Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: Fantasy

The 2024 Ozma Hall of Fame for the Best Fantasy Fiction
Is this Just Real Life, or is This Fantasy?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Soar a Burning Sky
By Steven Michael Beck

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

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

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

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

Plague of Flies
By Laurel Anne Hill

Sixteen-year-old Catalina Delgado’s hopes of marrying her love are troubled by strange, unnatural dangers, in Laurel Anne Hill’s novel, Plague of Flies.

Like every dutiful daughter in 1846, Catalina worries about her reputation. However, she must also gain the approval of Ángelo Ortega’s family. Unfortunately, when three strangers ride onto her family’s small ranch in Alta California, she knows that more than her dreams are at risk. Alta California has just been invaded by the men of the Bear Flag, and Catalina fears what will become of her homeland now that it has been claimed by the Yankees. The nearby ranch owned by the valiant General Vallejo has been raided, owners and their servants terrorized and held captive. Plus Bear Flaggers have murdered additional friends of Catalina’s family on a beach.

Read More Here

Divinity’s Twilight: Rebirth
By Christopher Russell

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

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

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

Read More Here

Manufactured Witches
By Michelle Rene

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

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

Read More Here

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

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

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

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

You know you want it…

Currently accepting entries. Deadline: July 31, 2024

Are you a Chanticleer Author who has some good news to share? Let us know! We’re always looking for a reason to crow about Chanticleerians! Here are some recent achievements from our authors:
Reach out with your news to info@ChantiReviews.com
July 11, 2024
Laurel Anne Hill 10 QUESTION AUTHOR INTERVIEW SERIES – Author Life, Book Discovery, Young Adult Novels

10 Question Author Interview Series with Laurel Anne Hill, Award-Winning Author

Laurel Anne Hill is one of our favorite authors. Whip smart and full of life, Laurel Anne took home the Grand Prize in OZMA for her work, Plague of Flies: Revolt of the Spirits, 1846.

Let’s get to know Laurel Anne Hill a little better. Read on!

Chanti: Tell us a little about yourself, how did you start writing?

Hill: Born in 1943, I started writing stories before I could read. My older sister would write down the words I told her to, inside a paper tablet. I’d fill in the blank places with pictures I’d cut out of comics or magazines. My first published short story—Nancy Saves the Day—appeared in the children’s section of a major San Francisco newspaper when I was eleven years old. For this I received the payment of two dollars, enough money to see eight double features at my local movie theater if I hadn’t decided to spend the money on something else.

My craft may have been questionable, but I’d become a published author.

My publications as an adult include three award-winning novels, over thirty short stories, many short nonfiction pieces, and one scientific paper.

Chanti: Some of those awards are from Chanticleer! Let’s talk about genre. What genre best describes your work? And, what led you to write in this genre?

Hill: I mostly write speculative fiction: science fiction, fantasy, steampunk and horror. My warped brain has loved to create that sort of stuff since the third grade, when my parents took me to the theater to see Bela Lugosi’s “Dracula.” During the many years I worked professionally in the field of environmental health and safety, I even described my on-the-job writing assignments as “science facts, written in response to governmental fantasy, in order to avoid regulatory horror.” My novels and many of my short stories feature young adult protagonists.

Chanti: Do you find yourself following the rules or do you like to make up your own rules?

Hill: I like to follow what I call “standard good writing practices,” the information I’ve learned (and continue to glean) from writing mentors and experts in the field. I stray from these rules when the story I’m writing demands me to deviate. For example, in Plague of Flies: Revolt of the Spirits, 1846, my protagonist, Catalina Delgado, narrated in first person present tense. One-third through the first draft, I realized I needed a second point-of-view character to provide information only an antagonist could. Two first person point-of-view characters would have confused readers. I opted for a hybrid point-of-view, like I’d experimented with in my second novel, The Engine Woman’s Light. This approach of one first person and one third person narrator solved my problem.

Chanti: What do you do when you’re not writing? Tell us a little about yourself and your hobbies.

Hill: When I was growing up, my family was poor, and my dad was an alcoholic. Three generations resided in a two-bedroom, one-toilet rented flat in San Francisco. I wanted to attend college, but realized I’d have to earn the money to do so. I entered every essay contest open to public high school students in the city and won enough money to pay for four years of college tuition and books at San Francisco State College. In 1967, I graduated with a degree in the biological sciences. In 1978, four years after I’d left my psychologically abusive first husband for a far better man, I earned my Master of Science degree at California Polytechnic State University.

In my twenties, I loved to skin and SCUBA dive, and ride a surf mat down miles of California’s white-water river rapids. I also experimented with oil paints and underwater photography. By my early thirties, I still did skin and SCUBA periodically, painting and underwater photography, but I’d married a widower with two teenage sons and one preteen, and joyfully accepted my family responsibilities. Immediately, I expanded my cooking repertoire. All those wonderful guys loved to eat.

Back then, I worked at San Francisco General Hospital as a nuclear medicine technologist. My husband owned a cabin in the Sierra foothills, and we would spend at least one weekend a month there. Our daughter was born when I was thirty-five years old. I didn’t start writing as an adult until my early fifties. By then, our daughter was a teen, the three “boys,” long-since grown, and our cabin sold.

Aside from our annual family fishing trip, my “hiking” became mostly limited to traversing the 53-acre site where I worked in environmental health and safety. When I retired in 2008, I joined my husband on his daily walks up-and-down-the hills where we resided—up to three miles daily. Now, as a widow, my physical therapist has assigned me exercises in response to the three major falls I had a couple years ago. My “hobby” has become enjoying my amazing family and learning a path to improved health. I also serve as secretary of my high school alumni association and a member of my local Methodist church.

Chanti: That’s incredible! Paying for university by writing essays? Amazing! Thank you for sharing some of your history. How do you come up with your ideas for a story?

Hill: Since my childhood, characters (often armed with their own adventurous tales) have popped into my dreams and conscious thoughts. Up until the second or third grade, they were like imaginary friends, except I understood they weren’t real people. After that, some of them gradually morphed into a cast of characters for possible future stories. Throughout the past thirty years, characters have moved into my mind with their own stories to tell as the need arose. I’ve often said that a main character has to feel real in my head before I can make him/her/they “real” on the page. Once characters and I start communicating inside my brain, my ideas flow.

Chanti: How do you approach your writing day?

Hill: Before I retired from my job as an environmental health and safety specialist at a pharmaceutical research and development site, my writing time was early in the morning, after dinner, and/or as weekends allowed. Once retired, I wrote at the table while my beloved husband sipped coffee and read the morning paper or while he watched the evening news. I would write in-between my household, family and other obligations. After my husband passed away six years ago, my “approach to my writing day” has consisted of consulting my kitchen calendar in the morning, then deciding the best time to grab my laptop, open it and start working.

Chanti: What areas in your writing are you most confident in? What advice would you give someone who is struggling in that area?

Hill: I’ve had over thirty of my short stories published since 1995, served as the editor-in-chief for three anthology collections, and assisted in the editing of several others. I’ve also judged a number of short story contests. I love the short story as a writing medium, but caution new writers to consider the following advice before creating one: The short story is not a very, very short novel. Remember to avoid the temptation to use subplots and multiple point-of-view characters. Read a lot of short stories in your preferred genre. Reading the classics is great, but read plenty of contemporary pieces to see what’s getting published today.

Chanti: That’s great advice! What craft books have helped you the most?

Hill: You might laugh, but I vote for Writing in General, and the Short Story in Particular by L. Rust Hills, first published, I believe, in the late 1970s. I read a lot of classical literature years prior to my first attempt to write a short story as an adult. Despite my Craft of Fiction class in college, I never understood that the difference between a short story and a novel involved a lot more than length. Nor did I comprehend the ways in which the modern novel had evolved in the twentieth century. The diagrams in Orson Scott Card’s Characters and Viewpoint (1988) helped me visualize the differences between the various point-of-view options writers have. Recently, I discovered a website blog by David G. Brown that explains what I’ve been learning at conferences about point-of-view for the past ten years. [Go to: https://darlingaxe.com/blogs/news/history-of-pov.]

Chanti: Thank you for that information. Give us your best marketing tips, what’s worked to sell more books, gain notoriety, and expand your literary footprint.

Hill: I’m active in the California Writers Club and participate in their “Writers Helping Writers” outreach programs. I’ve been a program participant at many science fiction/fantasy “cons” internationally for fifteen years. I’ve run Amazon book promos, with up to 3,000 book sales (and Amazon best seller status in particular categories) over the promotional period. My most recent novel, Plague of Flies: Revolt of the Spirits, 1846, has won seventeen awards and a number of excellent professional reviews. My previous novel, The Engine Woman’s Light, won thirteen awards and received a Kirkus Star. Yet my overall book sales are not particularly impressive. At age eighty, I’m still not sure what the heck works at all, let alone the best. With luck, maybe I’ll figure it out by the time I hit ninety.

Chanti: You figure it out and let us know, okay? What are you working on now? What can we look forward to seeing next from you?

Hill: I’m writing a steampunk fantasy set in Mexico and California in the nineteenth century. Working title: Saints of Fire. In this novel, the mass murder of family members forces a Mexican woman and her two daughters to flee into hiding from the unidentified perpetrators. The spirit of her now-deceased husband seeks to identify the persons responsible for the disaster, but death has stolen most of his memory. He finds he can only communicate with his fifteen-year-old daughter. Gradually, he and his daughter start to realize he might have played a role in the horrific event.

Chanti: That actually sent chills up and down my arms! Do you ever experience writers block? What do you do to overcome it?

Hill: I have never been blocked from writing words. Writing the best words, however, can pose a challenge. Sometimes, I’ll stare at the screen, pour another cup of coffee and keep mulling over possibilities until the answer materializes in my gray matter. Other times, I’ll move to a different part of my manuscript and work there. Eventually, I’ll find my words in all the places I need them to be.

Chanti: What excites you most about writing?

Hill: The ability to combine words, ideas and art to create a piece unique to me—a dynamic adventure with authentic, engaging characters. I’m excited by the possibility of touching another human heart and changing that organ’s owner in some small yet positive way.

Chanti: What is the most important thing a reader can do for an author?

Hill: Some might say to read the author’s latest book and give it a good review on Amazon. Then recommend that book to other readers. Some might say to read multiple books by the same author. Those are both important. Yet I really hope at least a few of my readers will allow my words to touch their hearts—to encourage them to modify their thoughts and lives in a positive manner, if only in some small way.

Chanti: Here is the link to Laurel Anne’s website where you can discover her works

December 4, 2023
Grab your sword and join the adventure! The Ozma Fantasy Awards are Sizzling this Summer!

Fall into a New Realm with us!

Run, walk, or crawl to submit to the Ozma Fantasy Book Awards

Coroline entering the Other Mother’s domain in the movie based on Neil Gaiman’s book.

**Adventure is calling! Don’t miss out!**

Unleash the magic and send us your manuscript by July 31 to enter the 2023 CIBAs!

Fantasy Fiction July 31

Fantasy Fiction presents a reflection of the world as we see it, showing us the undercurrents of power that surround us all. At Chanticleer, we seek to take up the quest and discover the magic in your classic fantasy, steampunk stories, urban tales, and your fairy tales and legends.

Let’s take a look at the Hall of Fame for Grand Prize Winners of the Ozma Awards

SOAR A BURNING SKY
By Steven Michael Beck
A Manuscript

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

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

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

This book is still in development and the review is subject to change, but you can learn more about Steven Michael Beck here.

Plague of Flies: Revolt of the Spirits, 1846
by Laurel Anne Hill

Sixteen-year-old Catalina Delgado’s hopes of marrying her love are troubled by strange, unnatural dangers, in Laurel Anne Hill’s novel, Plague of Flies.

Like every dutiful daughter in 1846, Catalina worries about her reputation. However, she must also gain the approval of Ángelo Ortega’s family. Unfortunately, when three strangers ride onto her family’s small ranch in Alta California, she knows that more than her dreams are at risk. Alta California has just been invaded by the men of the Bear Flag, and Catalina fears what will become of her homeland now that it has been claimed by the Yankees. The nearby ranch owned by the valiant General Vallejo has been raided, owners and their servants terrorized and held captive. Plus Bear Flaggers have murdered additional friends of Catalina’s family on a beach.

In connection with the recent killings, the three strangers are harbingers of a dire prophecy repeated to Catalina by a dying vaquero. Catalina is destined to be carried off by a spirit man riding a black Andalusian stallion. She will be tasked to do the bidding of Coyote, a trickster spirit who is trying to stop the advancement of the Bear Flaggers. Catalina grapples with her uncertainty and disbelief, but she desperately wants to save her family. When Spirit Man appears to her, she must ask herself how far she is willing to go to keep her loved ones alive.

Read more here!

DIVINITY’S TWILIGHT: Rebirth
By Christopher Russell

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

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

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

Read more here.

Manufactured Witches
By Michelle Rene

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

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

When Polly, too, begins to exhibit extraordinary abilities, Nat begins to feel like an outsider. Despite his limitations, Nat’s intense loyalty quickly leads him into a much more dangerous situation, where his very life may lay in the balance.

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 Ozma Winners is to submit today!

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

You know you want it…

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

July 6, 2023
NORTH QUEEN by Nicola Tyche – Epic Fantasy, Romance, Action Adventure

Norah Andell, Princess of Mercia and future North Queen, has been missing for three years.

Her father secreted her away to protect her from a prophesied attack in a ten-year war, but he dies shortly after their departure and takes her location to the grave. Alexander Rhemus, Lord Justice to Queen Regent Catherine, Norah’s grandmother, was told by a seer that Norah would be found in the deep forests of the Northern Kingdom, and has searched the woods ceaselessly. Having loved her since they were children, Alexander’s desperation leads him to the Wilds, a legendary and feared area where men often do not return. So opens The North Queen.

To Alexander’s shock, he finds Norah, who has no memories of her former life or even of her own name. At first, she refuses to believe she’s the missing princess, now Queen, and bristles against her newfound world and the restraints it casts upon her.

Norah struggles with a position she doesn’t want, governing a people on the verge of starvation and facing an arranged marriage to protect her people from the Shadow King, a ruthless man hell-bent on taking her kingdom.

With few choices left to save the land she feels responsible for protecting, Norah agrees to marry King Phillip of Aleon, hoping to unite against the advancing Shadowland army and fulfill a prophecy that will bring defeat to her fabled enemy. However, Norah’s life takes another drastic turn when the Shadow King kidnaps her. The longer she spends in the company of Mikael Ratha Shal, Salar of Kharav, the less sure she is of her path, and his reputation. Norah will have to make a life-defining, fate-altering decision. Will she choose herself or her kingdom?

This story centers on Norah’s search for identity.

From the first page, she is desperate to learn who she is. But the search goes beyond that. Norah must discover more than her name and her favorite food. She must find who she is as a person and the values that life experience should have given her. From her mostly well-meaning but pushy grandmother to her one-time love, she is bombarded with roles to play, which she doubts she would want in any variation of herself.

Not only must she literally relearn everything about herself, but she must also purge the world of the Shadow King.

She bears her own kingdom’s problems alongside the expectation of overthrowing another. Her old self tugs at her, a rebellious girl who wants only to run away with the handsome Alexander. However, she more keenly feels the heavy weight of duty, which cares little for her heart. She will do anything to keep her people safe, even if it means marrying a stranger. For fear of disappointing those who depend on her, Norah pushes herself to her physical and emotional limits.

Norah’s love interests foil one another, Salar Mikael and Lord Justice Alexander creating an interesting dichotomy.

Alexander is literally the “golden boy,” with his blonde hair and light eyes. He is the subject of Norah’s dreams while she is in Mercia, and they spend moments lost within a past that she can only recall in fragmented scenes. He is everything a woman could want, honorable and valiant, even though she must give him up for her contracted marriage. The past they share gives Norah an enthralling sense of home.

Mikael, the Shadow King, seems at first glance to be everything he is rumored to be, cruel, cold, and bloodthirsty. However, Norah soon begins to see the man behind the myth, a man who wants what she does – to protect his kingdom and end the war started by his father. Though he thinks her death is necessary, Mikael is surprised to see her bravery and fortitude, the spirit of a queen. Just as she struggles with this new reality, he battles to keep her at a distance.

Norah has been told to hate this man, this killer, but along with the rest of her memories, she has lost those twenty-five years of indoctrination.

Though Mikael holds her hostage, she begins to see another perspective. Their fiery battles start to feel like something more, but when Alexander reappears in her life, she falls back into confusion. This love triangle adds engaging romance to an action-packed plot and will make the reader long for the sequel.

July 5, 2023
M.J. EVANS 10 Question Author Interview Series – Middle Grade Fiction, Book Discovery, Horseback Riding

CHANTICLEER 10 Question Author Interview Series with
M.J. Evans

M.J. Evans Author!

We met M.J. Evans a little while ago, not far off the beaten path. I would love to tell you that we met on the trail, and honestly, now that I think about it, I suppose we can say that. The author trail, that is.

We were delighted to connect through our global CIBAs where M.J. won First in Category in our 2019 Gertrude Warner Book Awards for Middle Grade!

What’s that? You don’t know what our CIBAs are nor how they can help enlarge the digital footprint of your novel? Where have you been? I mean, it’s not a secret! Check out more about the CIBAs here.

I found M.J. to be engaging, vivacious, and an all-around talent in so many ways. I’m so very excited to introduce you to our friend and Chanticleerian, M.J. Evans.

Chanti: Tell us a little about yourself: How did you start writing?

Evans: Most important to know about me is that I am a mother of five and a grandmother of twelve. My family is my world. I am also a former teacher of middle school and high school so you can know that I love being with teenagers. I have been a horse-lover since birth…I call it “being born with manure in my blood!” I started taking riding lessons when I was eight. When I wasn’t on a horse, I was reading both fiction and non-fiction books about them. Thus, I developed a love of reading as well.

Chanti: That’s funny. Manure in the blood. Actually, as a kiddo who grew up on a farm, I totally get that. Talk about genre. What genre best describes your work?

PINTO! by M.J. Evans

Evans: Fantasy has always been a favorite genre of mine so combining fantasy and horses seemed like the perfect fit. I have expanded my horse stories into “coming-of-age” and “historical fiction” to challenge myself. PINTO! Based Upon the True Story of the Longest Horseback Ride in History won me the Chanticleer Gertrude Warner Book Award! I have written four non-fiction books, one coming-of-age novel, one picture book, and nine fantasies for middle-grade readers and young adults. You can probably guess that my favorite genre is fantasy. I love reading fantasy and I love writing fantasy. It is so much fun creating worlds and characters. I love to let my imagination run away with me. Regardless of the genre, because of my love for horses, most of my books are about horses or horse-based fantasy creatures.

The Sand Pounder by M.J. Evans

I had so much fun doing research for PINTO! Based Upon the True Story of the Longest Horseback Ride in History, that I decided to do another historical fiction. It is called Sand Pounder and is about the Coast Guard’s mounted beach patrol during WW2. I love this story.

The Stallion and His Peculiar Boy by M.J. Evans

I am now just publishing my THIRD Historical fiction about a little-known horse story. The Stallion and His Peculiar Boy is based on the life of the famous Arabian Stallion Witez II. It will be released on Feb. 28th.

Chanti: This release is just around the corner! Best of luck, Margi! What do you do when you’re not writing? Tells us a little about your hobbies. (I think I know the answer…)

Evans: I am a serious equestrian. I love to compete in Dressage. I currently have two horses right in my backyard. If I am not in the arena working on dressage, I am on the trails in the beautiful Rocky Mountains of Colorado. I do a lot of story creating in my head while riding on those trails.

Chanti: That’s cool. And is there a blue ribbon around Amara’s shoulders? Lovely! Okay, back to the interview… What areas in your writing are you most confident in? What advice would you give someone who is struggling in that area?

Evans: One of my strengths is dialogue. I think I am good at it as a result of all the theater I have done. I always recommend to other authors who are struggling with this to read it out loud as though you are on a stage. Does it make sense? Does it flow logically? Does it fit the characters’ personalities and situations?

Chanti: Great advice.

Evans: My other strength is world building. This is important for fantasy books. I have a sticky note on my computer with the words: Smell, Sight, Sound, Touch, Taste. This reminds me to include as many of the senses in my descriptive narrative as I can so the reader can feel like they are there with the characters. This creates a world the reader can both picture and experience.

Chanti: Oh, I love how you include the senses! This is a great way to elevate your writing to the next level – keep it relatable, engaging, and hard to put down. It’s important to work on your craft. What do you do to grow your author chops?

Evans: I am always taking classes to improve my writing. Lately they have all been webinars! I am not a “formula” writer so the creative writing classes that I have taken that just focus on a certain formula are not helpful to me. I also don’t outline or do storyboards. I create the entire story in my head before I start writing. Once I start writing, I don’t look back until I get the story out of my head and onto the computer. That first draft is my foundation.

“Until you have the foundation, you only have an idea! Once I get the foundation, I can go back and embellish and edit…two, three, four, five times, however many revisions it takes.” – M.J. Evans

Just to give you an example: since I write for Middle-Grade and Young Adult, I need to hit the industry standard for length (word count). Take YA for example. Those books need to be 60,000 to 80,000 words. My Centaur Chronicles series is four books that are all about 65,000 words in length when they are finished. But the first draft is only about 45,000 words. So, you see, I do a lot of enhancing and building upon that foundation.

Chanti: You are such a professional! No wonder your works are doing so well. What craft books have helped you the most?

“My favorite craft book is The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi. I use it all the time!” M.J. Evans

Chanti: That’s a good book. What do you do in your community to improve/promote literacy?

Evans: For seventeen years now I have been donating my time to dozens of Odyssey of the Mind and Destination Imagination teams at the elementary, middle school, and high school levels. As such, I guided the students as they wrote their one-act plays for competitions. Over those years, I took all of my teams to the state finals and seven teams to the world finals. I also donated my time to speak to dozens of upper elementary and middle school students in both public and private schools. I teach them my favorite writing tips to get them excited about both writing and reading. I have been a volunteer writing mentor for Denver Public Schools, and volunteered to speak at the Jefferson County Public Schools writing workshops. I also donate my time to promote literacy at public libraries and independent bookstores as a guest speaker.

Chanti: I love that about you. Good job! Give us your best marketing tips, what’s worked to sell more books, gain notoriety, and expand your literary footprint.

Evans: You must know who your audience is. Most of my books are about horses. I know where to reach horse people. My Colorado trail guidebooks are in tack and feed stores in the Denver area. That is where horse people go on a regular basis! I also sign books at horse events such as the National Western Stock Show and The Rocky Mountain Horse Expo. I find that “hand-selling” is both fun and profitable because I love being with and talking to people and I love making connections with my readers.

I have also found that submitting my books to literary award competitions and then having the bonus of winning adds credibility to my books. I have those beautiful stickers that I can put on the cover that catches the eye of prospective buyers. I also love attending award ceremonies and meeting other authors. I have made some great friends that way and we help each other with our books.

I enjoy doing author visits at schools. Of course, as a former teacher, I feel very comfortable in the classroom. But this is part of knowing who my audience is and going to them.

Chanti: Those are all good things to do that are proven to pay off. What are you working on now? What can we look forward to seeing next from you?

Evans: I am now just publishing my THIRD Historical fiction about a little-known horse story. The Stallion and His Peculiar Boy is based on the life of the famous Arabian Stallion Witez II. It will be released on Feb. 28th.

Chanti: Now, M.J., do you ever experience writer’s block? What do you do to overcome it?

Evans: No. Because I have the story worked out in my head before I start to write I always know where I am going. The key is to set the time each day to write and stick to it! However, I do have one trick that works. Never stop writing at the end of a paragraph. Always quit right in the middle of a paragraph or even in the middle of a sentence. Then, when you return, you already have a start.

Chanti: What is the most important thing a reader can do for an author?

Evans: First: If you like a book PLEASE POST A REVIEW ON AMAZON, GOODREADS, and BARNES & NOBLE. Of those, the most important is Amazon as all their algorithms for promoting a book are based on reviews. Second: TELL YOUR FRIENDS! Third: GIVE BOOKS FOR GIFTS!

Chanti: Don’t you wish that was just an automatic thing people did? Reading is great – don’t get me wrong, but if you truly love something, take that extra step and share your thought, thumbs up, 5-star ratings… Doing so does more for an author than you can possibly imagine.

If you liked this interview, please give it a thumbs up and share it with your friends. And don’t forget to check out M.J. Evan’s books! You will be happy you did.

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/mjevansbooks/?hl=en

Website http://www.dancinghorsepress.com/

February 16, 2023
OUR BRAIN by Hari Hyde – Satire, Absurdist Fiction, Adventure

Our Brain, the first in a three-volume series, is an epic fantasy adventure in a bizarre, allegorical world.

This world is ruled by Our Brain, also known as The Guv’ner, a huge pinkish mass seated in a mountain range that came about through the collective will of its people. It leaped into reality from the realm of thought. And the particular thoughts that birthed Our Brain were, in the novel’s language, to “ever grow and strengthen the righteous power of government to control our lives for the common good.”

The people that benefit from this collective thinking are the Soose. Yes, pigs, but a mutated form that, while still loving mud baths, walk on their hind legs, go to college, and carry “snappers” or what we might call personal computers. Their opposite numbers are the Nags, descended from horses, who champion individualism and want to wipe out the collective sentiments of the ruling tribe.

Four Nags hatch a plan to change the direction of Our Brain and create a world of their liking.

The hero of the book, a Soose named Hennie Honeygate, sets out to discover their plan and, to his great surprise, finds himself following them inside the fleshy mass of Our Brain. Hennie and the Nags embark on a picaresque adventure.

Be prepared to have an illustrated anatomy source at hand as Honeygate chases the villains through the neurological pathways. Portions of the brain take on personalities of their own, such as a demon named Obex, labeled here as the “fabled ruler of hell” in the mythology of the Soose. The obex, in anatomy, is a canal-like structure in the upper part of the brainstem that connects the fourth ventricle to the third.

Our Brain offers political thought, social satire, and sheer nuttiness.

This story will likely appeal to those with conservative political views. Readers will find fantasy adventure mingling with satire such as that of Orwell’s Animal Farm, Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, and traces of George Will, Michael Crichton, and Terry Gilliam in these pages.

February 13, 2023
THE CLAIMING by J.A. Nielsen – Young Adult, Fantasy, Action & Adventure

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

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

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

Spense resolves to break the Claiming, no matter what it takes.

The two of them journey on a diplomatic mission to the Fae, while Dirk and his knights begin to fight against an army of both humans, from the kingdom of Verden, and Winter Fae. Spense seeks both an alliance with Lady Radiant, and the means to free Dewy of the bonds he put on her. But this journey will ask more of him and Dewy than they know.

Nielsen brings her characters to full and vibrant life.

Dewy and Spense both feel that they’re different from those around them, unsure of their place in the world. Though they’re initially brought together by magic, they begin to form a genuine bond and bring out positive change in one another. They find confidence in their abilities and, as they come to understand each other, share their fears and sorrows.

Even antagonistic characters show their complexity. Lady Radiant, though reserved and steely in diplomatic talks, wants desperately to help her niece. Prince Dirk fights courageously and sees past the social standing of Flora, a farm girl, to realize that she could help his knights to save Telridge. The king of winter himself, Lumine, is driven by an understandable need, even if he keeps his secrets closely guarded.

The battles, both emotional and literal, keep a gripping pace.

Faerie magic, fire-tipped arrows, gunpowder, and even failed alchemy experiments clash in the battle for Telridge. Dewy wields phenomenal elemental power, Spense offers his clever inventions, and Dirk and Flora must devise creative strategies to hold back the army arrayed against them. Exciting, tense scenes play out as knights and faeries fight. All the while, the characters try to weather the mental toll of waging war.

Spense bears responsibility for all of his people as he becomes Telridge’s diplomat to the Fae courts.

Throughout Nielsen’s luminous, intricately-described Fey lands, Spense grapples with the guilt of what he’s done to Dewy, while Dewy herself contemplates what she feels for him, how much of her fondness can be true with the Claiming upon her. The two risk life, limb, and even more for each other as a curious, subtle mystery forms around their meetings with the Winter Fae.

The Claiming is a story of courage, connection, and the responsibility of a person to care for those around them. Fans of fantasy and faeries will love this fast-paced adventure.

January 9, 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
Spotlight on the October Awards! Don’t be Afraid!
Adventure rises. Will you answer the call?

October is the best month to step out into an adventure. We have three scintillating Programs to Submit to:
- Ozma Awards for Fantasy
- Paranormal Awards for Supernatural Fiction
- Global Thrillers for High Stakes Suspense
This spooky month feels like the best time for stories that inspire us to dream of realities beyond imagining, and threats to the world that leave us white-knuckled and waiting for the conclusion. What better place to find your next reads and submit your work than the Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards!

Here are the Awards that are hungrier for your work than a horde of zombies.

Ozma Awards

Fantasy is that special world where anything can happen. We often go beyond Earth for this, looking into swords and sorcery, chosen ones and villains awash with power.

Start out with our 2021 Fantasy Grand Prize Winner A Plague of Flies by Laurel Anne Hill.

Excellent prose & description with an effective mingling of historical and fantasy elements. The tension is gripping and the pace is good.

Follow that up with From Brick and Darkness by J.L. Sullivan, a great YA Urban Fantasy.

A new Teen Favorite, this Urban Fantasy delves down passages of mythology and more when Bax Allen unwittingly unleashes a demon into the world.

And then you can wrap everything up with the 2020 Ozma Grand Prize Winner, Divinity’s Twilight by Christopher Russell.

In the epic space opera a group of cadets must face the bloody past of their world, threatened by age-old conflict, and change the course of empires. Highly recommended!

See the full list of 2021 Ozma Winners for Fantasy Fiction here.

Paranormal Awards

What goes bump in the night and who are the superheroes who face them? The supernatural genre often involves vampires, werewolves, angels, demons, and superheroes. The characters may begin as ordinary, but they soon discover they may be extraordinary or transformed to be more than human.

We would be remiss not to crow about J.W. Zarek’s The Devil Pulls the Strings. Reminiscent of Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files, this book took home the Overall Grand Prize Awards.

J. W. Zarek weaves magic on the page, developing an epic, urban fantasy – first in series – readers will want to stick with for a long time. Highly recommended.

The Insane God by Jay Hartlove brings back the cosmic horror of H.P. Lovecraft in his mystery led by a trans woman.

Sarah is cured of schizophrenia, only to face a battle with The Insane God. Her story balances humor, social issues like gender identity, and cosmic horror. Recommended!

And, of course, it never hurts to remember Stoker’s Dracula with a book like Suburban Vampire Ragnarok by Franklin Posner that won First Place in the Paranormal Awards.

Scott Campbell must face his divorce, job, and thirst for human blood, while caught in his fellow vampires’ political infighting. Recommended!

See the full list of 2021 Paranormal Winners for Supernatural Fiction here.

Global Thriller Awards

When you write a Global Thriller, you write about global consequences. The stakes are higher than ever before, whether or not this is a meticulously researched disease or a terrorist attack of epic proportions, you’ll want to read each one of these stories in one sitting.

Ron McManus’ The Chameleon won the 2021 Global Thriller Awards

Delightful to read with great development of story and characters. Clearly researched with a healthy dash of personal experience. A story to relish.

Then you have First Place Winner Mission: Angola by the prolific Randall Krzak. Anyone who needs a series would be wise to check this one out.

Xavier Sear is caught between dangerous factions and outnumbered in the first book of a new action-packed, tension-filled thriller series. Highly recommended!

For those who prefer more of an environmental story, check out A Divine Wind by Norman M. Jacobs, another First Place Winner.

See the full list of 2021 Global Thriller Winners for High Stakes Fiction here.

You Can’t Win if you Don’t Submit!

Enter the CIBAs today! Your book deserves to be discovered.
October 19, 2022
DIVINITY’S TWILIGHT: Rebirth by Christopher Russell – Epic Fantasy, Military Fantasy, Gaslamp Fantasy

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

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

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

Darmatus believes that knowledge and education are the way, while Rabban advocates for engineering and artistry. But all are powerful in war as well as in peace. In the end, Darmatus and Rabban prevail, or so it seems.

But that is only the prologue to this grand saga.

This ancient battle was a projection of memory crystals. Nearly 700 years have passed since then. Sarcon, Darmatus, and Rabban are long dead, but their empires founded by their followers continue on, each espousing the brothers’ philosophies.

Sarcon is at the pinnacle of military might, while Rabban’s engineering prowess has kept their empire dogging at Sarcon’s heels. Darmatia holds the balance of power in their mercantile empire and serves as the breadbasket for all three.

But this tenuous balance will not last long; history is about to repeat itself. Sarcon is threatening war yet again, and Darmatia seems to be on the verge of throwing in their military lot with Rabban to keep Sarcon from swallowing them both whole. The action – and there is plenty of it! – follows the adventures of one very mixed group of Darmatian military cadets who may just hold the key to peace in their ill-prepared hands.

The world of Divinity’s Twilight: Rebirth is an epic, complex, and well-crafted story.

Key characters represent each of the empires, enough to give the reader an understanding of the critical differences between the three kingdoms. The story has a vast cast overall, and keeping track of all the individuals can be challenging for some.

This story moves through multiple casts; the opening prologue has one set of characters long gone by the time the story shifts to its current time frame. Yet another set pushes the story forward until we reach that group of cadets who carry the meat of the narrative. Once the tale gets to Matteo, Vallen, and their cohort, readers won’t be able to set the book down.

The scope and setting of this series opener may invoke fond memories of the Star Wars saga for many readers.

Divinity’ Twilight weaves its tale in operatic (space operatic) fashion, where mighty empires and plucky underdogs clash. In a universe of both space ships and high magic, a place where a chosen hero – or heroine – must rise from obscurity to save their world from an evil that reaches beyond death itself.

Any reader of epic fantasy, fantastic tales of politics run amuck, or epic space battles will find a lot to love in Divinity’s Twilight: Rebirth.

Divinity’s Twilight: Rebirth by Christopher Russell won Grand Prize in the 2020 CIBA OZMA Book Awards for Fantasy Fiction.

July 18, 2022