Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: Family

The 2022 Military & Front Lines CIBAs Short List for Service to Others
The Military & Front Lines Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Narrative Non-Fiction and Memoir exploring the lives of those who serve their country and others. The Military & Front Lines Service Book Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (CIBAs).

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

Note: This is the newest division at Chanticleer! We are honored to recognize these specialized stories from those who serve.

These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from all 2022 Military and Front Line Non-Fiction entries to the 2022 Military and Front Line Book Awards SHORT LIST. Finalists will be selected from the Short List. All FINALISTS will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC23).

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

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

These titles are in the running for the FINALISTS of the 2022 Military & Front Lines Book Awards for Narrative Non-Fiction.

Please join us in cheering on the following authors and their works in the 2022 CIBAs.
- Robert E. Lofthouse – Honor Through Sacrifice
- Colonel Van H. Slayden, USAF, with Patrecia Slayden Hollis – Normandy to Nazi Surrender, Firsthand Account of a P-47 Thunderbolt Pilot
- George Kohn – Vector to Destiny
- Tamra McAnally Bolton – A Blessed Life
- Frederick Douglass Reynolds – Black, White, and Gray All Over: A Black Man’s Odyssey in Life and Law Enforcement
- Azim H. Jiwani, MD – Humanizing Medicine
- Isaac Alexis M.D. – The Seductive Pink Crystal
- Marcus A. Nannini – Midnight Flight to Nuremberg
- Christine Herbert – The Color of the Elephant: Memoir of a Muzungu
- Ashe and Magdalena Stevens – Lost in Beirut: A True Story of Love, Loss and War
- Bruce Rowe, MD – Everything Under the Sun
- Brant Vickers – Chucky’s in Tucson
- Matthew J. Louis – Mission Transition: Navigating the Opportunities and Obstacles to Your Post-Military Career
- Jim Enderle – Fight, Flight, or Freeze
- Jonathon C. Benjamin – American Airman
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Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.

This is a new division of the Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards!

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2021 Military and Front Line Awards is Martha Bolton with Linda Hope for Dear Bob… Bob Hope’s Wartime Correspondence with the G.I.s of WW2

Click here to see the 2021 Military an Front Line Book Award Winners for Service to Others

We are now accepting submissions for the 2023 Military and Front Line Book Awards. The 2023 Winners will be announced at CAC 2024.

Learn more here.

See our Full List of Non-Fiction Divisions here!

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

April 27-30, 2023! Register Today!

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

Join us for our 11th annual conference and discover why!
February 2, 2023
THE LADY Of The CLIFFS: Book Two in the Bury Down Chronicles by Rebecca Kightlinger – Historical Fiction, Historical Fantasy, Coming of Age

In The Lady of the Cliffs, an ambitious sequel in the Bury Down Chronicles by Rebecca Kightlinger, a teenager embarks on a journey that will bring her face to face with unexpected destiny.

The year is 1286 CE in Cornwall, England. At the turn of her seventeenth year, Megge and her cousin Brighida find themselves dealing with a new loss, one that breaks both their hearts. As heirs to the Book of Seasons and Book of Times respectively, they have to protect the books from sinister hands as they hold knowledge and wisdom that must one day be united. The power of these two books calls for a duty that is far greater than any woman of Bury Down has ever borne.

As they take part in a final right of passage that the women of Bury Down perform for their dead, Megge, an apprentice weaver, takes on new challenges that Brighida, an apprentice seer, cannot foretell. Megge begins having dreams and visions. In one of her dreams, she sees a rolling sea drive itself into a cove at the foot of a cliff, and a silken voice asking her to return to the cliffs of Kernow, a place that she has only seen in her slumber.

When a mysterious old woman begins telling strange tales, Megge chooses to heed the call of the voice in her dreams and travels to the sequestered inlet only known as The Sorrows.

With a gripping and stoic style of magical realism and fantasy, The Lady of the Cliffs hurtles along at a sharp pace.

This story shows the depths of both great loss and great achievement, even as they’re entwined. Showcasing the close bond among the women of Bury Down offers emotional and inquisitive exploration. Evocative language describes the book’s locations as the author melds folklore, fantasy elements, and a true historical era. Kightlinger also offers helpful references to guide readers through this world.

This is a fairly large book of 262 pages but the richness of the narrative keeps the reader enchanted until the very end. Kightlinger brings life to all her characters, and her imagination shines from each page.

Impressionistic and lyrical dialogue highlights scenes from each of the two women’s lives.

Bridgida misses her mother, whose murder she witnessed; Megge worries about the voice that lingers in her dreams, urging her to go to a place she knows little of. Both mature through times of hardships and duty. These strong and purposeful characters confront situations that challenge their beliefs and comfort, providing us with a thorough look into their quirks and temperaments.

Altogether, The Lady of the Cliffs is an intricate and lush addition to the historical fantasy genre from one of the literary maestros of our time.

December 9, 2022
CAUGHT In A TRANCE: The Adirondack Spirit Series Book 5 by David Fitz-Gerald – 19th Century Historical Fiction, Mystical, Family Fiction

Caught in a Trance by David Fitz-Gerald transports readers to Wilmington, New York in 1849, where the scenery is breathtaking, restless spirits hover, and dark secrets lurk.

Moses Munch grew up in Wilmington, his happy childhood turning into a content adult life as a loving husband, devoted father, and caring friend to many. He dabbles in the transcendental, using his spiritual connection as an aid in guiding others through their troubles. But he is about to learn that sometimes even the best of intentions can lead to terrifying consequences. When an innocent curiosity becomes an obsession, he might lose his friends and family forever. Who will be able to help, when the person who tried to save others is now the one who needs saving?

Moses Munch’s whole family is devoted to helping others. They want to bring joy to those around them and are the first to act when others are in trouble.

Moses’ wife Lovina is a caring matchmaker, spreading happiness throughout the community. Their thirteen-year-old son Silas aspires to serve God, assisting the town’s Reverend Hammond in his work. He is a very mature teenager, wiser than many adults. Moses’ mother is secretly aiding black slaves to freedom through an underground escape route. Moses works through the art of what he calls “trancification”. He uses hypnoses to guide people on a spiritual journey into their previous lives, in search of understanding and peace.

When a neighbor arrives in town, he threatens to destroy this Wilmington’s tranquility. Bartholomieux has just moved to Wilmington and is disrupting families, ridiculing hypnotism, and threatening Moses’ marriage. What is in this man’s past life that drives him? Moses is determined to stop Bartholomieux’s machinations, but he struggles to find a way to do so.

Curiosity becomes a nagging ache within Moses.

He enjoys joining his mind with those he helps in, entering trances and traveling into their spirited universe. Moses seeks a way to travel into his own past, and eventually uncovers it. What he discovers is entrancing, and he begins participating in these hypnotisms more and more. What once was an aid for others becomes an addiction, and one day Moses becomes lost in a trance. He cannot save himself, stuck between his past and his present. Though he reaches for his loved ones, the distance is too great. And while he is caught, Bartholomieux works against him.

Author David Fitz-Gerald offers the fifth book in the Adirondack Spirit series, an engaging and touching story.

He beautifully describes the setting and shows the consequences of addiction, not only for the person addicted but also for their loved ones. Caught in a Trance is a unique look at the subject because instead of an addiction to drugs, Moses is addicted to his mystical practice. Fitz-Gerald skillfully weaves the emotional impacts of Moses’s addiction throughout the plot.

Scenes in the spirited universe show artful settings and reveal mystical secrets, keeping the reader enthusiastically turning pages. In the mundane scenes, Fitz-Gerald’s historical research and characters shine. The members of the Munch family show courage as they face their everyday problems, and rely on family loyalty to keep them afloat even in the darkest of times. Readers will root for these characters, and wonder the same question: will Moses ever find a way back to his present life?

November 30, 2022
SHE HAD BEEN A TOMBOY: Raising a Transgender Child, a Mother’s Journey by Sandra Bowman – Family Memoirs, Parenting, LGBTQ+

She Had Been a Tomboy: Raising a Transgender Child, a Mother’s Journey by Sandra Bowman is a deeply revealing memoir about a protective mother who watches her sensitive child grow into someone who is familiar, yet new.

This moving narrative tells the story of her two children: how they were born and how they grew. She Had Been a Tomboy hops from one period of the children’s lives to another, showing how the elder child matures and how the female within slowly blooms into being, little by little revealing herself.

But the long journey to realization and understanding of self was not easy, nor was it gentle.

There were numerous hurdles to be crossed, not only for the transgender girl, then young woman, but the rest of her family.

Author Bowman writes about the challenges for the younger child as well, who feels overlooked so often as his older sibling takes precedence. He overachieves in order to make up for the pains suffered by his parents, such as his father’s frequent work-driven absences that leave his mother, the narrator, isolated and struggling.

“Robert flies here, he travels there. He works hard. I am alone.”

Once they learn to work together, the family struggles to understand how they can help both children.

They wrestle with emotional highs and lows, including those of the mother-narrator herself.

“I hurt profoundly. Again I cry. I sit and I stare. At absolutely nothing.”

Despite going through so many trials, the daughter slowly grows to understand herself and her role in the world.

“Because again, she must raise herself up. … She will raise herself, by herself … she will get herself to a state of autonomy.”

As her daughter matures and eventually flourishes, the mother-narrator slowly adjusts to her new reality, as do the father and the younger child, learning about themselves, the world, and their family.

Author Bowman’s highly stylized writing flows, serving the story she tells of her daughter’s coming-of-age. The reader empathizes with the family’s effort to grow.

Overall, Bowman’s memoir about her transgender daughter is an emotional, forceful tale about discovery, illumination, and eventual understanding.

November 28, 2022
THE EXCURSION by T.O. Paine – Horror, Thriller, Suspense Action

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

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

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

Charly is there for a complicated family reunion.

Along with her autistic brother Jacob, whom Charly has taken care of all her life, she deals with two cousins: Amanda, who must win everything in her life at any cost, and Cal, who Charly fears might be a psychopath.

Randall has come for his “excursion,” well paid for his work, and confident that this weekend will prove his superiority to his boss. A self-styled alpha male, a hunter-cum-master-of-the-universe, he is in control of every detail of what happens in this ultimate form of hunting. Joining Randall in the cabin are Barry, the wealthy hunter who has signed on for this excursion, and Barry’s gaggle-headed girlfriend Kennedy.

But Randall brought one more person. Tyler sits caged in the boathouse near the cabin, kidnapped to serve as the designated prey. Randall didn’t expect his perfectly planned hunt would include Charly and her family, or Barry’s girlfriend, but he sees an opportunity in them. He has delicious, final plans for everyone at the cabin.

What can go wrong for the hunter who has everything perfectly under control?

A hidden pleasure here is the literary “Easter eggs” the writer has planted. For example, Charly’s last name is Highsmith, certainly a reference to celebrated mystery writer Patricia Highsmith. And Randall may well be related to Steven King’s protagonist in his best-selling The Stand. Does the unusual spelling of “Charly” have its roots in the science-fiction novel, Flowers for Algernon?

The Excursion grips you from the first page. Its march through dense snowdrifts and mountains will leave you yearning for waterproof boots, or, better, a blanket to hide under as you dig further into this twisty, unrelenting story. If you’re a fan of satisfying horror novels, this is one not to miss.

November 18, 2022
Navigating Narrative Non-Fiction | November Deadlines for the CIBAs
Demystify Your Non-Fiction with Chanticleer

In Fiction, genre boundaries can sometimes seem so clear, scifi has aliens and mysteries have a murder, but how do we organize Non-Fiction?

Chanticleer offers a wide variety of Non-Fiction Book Awards, and here we’ll focus on the Narrative Non-Fiction Divisions.

These Divisions are:
The Original*

The Journey Awards came first. These awards shine bright as the lodestar of quality for the others. As more Non-Fiction submissions came in, the number of Non-Fiction Divisions expanded to fill the need. Right now, the Journey Awards focuses primarily on stories Overcoming Adversity. Often tear-jerkers, these stories highlight the resiliency of being human.

The 2021 Grand Prize Winner for the Journey Awards was Better off Bald by Andrea Wilson Woods.

There exists a bond between sisters, and often that bond becomes a connection so strong that time cannot erase the love and the longing for the other. Andrea Wilson Woods defines such a bond in Better Off Bald: A Life in 147 Days.

Woods details the choreographed life she lives with her sister Adrienne, who has been diagnosed with cancer. Together they begin their dance, pirouetting around IV ports and long lists of medications. Sisters in life, love, and an all-out war against liver cancer.

Woods retells her story with compassion and a rational eye for detail while embracing all the deep emotions that ravage her as she records every one of the 147 days after the initial diagnosis.
Their confusion about how this could have happened and their hope that they can beat this “thing” growing inside Adrienne are present on each page. Woods makes note of the doctors by name, the nurses by nicknames, and the hospital visits by hours spent waiting, waiting, waiting for help to come and rescue them from the nightmare that cancer has made of their lives.

Read more here.

*Note: The Journey Awards deadline has already passed, but the 2023 Journey Awards are open now!

Putting in the Research

Following the Journey Awards, it became clear we needed Awards focused on Journalism and Reporting. Enter the Nellie Bly Awards, named for reporter Nellie Bly whose journey around the Earth inspired the story Around the World in 80 Days. These books can back up all their facts with hard dates and maybe even an appendix at the end. They tell the stories that call out for their place in history.

The 2021 Grand Prize Winner for the Nellie Bly Awards was America’s Forgotten Suffragists: Virginia and Francis Minor by Nicole Evelina.

After being forgotten for nearly 130 years, the “Mother of Suffrage in Missouri” and her husband are finally taking their rightful place in history.

St. Louisans Virginia and Francis Minor forever changed the direction of women’s rights by taking the issue to the Supreme Court for the first and only time in 1875, a feat never eclipsed even by their better-known peers Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

Yet despite a myriad of accomplishments and gaining notoriety in their own time, the Minors’ names have largely faded from memory. In 1867, Virginia founded the nation’s first organization solely dedicated to women’s suffrage—two years before Anthony formed the National Woman’s Suffrage Association (NWSA). Virginia and Francis were also the brains behind the groundbreaking idea that women were given the right to vote under the Fourteenth Amendment, a philosophy the NWSA adopted for nearly a decade.

Read more here.

Opening up Personal Narratives

As the Journey Awards began filling up, it became difficult to recognize both the uplifting and inspirational work as well as the work that looked at the darker side of what people overcome in their life. To try and highlight this warmer tone of writing, the Hearten Awards were introduced, so this “chicken soup for the soul” style of book could be brought to the forefront.

The 2021 Grand Prize Winner for the Hearten Awards was DAWGS: A True Story of Lost Animals and the Kids Who Rescued Them by Diane Trull & Meredith Wargo

We can all make a difference. Elementary-school teacher Diane Trull’s life-defining moment happened when her fourth-grade reading class saw a photo of a cardboard box overflowing with homeless puppies. Trull was no stranger to rescuing abandoned animals. She and her husband, Mark, had made it their mission to find permanent homes for stray dogs and cats. Now her young students were determined to save these lost pups and others like them. And in that moment, the Dalhart Animal Wellness Group and Sanctuary-known as DAWGS-was born. How Trull and her fourth graders started their own animal shelter is a story of dedication, commitment, and perseverance. In this eye-opening, deeply personal book, Trull describes the challenges they faced, from rescuing and caring for the animals to teaching children about compassion and responsibility, to facing local interests opposed to having a shelter in their town. She shares inspiring stories about animals and animal lovers of all ages in this moving story of hope and compassion. DAWGS is a testament to how love and a strong measure of determination can offer second chances-one animal, one child, and one day at a time.

Read more here!

The Newest Division from Chanticleer

The Military and Front Line Awards are close to our heart at Chanticleer. We’ve often wanted enough submissions for this to be its own Division as we all have family who has served in the military. However, we wanted these Awards to represent all walks of life that provide Service to Others like firefighters, teachers, medical workers, and the family of those who work to make our world a better place.

The 2021 Grand Prize Winner for the Military and Front Line Awards was Dear Bob by Martha Bolton with Linda Hope

For five decades, comedian, actor, singer, dancer, and entertainer Bob Hope (1903-2003) traveled the world performing before American and Allied troops and putting on morale-boosting USO shows. Dear Bob . . . : Bob Hope’s Wartime Correspondence with the G.I.s of World War II tells the story of Hope’s remarkable service to the fighting men and women of World War II, collecting personal letters, postcards, packages, and more sent back and forth among Hope and the troops and their loved ones back home.

Soldiers, nurses, wives, and parents shared their innermost thoughts, swapped jokes, and commiserated with the “G.I.s’ best friend” about war, sacrifice, lonely days, and worrisome, silent nights. The Entertainer of the Century performed for millions of soldiers in person, in films, and over the radio. He visited them in the hospitals and became not just a pal but their link to home. This unforgettable collection of letters and images, many of which remained in Hope’s personal files throughout his life and now reside at the Library of Congress, capture a personal side of both writer and recipient in a very special and often-emotional way. This volume heralds the voices of those servicemen and women whom Hope entertained and who, it is clear, delighted and inspired him.

Read more here.

A huge thank you to these incredible authors.

Keep Writing. Truth matters now more than ever.

Have an excellent Non-Fiction Narrative that deserves recognition? Submit now to our Non-Fiction Book Awards by the end of November!*

Note: The Journey Awards Deadline has already passed

Your book could be next!

Looking to up your game? Check out the traditional publishing tool that indie authors can use to propel their writing careers to new levels.
November 17, 2022
CERTIFIED by Roger Wilson-Crane – Family & Relationships, Humor, Modern Life

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

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

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

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

A work of depth, this story is carefully wrought with nuance and wisdom, serving up a worthy exploration of the human imperfections in our contemporary world.

With honesty and sensitivity, Author Crane makes this chronicle of a man’s choices inviting and restorative. Even with our best efforts and good support, the myriad attachments we develop over a lifetime, to desires, expectations, people, possessions, and ideas, all keep circling back to clutter the pathway and entangle us. Crane’s novel manages to give an empathic portrait of the struggle to break free and find peace.

Backstory weaves naturally with the narrator’s present life, making the plot easy to follow and understand. Dialogue and prose are well-balanced, working together to show the emotional depth of the characters. The most striking aspect of Certified is the quality of writing, which is original, fresh, and unique. Every word counts throughout the protagonist’s thoughts, emotions, and opinions on life.

With its stellar prose, the text introduces new characters along the way who are equally fleshed out.

Certified emphasizes the impact of small, seemingly insignificant moments on its characters, showing their capacity to change people and the world around them.

It takes natural talent for an author to make a fictional narrative appear to be a real-life story. Crane offers readers this rare experience, prompting readers to see themselves in the story. Themes of hope, heartbreak, loss, love, and change flow seamlessly, leaving no cliffhangers as they propel toward the end.

Overall, this is a tightly woven and intelligent comedy-drama that, despite its length, is compelling enough to binge-read in the course of a weekend. Comedy fans will enjoy Certified by Roger Wilson-Crane along with the heartfelt lessons that it imparts.

Certified by Roger Wilson-Crane won Grand Prize in the 2021 CIBA Mark Twain Awards for Humor and Satire Fiction.

November 7, 2022
OPERATION MOM: My Plan to Get My Mom a Life and a Man by Reenita Malhotra Hora – YA, Romance, Comedy

Master storyteller Reenita Malhotra Hora’s YA romance Operation Mom: My Plan to Get My Mom a Life and a Man takes us on a charming journey through the life of one teen, Ila Isham.

Hora introduces Ila and her best friend Deepali, two boy-crazy teens on a summer quest. Readers will fall in love with the smart, sassy, angst-filled, rebellious Ila. A typical teenage girl, Ila lives in Mumbai with her mom and Sakkubai, their house manager. Ila’s mother calls her obsessed, but that seems unfair. Is she obsessed just because her every waking minute is spent thinking of Ali Zafar, famous pop icon, singer, and heartthrob? Or is she obsessed with fellow classmate Dev?

No, Ila couldn’t be taken with Dev because he’s one of three young men that her best friend Deepali is juggling in her summer experiment of exploring her “feminine mystique.” This turn of phrase becomes just one of many opportunities for Hora’s humor to shine as Ila remarks, “That’s a book by Gloria Steinem . . . no Betty Friedan.” Deepali’s response? “Yaar. Don’t be so literal.” The delightful balance between Ila’s book smarts versus Deepali’s street smarts carries us through Hora’s expertly crafted story.

The two girls decide to help each other conduct their “summer experiments,” but for Ila to achieve her goal of meeting Ali Zafar, they must find a diversion to preoccupy Ila’s mom, Veena, a successful journalist, author, and intellectual.

The way to do that, they both decide, is to introduce her to a man who will sweep her off her feet. So sayeth the boy-crazy girls, and thus begins the antics of Ila and Deepali. Ila trusts and admires her best friend’s knowledge on the subject of romance, which is her biggest mistake, and with Deepali in charge, the two find themselves in constant mix-ups and fantastic situations.

To top it off, Dev, Deepali’s boyfriend “number three,” helps them create a dating app profile for Ila’s mom, but they give her the unlikely moniker “Venus” because no one uses their real names on these apps. When Ila begins fielding replies from prospective suitors, she finds she is out of her league—big time.

Enter Dev to aid and assist our hero. Ila’s attraction to the “unachievable” Dev is an impetus for her attraction to Ali Zafar, a more attainable target according to Ila. But Dev’s physical presence nags on Ila. Dev is there, and Ali is not. Yet, Dev was Deepali’s, so Ila, out of loyalty to her friend, pushes him away. The more he helps her, though, the more difficult that becomes.

Hora’s tale showcases what it is to be seventeen with a protective Punjabi mom – or any mom for that matter.

She captures the sometimes-difficult relationship between mother and daughter, friend and friend, husband and wife, and boy and girl. Her exploration of coming of age in a world filled with imperfect people is both humorous and heartfelt, and from beginning to end, we love her for her innocence, stubbornness, and intelligence.

This book will have you laughing out loud. It will keep you reading into the night to see what life has in store for these lovable characters who leap off the page and capture your heart and your imagination. Reenita Malhotra Hora’s novel, Operation Mom: My Plan to Get My Mom a Life and a Man, is a highly recommended and delightful five-star read.

September 9, 2022
A WEEK at SURFSIDE BEACH by Pierce Koslosky, Jr. – Short Story Collections, Vacation Stories, Family & Relationships

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

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

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

We all know that during vacations there are disagreements, lover spats, lessons learned, stolen kisses, and many other moments for a reader to see through the eyes of the characters at Surfside Beach.

The house itself exists in the real world, as does the town of Surfside Beach. Koslosky purchased the actual house after Hurricane Hugo hit the coast of South Carolina. The short stories connect the characters through this realistic setting.

These thirteen stories are rich with emotion and relationships. Even in just one tale, two families quarrel over a better view, a better beach house, an entrée item at dinner, their kids fighting, and a lack of parental approval of the feuding families’ son/daughter Romeo and Juliet hidden romance. Human compassion shines through these conflicts, such as in a later story where a father shows his son kindness and understanding when a gang of locals leads him astray, presenting a strong faith in humanity.

Koslosky creates a believable work of fiction which flows from story to story, recreating a well-known setting of a beach house, the characters playing out a reminder that while nothing is perfect even in paradise, nothing needs to be perfect.

A Week at Surfside Beach by Pierce Koslosky Jr. won Grand Prize in the 2020 CIBA SHORTS Awards for Short Story Collections.

July 22, 2022
The GREEN REMAINS: Book 2 of the Nora Tierney English Mysteries by M.K. Graff – British Cozy Mysteries, Women Sleuths, Romance

American editor and author Nora Tierney has a lot going on, from a book deal and pregnancy to stumbling on the site of a high-profile murder, in M.K. Graff’s mystery novel, The Green Remains.

After winning a contest for a three-book deal, Nora and her artist are proofreading her first novel while she is researching for the next installment. Add to this that Nora is also almost nine months pregnant with her dead boyfriend’s baby, and she should have enough to keep her busy.

As a temporary resident of Ramsey Lodge, the ancestral home of her novel’s artist Simon Ramsey, Nora enjoys the beautiful scenery of Bowness-on-Windermere, a Cumbrian village on the shore of England’s largest lake while attempting to find a name for her son. It doesn’t hurt that Simon and his sister Kate pamper her and want her to live with them at least as long as she and Simon are collaborating and by all means, until the baby is born.

However, Nora’s idyllic rest is interrupted when she stumbles upon the dead body of Keith Clarendon, the only son of prominent citizens Sommer and Antonia. When the medical examiner deems Keith’s death murder via rare poison, Detective Ian Travers, Kate’s fiancé, finds himself in the awkward position of questioning Simon’s possible involvement. However, the small community is again rocked by murder when two local drunkards are also found dead with signs of the same poison. Nora is determined to prove Simon’s innocence, but each day she draws closer to her due date and as she conducts her clandestine investigation, each clue takes her closer to the killer.

The romantic relationships in the novel present an interesting contrast.

In the first book in the series, Nora loses her fiancé, Paul, in a plane crash, but she had already “lost” him. She had allowed herself to ignore the negativity in their relationship. In hindsight, she knows she refused to see who her fiancé had truly been. When Kate suggests naming the child after Paul, the true feelings Nora had suppressed rise to the surface. She knows with certainty she could never name the child after his father. She suspects Paul himself had fallen out of love with her, but like her, couldn’t bring himself to break off their engagement.

Nora and Simon are another contrasting couple. In the previous novel, Simon saved Nora from certain death in Oxford while she investigated the accusations of murder made again her friend Val. They also shared a brief physical interlude there as well, and he is the artist for her children’s novels. Her need to clear Simon’s name is both obligatory and emotional. He and Kate have helped Nora in numerous ways, providing support and comfort. They attend birthing classes with her and give her a home at Ramsey Lodge. They paint her future son’s room and put together his crib.

Simon loves Nora and desires more than she is willing to provide.

She chooses to keep their current relationship platonic but often questions that choice. In short, Nora’s torn between her feelings for Simon and for the Oxford detective, Declan Barnes, who worked closely with her on a previous investigation.

Whenever she thinks about Declan, she experiences all of the “new-love” emotions, excitement, trepidation, and uncertainty. However, she simultaneously cannot stop the surge of jealousy she feels when Maeve, a manager at the hotel, flirts with Simon. Nora knows she has no right to these emotions but still cannot stop herself. Simon means security, a real family, while Declan represents passion and desire.

A theme many readers will find familiar is the anxiety of parenthood.

After learning of Paul’s death, Nora soon discovers she’s pregnant. She chose to keep her child and raise him on her own, a gutsy decision that she often questions. Her mind often fills with uncertainty. Nora’s mother lives in Connecticut, and her father drowned years ago when she was a teenager. She carries the burden of guilt over his death because she had turned down his invitation to join him.

The ghost of parenting haunts Nora because she wants to live up to the memory of what a wonderful parent her father truly was. She understands that saying you are going to be a good parent doesn’t really deliver the proof of actually being one. In the meantime, she must face the tragedy of Keith’s death and the grief of his loving parents. The strength of their loss, in a strange way, highlights her desire to be a loving parent.

Facing the death of her only child, Antonia mentally implodes. The loss feels monumental to Nora, and she questions her involvement in the investigation since death seems to surround her pregnancy. She sees how fragile life truly is and how having a partner makes that life more bearable, which in turn makes her wonder how she’ll ever be parent enough for her son when she can’t even choose a name or keep herself out of trouble.

The Green Remains by M.K. Graff won 1st Place in the 2014 CIBA M&M Book Awards for Cozy Mysteries.

June 27, 2022