Only 10 days left to submit your books to the prestigious CIBAs and embark on an extraordinary journey to success. With over $30,000 in prizes awarded annually, now is the time to make your mark!
We’re looking for the best of the best for Speculative Fiction! Chanticleer started with a mandate to offer a platform specifically to indie authors and presses, and now every year we receive every type of work, from brilliant manuscripts to Big Five publications. Does your book have what it takes?
We are proud to recognize ALL of these 2024 CIBA Winners in Speculative Fiction Divisions!
Cygnus Award Winners!
Timothy S. Johnston –A Blanket of Steel
Peter Dingus –Deep Time
A. R. Black –No Man’s Land
Thomas R. Weaver –Artificial Wisdom
Shami Stovall –The Half-Life Empire
Ozma Award Winners!
Curt Locklear –Treasure and Murder In Ireland
Glen Dahlgren –The Realm of Gods
Susan Wands –High Priestess and Empress, Book Two, Arcana Oracle Series
Prue Batten –The Red Thread
S.G. Blaise –Meddling Mages
J.A. Nielsen –The Claiming
Shelley Award Winners!
Evette Davis –The Gift
Alexander Fernandez –Above the Ashes
Keith Steinbaum –In Lieu of Flowers
Tim Facciola –Ghosts of Rheynia
AA DaSilva –Periphery
Rhett C. Bruno and Jaime Castle –Vein Pursuits
And the 2024 Grand Prize Champions of Speculative Fiction
Congratulations once more to these powerhouse authors!
From left to right we have The Cygnus Grand Prize Winner Ares, the Ozma Grand Prize Winner Circle of Stars, and the Shelley Grand Prize Winner Time-Marked Warlock
More than just recognition
The CIBAs are your portal to discoverability in a world with millions of books published annually. Whether your book makes it to the first lists or all the way to the coveted Blue Ribbon, the CIBAs signal to readers, booksellers, and industry professionals that you’re serious about your craft.
Join the ranks of celebrated authors who’ve taken this critical step.
Your book deserves to be discovered, celebrated, and shared with the world. Don’t miss the chance to showcase your talent and gain valuable recognition at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (April 2026) where Winners from all 28 Book Award Divisions will be announced and honored.
Rod Haynes’s memoir Unauthorized Disclosures: A Navy Memoir of the 1980s portrays military life without filter, transcending glamorous and heroic images to explore the daily struggles, leadership challenges, emotional battles, and personal growth during his decade of military service.
We first meet Rod as a young man trying to navigate a directionless civilian life. The burdens of unemployment, fractured family relationships, and an identity crisis lead him to a chance encounter in Seattle with ‘Space Case’, an eccentric, troubled, yet honest character. The relationship offers a glimpse at rock bottom—which Rod fears most.
Rod decides to join the Navy because he needs employment.
We follow Rod to Officer Candidate School (OCS), a mentally and physically grueling journey toward adapting to a new leadership role. He tells of the essence of leadership taught in the school, which emerges not through the wearing of a uniform, but through sacrifice, battling doubt, and a drive to look out for others. Marching in sleeting rain, performing relentless drills, and encounters with hard-nosed instructors, Rod ultimately survives the intense pressure of military training with the assistance of a fellow Officer Candidate, a prior enlisted sailor willing to show Rod survival techniques in a high stress military training environment.
Rod must transition his lessons from theory to practice in real Navy life as he’s assigned to USS Joseph Hewes, a Navy frigate.
The narrative intensifies with shipboard politics, the real-time pressure of a safety officer’s role, and new tests in leadership. With little glamour found in the life of a junior naval officer, there are gritty chores to perform and relentless demands to address. A racial incident prompts Rod to explore biases and inequalities within, demonstrating that leadership involves more than adherence to rules—it also means standing up for moral principles.
Rod is no longer the confused youth who once wandered the streets of Seattle; he is now a leader whom people follow and trust, a role that comes with profound responsibilities. As USS Joseph Hewes is deployed into the perilous waters of the North Atlantic, Rod and his crew face challenges not only from Soviet submarines but also from icy winds and raging storms.
Though a physically perilous experience, Rod emerges from the storm with new admiration for the Captain’s ship-driving skills and thanks that the entire crew survived the tempest.
This enlightening memoir lays out Rod’s journey from an inexperienced, self-doubting officer to a dependable leader. His portrayal of real life in Ronald Reagan’s era of building a larger Navy is vivid and well researched.
It’s a journey in which his nerves are constantly tested by drills, unpredictable emergencies, and unforgiving deck watches. He must also confront something that no class or training manual could prepare him for: losing a fellow officer and good friend to an accidental drowning overseas shatters Rod with a sense of helplessness. He realizes that being a leader entails not just issuing commands but also being accountable for the consequences, regardless of the pain that accompanies the orders.
The character of Ellen Kincaid introduces an important layer of gender equality to the memoir through her silent strength and resilience.
Haynes does not confine Ellen’s character to a clichéd romantic subplot. Instead, she possesses an independent arc, maintaining a strong presence in the Navy’s male-dominated environment and contributing meaningfully to Rod’s development.
In October 1983, the USS Joseph Hewes was performing naval gunfire support duty off the coast of Beirut, Lebanon at the time of the Hezbollah attack on the US Marine compound at Beirut International Airport. Haynes’s eye-witness account of 241 US Marines killed during the attack on the morning of October 23, 1983 is a sobering reminder of the dangerous duty he is engaged in.
Unauthorized Disclosures by Rod Haynes stands out as a narrative combining the authenticity of a memoir with the emotional depth of fiction. Every chapter serves as a lesson. The reader encounters reflections on duty, dignity, or the bonds of camaraderie. It’s an honest story of a life that transcends the honor of uniforms and medals, capturing the inner pain, growth, and resilience of the human spirit.
Captain Jean Luc Picard (played by Patrick Stewart) celebrating
The Cygnus Awards is one of the inaugural Book Award Divisions at Chanticleer, and we adore the worlds that they’ve created.
Science Fiction often asks the question: What Could Be? At Chanticleer, we seek to discover those strange new worlds, from Space Opera to Alternate History, and Cli-Fi to YA Sci-Fi. Wherever your book lands on the Speculative Fiction spectrum, there’s a good chance that it will fit in here with us!
Join us in celebrating these amazing Hall of Fame Grand Prize Cygnus Award Winners!
Ares
By Jayson Adams
Our Review for this book is forthcoming, in the meantime here is what Goodreads readers have to say about our newest Grand Prize Winner!
“I read this book in just a few days, finding it to be an amazing story that moved so fast, I just did not want to stop reading.”- Jim
“This is the best science fiction story I have read since The Martian by Andy Weir. The story never runs out of gas. The science is good and the characters plausible. There are so many twists and turns that just when you think the story will end, it takes you down another rabbit hole.” -Tom
“A trip to Mars murder, suspense, and a well-earned conclusion. I was hooked on this book from page one and recommend it to anyone who likes to wrap up a story in one book from time to time.” -Bob
The Shadow of War By Timothy S. Johnston
In Timothy S. Johnston’sThe Shadow of War, gripping personal, ecological, and political battles rage undersea for autonomy and power against the powerful surface nations. But even the ocean depths churn with betrayal, conflicting loyalties, and the ruthless ambitions of humanity.
This thriller opens on the dystopia of the year 2131, when rising sea levels have forced humanity to establish and inhabit underwater colonies. The fear of environmental collapse is heightened by the prospect of war as the colonies struggle to maintain their independence.
A simple scientific exploration of theChagostrench by two geologist brothers takes a horrific turn, snapping the science fiction tension with the impact of gore horror. A slight touch by one brother on the hull of their Seacar causes his hand to suddenly dissolve into a strange mass, melting flesh away from bone. This opening foreshadows the enigmas and anomalies to be unravelled in a vast undersea mystery.
Nineteen-year-old Lilla could have an idyllic life, but in The Last Lumenian by S.G. Blaise, she comes face to face with a rebellion and their just cause.
Lilla’s father leads the Pax Septum Coalition, a nineteen-planet confederation. As a princess in her own right, she should be enjoying the status and wealth that comes from living on Uhna, the richest planet in the coalition due to the diamond mines found by her pirate ancestors centuries ago. She most definitely shouldn’t be worried about the rebellion brewing right under her father’s nose. However, when Lilla meets rebels in a refugee camp, she thinks she has found her destiny, a true purpose.
Wanting to fight against the injustice and horrific treatment of the refugees, Lilla tries desperately to prove herself, especially after a disastrous first mission where she not only crashes her ship but also ends up in the hands of General Callum, leader of the Teryn Praelium.
Musician-turned-time-traveler John Patrick Scott adds spy and saboteur to his resume while undercover in Germany in the final months of World War I, in A War in Too Many Worlds, the third installment of Elizabeth Crowen’s thrilling sci-fi series, The Time Traveler Professor.
Meanwhile, Scott’s once and future collaborator in psychic experiments, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is back in Britain sharing real time-travel adventures with the inventor of the fictional time machine, H.G. Wells.
Scott, after being wounded in the trenches, has finally been given an assignment in the Intelligence services. His extensive pre-war experience as a professor at the Conservancy of Music in Stuttgart, Germany, will do him good.
Rhett C. Bruno & Jaime Castle for The Luna Missile Crisis
Authors Rhett C. Bruno and Jaime Castle come together to tell the tale of alien first contact gone awry in their epic science fiction release, The Luna Missile Crisis.
The year is 1961, and cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin is set to become the first man in space. But when Yuri, snug inside the Vostok 1, is launched from the cosmodrome and into the coming night, he’s met with a collision that changes the course of history. The Vostok 1 crashes into an oncoming alien starship. Assuming the collision was actually a missile fired from Russia’s space race opponent, the United States, the soviet nation quickly launches an arsenal of nuclear warheads in response. But those warheads never make it to their target. Instead, they detonate against the hidden starship, sending a wave of nuclear destruction over eastern Europe.
In the coming weeks after contact day, military troops from both sides of the cold war are sent into the ruins of eastern Europe – into an area now called the Dead Curtain – to search for useful alien technology. During a skirmish between the Russians, the Americans, and the Vulbathi (the toad-like alien race aboard the damaged starship), a combat medic name Kyle McCoy stumbles into the chaos and sparks a ceasefire. His actions create a domino effect, bringing about relative peace between all three parties. Three years pass, and in exchange for aid in repairing their damaged ship, the Vulbathi agree to offer some of their exceptional technology to mankind. And Kyle McCoy, once foot soldier turned head of the Department of Alien Relations, is given a desk job with a title that suits his place in history.
These Hall of Fame winners prove that great science fiction comes from bold authors willing to share their visions with the world. Will your story be next to join this prestigious constellation of talent?
The Cygnus Awards don’t just recognize excellence—they create lasting legacies. From Long List to Grand Prize Winner, each advancement means more visibility, more readers, and more opportunities for your work to shine across the galaxy of science fiction. Those who submit and advance will have the chance to win the Overall Grand Prize of the CIBAs and $1000, but more importantly, you’ll join a community of forward-thinking authors whose work shapes the future of the genre.
The Cygnus Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Science Fiction, Steampunk, Alternative History, and Speculative Fiction.
The Grand Prize Winner, Jayson Adams’s book, Ares will be promoted for years to come in our annual Hall of Fame article, as well as be featured on the Cygnus 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!
Truman McClusky has led the underwater colonies in their fight against the world’s superpowers. Climate change has devastated the surface; nations suffer famine, drought, rebellion, rising waters, and apocalyptic coastal flooding. But now, as Mac leads the underwater colonies to freedom and independence, he’s faced with the gravest threat of his life: a Russian assassin, hellbent on killing Mac and everyone he cares for. Now Mac must uncover the identity of the killer, face him in combat, and at the same time lead people in battle against the largest underwater force ever assembled.
It’s Mac’s final test and to win the war he must use every tool at his disposal, including the most surprising and devastating underwater weapons ever invented. If Mac fails, all hope is lost for the future of human colonization on the ocean floors. But the assassin could be anyone …
From Chanticleer:
2024’s Global Thriller Grand Prize Winner! The review for this book is forthcoming. In the meantime, you can find our review for the previous book in the series The Shadow of War, the 2023 Cygnus Grand Prize Winner, here:
In Timothy S. Johnston’s The Shadow of War, gripping personal, ecological, and political battles rage undersea for autonomy and power against the powerful surface nations. But even the ocean depths churn with betrayal, conflicting loyalties, and the ruthless ambitions of humanity.
This thriller opens on the dystopia of the year 2131, when rising sea levels have forced humanity to establish and inhabit underwater colonies. The fear of environmental collapse is heightened by the prospect of war as the colonies struggle to maintain their independence.
A simple scientific exploration of the Chagos trench by two geologist brothers takes a horrific turn, snapping the science fiction tension with the impact of gore horror. A slight touch by one brother on the hull of their Seacar causes his hand to suddenly dissolve into a strange mass, melting flesh away from bone. This opening foreshadows the enigmas and anomalies to be unravelled in a vast undersea mystery.
In the year 2240 AD, the human race has migrated to the far reaches of the solar system, but that hasn’t ended conflicts among the many human outposts separated by vast stretches of space. Earth, devastated by climate change, has become a corporate state where governments are a mere proxy for corporate interests. The Saturn Commonwealth, a billion miles from the corporate centers of power, is the only remaining free human society in the solar system.
Serena Roe, once an indentured corporate super-soldier, now a disgraced corporate contract laborer, finds herself encased in a block of methane ice two kilometers below the surface of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. She becomes the victim of sabotage on Commonweath territory by unknown forces. A dark figure hovering above her destroys her communications system and leaves her to die. So starts Serena’s journey to try and discover who’s trying to kill her, which leads to the discovery of a god-like power from deep-time, and the murderous plans of Adonus, a high corporate officer.
What follows is a lethal chess match between a lone, highly advanced Commonwealth cruiser, the Vindicator, which is equipped with sentient intelligence, and Adonus’s on-site forces, supported by a powerful corporate fleet carrying anti-matter weapons. Adonus is determined to use the super technology of the alien artifact to destroy the nascent but powerful Commonwealth. Adonus discovers they cannot move the artifact off Titan, which ignites an all-out war on Titan, in Saturn space, and aboard the corporate assault ship, Athena. While all this is happening, Serena is having disturbing dreams, which compel her to sneak back to the site of the accident that trapped her in the ice. She uses a route under a methane sea adjacent to the site in an attempt to discover the secret of Adonus’s discovery and the key to the survival of the Commonwealth.
This world we’ve inherited is a cruel, cold thing—a graveyard of civilization’s broken dreams, and a constant reminder of humanity’s grand decline.
I bet it’ll make for a good story in a hundred years—presuming someone is still around to read it. But I won’t make the cut for that tragic history when it’s told… I’m not the inheritor to the throne of a falling empire—not a scientist on a race to save our species… I’m a thug-for-hire, a killer with a fancy title, a thief in the night taking advantage of a world that’s perpetually dark.
In short—I’m a symptom of the problem, not a savior with a solution to it. But the girl I’ve come to No Man’s Land to save… she’s a good cause to die for, I reckon. Vivian is a spark of hope in this cruel world we’ve made, and if I don’t do the hard things, make the tough choices… she won’t even remember her own name, soon enough.
And Vivian is no longer the only thing at stake. Nona is something new to me—a naive, innocent girl who I owe nothing to… Yet I know the world has precious few people like her left—and this world is all the poorer for it.
My name is Rowan, and here, in this relentless wilderness, I struggle to discard the sorry fragments of the boy I once was. This is my confession, my humble contribution to a chronicle of lost causes in a world full of little else. I’d like redemption, I’d like to become a better man and set right the things I’ve broken. Failing that, I’ll settle for becoming the storm that consumes everything in its path… So long as the eye of my storm shelters the girl who gave me my name and pulled me out of the dark, all those years ago.
In this propulsive near-future thriller, a journalist uncovers a plot that will upend the order of our world, involving a mysterious murder, a global political battle between a human politician and an AI, and the fight for survival in a climate-ravaged landscape.
In 2050, investigative journalist Marcus Tully is still grieving the loss of his wife and unborn child in the deadly heatwave that struck the Persian Gulf ten years ago.
Now, the world is both burning and drowning, and the decision has been taken to elect a global leader to steer humanity through the worsening climate apocalypse. The final two candidates are ex-US president Lockwood, and Solomon, an Artificial Intelligence.
As election day races closer, Tully begins to unravel a conspiracy that goes to the highest level. Then Solomon’s creator is murdered, and Tully is pulled in to find the culprit.
As the two investigations intertwine in ways he could never have imagined and the world hurtles ever closer to the brink, Tully must find the truth, convince the world to face it and make impossible choices to secure the future of the species.
But will humanity ultimately choose salvation over freedom, whatever the cost?
Hacker Kita Yamasaki would do anything to escape the post-apocalyptic landscape that was the result of the Forever Winter. But for a normal person, the only options are the war-hungry nation-state of Ex Cathedra or the isolationist United California. Fortunately, Kita is anything but normal.
When she finds a faded brochure for the BC Oasis—an underground greenhouse capable of sheltering a quarter million people—she jumps at the opportunity, even going so far as to steal a fission battery the oasis requires to operate at full capacity. There’s just one problem . . . The battery belongs to the ruthless judges of Ex Cathedra.
Now Kita finds herself the target of a deadly chase. In her race to safety, she picks up three fellow travelers: Dallas; his mute daughter, Crouton; and Bishop, a junk hunter. But will they betray her and take the battery for themselves? Is one of them a member of the cultist Iron-Blooded who worship the few remaining alien invaders scattered across Earth’s wasteland?
Faced with certain death if they’re caught by the judges’ power-armored soldiers, Kita must put aside her suspicions and make a headlong dash for sanctuary—and the promise of a new life.
A division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards
The Cygnus Awards are one of our first and more prestigious divisions of the Chanticleer International Book Awards, celebrating bold voices in science fiction. From interstellar adventures to dystopian warnings, the Cygnus Awards recognize visionary authors who transport readers beyond the known universe.
Categories that include our galaxy and beyond.
Alternate History
Apocalyptic/Dystopian
Hard Science Fiction
Space Opera
Soft Sci-Fi/Young Adult
Speculative Fiction
Cli-Fi (Climate Fiction)
Celebrating Our 2024 Grand Prize Winner!
After months of reviewing hundreds of entries, we are delighted to announce that Jayson Adams claimed the 2024 Cygnus Grand Prize with his exceptional novel Ares! Throughout this year’s Cygnus Book Awards, we’ve had the pleasure of promoting nearly 40 books as they advanced through our competition tiers.
Congratulations again to Jayson Adams for his book Ares, the 2024 Cygnus Grand Prize winner!
A masterfully crafted Mars mission thriller that grabs you from page one and never lets go. Adams creates a relatable protagonist in Commander Kate Holman while delivering a perfect blend of space exploration, conspiracy, and edge-of-your-seat suspense. — Chanticleer
Adams’ compelling narrative and visionary worldbuilding in the Hard Science Fiction category exemplify the innovative storytelling we seek to recognize. In addition to all the featured posts that have already gone out for the Cygnus Awards, Ares will be regularly promoted throughout the year and for the next five years in our upcoming Hall of Fame post. Adams will also be invited to participate in a Chanticleer 10-Question Interview, and Ares will receive a coveted Chanticleer Editorial Review.
Hard Science Fiction: Where Science Meets Imagination
Hard Science Fiction, the category that produced this year’s winner, stands as one of the most technically challenging yet intellectually rewarding subgenres in speculative fiction. These stories ground themselves in scientific accuracy and plausibility while still taking readers on incredible journeys.
Great Science Fiction We’ve Recently Reviewed
THE ZYGAN EMPRISE TRILOGY
By Y.S. Pascal
In Y.S. Pascal’s The Zygan Emprise Trilogy, Shiloh Rush and her partner William “Spud” Escot act as our guides on a wild rocket ride through the universe.
Shiloh and Spud share a secret. By day, they’re actors in the sci-fi TV series “Bulwark.” By night, on weekends, and whenever they get the call from their ‘real’ boss, they return to their true work as secret agents for the galaxy-spanning Zygan Federation.
Their job is to keep the peace, fight terrorists and rebels, and protect the universal timeline from nefarious villains who would do anything to rewrite history in their favor. Earth is, of course, a key to the future of the galaxy beyond the imagination of even the most Earth-centric Terran.
CLIMATE DRAGON: Treachery, Pestilence & Weirding Weather
By S.W. Lawrence
Climate Dragon by S.W. Lawrence offers a unique blend of climate fiction, thriller, and real scientific inquiry, setting the stage for an intriguing trilogy centered on dual crises—an impending climate catastrophe and the outbreak of a mysterious disease.
Jake Harper, a newly minted engineering professor, and his romantic partner Abbey London, an infectious disease specialist, balance their burgeoning careers with their bustling inn outside Washington, D.C. But the demands of their lives are disrupted as the two crises draw in Jake and Abbey—the only people prepared to face them.
Jake’s suspicions of a cyberattack on the North American power grid grow after attending a lecture at George Washington University. Meanwhile, Abbey discovers an alarming new bleeding disorder spreading among the drug-injecting population, raising the stakes for both her career and personal safety as she navigates the risks to her pregnancy.
THE SHADOW Of WAR: The Rise of Oceania Book 5
By Timothy S. Johnston
In Timothy S. Johnston’s The Shadow of War, gripping personal, ecological, and political battles rage undersea for autonomy and power against the powerful surface nations. But even the ocean depths churn with betrayal, conflicting loyalties, and the ruthless ambitions of humanity.
This thriller opens on the dystopia of the year 2131, when rising sea levels have forced humanity to establish and inhabit underwater colonies. The fear of environmental collapse is heightened by the prospect of war as the colonies struggle to maintain their independence.
A simple scientific exploration of the Chagos trench by two geologist brothers takes a horrific turn, snapping the science fiction tension with the impact of gore horror. A slight touch by one brother on the hull of their Seacar causes his hand to suddenly dissolve into a strange mass, melting flesh away from bone. This opening foreshadows the enigmas and anomalies to be unravelled in a vast undersea mystery.
EXOSTAR: The Lost Space Treasure Series, Book 1
By Rae Knightly
It has been said that “the Golden Age of Science Fiction is twelve.” Rae Knightly’s Sci-Fi adventure, Exostar, embodies this childlike sense of wonder that the best of the genre evokes in its readers.
Twelve-year-old child-robot Trinket takes off on a rocketing spaceship straight towards danger and excitement, with the mostly able assistance of the blue-furred spy and saboteur Woolver Talandrin. Trinket is searching for identity—as all the best young science fiction protagonists do. Woolver is trying to bring down an evil empire—as all the other best science fiction protagonists do.
Together they’ve been thrust into the kind of epic tale that is guaranteed to keep young readers on the edge of their seats—including the twelve-year-old that lurks inside every science fiction fan.
We’re so excited about all the great books we receive every year for both the CIBAs and for our Editorial Reviews. The Chanticleer International Book Awards offers an incredible $30,000 in cash, prizes, and promotion across all divisions!
Just passing feedback along that we really enjoy your staggered categories, your passion for promotion, and your helpful sub-categories for each of your main contests. You folks give authors (who work hard on the quality of what they write) a chance to shine.
Our many many thanks Team Chanticleer. Have a great week ahead knowing there are only great things ahead for you all.
Don’t let your book be left behind in undiscovered country! The Cygnus Awards are your ticket to increased visibility, professional recognition, and joining a community of forward-thinking authors.
This is the journey from beginning to end for the CIBAs! Every list you make means more promotion for you and your work as each advancement tier is posted right here on our website, on our social media, and also out in our newsletter! Your book deserves to be discovered.
The Shelley Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in Supernatural Fiction. The Shelley Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).
Formerly known as the Paranormal Awards, now recently renamed after the mother of Science Fiction herself, Mary Shelley (1797-1851), Author of Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818).
Chanticleer International Book Awards (the CIBAs) is looking for the best books Paranormal books featuring magic, the supernatural, weird otherworldly stories, superhumans (ex. Jessica Jones, Wonder Woman), magical beings & supernatural entities (ex. Harry Potter), vampires & werewolves (ex. Twilight), angels & demons, fairies & mythological beings, magical systems and elements.
1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners were announced at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony by Pamela Beason on Saturday, April 5th, 2025 at the Bellingham Yacht Club in beautiful Bellingham, Wash., sponsored by the 2025 Chanticleer Authors Conference.
This is the OFFICIAL 2024 LIST of the SHELLEY BOOK AWARDS First Place Category Winners and the SHELLEY Grand Prize Winner.
Join us in celebrating the following authors and their works in the 2024 CIBAs.
Evette Davis – The Gift
Alexander Fernandez – Above the Ashes
Keith Steinbaum – In Lieu of Flowers
Tim Facciola – Ghosts of Rheynia
AA DaSilva – Periphery
Rhett C. Bruno and Jaime Castle – Vein Pursuits
The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 SHELLEYAwards is:
Attn CIBA Winners: More goodies and prizes will be coming your way along with promotion in our magazine, website, and advertisements in Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards long-tail marketing strategy. Welcome to the CIBA Hall of Fame for Award Winners!
This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the Facebook post. However, for Facebook to allow us to tag an author, that author must LIKE our page and Follow Chanticleer Reviews.
A Note to ALL the WINNERS: The coveted CIBA Blue Ribbons will be mailed out starting inMay. We will contact you with an email to verify your mailing address and other items. You will receive an OFFICIAL EMAIL NOTIFICATION with Digital Badges and more information.
NOTE: We will post at least two 2024 CIBA Divisions’ OFFICIAL Winners per business day starting April 14, 2025. We do a final sweep and reconciliation prior to making the Official CIBA Posts for the 2024 First Place and Grand Prize Winners. We thank you in advance for your patience and understanding. There are many moving parts involved with the Chanticleer International Book Awards Program.
Thank you for participating in the 2024 CIBAs! We are looking forward to reading your future entries.
The Chatelaine Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in Romance Fiction. The Chatelaine Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).
Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best new books featuring romantic themes and adventures of the heart, historical love affairs, perhaps a little steamy romance, and stories that appeal especially to fans of affairs of the heart to compete in the Chatelaine Book Awards (the CIBAs). We will put them to the test and choose the best among them.
1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners were announced at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony by Civillia Winslow Hill on Saturday, April 5th, 2025 at the Bellingham Yacht Club in Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2025 Chanticleer Authors Conference.
This is the OFFICIAL 2024 LIST of the CHATELAINE BOOK AWARDS First Place Category Winners and the CHATELAINE Grand Prize Winner.
Join us in celebrating the following authors and their works in the 2024 CIBAs.
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
the Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 CHATELAINE Book Awards is:
Attn CIBA Winners: More goodies and prizes will be coming your way along with promotion in our magazine, website, and advertisements in Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards long-tail marketing strategy. Welcome to the CIBA Hall of Fame for Award Winners!
This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the Facebook post. However, for Facebook to allow us to tag an author, that author must LIKE our page and Follow Chanticleer Reviews.
A Note to ALL the WINNERS: The coveted CIBA Blue Ribbons will be mailed out starting inMay. We will contact you with an email to verify your mailing address and other items. You will receive an OFFICIAL EMAIL NOTIFICATION with Digital Badges and more information.
NOTE: We will post at least two 2024 CIBA Divisions’ OFFICIAL Winners per business day starting April 14, 2025. We do a final sweep and reconciliation prior to making the Official CIBA Posts for the 2024 First Place and Grand Prize Winners. We thank you in advance for your patience and understanding. There are many moving parts involved with the Chanticleer International Book Awards Program.
Thank you for participating in the 2024 CIBAs! We are looking forward to reading your future entries.
Whew! It’s been a busy couple of weeks, but so, so wonderful!
The 2025 Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC25) and International Book Awards’ (CIBA) banquet and ceremony was a great success, with authors from around the world joining us to network, learn, and celebrate the best books of the year!
CAC25 brings together writers at all levels in their careers to Bellingham, WA each year for four days of Masterclasses, workshops, sessions, and panel discussions. Writers from as far away as Cape Town, South Africa, Sydney, Australia, Mumbai, India, NYC, London, and across North America along locals from our fair city and the PNW who joined us for a beautiful weekend at the Bellingham Yacht Club on Bellingham Bay. We couldn’t have asked for a better weekend—cool sea breezes and warm sunshine made the perfect backdrop to this amazing annual event that culminated with special Chanticleer author events at Village Books, Fairhaven on Sunday.
J.D. Barker, J.W. Donaley, Paul Hanson at a panel discussions called “Changes in the World of Publishing and Content”
A Steller Lineup of Presenters at this Sold Out Event!
The event started with Book Doctor, Senior Editor, and Dialog Expert Christine Fairchild teaching her masterclass on craft, and international bestselling author J.D. Barker and Chanticleer’s own tech guru Andy Brown sharing their knowledge on the ever-changing book marketing landscape in their masterclass “Digital Marketing & Alphabet Soup.”
The next two days were filled with more learning opportunities where CAC authors had the opportunity to learn from experts and specialists such as Damian Fozard, Diane Garland, Tim Facciola, Glen Dahlgren, and Reenita Hora, who generously shared their knowledge and the stories that inspire all weekend. Twenty publishing professionals presented in forty different workshops, panels, and sessions, covering topics as diverse as writing craft, marketing, legal issues, and technology, with a special classes on AI and its effects on the publishing industry.
Award-winning author and screenwriter Kim Hornsby was our Friday keynote speaker, providing us with stories from her path to success on bookshelves and in Hollywood. It was a speech filled with twist, turns, and an abundance of inspiration!
Bestselling International author J.D. Barker is interviewed by Sr. Editor John DeDakis at the Chanticleer Authors Conference 2025.
J.D. Barker delivered the keynote address on Saturday to a packed house of aspiring authors. As the author of an ever-growing list of spine-tingling thrillers, including several co-authored books with James Patterson and praise from the master of horror Stephen King, he kept all of us on the edge of our seats as he explained the innovative, out-of-the-box thinking that has helped him become one of the most successful Indie authors publishing today!
This year we enjoyed a special treat when J.D. Barker sat down for an interview with John DeDakis, former Sr. Editor for the Emmy and Peabody award-winning CNN news program The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer. Questions ranged from exploring his background writing for a pop culture magazine in the 90s where he received advice from none other than the artist Madonna, to his inventive approach to promote his latest release, Something I Keep Upstairs.
2024 Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards Grand Prize Winners
The Chanticleer International Book Awards
The annual CIBA banquet and awards ceremony was a highlight of the conference! Authors from around the world came together to celebrate this year’s best books, with many of the attendees taking home First Place and Grand Prize ribbons. This year’s overall Grand Prize winner was Reenita Malhotra Hora for her novel Vermilion Harvest.
This year was especially fun because we added two new categories to our list of, now, twenty-eight award divisions!
The Fiction and Non-fiction Cover Design awards were a real treat for our judges. The covers represented a broad range of the best cover art we’ve seen throughout the year. It was stiff competition, as so many represented their novels with intriguing images that proved a picture can paint a thousand words.
Looking forward to another year of great books!
Now we all have another year of writing to look forward to, now smarter and recharged by the inspiration and knowledge gained at the Chanticleer Authors Conference. We also have new friendships to grow. That is one of the best things that I take away from the conference. The encouragement, support, and friendship of fellow authors who so generously give their time to help others and value the shared experience of this crazy, sometimes difficult, always inspired world of writing and publishing!
Now it’s time to turn our attention to the 2026 CAC and CIBA Awards!
Thank You to Everyone Who Helped Make CAC25 an Amazing Success!
The Cygnus Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Science Fiction, Steampunk, Alternative History, and Speculative Fiction. The Cygnus Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (The CIBAs).
Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring space, time travel, life on other planets, parallel universes, alternate reality, and all the science, technology, major social or environmental changes of the future that author imaginations can dream up for the CYGNUS Book Awards division.
1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners were announced at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony by Rick Steinke on Saturday, April 5th, 2025 at the Bellingham Yacht Club in beautiful Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2025 Chanticleer Authors Conference.
This is the OFFICIAL 2025 LIST of the CYGNUS BOOK AWARDS First Place Category Winners and the CYGNUS Grand Prize Winner.
Join us in celebrating our First Place Category Winners
in the 2024 CYGNUS Book Awards, a division of the CIBAs!
Timothy S. Johnston – A Blanket of Steel
Peter Dingus – Deep Time
A. R. Black – No Man’s Land
Thomas Weaver – Artificial Wisdom
Shami Stovall – The Half-Life Empire
The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2024 CYGNUS Awards for Science Fiction is:
Attn CIBA Winners & Finalists: More goodies and prizes will be coming your way along with promotion in our magazine, website, and advertisements in Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards long-tail marketing strategy. Welcome to the CIBA Hall of Fame for Award Winners!
This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the Facebook post. However, for Facebook to allow us to tag an author, that author must LIKE our page and Follow Chanticleer Reviews.
A Note to ALL the WINNERS: The coveted CIBA Blue Ribbons will be mailed out starting in June. We will contact you with an email to verify your mailing address and other items.
ALL the WINNERS: You will receive an OFFICIAL EMAIL NOTIFICATION with Digital Badges and more information.
NOTE: We will post at least two 2024 CIBA Divisions’ OFFICIAL Winners per business day starting April 14, 2025. We do a final sweep and reconciliation prior to making the Official CIBA Posts for the 2024 First Place and Grand Prize Winners. We thank you in advance for your patience and understanding. There are many moving parts involved with the Chanticleer International Book Awards Program.
Thank you for participating in the 2024 CIBAs! We are looking forward to reading your future entries.
Team Chanticleer
Any questions? Please email us at info@ChantiReviews.com We will try our best to reply within 3 business days Pacific Standard Time.
Theresa Mathews’ memoir, Fishing with Hyenas, is filled with adventure, love, and the spirit of an explorer, all on the high seas. In the audio version, the author herself tells this gripping story of love and death, grief and recovery.
Mathews begins the book in a place most difficult for her. She takes us through her emotional devastation at the news of her husband’s death. We see all the stages of her grief from the initial call: denial, disbelief, bargaining, and finally acceptance. Readers will be hooked in the first chapter.
She then deftly fills in the gaps with the backstory of how she met her husband Bart, their first date, their decision to commit to one another, and her first time she went for a ride on his Harley. These are often hilarious recaps of her anger and frustration, and her examination of what this relationship with a man who loved the sea would mean for her city-girl life.
Mathews alternates between the present and past with perfect pacing, giving readers a balance between the immersion in and relief from the intense emotion of her husband’s unexpected death.
She perfectly captures the experience of grief, revealing her weaknesses and her strengths. The support she received—and the support she gives in return when tragedy hits the families of her friends—is truly inspiring.
Mathews paints the colorful world of what living and working on the ocean meant for Bart and herself.
She explores the limits of surviving on the Pacific in a tuna boat with a dead engine. She masterfully builds tension, then releases it, just as the ocean swells take hold of their boat, then release them. Mathews takes us through storms both emotional and meteorological, and by the time she wraps up this heartfelt memoir, we are on the other side of grief and loss and perhaps have a new idea of how to survive ourselves.
This memoir embraces reality head-on. It reveals the best and the worst about fishing: being at sea for months at a time, weathering monster storms with only a small crew to manage the onslaught of waves and high winds, and sometimes, dealing with the raw guilt of surviving that crashes down upon a person.
Old timers will appreciate reminiscing about fishing large schools with colorful jigs, when fish were still sold at market value.
Mathews captures the love of the sea held by her late husband and the members of the Hyenas—a name that has a fabulous story to tell on its own. She develops salty characters that we grow to love, only for us to grieve when they are gone. We relate to Mathews’ own grief and her struggles after Bart’s death. Even if we’re not fishermen, we easily understand the depths of her loss.
Readers of women’s fiction, memoir, fishing, boat stories, or survival stories will all draw something from this excellent audiobook of Mathews’ memoir Fishing with Hyenas. They’ll find much to laugh, cry, and get goosebumps about as they come to understand the many perils of loving a man who loves the sea.
Rod Haynes’s memoir Unauthorized Disclosures: A Navy Memoir of the 1980s portrays military life without filter, transcending glamorous and heroic images to explore the daily struggles, leadership challenges, emotional battles, and personal growth during his decade of military service.
The Shelley Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in Supernatural Fiction. The Shelley Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).
The Chatelaine Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in Romance Fiction. The Chatelaine Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).
Theresa Mathews’ memoir, Fishing with Hyenas, is filled with adventure, love, and the spirit of an explorer, all on the high seas. In the audio version, the author herself tells this gripping story of love and death, grief and recovery.