Tag: First Place

  • The 2025 Hearten Short List for Inspiring and Uplifting Non-Fiction

    The Hearten Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Inspiring and Uplifting Non-Fiction and Memoirs. The Hearten Book Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (CIBAs).

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

    These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from the 2025 Hearten Non-Fiction Long List to the 2025 Hearten Book Awards SHORT LIST. Entries below are now in competition for 2025 Hearten Semi-Finalists. Finalists will be selected from the Semi-Finalists. All FINALISTS will be recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC26).

    The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 28 CIBA divisions’ Finalists.

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

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

    Join us in celebrating the Short List authors and their works in the 2025 CIBAs.

    • Alia Luria – Geri O Shimasu: Adventures of a Baka Gaijin
    • Andy Becker – Grandy Let’s Play: Reflections on the Joy Blessings and Wonder of Grandparenting
    • Barb Drummond – I Finally Have the Smoking Hot Body I Have Always Wanted Having Been Cremated
    • Brent Larsen – You Make My Heart Giggle Dad-isms the Wisdom and Wit of Dad
    • Candace Macphie – Finding Color
    • Cerridwen Fallingstar – Rocket in My Pocket: Defying Gravity with Levity, From the Frontiers of Space… To the Frontiers of Consciousness
    • Charlene Pell – In This Altered Body: A Survivor’s Story of Resilience and Love
    • Christine Amoroso – Bare Naked in Public: A Memoir
    • Cynthia Waine Brandt – Song of the Cardinal: A True Story of Miracles and Magic After Heartbreaking Loss
    • Doug Cameron – My Tarzan Tree and Other Farm Boy Memories
    • Dr. Deb Miller – Forget the Fairy Tale and Find Your Happiness
    • Jeff Richards – Nothing Left To Lose: Or How Not To Start a Commune
    • Jennifer Celeste Briggs – Watching Sarah Rise: a Journey of Thriving with Autism
    • Julie Ryan Mcgue – Twice the Family: a Memoir of Love Loss and Sisterhood
    • Kate Grant – No Woman Left Behind: a Journey of Hope To Heal Every Woman Injured in Childbirth
    • Kathy Sechrist – Sara’s Redemption: a Journey of Courage Resilience and Hope
    • Kay Brooks – Behind the White Beard Dale Ballew’s Story
    • Kee Kee Buckley – Seeking Shama: Me, My Dog, and the Road To Inner Peace
    • Maggie Enriquez – The Rebirth of a Phoenix
    • Margie Crowe Wildblood – Because He Loved Me
    • Marti Tote – Up Grief Creek Without a Paddle
    • Patricia Eagle – Dog Love Stories the Canines Who Changed Me
    • Rabei A. Wazzeh – The Masterpiece of Nature
    • Rhona Morrison – From Crime Scenes to Cruise Ships: Navigating life’s troubled waters with resilience and hope
    • Ricardo Jose Gonzalez-Rothi – The Mango Chronicle
    • Robert Macauley – Because I Knew You: How Some Remarkable Sick Kids Healed a Doctor’s Soul
    • Stacey Hettes – Dispatches From the Couch
    • Sue Vana – Shaken by God’s Love From Fear To Favor in Grief’s Upside-Down World
    • Tammy Dietz – Falling From Disgrace

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

    PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS! 

    This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the Facebook post. However, it is easier for us to tag authors when they have Liked and Followed us.

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

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

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

    Elk Love: A Montana Memoir

    By Lynne Spriggs O’Connor

    Elk Love cover by Lynne Spriggs O'Connor

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

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

    Please click here for more information.

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

    April 16 – 19, 2026! Save the Date for Registration!

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

    Join us for our annual conference and discover why!

     

  • The 2025 Journey Short List for Overcoming Adversity in Narrative Non-Fiction

    The 2025 Journey Short List for Overcoming Adversity in Narrative Non-Fiction

    Journey Narrative Non-Fiction CIBA BadgeThe Journey Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Overcoming Adversity in Narrative Non-Fiction and Memoir. The Journey Book Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (CIBAs).

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

    These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from the 2025 Journey Non-Fiction Long List to the 2025 Journey Book Awards SHORT LIST. Entries below are now in competition for 2025 Journey Semi-Finalists. Finalists will be selected from the Semi-Finalists. All FINALISTS will be recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC26).

    The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 28 CIBA divisions’ Finalists.

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

     

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

    Join us in celebrating the Long List authors and their works in the 2025 CIBAs.

    • Amanda Carrasco – Becoming the Brave One
    • Amy Mackin – Henry’s Classroom: a Special Education in American Motherhood
    • Ana Hebra Flaster – Property of the Revolution: From a Cuban Barrio To a New Hampshire Mill Town
    • Anne Abel – High Hopes
    • Anselm Ezemson – Chasing Closure: a Life on the Edge of Belonging
    • Baldur Einarsson – Ice and Fire: Thawing a Murderer’s Heart
    • Barbara Jenkins – So Long As It’s Wild
    • Beth Granger – Born and Razed: Surviving the Cult Was Only Half the Battle
    • Brandi Dredge – Girl Uncoded: a Memoir of Passion Betrayal and Eventual Blessings
    • Brian J. Quattlebaum – A Mad Box of Rain
    • Carl Gorham – My Life in a Garden: Love, Loss, and Mulch: a Single Dad Seeks Answers in Nature
    • Carol Odell, LICSW – Girl Groomed: a Therapist’s Memoir of Trauma
    • Carolyn Saletto – One Hazel Green Eye
    • Casey Mulligan Walsh – The Full Catastrophe: All I Ever Wanted Everything I Feared
    • Chanchal Garg – Unearthed: the Lies We Carry & the Truths They Bury
    • Cheryl Landes – The Best I Can Do: A True Story of Navigating the Complexities of Mental Illness and Homelessness
    • Christine Amoroso – Bare Naked in Public: a Memoir
    • Cynthia Moore – Dancing on Coals: a Memoir of an Overperformer
    • Cynthia Waine Brandt – Song of the Cardinal: a True Story of Miracles and Magic After Heartbreaking Loss
    • Damien Thompson – And Then I Would Fly
    • Debbie Hartung – The Factory of Maladies: Seven Days on a San Francisco Psych Ward
    • Deborah M. Foster – What’s So Bad About Being Poor: Our Lives in the Shadows of the Poverty Experts
    • Diane C Pomerantz Ph.D. – Lost in the Reflecting Pool: Surviving Narcissistic Emotional Abuse
    • Emily Sayre Smith – Smartass: Memoir of a Mouthy Girl
    • Franke James – Freeing Teresa: A True Story about My Sister and Me
    • Gavin O’Donnell – Father’s Day
    • Heidi Yewman – Dumb Girl
    • Hendrika De Vries – Open Turns
    • Jacquelyn Dickey – The Dash
    • Jane Cafarella – Cleaved: a Story of Loss, Legs, and Finding Family
    • Janine Kovac – The Nutcracker Chronicles
    • Jennifer Celeste Briggs – Watching Sarah Rise a Journey of Thriving with Autism
    • Julie Randall – Patient 71: an Inspiring True Story of a Mother’s Love That Fueled Her Fight To Stay Alive
    • Kathy Sechrist – Sara’s Redemption: A Journey of Courage Resilience and Hope
    • Kelly-Anne Kerley – Breaking Up with My Wheelchair
    • Lucie Frost – How the Hell Did I Not Know That: My Midlife Year From Couch To Curiosity
    • Marti Tote – Can You Ride a Raindrop To the Ocean
    • Mary Garden – My Father’s Suitcase
    • Mary Jumbelic M.D. – Speak Her Name
    • Mia Bolton – As We Bloom: Wisdom From Extraordinary Everyday Women & Gender Nonconforming People
    • Mitchell Raff – Little Boy I Know Your Name
    • Nin Mok – Suddenly Silent and Still
    • Peter Flom – Twice as Weird: A Memoir about Twice Exceptionality
    • PJ Hamilton – From the Piney Woods 2nd Edition
    • Robert Carney – Unscarred
    • Robert Macauley – Because I Knew You: How Some Remarkable Sick Kids Healed a Doctor’s Soul
    • Ryan Mcdermott – Downriver: Memoir of a Warrior Poet
    • Sondra R. Brooks – Not Good Enough Girl: A Memoir of an Inconvenient Daughter
    • Stacey Hettes – Dispatches From the Couch
    • Steven Simmons Shelton, MA, JD – Memoir of a Mangled Mind: How Concealing My Dissociative Identity Disorder Unleashed Multiple Personalities
    • Wendy Crockett and Ian McPhee – Pushing Miles: A chronicle of Motorcycles, Mayhem, and Mettle
    • Wilma Macliver – Life Behind the Masks

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

    PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS! 

    This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the Facebook post. However, it is easier for us to tag authors when they have Liked and Followed us.

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

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

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

    Unfollow Me

    By Kathryn Caraway

    Red, Black, White, book, cover

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

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

    Please click here for more information.

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

    April 17 – 19, 2026! Save the Date for Registration!

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

    Join us for our annual conference and discover why!

     

  • The 2025 Collections and Anthologies Long List

    The Collections and Anthologies Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Short Story Collections. The Collections and Anthologies Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (The CIBAs).

    The Chanticleer International Book Awards program discovers today’s best works. The Collections and Anthologies Awards discovers the Best New Short Form Collections in Fiction, Narrative Non-Fiction, Poetry Collections and Multi-Author Anthologies. These books have advanced to the next judging rounds. We will put them to the test and choose the best among them.

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

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

    These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST of the 2025 Collections and Anthologies Book Awards novel competition!

    Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works!

    • Aj Watson – False Sight
    • Brittany Micka-Foos – It’s No Fun Anymore
    • Carol Van Den Hende – Dear Orchid
    • Chad Boles – Adrift in Skinny Water
    • Charlie Steel – Three Days Under the Sun and Other Tales of the Old West
    • Christy Matheson – The Horned Women and Other Stories Contemporary Retellings of Irish Fairy Tales
    • David Bush – General Jack and the Battle of the Five Kingdoms
    • David C. Metz – Nick and Lorraine Were Lovers Stories
    • Dreena Collins – Life Lines and Other Stories
    • Jalyn Renae Fiske – Side Quest Stories
    • Janet K. Shawgo – My Sister’s Quilt
    • Jason Colpitts – The Meaning of Beauty and Other Short Stories Anthology
    • Jess Anselment – Strong Heart a Story of Coming Home
    • John Bukowski – Shadows and Dust
    • Jude Berman – Shot a Dictionary of the Lost
    • Julia Marie Davis – Catbird
    • Kat Farrow – Dark Threads a Gathering of Dark Fantasy Tales Vol. 1
    • Lee Orlich Bertram – Insistence Persistence and Resistance
    • Linda Lee Keenan – Dancing with Angels True Stories of the Unexpected
    • Lisa Clute – Monsters Under the Magnolias
    • Maggie Enriquez – The Rebirth of a Phoenix
    • Mary Paula Hunter – Can I Have a Hug First
    • Nancy Joie Wilkie – The River Keeper and Other Tales
    • Natia Khaduri – And You Cannot Tell Me Why I Must Not Love You Anymore
    • Olga Podoprigora – The Banana From Space and Other Stories From Riverstone
    • Paris Rosemont – Barefoot Poetess
    • Radu Guiasu – A Good Day and Other Mostly Humorous Stories and Lists
    • Rich Elliott – The Secret History of Famous People
    • Stephen C. Pollock – Exits
    • Theresa Griffin Kennedy – We Learned To Live in the Castle Stories

    Congratulations once more to the 2024 SEA Shorts Grand Prize Winner

    Dream Rut

    By Dr. Yumiko Shimabakuro

    Illustrated by Jieyu Deng

    Dream Rut Navigating Your Path Forward cover by Yumiko Shimabukuro

    We are now accepting submissions into the 2026 Collections and Anthologies Book Awards for Short Fiction and Non-Fiction Collections, Poetry Collections, and Anthologies!

    Please click here for more information.

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

    April 17 – 19, 2026! Save the Date for Registration!

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

    Join us for our annual conference as we enter our second decade and discover why!

     

  • The 2025 SEA Shorts Awards Short List for Short Stories, Essays, and Novellas

    The SEA Shorts Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Short Stories. The Shorts Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (The CIBAs).

    The Chanticleer International Book Awards program discovers today’s best works. The SEA Short Stories Awards discovers the Best New Short Form Fiction, Narrative Non-Fiction and Essays. These books have advanced to the next judging rounds. We will put them to the test and choose the best among them.

    These titles have moved forward from the 2025 SEA SHORTS LONG LIST to the 2025 SEA Shorts Awards SHORT LIST. These entries are now in competition for the 2025 SEA Shorts Award Semi-Finalists. FINALISTS will be chosen from the Semi-Finalists and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference, CAC26.

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

    These titles are in the running for the SEMI-FINALISTS of the 2025 SEA Shorts Book Awards novel competition for Short Stories!

    Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works!

    • AJ Skelly – Murder at Mistlethwaite Manor
    • C. V. Lee – Her Noble Groom
    • Catherine Brown – Purrfect Revenge
    • Cathryn Devries – Son of Osivirius
    • Charlie Robinson – Bow Tie Sex a Serious Scientific Study
    • Chell Linn Araya – Don’t Talk To Strangers
    • Christopher Macdonald – The Wobbly Man
    • David Fitz-Gerald – A Pioneer Christmas Beyond the Oregon Trail
    • Dr. Gregory Steinberg – No More To Lose Till Death Do Us Part
    • Gail Heath – Minuet
    • Gail Noble-Sanderson – All Is Fair
    • Grace Haygood – A Love To Call Home
    • J. L Oakley – Mr. Brown Reads
    • Jackson Kuhl – The Island of Small Misfortunes
    • Jalon J Jakab – Inside the Walls
    • Jamie Kirkpatrick – The Dreamcatcher
    • Joseph Kovler – At the Corner of Hitler and Goering
    • Julia Marie Davis – Catbird
    • K. E. Adamus – To Outwit the Fate
    • Katherine Smith Dedrick – Tangled Verdict
    • Kathleen Kaska – The Diary of Simone Lablanc
    • Kregg P.J. Jorgenson – An Accidental Muse
    • Lasse Toft – 70 Things You Can Do While Being Hospitalized
    • Linda Harris Sittig – B-52 Down the Night the Bombs Fell From the Sky
    • Maggie Enriquez – The Rebirth of a Phoenix
    • Marie Sutro – For the First Time
    • Marie Sutro – Not the North Pole
    • Marie Sutro – You Oughta Know
    • Mary Ann Bernal – Anarose and Medusa’s Curse
    • Morris Hoffman – Boy of Heaven
    • Murray Eiland – Mount Zephon Gateway To Mot
    • Murray Eiland – Philosopher of Fire
    • Paisley Summer – The Movie Theatre
    • PJ Devlin – Original Sins
    • Richard Leslie Brock – Cephalonia
    • Richard Leslie Brock – The Atonements
    • Ruud Richardson – The Spy: A Short Story
    • Sandra Wagner-Wright – The Life & Times of Sarah Good Accused Witch
    • Sarena Straus – The Patchwork Man
    • T.O. Paine – The Abduction
    • TK Sheffield – Horse Thief: A Nomad Vet with a Score To Settle Takes on Horse Thieves in a Midwest Showdown
    • TK Sheffield – The Glitching Ghoul: AI Terror at a Writer’s Retreat

    Congratulations once more to the 2024 Shorts Grand Prize Winner for Short Prose

    Something About Lizzy

    By Robin Elizabeth Kobayashi

    Something About Lizzy cover by Robin Elizabeth Kobayashi

    Click here to see the full list of 2024 SEA Shorts Book Award Winners for Short Stories and Essays.

    We are now accepting submissions into the 2026 SEA Shorts Book Awards for Short Stories, Novellas, and Essays!

    Please click here for more information.

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

    April 17 – 19, 2026! Save the Date for Registration!

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

    Join us for our annual conference and discover why!

  • Five Days Remain: The Series, Collections, Nellie Bly, and Military and Front Line Awards call!

    The 2025 CIBAs Close Soon!

    Don’t let your book miss out!

    Only 5 days left to submit your books to these prestigious CIBA Divisions and embark on an extraordinary journey to success.

    The Chanticleer International Book Awards provide ongoing recognition that amplifies authors’ digital footprints through high-traffic website features, social media promotion, newsletter spotlights, and long-tail marketing that continues promoting winners throughout the year and beyond!

    The Series, Collections and Anthologies, Nellie Bly and Military and Front Line Awards are still open!

    Best Book Grand Prize for the Chanticleer Int'l Book Awards

    Congratulations to the 2024 Winners of the Series Awards!

    • Karen Inglis – Secret Lake Mystery Adventures
    • Glen Dahlgren – The Chronicles of Chaos
    • Sandra Wagner-Wright – Salem Stories
    • Taryn R. Hutchison – A Cold War Trilogy
    • Kari Bovee – The Pryce of Murder
    • J.L. Oakley – The Jossing series
    • Ralph R. “Rick” Steinke – Jake Fortina Series
    • Mike Murphey – Tales of Physics, Lust and Greed
    • Rose Prendeville – Brides of Chattan

    And a huge round of applause to our 2024 Series Grand Prize Winner:

    A Vengeful Realms

    By Tim Facciola

    A Gold Ribbon dividing this section from the next

    Collections and Anthologies is our Newest Division, recently split off of the SEA Shorts Award!

    SEA Shorts now covers Short Stories, Essays and Novellas together, and Collections and Anthologies is for exactly that, Multi-Story Collections and Multi-Author Anthologies!

      A Gold Ribbon dividing this section from the next

      The Nellie Bly Award for Journalistic and Research-Based Non-Fiction

      • Carla Conti – Chained Birds: A True Crime Memoir
      • Kori Reed – Men-in-the-Middle Conversations to Gain Momentum with Gender Equity’s Silent Majority
      • Bonnie Bley – Stolen Voices: Missing and Murdered in Big Horn County
      • Sarah Towle – Crossing the Line: Finding America in the Borderlands

      And a huge round of applause to our 2024 Nellie Bly Grand Prize Winner:

      The Sing Sing Files

      One Journalist, Six Innocent Men, and A 20 Year Fight For Justice

      By Dan Slepian

      A Gold Ribbon dividing this section from the next

      Congratulations to the 2024 Winners of the Military and Front Line Awards for Service to Others Non-Fiction!

      • Roderick S. Haynes – Unauthorized Disclosures a Navy Memoir of the 1980s
      • David Huntley – The B-17 Tomahawk Warrior: a WWII Final Honor
      • Patrick Hogan – Coincidence, You Say?
      • Shari Biery – It’s Your Turn How To Rediscover Yourself Prioritize Your Well-Being Thrive with Purpose
      • Max Lauker & Antonio Garcia – Number 788: My Experiences in Swedish Special Operations – Preparing for NATO and the War on Terror
      • Bibi LeBlanc – Wings of Freedom – The Story of the Berlin Airlift | Flugel der Freiheit – Die Geschichte der Berliner Luftbrucke

      And a huge round of applause to our 2024 Military and Front Line Grand Prize Winner:

      Memoirs From The Front Lines

      Four States, Two Years, One Pandemic

      By Kim Sloan

      Memoirs from the Frontlines cover by Kim Sloan

      A Gold Ribbon dividing this section from the next

      The CIBAs 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 17-19, 2025) where Winners from all 28 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!

      Blue button that says Enter a Writing Contest

      Your book deserves to be discovered

      Enter Today!

    • Ten Days Left! The Chatelaine, Somerset, and Humor & Satire Awards Close Soon!

      The 2025 CIBAs Close Soon!

      Don’t let your book miss out!

      Only 10 days left to submit your books to these CIBA Divisions and embark on a journey to discovery.

      The Chanticleer International Book Awards provide ongoing recognition that amplifies authors’ digital footprints through high-traffic website features, social media promotion, newsletter spotlights, and long-tail marketing that continues promoting winners throughout the year and beyond!

      The Somerset, Chatelaine and Humor and Satire Awards are still open!

      Best Book Grand Prize for the Chanticleer Int'l Book Awards

      Congratulations to the 2024 Winners of the Chatelaine Awards for Romantic Fiction!

      • Reenita M. Hora – Vermilion Harvest – Playtime at the Bagh
      • John W. Feist – Edged in Purple
      • Gail Noble-Sanderson – A Cup of Revenge
      • Nancy Herkness – Royal Caleva: Luis
      • George T. Arnold – The Heart Beneath the Badge
      • Sonja N. Griffing – Chasing Noelle
      • Deborah Swenson – Till My Last Day, Book Two in the Desert Hills Trilogy

      And a huge round of applause to our 2024 Chatelaine Grand Prize Winner:

      The Key

      By Jo Morgan Sloan

      The Key cover by Jo Morgan Sloan

      A Gold Ribbon dividing this section from the next

      Congratulations to the 2024 Winners of the Humor and Satire Awards for Satirical and Allegorical Fiction!

      • Bill Burkland – The Misconceived Conception of a Baby Named Jesus
      • Julie L. Brown – No One Will Save Us: A novel
      • Dan Kopcow – Madcap Serenade
      • Marco Ocram – The Awful Truth About The Name Of The Rose

      And a huge round of applause to our 2024 Humor and Satire Grand Prize Winner:

      The Man Who Saw Seconds

      By Alexander Boldizar

      The Man Who Saw Seconds cover by Alexander Boldizar

      A Gold Ribbon dividing this section from the next

      Congratulations to the 2024 Winners of the Somerset Awards for Literary and Contemporary Fiction!

      • Robert Gwaltney – Sing Down the Moon
      • Ann Bancroft – Almost Family
      • Christina Boyd – Woman in the Painting
      • Kay Smith-Blum – Tangles
      • Anthony Horton – Unpaved
      • Erika Shepard – Abomination Child
      • Leslie DeBrock – The Frog-Eyed Gospel, A Texas Exodus

      And a huge round of applause to our 2024 Somerset and Overall Grand Prize Winner:

      Vermilion Harvest- Playtime at the Bagh

      By Reenita Malhotra Hora

      Vermilion Harvest Cover

      A Gold Ribbon dividing this section from the next

      The CIBAs provide a ladder to success with a range of achievement tiers and expert long tail marketing strategies. From the 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 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 17-19, 2025) where Winners from all 28 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!

      Blue button that says Enter a Writing Contest

      Your book deserves to be discovered

      Enter Today!

    • The 2025 Clue Short List for Thriller/Suspense

      The 2025 Clue Short List for Thriller/Suspense

      Thriller Suspense Fiction AwardThe Clue Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Suspense and Thriller Mysteries. The Clue Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (The CIBAs).

      Chanticleer International Book Awards is seeking the best books featuring suspense, thrilling adventure, detective work, private eye, police procedural, and crime-solving, we will put them to the test to discover the best! (For lighter-hearted Mystery and Classic Cozy Mysteries please check out our Mystery & Mayhem Awards, and for High Stakes Suspense Novels please check out our Global Thriller Awards).

      These titles have moved forward from the 2025 CLUE Long List to the 2025 Clue Book Awards SHORT LIST. These entries are now in competition for the 2025 Clue Semi-Finalists. FINALISTS will be chosen from the Semi-Finalists and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference, CAC26.

      We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 18th, 2026 in beautiful Bellingham, WA sponsored by the 2025 Chanticleer Authors Conference

      These titles are in the running for the SEMI-FINALISTS of the 2025 Clue Book Awards novel competition for Suspense and Thriller!

      Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works!

      • A.J. Mccarthy – The Boy on the Dock
      • Aja Holland – Casco Bay
      • Ana Manwaring – Kickback
      • Arthur Coburn – Murder in Concrete
      • Ashley Thomas Sheikh – Kentucky Blood: Book I of the Kentucky Blood Series
      • Avanti Centrae – The Picasso Job: A Phoenix Thriller
      • Becky Anyanwu – Mind the Blinds
      • Brian Cuban – The Body Brokers
      • Carlo J. Emanuele – The Sins We Inherit
      • Cathi Stoler – No Good Time: A Nick Donahue Adventure
      • Charlotte Stuart – Unicorns Can Be Deadly a Discount Detective Mystery 5
      • Cheryl Campbell – Bodies in the Bayou
      • Chris Chan – Well-Behaved Children Seldom Make History
      • Dan Ramm – Long Branch: Never Let the Truth Stand in the Way of a Good Story
      • Danielle M. Wong – Tiny Wild Things
      • David Tenenbaum – Premonition
      • Dwight Holing – The Thunder Head
      • E. Alan Fleischauer – The Dark and Evil Sky
      • Ellis K. Popa – Awaken the Dawn
      • Francesco Paola – Left on Rancho
      • Frank J. Edwards – Doctor Witch
      • Holly Harrison – Death in the Land of Enchantment
      • Jack Luellen – Someone Had to Lie
      • Jeannée Sacken – The Women Who Stand Between
      • Jl Spears – Daemon Protocol
      • Joe Salerno – The Decision
      • Julie Lomax – A Pawn’s Game
      • Kd Sherrinford – The Whistle of Revenge
      • Kevin Hwang – The Regression Strain
      • Kit Karson – Savage Malice
      • Larry Weindruch and Richard A. Yach – Nicky V: A Chicago Crime Story
      • Leslie Liautaud – Butterfly Pinned
      • Marian Exall – Loners
      • Matthew John Parker – The Lost Last Prophecy
      • Melanie Anagnos – Nightswimming: A Jamie Palmieri Mystery
      • Michael Wendroff – What Goes Around
      • Mike Van Horn – The Ivy Leaguers
      • Miriam Verbeek – The Bank
      • Nannette Potter – Deception’s Edge
      • Otho Eskin – Black Sun Rising
      • Paty Jager – Crapshoot
      • Paty Jager – Wolverine Instincts
      • Paul Levine – Midnight Burning
      • Phillip Vega – Death in Utopia
      • Sarah P. Blanchard – Grabtown
      • Sean Hagerty – Cabal
      • Sheila Sharpe – Artist, Lover, Forger, Thief
      • Stephen G. Eoannou – After Pearl
      • Stephen J Wallace – Hazardous Lies
      • Susan Rogers and John Roosen – Warrior Pose
      • T.O. Paine – The Crisis
      • Tamar Anolic – This Side of the Law
      • Theresa Janson – Reservations: A Samantha Wright Crime Series
      • TJ Stecker – Redacted

      PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS! 

      This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the Facebook post. However, it is easier for us to tag authors when they have Liked and Followed us.

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

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

      Congratulations once more to the 2024 Clue Grand Prize Winner

      Enemies Domestic

      By John DeDakis

      Enemies Domestic Cover by John DeDakis

       

      Click here to see the full list of 2024 Clue Book Award Winners for Suspense and Thriller Mysteries.

      We are now accepting submissions into the 2026 Clue Book Awards for Suspense and Thriller Mysteries.

      Please click here for more information.

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

      April 17 – 19, 2026! Save the Date for Registration!

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

      Join us for our annual conference and discover why!

       

    • The 2025 Humor and Satire Hall of Fame

      Humor and Satire Awards!

      The Humor and Satire Awards are here to bring you a laugh!

      ***No Joke! The Humor and Satire deadline is October 31st!***

      Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring satire, humor, political ideology, parody, fantasy, and allegory or fable. The Deadline for the 2025 Humor and Satire Book Awards is the end of October. 

      Looking to learn more about the Humor and Satire Awards? Click here!

      Let’s take a look at the Winners of the Humor and Satire Award!

      The Man Who Saw Seconds cover by Alexander Boldizar

      The Man Who Saw Seconds
      By Alexander Boldizar

      Our newest Humor and Satire Grand Prize Winners review is still upcoming. In the meantime, here is what some Goodreads readers have been saying:

      The Man Who Saw Seconds is a tightly-wound but thoughtful thriller written with verve and a commitment to thoroughly explore its intriguing notion. The protagonist, Preble Jefferson, can see five seconds into the future. Boldizar doesn’t just use this as a plot device, he explores the idea and examines the many ways this affects the character and his relationship to the world. While much of the book is awash in edge-of-your-seat energy, we also get a philosophical discussion of the ramifications of this quirky idea. A great read with a truly unique feel.” -E.R.

      A split-second decision can change a life, but you have never experienced it snowball the way you do in Seconds, a fast-paced speculative novel by Alexander Boldizar. A man who can see seconds into the future has an incident with police that forces him to use his powers to save himself. Once exposed, he becomes public enemy number one and the government kidnaps and threatens his family. Bad idea to escalate a conflict with man who has studied martial arts and chess, with the ability to literally dodge bullets. No novel in recent memory answers the question as convincingly: “Will I risk destroying the world to save the people I love?” Boldizar raises stakes to world-tipping proportions and I literally lost sleep turning pages to discover what happens next. Seconds is a science fiction tour de force.” -Martin

      There is only one remarkable thing about Alexander Boldizar’s latest book—everything! From the very first scene to the closing page, the novel is utterly captivating. It brims with an astonishing array of universal themes, presented in such an unexpected sequence that it transcends any attempt at genre categorization. This, paradoxically, becomes one of its greatest strengths.” -Ivan

      Buy it here! 

       

      Quantum Consequence
      By Mike Murphey

      Quantum Consequences, the fifth book in the Physics, Lust, and Greed Series by Mike Murphy, mixes conflicts from the past, present, and future as a group of time travelers clash over the fate of multiple worlds.

      Marta and Marshall have to protect Baptiste, a child living under the rule of his mother’s abusive boyfriend, Ignace Aguillard. When their friend Cecil is murdered, Baptiste inherits his money and stake in a secret governmental facility beneath the Arizona desert, the Historical Research Initiative Complex. To keep that money out of Aguillard’s hands and confirm whether Aguillard truly killed Cecil, Marta and Marshall take Baptiste to the HRI, revealing its true nature as the hub of interdimensional time travel.

      Meanwhile, a team of assassins and former HRI personnel, Gillis, Lexi, and Elvin, are instructed by a future version of Lexi to kill John Dexter– Lexi’s bitter ex and future higher-up in the dystopian Christian Fundamentalist States of America. They break into the HRI, now seemingly abandoned, to figure out whether they should take the job.

      Read More Here!

      Delphic Oracle Cover

      Delphic Oracle, USA
      By Steven Mayfield

      The Coen Brothers meet Garrison Keillor in Steven Mayfield’s quirky, offbeat, and often hilarious Delphic Oracle, U.S.A.

      One June afternoon in 1925, seventeen-year-old Maggie Westinghouse, out walking alone as was her custom, comes upon a stranger in a railroad switch-house asleep on a pile of gunnysacks. Maggie, who has always stood a little apart from the town, has recently begun to experience visions that come upon her “in a leisurely way,” ending in a swoon and a restless sleep filled with exotic talk of which she later has no memory. No one knows what to make of it, but they soon will. After this afternoon’s chance encounter with July Pennybaker, a charming grifter on the lam, her world will never be the same. Neither will the town of Miagrammesto Station.

      Eighty-nine years later, in the days leading up to and following the July 4th weekend, domestic dramas are playing out across Delphic Oracle, Nebraska (nee Miagrammesto Station).

      Read more here!

       

      Certified Cover

      Certified
      By Roger Wilson-Crane

      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.

      Read more here!

      Cover of Arnold Falls by Charlie Suisman

      Arnold Falls
      By Charlie Suisman

      Charlie Suisman’s debut novel is a wonderful escape to a small fictional community in upstate New York. Here a melting pot of quirky residents brings Arnold Falls to life, a town with a unique history and charming inhabitants whose lives are intimately intertwined.

      Settled in 1803 by the unscrupulous Hezekiah Hesper, the town for unknown reasons was named after Benedict Arnold. Adding to the oddities, the closest waterfall is twenty miles away. The area is known for sudden bursts of crab apple-size hail pelting the landscape without any scientific explanation. Hence the incentive for “Hail Pail Day,” a neighborly tradition surrounding the distribution of galvanized bucket head-coverings.

      Suisman engagingly presents Jeebie Walker as the story’s primary narrator. A gay man in his early 40s, he moved north of the city in the hopes of a quieter life with his partner, Miles. Though things didn’t work out, Jeebie has settled into his fixer-upper, Queen Anne-style abode, and now seems a positive fixture in this hamlet.

      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 Humor and Satire 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!

      Enter the CIBAs Today!

      Now is your chance to touch the hearts of readers everywhere. Your Humor or Satire story deserves to be discovered, and you can submit to the 2025 Humor and Satire Awards by the end of the month. Don’t miss this chance to give your book the recognition it deserves.

      The Humor and Satire Awards is your chance to shine!

    • The 2024 Somerset First Place Roundup for Literary & Contemporary Fiction

      The Somerset Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Contemporary and Literary Fiction. The Grand Prize Winner, Reenita Malhotra Hora’s book, Vermilion Harvest: Playtime at the Bagh, will be promoted for years to come in our annual Hall of Fame article, as well as be featured on the Somerset contest page year ’round!

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

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

      Join us in celebrating the 2024 First Place Somerset Winners!

      A Gold Ribbon dividing this section from the next

      Robert Gwaltney – Sing Down the Moon

      Blue and Gold Somerset First Place Winner Badge for Best in Category

      This book is still not yet released, but has a release date for Summer 2026. We are very excited to see it come out!

      Ann Bancroft – Almost Family

      Liz Millanova has stage four cancer, a grown daughter who doesn’t speak to her, and obsessive memories of a relationship that tore apart her marriage. She thinks of herself as someone who’d rather die than sit through a support group, but now that she actually is going to die, she figures she might as well give it a go.

      Mercy’s Thriving Survivors is a hospital-sponsored group held in a presumably less depressing location: a Nordstrom’s employee training lounge. There, Liz hits it off with two other patients, and the three unlikely friends decide to ditch the group and meet on their own. They call themselves the Oakland Mets, and their goal is to enjoy life while they can. Together, Dave, a gay Vietnam vet, Rhonda, a devout, nice woman who’s hiding a family secret and finds peace in a gospel choir, and snarky Liz plan outings to hear jazz, enjoy nature, and tour Alcatraz. In the odd intimacy they form, Liz learns to open up and get close, acknowledge and let go of the dysfunction in her marriage, and repair her relationship with her daughter. They joined forces to have a good time—but what they wind up doing is helping one another come to grips with terminal cancer and resolve the unfinished business in their lives.

      Find it Locally and on Amazon!

      Christina Boyd – The Woman in The Painting

      This work is also a manuscript, and we are very excited to see it come out eventually! Click above to see Boyd’s website and her extraordinary work. 

      Kay Smith-Blum – Tangles

      Also a 2024 Hemingway First Place Winner!

      Oppenheimer was just the beginning.

      When a harpooned whale offers proof the Hanford Nuclear Reservation is endangering all life in the Columbia River Basin, Luke Hinson, a brash young scientist, seizes the chance to avenge his father’s death but a thyroid cancer diagnosis derails Luke’s research. Between treatments, he dives back in, making enemies at every turn. On an overnight trek, Luke discovers evidence that Mary, his former neighbor, embarked on the same treacherous trail, and her disappearance, a decade prior, may be tied to Hanford’s harmful practices mired in government-mandated secrecy.

      A love story wrapped in a mystery, this stunning Cold War home-front tale reveals the devastating costs of the birth of the nuclear age, and celebrates the quiet courage of wronged women, the fierce determination of fatherless sons, and the limitless power of the individual.

      Tangles is a genre-defying must-read for our time.

      Find it Locally and on Amazon!

      Anthony Horton – Unpaved

      Each passing mile triggers vivid flashbacks to a transformative summer spent with his beloved grandfather, offering the hope of a new beginning amid the turmoil of his professional life. The chaotic web of accusations and misconduct surrounding his former boss adds an unexpected layer of complexity to his pilgrimage. The weight of his past and present converge as Russell travels onward, haunted by memories and uncertain of the revelations that await him at the cabin. 

      With the fate of his professional life hanging in the balance, Unpaved leads to a convergence of personal and corporate truths.

      From Chanticleer:

      Unpaved by Anthony Horton is a pensive novel of how returning to one’s roots can reveal hints on how to move forward after a lifetime of grief.

      Russell Nowak-McCreary is a man whose life has been proudly shaped by formidable women. His mother, Judith, was a prominent cardiac surgeon at the reputable St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London. His wife, Anna, thrived as a student of Judith’s and has risen to the top of Boston’s best medical campus. And Russell’s work partner Sarah Westroes joined his company, Datatel, as its CEO with a relentless drive to expand its footprint in the tech industry. His childhood was spent without a father figure, only excepting the fond memories of a single summer at his grandfather’s cabin in the Canadian wilderness.

      As he returns to the remote cabin of his youth to set his mother’s affairs in order, Russell takes this time alone to finally process all that he lost.

      Read More Here

      Find it Locally and on Amazon!

      Erika Shepard – Abomination Child

      Meet the Fosters. Parents from disparate backgrounds, an eight-year-old boy and his thirteen-year-old sister, all living a suffocating version of the American dream in 1958 Missouri.

      An innocent grade school Halloween party—and one small betrayal—lead to an act of sudden violence that stuns them all, and in an instant their facade of normalcy cracks, sending each of them down a separate, winding path to self-discovery.

      Abomination Child follows the story of that family through the fog of anger, lost innocence, and disillusionment. It is the story of Brian, an effeminate boy who believes with all his heart he is a girl; his rebellious tomboy sister Liz who yearns only to escape; their diligent, studious mother Barbara who longs for the peace and tranquility of a normal family life, and their father John, angry and wounded by war, now mired in new-found religious zeal.

      Each must find their own truth in the shifting world of the Sixties and Seventies—if they can.

      From Chanticleer:

      Abomination Child is a coming-of-age novel, a piece of historical fiction, and a lesson to us all. Erika Shepard tells the story of Brianna, a young girl growing up in Missouri during the 1960s, struggling to be accepted.

      Within her community, Brianna is seen on the outside as a boy, and everyone knows her as Brian. She confides in her older sister Liz, who supports her and helps her face a world that doesn’t understand. Spanning many years, Abomination Child follows Brianna’s journey of survival, hoping that one day she’ll be able to live freely as herself.

      Brianna’s – known then as Brian – troubles start after his father learns that he dressed in girl’s clothes at a school Halloween dance. Deeply conservative and religious, Brian’s father hits him for what he believes is an abominable perversion caused by the Devil. For Brian, it’s as simple as knowing he is really a girl, a girl named Brianna.

      Read More Here

      Find it Locally and on Amazon!

      Leslie DeBrock – The Frog-Eyed Gospel

      The Frog-Eyed Gospel

      In a steamy East Texas town, surrounded by oilfield grit and 1960s racial tension, devout eighteen-year-old Peter Loucas faces the prospect of the Viet Nam draft. The sudden death of his father and then his witness of a lynching, thrust him headlong into a fraught adulthood. A summer job in the oilfield leads to a taboo connection with Swat, a black veteran of the Korean War. While his community tries to keep him on track, Pete finds a confidant in Gwynn, a Berkely student temporarily stranded in Texas. The tug-of-war between Pete’s beliefs and the newly discovered complexity around morality and integrity force Pete into a dangerous spiritual reckoning.

      This debut novel, in which landscape is a character in its own right, weaves together the pain, the joy and the unexpected twists in creating a life that can be lived with.

      From Chanticleer:

      In his debut novel The Frog-Eyed Gospel: A Texas Exodus, Leslie DeBrock weaves together the inspiring yet complex stories of a diverse cast of characters, all making their way through a tense Texas summer in 1965.

      Peter Loucas is the boy at the center of this story, a senior in high school bent on going to college and becoming the newest preacher in the Bible belt. His faith in God is passionate and strong — until his father is killed in an oilfield accident. In his grief, Pete finds himself suddenly questioning the teachings to which he had given himself blindly for years.

      The setting of the story couldn’t be more poised for conflict: Sabine Gap, a small town with religious intimidation and racism everywhere you look. The Vietnam war rages and veterans flock home traumatized. Supporters and protestors clash nationwide. The residents of Tin Cup —Sabine Gap, a small town replete with religious and racial rigidity. While protests roil the nation, veterans return, some walking; some not.

      Read More Here

      Find it Locally and on Amazon!


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

      Mainstream Contemporary Fiction Awards

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

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

      Blue button that says Enter a Writing Contest
      Submit to the Somerset Awards Today!
    • The 2024 Humor and Satire First Place Roundup

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

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

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

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

      A Gold Ribbon dividing this section from the next

      Bill Burkland – The Misconceived Conception of a Baby Named Jesus

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

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

      Find it Locally and on Amazon!

      Julie L. Brown – No One Will Save Us

      Her destiny was certain. Until it wasn’t.

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

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

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

      Find it Locally and on Amazon!

      Dan Kopcow – Madcap Seranade

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

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

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

      Find it Locally and on Amazon!

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

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

      I realized my mistake, and retyped the line.

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

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

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

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

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

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

      Find it Locally and on Amazon!


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

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

       

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

      Blue button that says Enter a Writing Contest
      Submit to the Humor and Satire Awards Today!