Fiction Divisions that provide platforms for various genres and styles.

September 26, 2025
The 2025 I&I Hall of Fame for Instruction & Insight

Seeking to spread wisdom and knowledge?

The Instruction & Insight Awards are here to help!

The Insight & Instruction Awards celebrate exceptional books that provide valuable knowledge, guidance, and enlightenment across a wide range of subjects. From alternative remedies to self-help, these awards acknowledge authors who have made significant contributions to the fields of education, self-improvement, and understanding the world around us. This diverse collection of books foster learning, personal development, and a deeper understanding of the world around us. Enrich lives and contribute to the non-fiction landscape by submitting today!

***Submit your Book Today***

You have until September 30th to Share your Book and Submit to the 2025 CIBAs!

Looking for something to learn? The I&I Awards have what your looking for! We’ve got categories for Travel, Crafts, Cooking, Motivation, Self-Help and More!

We’re always looking for reasons to celebrate our past winners. You can see the Grand Prize and First Place Winners from 2024 here, but let’s hope into our time machine and recognize our past I&I Grand Prize Winners!

Honoring the Grand Prize Winners of the Instruction & Insight Awards!

Success with Hydrangeas- A Gardener’s Guide
By Lorraine Ballato

Our review for the newest Grand Prize Winner is forthcoming. Here’s an excerpt from Amazon:

Finally, a Book with All the Secrets to Growing Great Hydrangeas!

This book reveals all the ins and outs to growing hydrangeas. If you’re at all confused about pruning this shrub – and who isn’t? – this book will clear things up. If you’re worried about how much water to give it especially when it droops in the sun, this book explains it all. And what about transplanting: when is the best time to do that? Chapter four has the answers to that one and covers it all.

How to get your plant to bloom

Let’s not forget the most common issue people have with this plant: how can I get it to flower reliably? You’ll get the scientific insight needed to better site your plant, and how to care for it. Then you can just sit back and watch it flower for you.

Read More Here

Eating Together, Being Together
By Julian C.E. Clauss-Ehlers and Caroline S. Clauss-Ehlers

Eating Together, Being Together is a rare, enlightening book that teaches the importance of family dining, both on the culinary side and in its benefits for childhood and young adult development beyond the kitchen walls.

Co-authored by master Chef and Dad, Julian C.E. Clauss-Ehlers, and Ph.D. Psychologist and Mom, Caroline S. Clauss-Ehlers, Eating Together, Being Together offers up their parental wisdom and expertise from the heart of the home—the kitchen.

With informative but relaxed conversations about food choices, preparation, and related activities, the two provide great insight into how family mealtime promotes well-being in a child’s life. As involved adults, they incorporate thoughtful discussions about spending quality time with their children, sharing and mitigating bad feelings, and making wonderful memories. Ultimately, they showcase family meals as nourishment for both the body and soul.

Within the pages of the book readers will find ways food can serve as a message of care and support, as well as a way to model kindness in the face of questions and concerns.

Read More Here

Emotional Magnetism
By Sandy Gerber

Emotional Magnetism: How to Communicate to Ignite Connection in Your Relationships is a self-help and marketing book in one—in fact, it’s a self-marketing book.

A seasoned marketing professional, author Sandy Gerber uses common elements in marketing theory to aid those who wish to enhance their communication skills and ability to get along with people around them. It’s easy to be misunderstood or unheard, and it’s even easier to be at cross-purposes, leading to frustration and animosity. But using Gerber’s SAVE technique, understanding what we mean and what we need becomes clear.

In this work, we learn what emotional magnetism is, and how well we can communicate when we learn how to harness it. We also learn about how emotional magnetism can be repelled when it’s not done right. But in order to use emotional magnetism, we must first learn what the emotional magnets are, using the acronym SAVE—short for safety (S), achievement (A), value (V), and experience (E)—and how they are reflected in our personalities.

Read More Here

The Black Foster Youth Handbook
By Ángela Quijada-Banks

The Black Foster Youth Handbook: 50+ Lessons I Learned to successfully Age-Out of Foster Care and Holistically Heal is a distinguished compilation of award-winning author Ángela Quijada-Banks’ insights, seeking to assist those in foster care to stay optimistic and triumph over traumatic experiences.

The text features the author’s candid revelations regarding the disarray she encountered in foster care and the overwhelming emotional roller coaster she underwent through family upheavals and a heart-breaking rift between her siblings.

Foster care had seen her forget her goals and aspirations, as traumas and emotional misfortunes spread their venom in her soul. Banks had found herself misplaced, perplexed, wounded, irate, and unloved. Her background, past wounds, and pessimistic beliefs ruled over her. In a painful recap, she reveals how she became accustomed to constant alarming incidents, creating in her a perpetual state of survival.

Read More Here

Independent Living with Autism
By Wendela Whitcomb Marsh

Author and autism counselor Wendela Whitcomb Marsh has created a specialized guide for those with autism, seen through the eyes of five characters of different ages, with differing needs and aspirations in her book, Independent Living with Autism: Your Roadmap to Success.

Boldly launching her work with the ambitious chapter, “Solutions,” Marsh depicts some of the possible departure points for her readers: those just out of school, those who were diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder or who self-diagnosed, and all who face the challenges of ASD, whether alone or with family or social supports.

Marsh relays her story, focusing on the lives of five individuals with ASD.

Read More Here

Now that you’re set on your next reads, what are you waiting for? The only way to join this amazing list of I&I 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!

Submit to the CIBAs Today!

Now is your chance to touch the hearts of readers everywhere. Your Non-fiction story deserves to be discovered, and you can submit to the 2025 Instruction and Insight Awards by the end of the September. Don’t miss this chance to give your book the recognition it deserves.

The I&I Awards is your chance to shine!

September 26, 2025
The 2025 Hearten Long List for Uplifting and Inspiring Non-Fiction
The Hearten Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Inspiring and Uplifting Non-Fiction and Memoirs. The Hearten 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 2025 Hearten Non-Fiction entries to the 2025 Hearten Book Awards LONG LIST. Entries below are now in competition for 2025 Hearten 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 (CAC26).

The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 28 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 18th, 2026 in beautiful Bellingham, WA sponsored by the 2026 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST of the 2025 Hearten Book Awards novel competition for Uplifting and Inspiring Non-Fiction!

Join us in celebrating the Long List authors and their works in the 2025 CIBAs.
- Alia Luria – Geri O Shimasu: Adventures of a Baka Gaijin
- Andy Becker – Grandy Let’s Play: Reflections on the Joy Blessings and Wonder of Grandparenting
- Barb Drummond – I Finally Have the Smoking Hot Body I Have Always Wanted Having Been Cremated
- Brent Larsen – You Make My Heart Giggle Dad-isms the Wisdom and Wit of Dad
- Candace Macphie – Finding Color
- Cerridwen Fallingstar – Rocket in My Pocket: Defying Gravity with Levity, From the Frontiers of Space… To the Frontiers of Consciousness
- Charlene Pell – In This Altered Body: A Survivor’s Story of Resilience and Love
- Cheryl Lynn – Washing the Inside of the Cup: My Journey of Walking in the Spirit
- Christine Amoroso – Bare Naked in Public: A Memoir
- Cynthia Waine Brandt – Song of the Cardinal: A True Story of Miracles and Magic After Heartbreaking Loss
- Dianne Ebertt Beeaff – Infinite Paradise Witnessing the Wild
- Doug Cameron – My Tarzan Tree and Other Farm Boy Memories
- Dr. Deb Miller – Forget the Fairy Tale and Find Your Happiness
- Dr. Michael James – America’s Nightmare Surviving the Black Holocaust the Message Continues
- Jeff Richards – Nothing Left To Lose: Or How Not To Start a Commune
- Jennifer Celeste Briggs – Watching Sarah Rise: a Journey of Thriving with Autism
- Jerome Puryear – The Art of Thinking Critically with Clarity for Optimal Health
- Julie Ryan Mcgue – Twice the Family: a Memoir of Love Loss and Sisterhood
- Kate Grant – No Woman Left Behind: a Journey of Hope To Heal Every Woman Injured in Childbirth
- Kathy Sechrist – Sara’s Redemption: a Journey of Courage Resilience and Hope
- Kay Brooks – Behind the White Beard Dale Ballew’s Story
- Kee Kee Buckley – Seeking Shama: Me, My Dog, and the Road To Inner Peace
- Laurie Benson – Resilient Activism Igniting Wild Hope in Uncertain Times
- Lucie Frost – How the Hell Did I Not Know That: My Midlife Year From Couch To Curiosity
- Maggie Enriquez – The Rebirth of a Phoenix
- Margie Crowe Wildblood – Because He Loved Me
- Marti Tote – Up Grief Creek Without a Paddle
- Mary Olson-Menzel – What Lights You Up Illuminate Your Path and Take the Next Big Step in Your Career
- Patricia Eagle – Dog Love Stories the Canines Who Changed Me
- Rabei A. Wazzeh – The Masterpiece of Nature
- Rhona Morrison – From Crime Scenes to Cruise Ships: Navigating life’s troubled waters with resilience and hope
- Ricardo Jose Gonzalez-Rothi – The Mango Chronicle
- Robert Macauley – Because I Knew You: How Some Remarkable Sick Kids Healed a Doctor’s Soul
- Stacey Hettes – Dispatches From the Couch
- Sue Vana – Shaken by God’s Love From Fear To Favor in Grief’s Upside-Down World
- Tammy Dietz – Falling From Disgrace
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.

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

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

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

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 Hearten Awards is:

Elk Love: A Montana Memoir

By Lynne Spriggs O’Connor

See the full list of 2024 First Place Hearten Winners here!

We are now accepting submissions into the 2026 Hearten Book Awards for Inspiring and Uplifting Narrative Non-Fiction.

Please click here for more information.

Winners will be announced at the 2025 CIBA Awards Ceremony that is sponsored by the 2026 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

April 17 – 19, 2026! 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!
September 25, 2025
The 2025 Journey Long List for Non-Fiction Overcoming Adversity
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 2025 Journey Non-Fiction entries to the 2025 Journey Book Awards LONG LIST. Entries below are now in competition for 2025 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 (CAC26).

The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 28 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 18th, 2026 in beautiful Bellingham, WA sponsored by the 2026 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST of the 2025 Journey Book Awards novel competition for Overcoming Adversity in Non-Fiction!

Join us in celebrating the Long List authors and their works in the 2025 CIBAs.
- Amanda Carrasco – Becoming the Brave One
- Amy Mackin – Henry’s Classroom: a Special Education in American Motherhood
- Ana Hebra Flaster – Property of the Revolution: From a Cuban Barrio To a New Hampshire Mill Town
- Ann Michelle Mracek – Unpacking the Attic
- Ann Van Hine – Pieces Falling: Navigating 9/11 with Faith Family and the FDNY
- Anne Abel – High Hopes
- Anselm Ezemson – Chasing Closure: a Life on the Edge of Belonging
- Baldur Einarsson – Ice and Fire: Thawing a Murderer’s Heart
- Barbara Jenkins – So Long As It’s Wild
- Beth Granger – Born and Razed: Surviving the Cult Was Only Half the Battle
- Brandi Dredge – Girl Uncoded: a Memoir of Passion Betrayal and Eventual Blessings
- Brian J. Quattlebaum – A Mad Box of Rain
- Carl Gorham – My Life in a Garden: Love, Loss, and Mulch: a Single Dad Seeks Answers in Nature
- Carol Odell, LICSW – Girl Groomed: a Therapist’s Memoir of Trauma
- Carolyn Saletto – One Hazel Green Eye
- Casey Mulligan Walsh – The Full Catastrophe: All I Ever Wanted Everything I Feared
- Celia LaVon Belt – My ValHalla: Angels Are No Strangers To Chains
- Chanchal Garg – Unearthed: the Lies We Carry & the Truths They Bury
- Cheryl Landes – The Best I Can Do: A True Story of Navigating the Complexities of Mental Illness and Homelessness
- Cheryl Lynn – Washing the Inside of the Cup: My Journey of Walking in the Spirit
- Christine Amoroso – Bare Naked in Public: a Memoir
- Cynthia Moore – Dancing on Coals: a Memoir of an Overperformer
- Cynthia Waine Brandt – Song of the Cardinal: a True Story of Miracles and Magic After Heartbreaking Loss
- Damien Thompson – And Then I Would Fly
- Dan Gold – Game Changers Inspirational Sports Stories
- Debbie Hartung – The Factory of Maladies: Seven Days on a San Francisco Psych Ward
- Deborah M. Foster – What’s So Bad About Being Poor: Our Lives in the Shadows of the Poverty Experts
- Diane C Pomerantz Ph.D. – Lost in the Reflecting Pool: Surviving Narcissistic Emotional Abuse
- Dr. Deb Miller – Forget the Fairy Tale and Find Your Happiness
- Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison and Sean/a Smith – I, Sean/a: the Story of a Homeless Intersex Woman Who Inspired a Community
- Dylan Nigh – Fool’s Gear: a Completely Devastating Thing I’ll Probably Do Again
- Elizabeth Fulgaro – Learning to Love (Not Loathe) Me
- Emily Sayre Smith – Smartass: Memoir of a Mouthy Girl
- Franke James – Freeing Teresa: A True Story about My Sister and Me
- Gavin O’Donnell – Father’s Day
- Heidi Yewman – Dumb Girl
- Hendrika De Vries – Open Turns
- Jacquelyn Dickey – The Dash
- James B. Wells – Because: A CIA Coverup & A Son’s Odyssey To Find the Father He Never Knew
- Jane Cafarella – Cleaved: a Story of Loss, Legs, and Finding Family
- Janine Kovac – The Nutcracker Chronicles
- Jennifer Celeste Briggs – Watching Sarah Rise a Journey of Thriving with Autism
- Jia Apple – The Tell
- Joshua Storment – MENtal: My Entropic Nuances Towards Another Life
- Julie Randall – Patient 71: an Inspiring True Story of a Mother’s Love That Fueled Her Fight To Stay Alive
- Kathy Sechrist – Sara’s Redemption: A Journey of Courage Resilience and Hope
- Kelly-Anne Kerley – Breaking Up with My Wheelchair
- Lucie Frost – How the Hell Did I Not Know That: My Midlife Year From Couch To Curiosity
- Maggie Enriquez – The Rebirth of a Phoenix
- Marti Tote – Can You Ride a Raindrop To the Ocean
- Mary Garden – My Father’s Suitcase
- Mary Jumbelic M.D. – Speak Her Name
- Mia Bolton – As We Bloom: Wisdom From Extraordinary Everyday Women & Gender Nonconforming People
- Mitchell Raff – Little Boy I Know Your Name
- Nin Mok – Suddenly Silent and Still
- Peter Flom – Twice as Weird: A Memoir about Twice Exceptionality
- PJ Hamilton – From the Piney Woods 2nd Edition
- Robert Carney – Unscarred
- Robert Macauley – Because I Knew You: How Some Remarkable Sick Kids Healed a Doctor’s Soul
- Ryan Mcdermott – Downriver: Memoir of a Warrior Poet
- Sondra R. Brooks – Not Good Enough Girl: A Memoir of an Inconvenient Daughter
- Stacey Hettes – Dispatches From the Couch
- Steven Simmons Shelton, Ma, Jd – Memoir of a Mangled Mind: How Concealing My Dissociative Identity Disorder Unleashed Multiple Personalities
- Valerie Foster – The Risk of Sorrow: Intimate Conversations with a Holocaust Survivor
- W. Hector Rivera – An Island I Don’t Want To Be on: Surviving the Riptide of Bipolar Disorder
- Wendy Crockett and Ian McPhee – Pushing Miles: A chronicle of Motorcycles, Mayhem, and Mettle
- Wilma Macliver – Life Behind the Masks
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.

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

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

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

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 JOURNEY Awards is:

Unfollow Me

By Kathryn Caraway

See the full list of 2024 First Place Journey Winners here!

We are now accepting submissions into the 2026 Journey Book Awards for Overcoming Adversity in Narrative Non-Fiction.

Please click here for more information.

Winners will be announced at the 2025 CIBA Awards Ceremony that is sponsored by the 2026 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

April 17 – 19, 2026! 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 and discover why!
September 25, 2025
The Mind & Spirit 2024 First Place Roundup for Spirituality and Enlightenment

The Mind and Spirit Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Enlightenment and Well-Being Non-Fiction. The Grand Prize Winner, Marijke McCandless’s book, Naked in the Now, will be promoted for years to come in our annual Hall of Fame article, as well as be featured on the Mind and Spirit contest page year ’round!

The best part about being a Chanticleer Int’l Book Award Winner is the love and attention you get all year ‘round!

The 2024 Mind and Spirit Winners were announced at the 2025 Chanticleer Authors Conference in April, and you can see the official winners post here!

Join us in celebrating the 2024 First Place Mind and Spirit Winners!

Shari Biery – It’s Your Turn: How to Rediscover Yourself, Prioritize Your Well-Being, & Thrive with Purpose

Also a Chanticleer 2024 Military and Front Lines First Place Winner!

Are you feeling buried under the demands of supporting your spouse, family, and the chaos of daily life while your own needs fall to the bottom of the list?

As a midlife woman, it’s easy to always put others first, leaving little time or energy for yourself. But now, It’s YOUR Turn to break free from the overwhelm and reclaim your life.

In It’s Your Turn, Shari Biery—a National Board Certified Purpose and Well-Being Coach and former military spouse—shares her personal journey from self-neglect to self-empowerment.

The moment she received the American Flag at her husband’s retirement ceremony marked not just the end of his career but the start of her own new chapter. After years of putting everyone else first, Shari made a powerful shift, and now she’s here to guide you in doing the same.

Through relatable stories and actionable steps, Shari shows how common it is for midlife women, especially those supporting a spouse and family, to feel overwhelmed and disconnected—and how to overcome these challenges.

From Chanticleer:

The detailed and actionable guide, It’s Your Turn by Shari Biery, encourages women to reclaim the time and space they deserve in life from the slow creep of demands like home, childcare, and supporting a spouse’s career.

To help women take “their turn,” much of this book is devoted to slowing down: why, how, and when to do it. Even its conversational writing style is an invitation to do so. It’s Your Turn leads readers to reflect, assess, and make effective changes in their lives. This isn’t a quick-hit self-help book, but a meditation for navigating midlife flux amid marriage and family responsibilities.

Biery draws on her own experiences living through many challenges frequently encountered by modern women. She struggled most with balancing personal needs and family responsibilities. Biery’s own needs and dreams long fell by the wayside in favor of managing her household and supporting her husband with his career in the military. With It’s Your Turn, she hopes to share her process of reclaiming those needs and dreams and reclaiming her well-being.

It’s Your Turn is loosely organized around Biery’s “C.A.L.M. method.” Through Clarity, Awareness, Learning, and Mindset, she teaches women how to carve out necessary space for themselves.

Read More Here

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

Damien Fozard- Disbelief

Manuscript

Eileen Marlowe – The Call to Connect with Spirit

Author and artist Eileen Marlowe is an Indigenous Chipewyan from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. She invites readers to learn from her journey of spiritual identity, to forge connections with spirit and leverage them to transform your life. Through the symbology of dreams and the vibrant colours of her abstract art, Eileen shares her experience of dialoguing with her spiritual guides. Her practices of daily meditation and her efforts of becoming the director and architect of her own life are embodied in the themes of the artwork throughout.

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

Anne Kiehl Friedman – Higher Love: A Psychedelic Travel Memoir of Heartbreak and Healing

Her entire life, Anne Friedman chased everything that society told her she should want: Marriage. Professional achievement. Thighs that didn’t touch. But all that got her was depression, anxiety, and disordered eating. Little did she know, her world was about to be turned upside down.

When her fiancé dumps her without explanation, she buys a one-way ticket to Costa Rica in search of answers. But what she finds there is beyond anything she could have imagined.

Through a spontaneous psychedelic experience in the jungle, Anne discovers three simple words that bring her peace. And in Amsterdam, on magic mushrooms with her dad, she has a series of visions that allow her to let go of the self-blame for her broken engagement.

But this is just the beginning of her journey. In Higher Love, Anne takes readers on a globe-trotting search for healing through psilocybin, ayahuasca, LSD, and cannabis. As she travels through the Netherlands, Morocco, Turkey, Spain, and other richly sensuous locations, Anne shares the life-changing wisdom she gains from each psychedelic experience.

For fans of Eat, Pray, Love and Untamed, Higher Love is a guide for self-discovery with a delightful psychedelic twist. But be warned, this is not your average love story. With powerful emotions and a captivating setting, this book will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last page.

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

Jane Kim Yu – Journey of Awakening and Higher Consciousness

Discover the journey of awakening in a new light never seen before. Read about our universal journey of discovery, of awakening to the greatest truth of the land, the truth that reverberates in our very hands, the hands of heart, the very heart of our being, that – you are love.

Through a profoundly rare experience that left the author’s mind silent for nearly half a year, it awakened her own desire to find her fire. The very fire that lit the night sky. The very fire that lives in all our hearts nigh. The very fire, to come alive.

Jane’s debut book Journey of Awakening and Higher Consciousness, is an offering of love that crystalizes her 3 passions: eloquent writing, creative expression, and the exploration of our divine humanity. These combine into an unforgettable experience that will awaken your inner fire and bring passion and purpose back into your life.

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

Thank you for joining us to celebrate the 2024 Mind & Spirit First Place Winners!

Watch for our Spotlight and Hall of Fame Articles that will feature incredible books, including Marijke McCandless’ Grand Prize Award-winning Naked in the Now

Your book can join the Tiers of Achievement, but only if you enter the Mind & Spirit Awards!

Got a great Self-Help or Enlightenment Book?

The 2025 Mind & Spirit Book Awards are open through the end of September!

Submit to the Mind & Spirit Awards Today!

September 24, 2025
The 2024 I&I First Place Round Up for How-To and Self Help Guides
The Instruction and Insight Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Instructional Non-Fiction. The Grand Prize Winner, Lorraine Ballato’s Success with Hydrangeas: A Gardeners Guide, will be promoted for years to come in our annual Hall of Fame article, as well as be featured on the I&I contest page year ’round!

The best part about being a Chanticleer Int’l Book Award Winner is the love and attention you get all year ‘round!

The 2024 I&I Winners were announced at the 2025 Chanticleer Authors Conference in April, and you can see the official winners post here!

Join us in celebrating the 2024 First Place I&I Winners!

Margaret C. Beeler – Tropetails

Tropetails is the world’s first cocktail (and mocktail!) book centered around all your favorite bookish themes and literary tropes!

Featuring a whopping 50 carefully curated specialty drinks, Tropetails is the perfect book to add to your bar cart, coffee table, nightstand, heck, you could even snuggle with it in bed! Is that appealing? Perhaps you’d be better off leaving it in the kitchen…but I won’t tell anyone if you decide otherwise 😉

Each page of Tropetails has a hand-drawn illustration from “Chosen One”, to “Enemies to Lovers”, and “Who Done It”—all from your favorite genres across fiction and a unique recipe mixed to match the vibe of each different trope!

Find it on Amazon!

Tania Isreal – Facing the Fracture

Foster resilience in the face of political polarization

Unsettled by provocative news, clashing politicians, and social fragmentation, Americans struggle to navigate the challenges of living in a divided country. Facing the Fracture offers a path out of the distress and disempowerment plaguing everyday people. Grounded in psychological research, this book offers readers strategies to foster resilience in the face of political polarization.

In this valuable book, Israel moves beyond explaining the problem of polarization to demonstrate how individuals can cope with the political divide, which seems widen with each passing day. Readers will find guidance to reduce toxic input from media, manage polarizing thoughts and feelings, and engage effectively with others. And they will learn that they have the power to improve their personal wellbeing, relationships, community, and country.

Find it on Amazon!

Katherine Fabrizio – The Good Daughter Syndrome
You love your mother, but she drives you crazy.

She controls, criticizes, and butts into your life constantly. Then, when you try to set boundaries, the pushback and resulting guilt is so bad that you tell yourself… it’s just not worth it.

Is your mother narcissistic, borderline, or just plain difficult?

Are you empathetic, sensitive, and kind?

Do you feel stuck in your relationship with Mom:
- Trying to please her but never feeling good enough?
- Feeling responsible for Mom’s emotional well-being?
- Struggling to set boundaries without feeling guilty or getting so much pushback that you end up thinking… it’s just not worth it?
If so, chances are you have fallen into the hidden psychological traps that constitute The Good Daughter Syndrome.

Many self-aware daughters of narcissistic, borderline, or just plain difficult mothers know they need to stand up to their mothers and set healthy boundaries. Yet, they can’t bring themselves to do it and don’t know why.

They are caught in unconscious traps they can’t see or fully understand… Trapped by their difficult mother’s needs, the empathetic daughter can’t see a way to break free and still feel like a good person.

She can’t see these traps that keep her parallelized with guilt… or going round and round having the same arguments and getting nowhere with Mom, but I can.

Even better, I know how to escape them.

Find it Locally and on Amazon!
Bob Dahms – Let’s Talk About This

Bob Dahms has had a long and diverse career in business and in business advisory roles.

In this book he shares 50 Things You Need to Know About Starting and Managing a Small Business. Everyone who reads this book will learn something that they didn’t know before. Actually, it’s way more than 50; check it out.

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

Douglas A Burton – The Heroines Labyrinth

For decades, the hero’s journey has had a major influence on storytelling and story structure. Now, Douglas A. Burton presents a groundbreaking new paradigm for writers everywhere. Sourced entirely from heroine-led fiction—a unique narrative arc has been hidden in plain sight, complete with recurrent patterns and powerful archetypes. Burton offers writers a full fledges alternative that’s both original in its presentation, yet stunningly familiar. Discover the dynamism of story, conflict, and character development in a fresh new light. From myth to literature to TV to film, The Heroine’s Labyrinth explores story structure as modeled by heroic women in fiction. Burton’s theory on story has the potential to turn prevailing views of story structure upside down.

Inside, you’ll encounter 18 archetypal designs that form a distinctive narrative arc, each one rich with profound insights and powerful new perspectives. Discover the Masked Minotaur, the Sacred Fire, the Beast as Ally, the Poisoned Apple, and more. Novelists, screenwriters, RPG gamers, and memoirists will gain immediately useful insights in The Heroine’s Labyrinth. A must-read for writers.

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

Jacqui Clarke – Stop Worrying About Money

Also the Chanticleer 2024 Harvey Chute Award Grand Prize Winner!

Take control of your money, avoid common financial pitfalls, and prepare for whatever life throws at you

In Stop Worrying about Money, Jacqui Clarke, Australia’s best-kept money secret, delivers smart and sure-fire guidance that will see you through life’s financial ups and downs. You’ll learn to clarify your values, set goals, and be upfront and honest about your money―both with yourself and with others.

Fact: Money comes in and goes out. The cost of living is ever increasing, big changes can come as big surprises and sometimes you’re stuck just trying to keep on top of everything. It’s time to hit pause on the distractions and get wise with your finances. With Stop Worrying about Money, you’ll re-assess what financial independence and freedom mean to you. This is the guide that will help you build a less stressful, more empowering relationship with money, starting today.

From Chanticleer:

Stop Worrying About Money by Jacqui Clarke serves as a lucid and candidly insightful guide to understanding the cornerstones of financial literacy, whether for a working professional, business owner, or anyone seeking to better manage their savings and investments.

This practical and insightful approach to financial awareness endeavors to decode the mystifying fundamentals of financial freedom, wealth management, and money psychology. Rather than merely presenting facts on numbers and investments, it adopts a holistic perspective, covering principles of earning, understanding, and wisely managing money.

Written by an experienced professional and fiscal guardian to many, Clarke’s Stop Worrying About Money paves a clear and accessible roadmap for navigating the often-chaotic terrain of financial planning.

Read More Here

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

Thank you for joining us to celebrate the 2024 I&I First Place Winners!

Watch for our Spotlight and Hall of Fame Articles that will feature incredible books, including Lorraine Ballato’s amazing Success With Hydrangeas: A Gardeners Guide!

Your book can join the Tiers of Achievement, but only if you submit to the I&I Awards!

Got a great Instructional Book?

The 2025 I&I Book Awards are open through the end of September!

Submit to the I&I Awards Today!
September 24, 2025