Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: Civil War

The Laramie Awards 2024 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 2024 LARAMIE entries to the 2024 Laramie Book Awards LONG LIST. These entries are now in competition for the 2024 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, 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 Bellingham Yacht Club sponsored by the 2025 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST of the 2024 Laramie Book Awards novel competition for Western and Americana Fiction!

Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works!
- Robert Brighton – Winter in the High Sierra a Love Story
- Susanna Lane – Enduring Promise
- Linda Paul – The Last Gypsy Queen
- Jeanne Gehret – Secrets To the Wind
- Alice Vonkannon Hodapp – Heart’s Blood
- Natalie Musgrave Dossett – Sarita
- Kregg P.J. Jorgenson – 1886 the Last Campaign
- David Fitz-Gerald – First Drive
- Barry Robbins – Voices of the Civil War
- Heidi M. Thomas – Goth-girl to Cowgirl
- David Fitz-Gerald – A Grave Every Mile A Pioneer Western Adventure
- Patricia Roberts Wright – A Siren Called Truth
- Imogen Martin – Under A Gilded Sky
- Jonita Mullins – The Tearful Trail
- Linda Broday – Courting Miss Emma
- Donald Willerton – Death in the Tallgrass
- CK Van Dam – Medicine Creek Claim: On the Dakota Frontier
- Woody Woodburn – The Butterfly Tree
- Evelyn Fletcher Symes – Five Horse Winter
- Brook Allen – West of Santillane
- Sean James – The Vengeful Kind
- John Hansen – Crazy Woman Creek
- Heather Miller – Yellow Bird’s Song
- M. B. Zucker – The Middle Generation: A Novel of John Quincy Adams and the Monroe Doctrine
- Craig Hipkins – Bandy
- John G. Russell, III – Four Corners But Verily Only Two Choices
- Josie Olsvig – Freedom’s Tears The History of the Civil War in Charleston, South Carolina and Port Royal Sound
- C.M. Huddleston – Esther
  Karen Lynne Klink – At What Cost, Silence? Book 1 of The Texian Trilogy
  Nate Granzow – Black Cordite, White Snow
- Charlie Steel – Tom Sharp: The Man and the Legend (A Novel)
- Tim Piper – The Powell Expeditions
- Paul Buchheit – 1871: Rivers on Fire
- Lynn Downey – Dude or Die
- Daniel Greene – Northern Shadows (Northern Wolf Series Book 5)
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We will also be promoting this list in our Newsletter, which you can sign up for here!

Congratulations once more to the 2023 Laramie Grand Prize Winner

The Last Man

By Thomas Goodman

Click here to see the full list of 2023 Laramie Book Award Winners for Western Fiction.

We are now accepting submissions into the 2025 Laramie Book Awards for Western 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!
December 20, 2024
Chanticleer 10-Question Author Interview Series with David Calloway – Historical Fiction, African American History, Slavery & the Civil War

CHANTICLEER 10-QUESTION AUTHOR INTERVIEW SERIES

with Award-Winning Author, David Calloway

Hello friends, we have another fabulous interview for you today.

In 2024, David Calloway took home the 2023 Chanticleer Grand Prize in the Goethe Awards division for his fascinating novel, If Someday Comes. Here, he tells us how he was inspired by his own family’s history to write If Someday Comes and the subsequent heights it is now reaching! Take a minute or two and get familiar with David to learn more about his ancestors’ amazing story. You won’t be sorry!

Chanti: Your writing is very personal. What drove you to tell your family’s history?

Calloway: The heart of my wish to write and to tell my family’s story was to record for the coming generations the stories I heard from the old folks as I was growing up. I wanted to preserve the struggles, hardships, and triumphs of my ancestors’ American lives.

I think I always wanted to write, but put no real effort into it early in my life, as I was filled with self-doubts about my ability. Eventually I would overcome my inertia through the feedback and encouragement of close friends and family. In my professional life, I was in the motion picture and TV business, first as a cinematographer, then as a director, and then a producer. From day one, I read every screenplay – all revisions – and watched the words come to life on the screen.

Slowly, I learned what worked to tell stories economically, so some story sense came by osmosis, some by study, some by practice. I took story structure classes, studied Robert McGee. I read Bird by Bird by Ann Lamott and On Writing by Stephen King. I talked with working writers about series and story arcs, plotting, character, and foreshadowing. I also attended writer workshops, retreats, and read other successful novelists.

Chanti: When did you finally feel you were an author and add that to your extensive resume?

Calloway: The day I opened the box that brought the proof copy of If Someday Comes! Up to that point, there were many moving parts, the manuscript, the proof reading, the cover art, the endless formatting. Here in my hand was a real book, something anyone might buy. Unbelievably, it had my name as writer on it. It’s been published for many months, and I still find it hard to introduce myself as an author.

Chanti: Your ancestor’s story is so compelling. What genre best describes your book?

Calloway: If Someday Comes is historical fiction, closely based on the true story of my great-grandfather’s life during the American Civil War. I grew up knowing where people were during that period, but their exact relationships were lost in time, so I filled out the characters and created the tone of the plot as I went. Comments from the old folks like “he was a nice man” are not enough. It’s hard to avoid retroactively applied values to those times, and I’m sure some of my twenty-first century “I have judgement” slipped in there somewhere, but the goal of getting his story into a book was my true goal.

George Calloway

Chanti: How did find the information you used to fill in the background of the story?

Calloway: I read historical accounts of the period and subject, then added in my family’s tales of the past. I also created an outline of events for the story, and I used incidents I read about in books, letters, and newspapers for inspiration. The motivations of people never change for as far back as written history will allow us to see. Well-worn are the old trials of the human condition, and how often do we quote the Romans and Greeks on sex, greed, love, and jealousy. And of course, my own feelings on the same subjects.

Chanti: That’s a rich way to develop both character and story! How do you approach your writing day? What is your routine?

Calloway: “Sporadic” is my routine. I’ll write for several days, then none, then return to the page, then realize I need input, then read more history and other people’s work, stare at the blank screen, castigate my own procrastination, remind myself that no one is going to read this if I decide to cut it-so don’t worry. Then I despair that none will read the book anyway, convince myself that I’m hungry and a snack will get me going. I’ll check my email, take my dog for a walk, and then have lunch with old friends whom I’ve convinced my book is going great.

Ad infinitum.

Chanti: What about writer’s block? How do you handle it when the words just won’t come to you?

Calloway: Staring at an empty page with no ideas popping is tough. I write whatever comes to mind. It may have nothing to do with the book, or it may have a connection later on in the story. Some days are two sentence days, some are two-page days. I concentrate on my rights as an editor and will change or eliminate any thoughts, so I just jump right in.

If I’m really stuck, taking a walk helps. I leave the phone at home, as I find stepping away from it resets the brain. Sometimes I imagine your main character with walking with me. And the phrase “I’ve got to sleep on it” is a maxim I refer to often, because problems are solved and ideas are generated by whatever part of the brain is working at night. It’s an approach that work for me… sometimes.

Chanti: Those are great pieces of advice for breaking out of a block. Beyond writing, what sort of marketing tips do you have for authors?

Calloway: Online ads are the only strategy that has worked for me. Spending lots of money in trade magazines has been a complete bust. I advertise on Amazon and Facebook. Set a budget and see how it works for you. Even so, It’s a struggle. Contacting public libraries, local papers, community clubs (Rotary, Elks, Chamber of Commerce) help – they always need luncheon speakers. I also make a point of being available for online book clubs and chats, and I have a website that has book reviews, awards, and links to other websites. www.IfSomedayComes.com. And I always encourage readers to write reviews online. It really helps others to decide to read the book.

Chanti: What is your next project? Another story about a member of your family?

Calloway: Yes! I am working on my Grandfather James’ story as historical fiction. He was born a slave in 1860, and grew up to become a surveyor and farmer. James and his brothers – all graduates of Fisk University – worked for and with Booker T. Washington in the building of Tuskegee Institute. James ran the farms and also taught farming. He was Tuskegee’s representative sent to Washington, DC to lobby for land grants to help finance the school. Later, James was hired by the German government and traveled to Togo to teach cotton farming.

Chanti: Who are the perfect readers for If Someday Comes?

Calloway: The book is a story of family, both before and during the Civil War. It highlights the close relationships between owner and slave, and as was so often the case, is about one large family separated by race and class.

The story includes the good stuff, like love, courage, ingenuity, as well as the bad stuff of violence, cruelty, famine. Everyone suffered during the war; but remarkably, George (my Great Grandfather) kept everyone alive on both sides of the color line.

It will be a book for anyone interested in the Civil War, the experience of slavery in East Tennessee, and the relationship of whites and blacks in the South.

David Calloway was born in Chicago and grew up in Palo Alto and Berkeley. Calloway holds an MFA from UCLA in Film Production. His first job was as an Editor, progressing to Cinematographer, then a Producer of features and television. He is a member of the Producer’s Guild, the Director’s Guild, and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Calloway is a Director on the board of the Angel’s Gate Cultural Center and on the board of the Offshore Racing Outreach Foundation.

Calloway lives and works in Los Angeles, California. You can find out more about David Calloway’s writing on his website.

If Someday Comes available on Amazon in print and Kindle, and as an Audible book.

November 11, 2024
IF SOMEDAY COMES: A Slave’s Story of Freedom by David Calloway – Historical Fiction, African American History, Slavery & the Civil War

David Calloway’s moving historical fiction, If Someday Comes: A Slave’s Story of Freedom, tells the true story of his great-grandfather George Calloway, born into slavery on January 8, 1829. in Cleveland, Tennessee.

It is a tale of determination, perseverance, and achievement before and during the Civil War. If Someday Comes covers George’s final years in slavery; detailed accounts of the Civil War and its impacts on George and his family, both Black and White.

It is a family saga of survival and endurance.

The story begins in Cleveland, Tennessee, March 6^th, 1857. We meet George and his family, his wife Elizabeth, their infant daughter Baby Caroline, and the stratified world of slavery in which they live. Thomas Howard Calloway (Marsa Thom), is their White owner who owns the East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad, the South’s only copper mines, and the local bank. He is one of Cleveland’s prominent town leaders.

Lincoln wins the 1860 election and the White community reacts fearfully. Fort Sumter is attacked, the War begins. The families of East Tennessee are mainly pro union, including Thomas Calloway. Cleveland is ‘occupied’ by the Confederate Army. The Union men flee to join the US Army or hide out in the nearby hills.

George and his family begin to help ‘runaway’ slaves escape north, eventually helping White men to escape to the Union Army. The Confederates take all the guns and food from the Union families.

Times get desperate: Marsa Thom is stripped of all his properties and must go into hiding among the caves in the mountains. George risks his life making repeated trips to the caves to take food and clean clothes to Marsa Thom for the duration of the war. Without the protection of Marsa Thom, George’s family is in constant danger of cruel punishments, violence, and exploitation.

Union and Reb troops fight over the tiny town and vital rail line, with control passing back and forth between the two sides. Treachery and desperation add to the suffering of both the White Calloways and the Black Calloways.

George becomes the undeclared head of both the White and Black families. With grit and determination, he provides for all, protecting them throughout the war.

“I found that to understand America, you must first understand the Civil War. George was then, and remains, a hero of our family.” – David Calloway

This account honestly and vividly depicts an era in history that should never be forgotten.

Those that love the history of the Civil War will be fascinated by this retelling.

David Calloway expresses his hope for the day when America will rise beyond the racist heritage that the founding fathers left behind. This award-winning historical masterpiece, If Someday Comes, combines the author’s relatives’ direct experiences and extensive, meticulous historical research to deliver a story that readers will appreciate through to the very end.

If Someday Comes: A Slave’s Story of Freedom by David Calloway won Grand Prize in the 2023 CIBA Goethe Awards for Late Historical Fiction.

October 4, 2024
The Laramie First Place Roundup for Americana Fiction!

The Laramie Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Western and American Fiction. The Grand Prize Winner, Thomas Goodman’s book, The Last Man will be promoted for years to come in our annual Hall of Fame article, as well as be featured on the Laramie 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 2023 Laramie Winners were announced at the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference in April, and you can see the official winners post here!

Join us in celebrating the 2023 First Place Laramie Winners!

Barbara Salvatore – The Trail to Niobrara

1847- Magghie is forced to flee her home after a cholera outbreak ravishes her village. She travels west with her teams of draft horses, and in the company of a Mormon family, but they soon disagree on the best way forward. When her fellow travelers turn on her, tragedy strikes during a flash flood. She must forge ahead on her own to find the place that has been haunting her dreams.

T.K. Conklin – Promise of Spring

When Eastern aristocrat True Tucker left her lush way of life in Charlotte to travel to the untamed western town of Rimrock to spend the winter with her sisters, she never imagined where the trip would lead. Events beyond her control force her to find refuge in a small mountain cabin with a devilishly handsome man and his young daughter. She knows her life is about to change forever when her feelings for him make her forget she is promised to another man. After a few nights in his strong arms, True suddenly questions where she belongs.

Sam Barkley had long ago given up on finding love after the death of his wife and he certainly didn’t expect to find the beautiful blond woman lost in the mountains. After she saves his daughter’s life at the risk of her own, he can no longer fight the growing love he has for her. Just one taste of her untamed passion leaves him craving more and he can’t let her go. Sam has until spring to convince True to stay in Rimrock with him, because he knows that’s exactly where she belongs.

Find it Locally and on Amazon

Elizabeth Woolsey – The Travels of Dr. Rebecca Harper: A Matter of Time

It’s 1981, and Rebecca’s life is going exactly according to plan: a veterinary degree, a husband and daughter, and her first veterinary clinical position. She is set for life. But then the unexpected happens …

Disoriented and desperate after a freak riding accident, she stumbles into the nearby town, which strongly resembles the set of a beloved Western television show from her childhood … and it’s 1857!

Injured and alone, she’s afraid to share where and when she’s from. How will she survive in a world where women are second-rate? Now trapped in another world, she embarks on a desperate quest to return to her husband, daughter, and career.

Rebecca uses her 20th century veterinary skills, knowledge, and modern values to make a new life for herself—and to survive. Her travels across the United States lead to encounters with historical people and events, including the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. and Jr., Mark Twain, and Clara Barton.

Find it Locally and on Amazon

Daniel Greene – Northern Dawn (Northern Wolf Series Book 4)

War takes guts and luck to survive…but will it be enough?Wolf’s been promoted. He’s helped bring down one of the South’s greatest generals. Yet his country still has more to ask of him and the costliest war in America’s history rages on. Sheridan’s cavalry raids west to destroy Confederate infrastructure and divert attention from Grant’s movement south of the killing fields of Cold Harbor. Yet Wade Hampton and his rebel forces have something else in store for the Union Cavalry Corps. Wolf quickly finds himself in the hot seat of the largest all-cavalry battle of the war near Trevilian Station. Isolated and surrounded can they survive the coming Southern storm? Or will they be overrun and annihilated, a mere footnote in history?

Find it Locally and on Amazon

K.S. Jones – Tastefully Texas

No matter where one travels in Texas, at practically any time of the year in cities large and small, some things remain constant: livestock shows, rodeos, and football—and Chef Mia Ellis rejected them all. With a culinary arts degree as proof that a cosmopolitan lifestyle awaited her, Mia left everything behind in favor of New York City.

But when an emergency brings her back home, Mia finds herself completely unprepared for the town and the people she’s outgrown. Even with cooking—the only thing that has ever separated her from her hometown roots—and her on-hold job in N.Y.C. anchoring her to salvation, Mia has to find a way to earn money while she’s in town. Unfortunately, a dishwashing gig at an out-of-the-way bar and grill is all that’s available.

It isn’t until Mia reconnects with Jace, her old high school sweetheart and heir to Texas Century Ranch, that she realizes she may still have a taste for Texas after all.

Find it Locally and on Amazon

Thank you for joining us to celebrate the 2023 Laramie First Place Winners!

Enter Today!

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 2024 Laramie Book Awards are open through the end of September until the date changes online!

Submit to the Laramie Awards Today!

September 30, 2024
The Laramie 2024 Hall of Fame for Americana Fiction!

The Frontier is calling

Submit your Americana, Western or Civil War Novels to the CIBAs!

***Tell your story today***

You have until September 30th to share your Story with us and enter the 2024 Laramie Division of the CIBAs!

Charles M. Russell painted the cowboy seen on Chanticleer’s very own Laramie contest badge. It is one of many such paintings he did that encompassed the Old American Wild West. An advocate for the Native Americans, Charles M. Russell also helped establish a reservation in Montana for the Chippewa people.

Our Laramie Hall of Fame Celebrates the Grand Prize Winners of now and past years!

The Last Man: A Novel of the 1927 Santa Claus Bank Robbery
By Thomas Goodman

In The Last Man: A Novel of the 1927 Santa Claus Bank Robbery by Thomas Goodman, four men in a small, depression-era Texas town lay in wait to carry out their unique plan for a holiday heist.

It’s December 23 and a man in a Santa Claus suit walks into a bank. But rather than his bag full of Christmas surprises, he’s brought a gun. With the element of surprise on their side, the robber and his two partners would collect the cash, while another partner waited in the getaway car. It all seemed so simple.

At the time, Texas bankers—in order to deter crimes such as this—promised a $5,000 reward for any dead bandits, “and not one cent” for the capture of a live one. Should anything go wrong, the possibilities for disaster were clear as a Greek tragedy. but what could go wrong?

Full review to come! Buy the book here!

Guarded Hearts
By T.K. Conklin

Guarded Hearts by T K Conklin is a sensual romance in the Wild West, with all the passion and excitement natural to the setting.

Sparks fly between a man with an outlaw past and a woman with a terrifying gift to heal or harm. Strykes is a man haunted both by a violent childhood and his time in an outlaw gang. But he has found a place in Rimrock, where he met LaRisa, an auburn-haired woman whom the townspeople have labeled a “witch” due to her healing herbs and rumors of her “powers”.

LaRisa has kept her distance from people, afraid of her gift of healing touch that can turn dangerous, even deadly. But, when she comes to town to deliver her medicinal herbs, she makes her way to the livery with tasks for Strykes such as shoeing her horse or fixing a spring in her wagon. He is only too happy to oblige the auburn-haired beauty. The attraction between them is instantaneous, yet they both are hesitant to act on it, fearing they would hurt the other– he from his violent past, and she from her “witch” power.

Read More Here

Tom Sawyer Returns
By E.E. Burke

Tom Sawyer Returns is the second book in The New Adventures series by author E.E. Burke.

Readers join a now grown up and far more independent Becky Thatcher as she maneuvers her complicated life in Civil War era Mississippi. Tom has long since left, and Becky is engaged to Union Captain Alfred Temple, who offers her all the safety and security she needs in such uncertain times. But does she love him? Actually love him?

Becky soon discovers that her heart may have other plans.

Read More Here

Trouble The Water
By Rebecca Dwight Bruff
Overall Grand Prize Winner

Robert Smalls’ life should have been one for the history books.

Smalls was born a slave in Beaufort, South Carolina, in 1839. When the first shots of the Civil War were fired upon Fort Sumter, Smalls was an experienced helmsman aboard a small cargo ship plying the coastal waters of South Carolina and the neighboring states. Once the war broke out, he found himself working to support a cause that kept him, his wife, and their children locked in chattel slavery.

But in a daring escapade that fell somewhere between a raid and a rescue, Smalls planned, with the help of his fellow crew members (also slaves) aboard the CSS Planter, to abscond with the ship, its cargo of munitions taken from Fort Sumter, and bring their families. The plan was to sail the ship as though its white officers were still on board, pretending to be carrying out their orders—at least until the ship was out of the reach of Fort Sumter’s guns.

Read More Here

Seven Aprils
By Eileen Charbonneau

Disguised gender identities, warfare, and thwarted romance all play a role in this many-layered novel, Seven Aprils, by award-winning fiction author Eileen Charbonneau.

When Tess Barton, a hardscrabble farm girl, saves the life of a man attacked by a panther, she and he little realize how fated this encounter will prove. Ryder Cole, the man she saved, moves on, pursuing a medical career just as the United States seems destined for war. Intrepid Tess will move on, too, when she learns that her widower father sells her in matrimony to an old, brutish shopkeeper. A wise crone cuts Tess’s hair and garbs her in men’s attire. Reborn as Tom Boyde, who will soon, strangely, meet up with Ryder and become one of his “men,” conscripted into Lincoln’s armies. Tess/Tom shows promise as a medical assistant with some undeniable cooking skills, and together with two other conscripts, they make the team in the Union’s army hospital units.

Read More Here

Blood Moon A Captives Tale
By Ruth Hull Chatlien

Ruth Hull Chatlien’s historical novel Blood Moon: A Captive’s Tale shines a light on two worlds trying to coexist in the 1860s Minnesota, that of Westward Expansion and white settlers, and that of the complex network of Sioux tribes dealing with starvation and disease. We follow her protagonist, Mrs. Sarah Wakefield, as she is thrust unwillingly into the midst of the Indian Wars.

Based loosely on the life of real captive, Sarah Wakefield, Chatlien explores both sides of this conflict, through the eyes of our terrified hero, who does what she must to save her life and the lives of her two small children. The first-person narrative in present tense places us in the thick of Wakefield’s narrow escapes, and the presence of the constant threats to her and her children.

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 Laramie 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!

Are you a Chanticleer Author who has some good news to share? Let us know! We’re always looking for a reason to crow about Chanticleerians! Reach out with your news to info@ChantiReviews.com

September 25, 2024
8 days left to submit three Historical Book Awards in the CIBAs!
Eight Divisions close in September!

Eight excellent divisions close at the end of September!

Don’t let your book miss out!
Only 8 days left to submit your books to these prestigious CIBA Divisions and embark on an extraordinary journey to success. With over $30,000 in prizes awarded annually, now is the time to make your mark!

The Chaucer Awards for Early Historical Fiction, The Goethe Awards for Late Historical Fiction, and the Laramie Awards for Western and Americana Fiction are still open!

Congratulations to the Winners of the 2023 Chaucer Award for Historical Fiction!
- Gina Buonaguro – The Virgins of Venice
- Griffin Brady – The Hussar’s Duty
- Robert S Phillips – Elodia’s Knife
- Rozsa Gaston – Margaret of Austria
- Rebecca Kightlinger – The Lady of the Cliffs: The Bury Down Chronicles, Book Two
- C.V. Lee – Token of Betrayal
And a huge round of applause for the 2023 Chaucer Grand Prize Winner:

The Merchant from Sepharad by James Hutson-Wiley

Congratulations to the Winners of the 2023 Goethe Awards!
- Lisa Voelker – The Spoon
- Robert W Smith – A Long Way from Clare
- Mitzi Zilka – Water Fire Steam
- Susanne Dunlap – The Adored One
- Linda Ulleseit – The River Remembers
- Nicole Evelina – Catherine’s Mercy
- William Maz – Bucharest Legacy: The Rise of the Oligarchs
And a huge round of applause for the 2023 Goethe Awards Grand Prize Winner:

If Someday Comes by David Calloway

Congratulations to the 2023 Winners of the Laramie Awards!
- Barbara Salvatore – The Trail to Niobrara
- T.K. Conklin – Promise of Spring
- Elizabeth Woolsey – The Travels of Dr. Rebecca Harper A Matter of Time
- Daniel Greene – Northern Dawn (Northern Wolf Series Book 4)
- K.S. Jones – Tastefully Texas
And a huge round of applause for the 2023 Laramie Grand Prize Winner:

The Last Man: A Novel of the 1927 Santa Claus Bank Robbery by Thomas Goodman

The CIBAs offer more than just recognition — they provide a ladder to success with a range of achievement tiers and expert long tail marketing strategies. From the highly anticipated Long List to the prestigious Overall Grand Prize Winner, the CIBA lists energize both authors and readers, maximizing your digital footprint and expanding your fan base.

We are always eager to support the Best Books through the CIBAs. Join the ranks of celebrated authors who have already taken this critical step in their publishing.

Your book deserves to be discovered, celebrated, and shared with the world. Don’t miss the chance to showcase your talent and gain valuable exposure at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (April 3-6, 2025) where Winners from all 25 Book Award Divisions will be announced and honored.

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

Let’s celebrate exceptional storytelling together!

Don’t Delay! Enter Today!

The Chaucer Awards, The Laramie Awards, and The Goethe Awards

Your book deserves to be discovered
September 22, 2024
The 2024 Laramie Awards Spotlight for Americana Fiction
Don’t Spare the Horses!

The Laramie Awards are only open through the end of September!

Tales of frontier life steeped in historic places and dates have long captivated readers of all ages. From Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House series to The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane, these stories give readers a glimpse into what was or what may have been. This Americana genre focuses mostly on Western/Pioneer/Civil War stories but can easily contain sub-genres including mystery, romance, and adventure as long as they are dressed with the American West or South as a backdrop. This division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (CIBAs) is meant to celebrate stories that evoke the rough-and-tumble nature of the Wild West, the heartbreaking croon of a lonesome cowboy by his fire, and the overly perfumed air of a small town saloon.

The Categories for the Laramie Award are:
- Western Romance
- Adventure/Caper
- Classic
- Civil War/Prairie/Pioneer
- Contemporary Western
- Americana
- First Nations
If you’re looking to shine a lantern on your work, submit to the Laramie Awards today! If you’re just a fan of some good ol’ fashioned themes coloring your experience, take a look at some of the previous Laramie Award winners.

We are delighted to celebrate the 2023 Winners of the Laramie Awards!
- Barbara Salvatore – The Trail to Niobrara
- T.K. Conklin – Promise of Spring
- Elizabeth Woolsey – The Travels of Dr. Rebecca Harper A Matter of Time
- Daniel Greene – Northern Dawn (Northern Wolf Series Book 4)
- K.S. Jones – Tastefully Texas
The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 LARAMIE Awards is:

The Last Man

A Novel of the 1927 Santa Claus Bank Robbery

by Thomas Goodman

More articles will come out celebrating those Laramie Awards Winners this month! For now, we’d like you to join us in celebrating these amazing books in the genre we’ve recently received!

BED of CONSPIRACY
By Juliette Douglas
Laramie First Place Winner

Growing up alone on the streets of Saint Louis in the mid-1870s, nineteen-year-old Samantha Davis has had to fight for everything.

When she rescues Colonel Brady from armed attackers, she isn’t trying to be a hero or land a dangerous new job, but the moment Brady sees her deadly aim and unparalleled courage, he knows he’s found his new undercover agent. Brady has been tasked with infiltrating the KGC, the Knights of the Golden Circle, a group of Southern sympathizers hellbent on bringing down the government in a Confederate uprising.

Brady believes Sam will be the perfect partner for Ross Cooper, a veteran agent who spends his off-time as a trail boss in Kansas. However, Ross is less than thrilled with Brady’s choice of the untrained, bad-tempered girl. Despite his misgivings, Ross agrees to team-up with Sam, and the two go undercover as Jim and Virginia Van Meter, a newlywed couple from South Carolina visiting Washington. After being introduced to Adam Mundy, the leader of this cell of the KGC, Ross (aka Jim) agrees to use his shipping business to help the Confederate cause.

Read more here!

TOM SAWYER RETURNS
By E.E. Burke
Laramie Grand Prize Winner

Tom Sawyer Returns is the second book in The New Adventures series by author E.E. Burke.

Readers join a now grown up and far more independent Becky Thatcher as she maneuvers her complicated life in Civil War era Mississippi. Tom has long since left, and Becky is engaged to Union Captain Alfred Temple, who offers her all the safety and security she needs in such uncertain times. But does she love him? Actually love him?

Becky soon discovers that her heart may have other plans.

Read more here!

MATAMOROS
By James Kahn
Laramie First Place Winner

With the American Civil War as a grisly backdrop, James Kahn shines a light onto the real old West in his latest novel, Matamoros: Civil War Adventure, Romance and Espionage in an Old West Border Town.

The tiny Mexican town of Matamoros becomes a haven for traders, traitors, ex-slaves, and card sharks. Bring the war into the mix with Northern and Southern agents, both self-appointed and official, and the result is perfect for plenty to go wrong.

Clayton Wilkes owns the Brave River Gambling Emporium and can smile and shoot almost in the same breath.

Read more here!

ROLLING HOME
By David Fitz-Gerald
Series Grand Prize Winner

David Fitz-Gerald concludes the Ghosts Along the Oregon Trail series with a grand finale for an eclectic cast of characters, as the long wagon train is finally Rolling Home to their new lives in the wild west of Oregon.

With the end of the trail just out of reach, however, their hopes dwindle and their hunger rages. The rigor of the western environment continues to test their determination and threaten vows of heartfelt romance. These weary people ache and mourn losses, while seeking new ways to survive and pull each other forward in the face of impending winter.

This wagon train of travelers will also face venomous villains who have been lurking in the shadows, outlaws waiting for their best opportunity to pounce.

Read more here!

Note: David Fitz-Gerald’s entire series of Ghosts Along the Oregon Trail is excellent. You can read all our reviews for it here.

GUARDED HEARTS
By T.K. Conklin
Laramie Grand Prize Winner

Guarded Hearts by T K Conklin is a sensual romance in the Wild West, with all the passion and excitement natural to the setting.

Sparks fly between a man with an outlaw past and a woman with a terrifying gift to heal or harm. Strykes is a man haunted both by a violent childhood and his time in an outlaw gang. But he has found a place in Rimrock, where he met LaRisa, an auburn-haired woman whom the townspeople have labeled a “witch” due to her healing herbs and rumors of her “powers”.

LaRisa has kept her distance from people, afraid of her gift of healing touch that can turn dangerous, even deadly. But, when she comes to town to deliver her medicinal herbs, she makes her way to the livery with tasks for Strykes such as shoeing her horse or fixing a spring in her wagon. He is only too happy to oblige the auburn-haired beauty. The attraction between them is instantaneous, yet they both are hesitant to act on it, fearing they would hurt the other– he from his violent past, and she from her “witch” power.

Read more here!

Give another three cheers for the amazing Westerns and Americana Fiction here!

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 Laramie Awards today!
September 5, 2024
The Laramie 2023 Book Awards Winners for Americana Fiction
The Laramie Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the Americana and Westerns fiction genre. The Laramie Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (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.

1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners were announced at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony by Michelle Cox 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 LARAMIE BOOK AWARDS First Place Category Winners and the LARAMIE Grand Prize Winner.

Congratulations to the FIRST PLACE CATEGORY WINNERS of the Laramie Book Awards for Americana, Western, and First Nation Fiction, a division of the 2023 CIBAs.

Join us in celebrating the following authors and their works!
- Barbara Salvatore – The Trail to Niobrara
- T.K. Conklin – Promise of Spring
- Thomas Goodman – The Last Man: A Novel of the 1927 Santa Claus Bank Robbery
- Elizabeth Woolsey – The Travels of Dr. Rebecca Harper A Matter of Time
- Daniel Greene – Northern Dawn (Northern Wolf Series Book 4)
- K.S. Jones – Tastefully Texas
The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 LARAMIE Awards is:

The Last Man

by Thomas Goodman

You can see all of our amazing 2023 Laramie Finalists! Congratulations to all and thank you for submitting!

Well done climbing the CIBA Levels of Achievement!

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.

NOTE: 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.

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

Team Chanticleer!
April 26, 2024
The 2023 Laramie Book Awards Finalists for Americana Fiction
The Laramie Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the Americana and Westerns fiction genre. The Laramie Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (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 judging rounds from the 2023 Laramie Americana Semi-Finalists to the 2023 Laramie Book Awards FINALISTS. 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 Laramie Book Awards novel competition for Americana Fiction!

Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works!
- Leah Angstman – The Only Way to Cheat a Hangman
- Barbara Salvatore – The Trail to Niobrara
- George T. Arnold – The Heart Beneath the Badge
- Kimberly Burns – The Redemption of Mattie Silks
- Leslie K Simmons – Red Clay, Running Waters
- Myra Hargrave McIlvain – The Knotted Ring
- K.S. Jones – Tastefully Texas
- Venetia Hobson Lewis – Changing Woman
- T.K. Conklin – Promise of Spring
- Steven Mayfield – The Penny Mansions
- Joan Koster – That Dickinson Girl: A Novel of the Civil War
- Thomas Goodman – The Last Man: A Novel of the 1927 Santa Claus Bank Robbery
- J. Stanion – My Place Among Them
- Sophia Alexander – Homespun
- Michael L. Ross – Across the Great Divide: Book 3 The Founding
- Julia Brewer Daily – The Fifth Daughter of Thorn Ranch
- David Calloway – If Someday Comes
- Elizabeth Woolsey – The Travels of Dr. Rebecca Harper A Matter of Time
- T. M. Brown – The Last Laird of Sapelo
- Daniel Greene – Northern Dawn (Northern Wolf Series Book 4)
Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.

PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!

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

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

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

Or click hereto 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 LARAMIE Awards is:

Guarded Hearts

by T.K. Conklin

Click here to see the 2022 Laramie Book Award Winners for Americana Fiction.

Please click here for more information.

For our other Historical Fiction Awards, please see the following:
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, Kim Hornsby, book doctor Christine Fairchild, and Mark Berridge, our twelfth annual conference is shaping up to be excellent! You won’t want to miss out on the best tips around the business of being an author!

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!
February 29, 2024
The 2023 Laramie Book Awards Semi-Finalists for Americana Fiction
The Laramie Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the Americana and Westerns fiction genre. The Laramie Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (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 judging rounds from the 2023 Laramie Americana Short List to the 2023 Laramie Book Awards SEMI-FINALISTS. FINALISTS will be selected from the Semi-Finalists. 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 in the running for the FINALISTS of the 2023 Laramie Book Awards novel competition for Americana Fiction!

Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works!
- Leah Angstman – The Only Way to Cheat a Hangman
- Heidi M. Thomas – Rescue Ranch Rising
- Barbara Salvatore – The Trail to Niobrara
- George T. Arnold – The Heart Beneath the Badge
- Kimberly Burns – The Redemption of Mattie Silks
- Leslie K Simmons – Red Clay, Running Waters
- E. Alan Fleischauer – Chip Heller Man of Valor
- Martha Engber – The Falcon, the Wolf, and the Hummingbird
- James Holland – Vigilante Love Song: Alice Roosevelt and The White House Gunfighters
- Myra Hargrave McIlvain – The Knotted Ring
- K.S. Jones – Tastefully Texas
- Venetia Hobson Lewis – Changing Woman
- T.K. Conklin – Promise of Spring
- Steven Mayfield – The Penny Mansions
- Joan Koster – That Dickinson Girl: A Novel of the Civil War
- Thomas Goodman – The Last Man: A Novel of the 1927 Santa Claus Bank Robbery
- J. Stanion – My Place Among Them
- Shanna Hatfield – Love on Target
- Michael L. Ross – Across the Great Divide: Book 3 The Founding
- Julia Brewer Daily – The Fifth Daughter of Thorn Ranch
- David Calloway – If Someday Comes
- K. S. Jones – Change of Fortune
- Elizabeth Woolsey – The Travels of Dr. Rebecca Harper A Matter of Time
- T. M. Brown – The Last Laird of Sapelo
- Sophia Alexander – Homespun
- Daniel Greene – Northern Dawn (Northern Wolf Series Book 4)
Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.

PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!

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

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

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

Or click hereto 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 LARAMIE Awards is:

Guarded Hearts

by T.K. Conklin

Click here to see the 2022 Laramie Book Award Winners for Americana Fiction.

Please click here for more information.

For our other Historical Fiction Awards, please see the following:
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, Kim Hornsby, book doctor Christine Fairchild, and Mark Berridge, our twelfth annual conference is shaping up to be excellent! You won’t want to miss out on the best tips around the business of being an author!

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!
January 14, 2024