Chanticleer Book Reviews

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Chanticleer 10-Question Author Interview Series with David Calloway – Historical Fiction, African American History, Slavery & the Civil War

CHANTICLEER 10-QUESTION AUTHOR INTERVIEW SERIES

with Award-Winning Author, David Calloway

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

George Calloway

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

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

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

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

Ad infinitum.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

November 11, 2024
The 2024 Hemingway Hall of Fame for 20th and 21st Century Wartime Fiction

The Past Always Impacts the Present

Enter by October 31 to be considered for the 2024 Hemingway Book Awards for Wartime Fiction!

Wartime Fiction set in the twentieth century asks us to reflect most keenly on the most difficult times in our recent history. At Chanticleer, we are here to face war time history with the Hemingway Awards in Historical Fiction; Romance and Romantic Fiction; Mysteries, Thrillers, and Suspense Fiction of the time; Literary works and Satire and anything else that author imaginations can dream up.

To read more about Ernest Hemingway, please click here.

Please note that fictional accounts of the United States Civil War should be submitted to the Laramie Book Awards for Americana Fiction. It is sobering to note that more human life was lost in the Civil War than in ALL of the wars, battles, and skirmishes that the U.S. has participated in added together. Civil wars are considered to be the most deadly of all wars.

Historical Book Awards here at Chanticleer Reviews and the CIBAS.

The CIBAs started with one historical fiction division, The Chaucer Book Awards, which split off the Goethe Book Awards for post-1750s historical fiction. Then the Goethe Book Awards split off a new division, the Hemingway Book Awards for Wartime Fiction.

The Hemingway Awards might be young, but we already have Four Amazing Grand Prize Winners to share with you!

The Silver Waterfall: A Novel of the Battle of Midway
By Kevin Miller

In The Silver Waterfall, author retired U.S. Navy Captain Kevin Miller reveals the intricate and deadly turns of the Battle of Midway, a combat shaped by transforming warfare, and one that would in turn shape the rest of WWII’s Pacific Theater.

After their surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese Navy seeks to draw American aircraft carriers into an ambush, to secure Japanese power over the Pacific. In a time of great upheaval for warfare technology, aircraft carriers dominated both sea and sky. So, to destroy the USS Enterprise, Yorktown, and Hornet, Chūichi Nagumo— commander of the Japanese First Air Fleet— brings to bear his own four carriers, HIJMS Akagi, Hiryū, Kaga, and Soryu.

But the Americans had cracked the Japanese communication codes, so as the First Air Fleet launches their provoking attack against the Midway Islands, the American carriers are already steaming into position. From June 4^th to June 6^th of 1942, planes filled the skies above the remote Pacific waters, both American and Japanese pilots dashing back and forth, knowing that either they sink the enemy’s carriers, or they’ll have none of their own to return to.

Read More Here

RUNNING WITH CANNIBALS
By Robert W. Smith

Robert W. Smith tells the story of a forgotten war and the fractured peace that follows in his powerful historical fiction novel, Running with Cannibals.

It has been said that “War is hell.” It has also been opined that “It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it.” Running with Cannibals is a no-holds-barred, candid portrayal of a war that is glossed over in U.S. history, the Philippine-American War of 1899-1902. It was the first war fought overseas by the U.S.

Running with Cannibals begins with an unnamed man on the run from an unjust accusation bought with blood and money.

Read more here!

EO-N
By Dave Mason

A young boy in Norway makes a discovery while playing with his dog, opening the mystery of EO-N by Dave Mason, a detective story spanning multiple decades and both sides of the Atlantic, a deep dive into the horrors of Nazi Germany, and a heartfelt love story.

A small metal fragment leads to the discovery of a downed WWII twin-engine Mosquito fighter-bomber hidden in snow and glacial ice for nearly 75 years. The crash site yields an initial set of clues, one of which finds its way across the world to Alison Wiley, a biotech CEO in Seattle. Having recently lost her mother, and, a few years earlier, her brother in Afghanistan, she finds her days full of despair, but the discovery makes a distant connection to her long-lost grandfather, and she flies to Norway. There, she meets Scott Wilcox, a Canadian researcher assigned to investigate the discovery after his government learned that the crashed aircraft belonged to the Royal Canadian Air Force. Their attraction is both intellectual and emotional, but the quest to uncover the plane’s mysteries and the fate of Alison’s grandfather place any romance to the side.

At first, the crash doesn’t appear exceptional, until certain contradictory and confusing clues emerge that make it clear that the circumstances that led to the plane’s fate were anything but simple.

Read more here!

THE QUISLING FACTOR
By J. L. Oakley

During World War II “quisling” became a byword for a particular type of traitor, one who not only betrays their own country but also actively collaborates with the invaders. The origin of the term was taken from an actual person, a Norwegian named Vidkun Quisling, who didn’t merely cooperate with the Nazis but actually headed a collaborationist regime in his own country.

The Quisling Factor takes place in the immediate post-war period, as the Nuremberg Trials are gearing up in Germany. Norway is conducting its own post-war legal purge of collaborators at all levels of government.

The story is a direct follow-up to the author’s award-winning World War II novel, The Jøssing Affair. This second novel focuses on the physical and emotional toll of war, and its precarious weight of peace on the survivors.

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 Hemingway Winners is to submit today!

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

You know you want it…

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

October 29, 2024
The 2023 Hemingway Book Awards First Place Roundup for 20th and 21st c. Wartime Fiction

The Hemingway Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of 20th Century Wartime Fiction. The Grand Prize Winner, Kevin Miller’s book, The Silver Waterfall, will be promoted for years to come in our annual Hall of Fame article, as well as be featured on the Hemingway contest page year ’round!

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

The 2023 Hemingway Winners were announced at the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference in April, and you can see the official winners post here!

Join us in celebrating the 2023 First Place Hemingway Winners!

J.L. Oakley – The Brisling Code

An experienced intelligence agent at 22, Tore Haugland faces certain danger when he accepts an assignment in occupied Norway knowing that his predecessor was killed by the Gestapo only a week before. The dying agent left a mysterious message in his interruption code that London calls the “Brisling Code.” London wants Haugland to find out what it means as well as to gather information on the expansion of the U boat base in Bergen. Haugland is sent to work at a drafting office in a shipyard. His mission is jeopardized when a ruthless SS officer, Hans Becker, with his own secrets, is alerted to his presence by a traitor at the Verks. Becker will do anything to find him. If Haugland can’t discover the meaning of the Brisling Code in time, it could cost him his life and expose the members of the local resistance he works with. If he does, it could hurt the people he has grown to care about. But what if the message was written down wrong?

From Chanticleer:

In The Brisling Code, a fast-paced first installment of her historical thriller series, Oakley weaves a brilliant portrayal of the perils met by the Norwegian Resistance during WWII.

Layered perspectives—from resistance workers, traitors, and even an SS Officer—create a rich world through which readers can understand the sacrifices that were made to free our world from the tyranny of Nazi Germany.

Immersed in volatile Nazi-occupied Bergen, Norway, fearless young intelligence agent Tore Haugland and his team of organizers work tirelessly to protect the essential work of the Norwegian resistance.

Haugland’s task is to uncover the plans for the expansion of the German Uboat base with inside help at a shipyard. Also charged in unveiling the meaning behind a mysterious message sent by his murdered predecessor, Haugland navigates the treacherous waters of Norway—a mere haunting of the beautiful city it once was before Nazi occupation. Readers can “almost taste the danger” as our hero moves from one treacherous predicament to the next. Haugland’s mission risks not only his own life, but the lives of every friend and connection he makes.

Read More Here

Find it Locally and on Amazon

Kathryn Gauci – In the Shadow of the Pyrenees

When France declares war on Germany, the villagers of the sleepy village of Mont-Saint-Jean have no idea how much their lives will be impacted. At first they find themselves helping a trickle of British soldiers and airmen heading into Spain, but within months, that trickle has turned into a never-ending flow. Desperate French and foreign Jews, together with ordinary men and women evading Vichy’s harsh laws in search of freedom, either attempt to flee and join de Gaulle’s Secret Army in North Africa, or hide and regroup in readiness for D-Day. Before they know it, they are drawn into the shadowy world of escape networks in one of France’s harshest and most dangerous mountainous terrains, where at every turn they face deportation or death if caught.

Rich in detail and based on true events in Occupied France, In the Shadow of the Pyrenees weaves together a powerful and vivid tableau of characters, a tortured love affair, and the heroism of countless helpers. It is a story that conjures up the voices of the past and will take you on a journey in which the ensuing upheavals continue to resonate in the villagers’ lives long after the war has ended.

Find it Locally and on Amazon

Michael J Cooper – Crossroads of Empire

This work is not yet released, but the previous book in the series was the 2022 Dante Rossetti Grand Prize Winner.

In the summer of 1914, sixteen-year-old Evan Sinclair leaves home to join the Great War for Civilization. Little does he know that, despite the war raging in Europe, the true source of conflict will emerge in Ottoman Palestine, since it’s from Jerusalem where the German Kaiser dreams to rule as Holy Roman Emperor.

Filled with such historical figures as Gertrude Bell, T.E. Lawrence, Winston Churchill, Faisal bin Hussein and Chaim Weizmann, Wages of Empire follows Evan through the killing fields of the Western Front where he will help turn the tide of a war that is just beginning, and become part of a story that never ends.

From Chanticleer:

Michael J. Cooper’s latest historical fiction novel, Wages of Empire, draws readers into the perilous journey of sixteen-year-old Evan Sinclair and his father into WW1. On this path, their lives will intersect with such historical figures as TE Lawrence, Gertrude Bell, the Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann, the Arab nationalist Faisal ibn Hussein, the proto-Nazi and advisor to the German kaiser Guido von List, and Kaiser Wilhelm II himself.

Set in the summer of 1914 we find Evan living in the American southwest where his father moved the family from England for his Oxford sabbatical. Evan struggles to cope with his mother’s death in childbirth and yearns to escape his father’s controlling grip. As war breaks out in Europe, Evan decides to leave home and join the fight, without telling his father.

By the time Clive realizes Evan is missing, the war is in full swing. Clive returns to England to search for Evan and reactivates his commission at the War Office in London. There, Clive uses every means available to find Evan. Meanwhile, Evan has made his way across the Atlantic and into France with the hope of joining the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), but instead he is arrested by the Paris police as a possible German collaborator. He escapes, but by mistake, crosses into occupied Belgium where he barely survives a German artillery barrage with poison gas. Joining the Flemish resistance, he is badly wounded after helping to flood the lowlands, a deciding factor in stopping the German army. After recovering in a BEF hospital in France, Evan begins a romance with a beautiful young nurse just before he is discharged to return to England by hospital ship.

Read More Here

Find it Locally and on Amazon

Ivan Luis Hernandez – Isla Vulnerable

In late 1950’s Cuba, the island’s allure as an elite global paradise was cloaked by a revolution that brought down its rich and powerful.

When a poor native farm boy named Victor Gomez is suddenly orphaned and adopted by one of the most influential families in his hometown, he meets and falls for Sarita Rodriguez—a supermodel and media empire heiress—just before Fidel Castro overthrows President Fulgencio Batista and takes control of the island. After Castro raids Victor’s new family’s estate and imprisons his father, Victor narrowly escapes and flees to the US where he accepts an unconventional, deadly deal as a spy to save his country. Still just a teen, Victor finds himself in a cycle of betrayal—struggling to find truth and purpose, while torn between protecting his now powerless parents, finding his disbanded biological siblings, and secretly pursuing Sarita as she rises to international fame from New York.

Based on the true story of the author’s family, Isla Vulnerable weaves a captivating tale of love, sacrifice, and human resilience in the face of extraordinary historical events—including the Cold War, the Cuban missile crisis, the CIA’s covert operations in foreign affairs, Operation Mongoose, and the assassination of JFK. A dynamic cast of real-life-inspired characters, meticulous attention to historical detail, edge-of-your-seat spy scenes, and a love story that transcends social classes compose an ideologically-unbiased, heartwarming, and cinematic journey in this author’s first published book.

Find it Locally and on Amazon

Linda Stewart Henley – Kate’s War

Twenty-year-old Kate is poised to launch into a long-anticipated life of independence when Britain declares war in 1939. After that announcement, her dream of escaping the London suburb she grew up in and pursuing a singing career is quashed: she must stay put with her family and prepare for bombing and possible invasion by Germany.

Living in these anxious times, Kate strives to achieve balance in her life, though a speech disability interferes with her singing and a failed romance adds to her distress. But when a young Jewish girl whose parents have been deported comes to her for help, Kate’s goals change. Taking on a responsibility she never could have imagined, she learns that freedom and survival cannot be taken for granted—and as new responsibilities outweigh earlier goals, she learns that assisting others to escape unspeakable evil requires new perspective, as well as courage she didn’t know she had.

Find it Locally and on Amazon

Jerena Tobiasen – Tsarina’s Crown

In 1915, Simon Temple, a young naval officer from northeast England, finds himself aboard RMS Guardian, patrolling the North Sea as part of the Germany blockade. By midyear, he’s in Petrograd, Russia on a private assignment for King George. The three-month task turns into three years, embroiling him in the intrigues of two royal families, Russian politics and British espionage. As the Russian revolution consumes the country, Simon’s cover is threatened, and his safety compromised. He must escape the chaos before he’s captured, but his scheme becomes complicated when two others unexpectedly join him in a hasty departure.

High seas adventures. Russian vistas. Royal exposé. Political conspiracy. The stuff of which spies are made. Tsarina’s Crown is a fast-paced, historical drama that leads the reader from World War I at sea to the desperation of the Russian revolution. Full of action and intrigue. And just a little romance.

From Chanticleer:

Jerena Tobiasen delivers a sharp, first-rate novel in Tsarina’s Crown, first installment in The Nightingale and Sparrow Chronicles, capturing a precise panorama of Russian politics and British espionage during a delicate period in time.

The year is 1915 and Simon Temple, a young naval officer aboard the RMS Guardian— a British Royal Navy Ship— patrols the North Sea for questionable communications and marine activity. Months later, he is entrusted by the British crown to serve as a liaison on a covert mission in Petrograd, Russia. Simon is careful not to blow his cover as a young aristocrat while he is thrust into the world of international politics, the ruthless Russian Revolution, and becomes caught right in the middle of two powerful royal families.

The mission turns out to be longer than Simon anticipated, and his life quickly becomes threatened as he tries to navigate a dangerous political labyrinth, all the while hoping to unearth the spy information that his King requires of him. But as the precarious wheel of mayhem and chaos churns in Russia, Simon’s only way to survive is to escape, realizing that his wit and intelligence might not save him from the tense political atmosphere. Things become even more complicated when he is joined by two other people who hope to flee.

Read More Here

Find it Locally and on Amazon

William McClain – Alice’s War

Weymouth, England 1939. War changes everything. For grandson Martin, coming of age under the backdrop of World War II. For Sonja, the Jewish refugee he’s drawn to, who left her family in Germany only to face new dangers in England. And for Martin’s friend, Ellis, confronting a war similar to the one that drove his father to alcoholism.

Recently widowed, Alice must set aside her long-awaited chance to recreate her life on her own terms when the war places her two grandchildren in her care. She finds herself revisiting the tragedies she faced as a mother, as she navigates personal aspiration, loss, and the importance of family.

Alice’s War is not a story of decorated air pilots or daring resistance fighters. It is instead a story of ordinary people facing fear and loss. As outside forces tear Alice’s family and community apart, she quietly gathers and reforms their sustaining bonds.

Set in the town of Weymouth against the grand backdrop of England’s Jurassic Coast and with a front-seat view of the unfolding drama, Alice’s War immerses the reader in a time unlike any in modern history.

Find it Locally and on Amazon

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

You can see our Spotlight on the recently reviewed books that fit the Hemingway division here.

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

Got a great Historical Fiction Book that looks at times of war?

The 2024 Hemingway Book Awards are open through the end of October!

Submit to the Hemingway Awards Today!

October 18, 2024
14 Days Left: Shelley, Global Thriller, and Hemingway Book Awards close soon!
The final 11 Divisions of this years Award cycle close in 2 weeks!

14 days left to submit!

Don’t let your book miss out!
Only 14 days left to submit your books to these prestigious CIBA Divisions and embark on an extraordinary journey to success. With over $30,000 in prizes awarded annually, now is the time to make your mark!

The Shelley Award for Supernatural Fiction , The Global Thriller Awards for High Stakes Thrillers and Hemingway Awards for 20th Century Wartime Fiction are still open!

Congratulations to the Winners of the 2023 Paranormal Awards for Supernatural Fiction!
- Joe Lyon – The Molossus of Old Man Moyer: An Original Horror Novel
- Jo Deniau – Hologram
- Nola Nash – House of Mirrors
- Claire Fraise – They Stay
- Fionn Mac Meldrum – The Shadow of Banshee Hill
- James McKenna – An October’s Journey: Poe’s Final Gift
And a huge round of applause for the 2023 Paranormal Awards Grand Prize Winner:

Becoming Crone

by Lydia M Hawke

Congratulations to the Winners of the 2023 Global Thriller Awards for High Stakes Thrillers!
- D. L. Wilburn Jr. – The God Protocol: Dragon
- Glenn Dyer – Trust No One
- Mark James – Friendship Games
- Randall Krzak – Ultimate Escalation
- Susan Rogers and John Roosen – Cobra Pose
And a huge round of applause for the 2023 Global Thriller Awards Grand Prize Winner:

Jake Fortina and The Roman Conspiracy

By Ralph R. “Rick” Steinke

Congratulations to the Winners of the 2023 Hemingway Awards for 20th Century Wartime Fiction!
- J.L. Oakley – The Brisling Code
- Kathryn Gauci – In the Shadow of the Pyrenees
- Michael J Cooper – Crossroads of Empire
- Ivan Luiz Hernandez – Isla Vulnerable
- Linda Stewart Henley – Kate’s War
- Jerena Tobiasen – Tsarina’s Crown
- William McClain – Alice’s War
And a huge round of applause for the 2023 Hemingway Awards Grand Prize Winner:

The Silver Waterfall

A Novel of The Battle of Midway

by Kevin Miller

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

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

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

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

Let’s celebrate exceptional storytelling together!

Your book deserves to be discovered

Don’t Delay! Enter Today!

The Shelley Awards, and The Global Thriller Awards and The Hemingway Awards
October 17, 2024
The 2024 Goethe Book Awards Long List for Late Historical Fiction
The Goethe Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Post 1750 Historical Fiction. The Goethe 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 Victorian, Georgian, Regency, International History, 20th Century, and all the possible historical topics that an authors imagination can dream up for the Goethe Book Awards division. Our judges from across North America and the U.K. will put them to the test and choose the best among them.

These titles have moved forward in the first look rounds from all 2024 Goethe Late Historical Fiction entries to the 2024 Goethe Book Awards LONG LIST. These entries are now in competition for the 2024 Goethe Short List. The Short Listers will compete for the Semi-Finalists positions. FINALISTS will be chosen from the Semi-Finalists and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference, CAC25.

We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 5th, 2025 in beautiful Bellingham, WA sponsored by the 2025 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST of the 2024 Goethe Book Awards novel competition for Late Historical Fiction!

Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works!
- Tessa Floreano – Murder & Matrimony in the Castello
- Nancy Burkhalter – Mesmer: The Tale of a Medical Maverick
- Nancy Burkhalter – The Education of Delhomme: Chopin, Sand, and La France
- Benjamin Kwakye – Seasons of Four Faces
- Janis Robinson Daly – The Path Beneath Her Feet
- Kim Gottlieb-Walker – Lenswoman in Love
- Jeanne Gehret – Secrets to the Wind
- Donna Russo – Vincent’s Women: The Untold Story of the Loves of Vincent van Gogh
- William Robert Reeves – The In-House Politician
- Louis Trubiano – What Once Was Promised
- Katherine Koch – The Sower of Black Field: Inspired by the True Story of an American in Nazi Germany
- Sandra Wagner-Wright – Sea Tigers & Merchants: A New American Generation
- Mark Kraver – Janszoon: In the Pursuit of Love, Family, and an Enduring Legacy
- Gail Noble-Sanderson – A Cup of Revenge
- Robert Brighton – The Phantom of Forest Lawn: Romance and Redemption in the City of the Dead
- J.R. Holland – Vigilante Love Song
- Teri M Brown – Daughters of Green Mountain Gap
- Susan Higginbotham – The Queen of the Platform: A Novel of Women’s Rights Activist Ernestine Rose
- Brook Allen – West of Santillane
- James Conroyd Martin – Napoleon’s Shadow Wife: A Novel of Countess Marie Walewska
- Don Jacobson – In Westminster’s Halls: A Pride and Prejudice Variation
- Sean James – The Vengeful Kind
- Georgina Hogue – Cloud Cap
- Linda Ulleseit – Innocents at Home
- Florence Reiss Kraut – Street Corner Dreams, A Novel
- Paula Butterfield – Missing Mr. Moonlight
- Reenita M. Hora – Vermilion Harvest – Playtime at the Bagh
- Carolyn Summer Quinn – Until the Stars Align
- Diana Lee – The Breaking Room
- Leo Daughtry – Talmadge Farm
- Susan McGuirk – Missing Friends
- Jeza Belle – Blood Rouge
- John David Graham – Running As Fast As I Can
- Jude Berman – The Vow: A Novel
- R. W. Meek – The Dream Collector, Book II “Sabrine & Vincent van Gogh”
- Annette Gagliardi – Ponderosa Pines: Days of the – Deadwood Forest Fire
- DL Fowler – Lincoln’s Angel: the Rebecca Pomroy Story
- Florence Reiss Kraut – Street Corner Dreams
- Sherry V. Ostroff – The Wall at the Sugar Factory
- Alina Rubin – A Girl with a Knife
- Alina Rubin – Abigail’s Song
- M. B. Zucker – The Middle Generation: A Novel of John Quincy Adams and the Monroe Doctrine
- Heather Miller – Yellow Bird’s Song
- João Cerqueira – Perestroika
- Adrienne Stevenson – Mirrors & Smoke
- Gail Ward Olmsted – Katharine’s Remarkable Road Trip
- C.M. Huddleston – Esther
- Karen Lynne Klink – At What Cost, Silence? Book 1 of The Texian Trilogy
- Diane Byington – Louise and Vincent
- Tim Piper – The Powell Expeditions
- Janice Sebring – Fearful Breakers
- Jerry Madden – Steel Valley: Coming of Age in the Ohio Valley in the 1960s
- Vicky Oliver – Firebrands
Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.

PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!

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Congratulations once more to the 2023 Goethe Grand Prize Winner

If Someday Comes

By David Calloway

Click here to see the full list of 2023 GOETHE Book Award Winners for Late Historical Fiction.

We are now accepting submissions into the 2025 Goethe Book Awards for Late Historical Fiction.

Please click here for more information.

Winners will be announced at the 2024 CIBA Awards Ceremony that is sponsored by the 2025 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

April 3 – 6, 2025! Save the Date for Registration!

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

Join us for our annual conference as we enter our second decade and discover why!
October 15, 2024
The 2024 Hemingway Book Awards Spotlight on 20th & 21st c. Wartime Fiction
The History of War is always important

Especially in Historical Fiction

The Hemingway Awards is our Division for Historical Fiction of 20th Century Wartime. Named for famed War Correspondent and Author Ernest Hemingway, his writings embody much of what this award covers. He didn’t write only war related content, but A Farewell to Arms and For Whom The Bell Tolls are both amazing looks into the rather tumultuous early 20th century.

These are the categories for the 2024 Hemingway Awards for 20th and 21st century Wartime Fiction:
- World War 1
- World War 2
- Women in War
- Occupation/ Diaspora
- Espionage
- Love in Wartime
- Specific Campaign/ Theater/ Battle
The dropping of a nuclear bomb in Stanley Kubrik’s dark satire “Dr. Strangelove”

Submit Your Work Today!

We are delighted to celebrate the 2023 Winners of the Hemingway Awards!
- J.L. Oakley – The Brisling Code
- Kathryn Gauci – In the Shadow of the Pyrenees
- Michael J Cooper – Crossroads of Empire
- Ivan Luiz Hernandez – Isla Vulnerable
- Linda Stewart Henley – Kate’s War
- Jerena Tobiasen – Tsarina’s Crown
- William McClain – Alice’s War
The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 Hemingway Book Awards is:

The Silver Waterfall

A Novel of The Battle of Midway

by Kevin Miller

We love stories about wartime history here at Chanticleer. Here are some of the best books we’ve reviewed recently.

AN EMPTY HOUSE DOESN’T SNEEZE
By David Scott Richardson

In David Scott Richardson’s YA WWII historical novel, An Empty House Doesn’t Sneeze, teenager Scott Johannsen—“Scotty” to his mom and friends—leads us on an adventure through the wartime Ravenna neighborhood in Seattle, Washington.

Boeing manufactures B-17s, his grandparents and neighbors grow victory gardens, his parents build a bomb shelter in their basement, and mandatory blackouts occur every night. Scotty navigates a chaotic world filled with danger and wonder yet finds security with family and friends in this heartfelt story.

Scotty runs with his pack—James, Marty, and Burr. We witness what lengths they will go to on a search for chocolate. With Ravenna Park as a backyard and Puget Sound just a short drive away, Scotty’s life is filled with exploration of the natural world. His fishing adventures with his dad in the Sound become an exciting way to supplement his family’s food rations as he dreams about netting a fighting salmon.

Read more here!

ROSES In DECEMBER: Hamilton Place, Book 2
By Mark A. Gibson

Roses in December is the epic conclusion to Mark A. Gibson’s compelling two-part family saga, Hamilton Place. Now focusing on the family’s next generation, James Hamilton Jr.—Jimmy—follows in the footsteps of the father he never met, a Vietnam War hero who died in battle, and ultimately finds his own path in life.

Pressured by a conning mother-in-law only out for monetary gain, the elder Jimmy’s widow, Becca, is pushed to marry Mack Lee, her deceased husband’s older brother who proves to be a cheating and abusive husband. Trapped in this loveless marriage, Becca hopes that attending church will remove her son from the toxic influence of her new husband and set him on the right path to a good life. But it’s the discovery of young Jimmy’s superior photographic memory that opens the door to a brighter future, and he sets a course to an outstanding medical career, coupled with military service in Afghanistan.

Gibson delivers the recent past with a great sense of immediacy, showing events that ripple into our contemporary world using pop references that are relevant in today’s world.

Read more here!

AFTER ME
By J. Shep

The arrival of a mysterious package makes for an enticing beginning in J. Shep’s After Me. Inside we find a manuscript with the same text as the book we’re about to read. This inventive start lends a sense of realism and truth to what follows and creates a vivid yet hazy quality, like memory itself.

After Me travels back in time to rural France just after World War II. The setting appears idyllic at first—almost unbelievably so. Still, there’s a disturbing undercurrent felt from the start. Not from an unwanted presence, but rather from an absence.

Told from the perspective of Ellande, a young boy, he recounts the summer his parents die in an accident and he and his nine-year-old little sister, Madeleine-Grace, are sent to their extended family’s summer home in France. Their care seems competent at first—but cracks in the façade gradually emerge as Ellande begins his tale.

Read more here!

EVERYTHING WE HAD: No Merciful War Book 1
By Tom Burkhalter

Everything We Had, book one of Tom Burkhalter’s No Merciful War series is an inexorable thrill that will grip readers tight. It starts with a poker game, through which a main character’s luck soon becomes evident. But will that luck hold out?

Jack—the poker player—and Charlie—Jack’s older brother—have been separated by war, even though that war has yet to be declared. Everything We Had focuses more on the machinations leading up to US involvement in World War II than on actual combat. The gears of war that have so many young men caught in them move with gradual but inevitable force, and so Everything We Had takes a more thoughtful approach to a historic moment in time.

Connecting with the characters is a gradual process as you get to know the intricacies that make up their individual personalities. This sets the reader up to feel the emotions of the characters as they face an uncertain fate, and throughout the book the author’s clear and methodical research shines with details such as specific views, locations, and—most notably—comprehensive descriptions of the airplanes Jack and Charlie pilot. This allows the reader to become deeply familiar with the motivations of the characters and the capabilities of the airplanes they fly.

Read more here!

These authors keep the recent past alive for us! We thank them for documenting these times and sharing their stories!

We hope to see your work in the 2024 Hemingway Awards!

This is the journey from beginning to end for the CIBAs Levels of Achievement is so worthwhile! Every list you make means more promotion for you and your work as each list is posted right here on our website, on our social media, and also out in our newsletter!

Your book deserves to be discovered
October 9, 2024
8 days left to submit three Historical Book Awards in the CIBAs!
Eight Divisions close in September!

Eight excellent divisions close at the end of September!

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

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

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

The Merchant from Sepharad by James Hutson-Wiley

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

If Someday Comes by David Calloway

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

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

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

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

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

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

Let’s celebrate exceptional storytelling together!

Don’t Delay! Enter Today!

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

Your book deserves to be discovered
September 22, 2024
Happy Birthday Goethe! Extending the 2024 Goethe Awards for Late Historical Fiction
Happy Birthday Goethe!

We’re delighted to celebrate Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s birthday! Check out these awesome events that happened during Goethe’s Lifetime!
- 1750 – The Industrial Revolution began in England
- 1756 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria
- 1761 – The problem of calculating longitude while at sea was solved by John Harrison
- 1765 – James Watts perfects the steam engine
- 1770 – Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany
- 1774 – Goethe’s romantic novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther, propels him into European fame
- 1774 – Goethe’s play Gotz von Berlichingen, a definitive work of Sturm und Drang premiers in Berlin
- 1776 – America’s 13 Colonies declare independence from England. Battles ensue.
- 1776 – Adam Smith publishes the Wealth of Nations (the foundation of the modern theory of economics)
- 1776 – The Boulton and Watt steam engines were put to use ushering in the Industrial Revolution
- 1783 – The Hot Air Balloon was invented by the Montgolfier brothers in France.
- 1786 – Le Nozze di Figaro by Mozart premiered in Vienna
- 1789 – George Washington is elected the first president of the United States of America
- 1780 – Antoine Lavoisier discovers the Law of Conservation of Mass
- 1789 – The French Revolution started in Bastille
- 1791 – Thomas Paine publishes The Rights of Man
- 1792 – Napoleon begins his march to conquer Europe
- 1799 – Rosetta Stone discovered in Egypt
- 1802 – Beethoven created and performed The Moonlight Sonata
- 1802 – A child’s workday is limited to twelve hours per day by the British parliament when they pass their first Factory Act
- 1804 – Napoleon has himself proclaimed Emperor of France
- 1808 – Atomic Theory paper published by John Dalton
- 1811 – Italian chemist Amedeo Avogadro publishes a hypothesis, about the number of molecules in gases, that becomes known as Avogadro’s Law
- 1811 – Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility was published anonymously. It was critically well-received
- 1814 – Steam driven printing press was invented which allowed newspapers to become more common
- 1818 – Mary Shelley publishes Frankenstein
- 1832 – Goethe’s Faust, Parts 1 & 2 are published posthumously (March 22, 1832)
You asked, we listened

We tend to be a little more high tech at Chanticleer

New Deadline for the Goethe Awards: September 30, 2024

At the request of both our Authors and our Readers we have moved the closing date of the Goethe Awards to September 30, 2024!

This pairs it with its Historical Fiction partner the Chaucer Award. As we settle into this new schedule, we’re hearing great feedback from authors regarding the best times for them to submit their work. This depends on conferences and workshops (many of which are genre specific) where they can regularly receive feedback and writing retreats that allow them to finish their manuscripts.

Thank you to everyone who reaches out and makes our Awards a success every year!

September is right around the corner! Don’t miss out!

Chaucer is the older brother of sorts to the other Historical Fiction divisions. Awhile back we got so many submissions to Chaucer, we had to split them up to judge them all properly. So now, Chaucer is Pre-1750 and Goethe is Post-1750.

Why do we like Johann Wolfgang von Goethe so very much? It’s simple! He’s the guy who wrapped up everything we believe in with this simple sentence:

“Whatever you can do or dream, you can begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.” – Goethe

A great mantra for writers, don’t you think!

Why 1750?

Well, many historians see that time as the start of the Early Modern Age. With Revolutions the world over, and Governmental Changes moving away from Monarchies and constitutions giving the normal people rights, not just the wealthy. And at the same time, the Industrial Revolution and Age of Enlightenment.

The Goethe Award is named for Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, famed German writer, scientist and polymath. Seen on the badge for this award, in a portrait of him in around 1775

Goethe in 1828, painted by Joseph Karl Stieler

We chose Goethe as the namesake for this award not only because we are fans of his writing. Born in 1749, his lifetime saw some of the biggest events and technological advances. Both the American and French Revolutions, the start of the Industrial Revolution in England (which started in about 1750), the invention of Steam Engines, and some of the most influential written works of history. As such, he embodies the era of Historical Fiction this award covers and beyond.

Here are some great books set during the time of the Goethe Awards!

THE SPOON: The Story of Two Families’ Survival of the Hungarian Revolution
By Lisa Voelker
Goethe Awards First Place Winner

Lisa Voelker’s historical fiction novel, The Spoon, takes us back to the 1950s in Hungary during the daring student uprising, and attempted revolution, in Buda and Pest. The author weaves historical facts with fiction in the form of family lore that has been handed down for generations.

We follow scores of people whose lives intersected during this uprising of 1956. The revolution was, at its inception, a time of joyous upheaval, but in less than two weeks became one of devastating dissolution. People fled Hungary by the thousands, but not before giving the Soviet Union a taste of their discontent.

Voelker introduces Rebeka, a member of the Varga family with old ties to the bourgeoisie, who lived a life of privilege on a farm east of Buda and Pest. As well as Peter, a member of the Turea family who attends Budapest Technical University, where students began demonstrating against the Hungarian Government that was under Soviet control.

Read more here!

EVERYTHING WE HAD: No Merciful War Book 1
By Tom Burkhalter
Series Awards First Place

Everything We Had, book one of Tom Burkhalter’s No Merciful War series is an inexorable thrill that will grip readers tight. It starts with a poker game, through which a main character’s luck soon becomes evident. But will that luck hold out?

Jack—the poker player—and Charlie—Jack’s older brother—have been separated by war, even though that war has yet to be declared. Everything We Had focuses more on the machinations leading up to US involvement in World War II than on actual combat. The gears of war that have so many young men caught in them move with gradual but inevitable force, and so Everything We Had takes a more thoughtful approach to a historic moment in time.

Connecting with the characters is a gradual process as you get to know the intricacies that make up their individual personalities. This sets the reader up to feel the emotions of the characters as they face an uncertain fate, and throughout the book the author’s clear and methodical research shines with details such as specific views, locations, and—most notably—comprehensive descriptions of the airplanes Jack and Charlie pilot. This allows the reader to become deeply familiar with the motivations of the characters and the capabilities of the airplanes they fly.

Read more here!

A SONG THAT NEVER ENDS: Hamilton Place Book 1
By Mark A. Gibson
Series Awards First Place

A Song That Never Ends, the first volume of a two part series by Mark A. Gibson, opens a dramatic fictional saga of the Hamilton family from the late 1930s Depression era, to 1967 and the Vietnam conflict. Here against the backdrop of a South Carolina tobacco farm, we come to witness a family in turmoil.

The calm and reserved Walter Hamilton and his rebellious, impulsive wife Maggie strive to build a life and raise a family. But the couple is tested by a series of misfortunes—miscarriages and stillbirths, and Walter’s enlistment during WWII leaving him with guilt-induced PTSD as he deals with the memory of fallen comrades.

At the center of this heartfelt story is James, the middle child, who at the tender age of eight is forced from his home due to a horrific accident and sent to live with a widower uncle.

Read more here!

THE BRISLING CODE
By J.L. Oakley
Hemingway First Place Winner

In The Brisling Code, a fast-paced first installment of her historical thriller series, Oakley weaves a brilliant portrayal of the perils met by the Norwegian Resistance during WWII.

Layered perspectives—from resistance workers, traitors, and even an SS Officer—create a rich world through which readers can understand the sacrifices that were made to free our world from the tyranny of Nazi Germany.

Immersed in volatile Nazi-occupied Bergen, Norway, fearless young intelligence agent Tore Haugland and his team of organizers work tirelessly to protect the essential work of the Norwegian resistance.

Read more here!

Thank you to everyone who has entered the CIBAs, with a special recognition to those who keep the past alive! Good books for young people matter!

The winners of the Dante Rossetti Awards will be announced during the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference. First-place winners receive the coveted Chanticleer Blue Ribbon, and the Grand Prize laureate commands the spotlight, epitomizing the exceptional YA Fiction genre talent.

Submit today!

The Grand Prize Winners of the 2023 Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards!
August 27, 2024
The Goethe Late Historical Awards Fiction Round Up for the 2023 First Place Winners!

The Goethe Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Late Historical (Post 1750s) Fiction. The Grand Prize Winner, David Calloway’s book, If Someday Comes will be promoted for years to come in our annual Hall of Fame article, as well as be featured on the Goethe contest page year ’round!

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

The 2023 Goethe Winners were announced at the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference in April, and you can see the official winners post here!

Join us in celebrating the 2023 First Place Goethe Winners!

Lisa Voelker – The Spoon

The Spoon is historical fiction based on the personal anecdotes of survivors of what we now know as the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. At the heart of The Spoon is the true story of two people incongruously brought together during the maelstrom of this historic event; a story that is embodied in one small heirloom and remembered and shared through the generations when the family gathers each year for Christmas.

From Chanticleer:

Lisa Voelker’s historical fiction novel, The Spoon, takes us back to the 1950s in Hungary during the daring student uprising, and attempted revolution,. The author weaves historical facts with fiction in the form of family lore that has been handed down for generations.

We follow scores of people whose lives intersected during this uprising of 1956. The revolution was, at its inception, a time of joyous upheaval, but in less than two weeks became one of devastating dissolution. People fled Hungary by the thousands, but not before giving the Soviet Union a taste of their discontent.

Voelker introduces Rebeka, a member of the Varga family with old ties to the bourgeoisie, who lived a life of privilege on a farm. She is contrasted by Peter, a member of the Turea family who attends Budapest Technical University, where students began demonstrating against the Hungarian Government that was under Soviet control.

Read more here!

Find it Locally and on Amazon

Robert W Smith – A Long Way From Clare

Conor Dolan, a young Irishman, travels to Chicago in 1903 to visit his older brother; instead, he finds a mystery. His journey sparks a quest to peel away secrets and rediscover a dead sibling he idolized but never really knew as he strives to learn the true meaning of brotherhood.

His search reveals an Irish Republican plot to assassinate a visiting British royal. In the process, he is drawn into an alliance with two women: a mesmerizing Jewish widow and a struggling young Irishwoman. Each teaches Conor existential truths of life and love in her own way.

But the brother he finds may not be the brother he remembers. A Long Way from Clare is a story of Chicago’s early twentieth century immigrants and one man’s struggle with both bigotry and justice in an unforgiving city where no good deed goes unpunished.

From Chanticleer:

Twenty-four-year-old Conor Dolan had intended to surprise his older brother and catch up after years apart. However, what he finds when he arrives in Chicago will spark a harrowing mystery, in A Long Way from Clare by Robert W. Smith.

Kevin, a beat cop in twentieth-century Chicago’s worst neighborhood, was found six weeks before Conor’s visit, in what the police have dubbed a suicide. However, Conor has his doubts. Each time he asks people about Kevin, he is met with resistance and denial. When Conor speaks with Detective Flynn, the man assigned to Kevin’s case, his suspicions become certainties. Flynn’s bizarre behavior, the minimal effort on the police’s part to investigate, and the men following Conor at every turn convince him to stay in Chicago rather than return to his home in Springfield.

Conor’s determination to find answers to Kevin’s death lead him in a dangerous dance with darkness amidst the shadows of Chicago’s underworld.

Read more here!

Find it Locally and on Amazon

Mitzi Zilka – Water Fire Steam

The year is 1884. Rolla Alan Jones, an ambitious dreamer fresh out of an East Coast engineering school, is commissioned to design and build the first water system in Spokane Falls, Washington, a booming town of twenty-thousand. He is everyone’s golden boy for five years until the city burns down on August 4, 1889. The once-celebrated engineer is scapegoated for the catastrophe alleging his system yielded inadequate water pressure. Asked to resign, betrayed by his friends, shunned by the community, and abandoned by his pregnant wife and three-year-old son, Rolla must find the strength to reinvent himself or return to New York as an abject failure. Based on a true story, Water Fire Steam is a story of forgiveness and redemption for anyone who has ever had to claw their way back from an unwarranted accusation.

Find it Locally and on Amazon

Susanne Dunlap – The Adored One

Lillian Lorraine was a naive 15-year-old chorine on Broadway when she attracted the notice of the notorious 41-year-old Florenz Ziegfeld. Accustomed to getting what he wanted, Ziegfeld took Lillian under his wing and into his arms, giving her coveted numbers in the Ziegfeld Follies and taking control of her career. But Lillian’s rebellious spirit chafed against him, refusing to play according to his rules, and nearly destroying her own career in the process. The Adored One follows her through rise and fall after rise and fall as she comes of age in a world where her youthful beauty was an asset-and a liability.

From Chanticleer:

Step into the glittering world of fame and betrayal in Susanne Dunlap’s The Adored One. At just four years old, Leleanne de Jacques, aka Lillian Lorraine, began her acting career. After fleeing an abusive husband in San Francisco, Mary Anne, Lillian’s mother, moves to Philadelphia, seeing her daughter’s talent as their potential meal ticket.

Soon after arriving in Philadelphia and changing her daughter’s name, Mary Anne relocates them both again to New York, where she puts Lillian in front of artists who see her potential for print ads. Lillian soon meets Fred McKay, her first talent agent, and she begins performing in Lee Shubert productions.

When Florenz Ziegfeld sees Lillian onstage, he knows he must have her, both in his productions and his bed. At only sixteen, Lillian signs with Broadway’s biggest producer. She begins to spiral soon after. Drinking and partying become a staple in Lillian’s life, and she is soon keeping more secrets than her young heart can handle. Florenz’s obsession, Mary Anne’s domineering, and Lillian’s own need for approval lead her down a dangerous and lonely path. Losing every friend she ever makes as well as a part of herself, Lillian wonders if the prize of fame is really worth the cost.

Read more here!

Find it Locally and on Amazon

Linda Ulleseit – The River Remembers

Samantha Lockwood, Day Sets, and Harriet Robinson come to Fort Snelling from very different backgrounds. It’s 1835 and the world is changing, fast, and they are all struggling to keep up. After she refuses another suitor he’s chosen for her, Samantha’s father banishes her to live in the territory with her brother. He, too, tries to take over her marriage plans—but she is determined to find her own husband, even when her choices go awry.

Day Sets demands that her white husband create a school to educate their daughter, supporting her father’s belief that his people must learn the ways of the white man in order to ensure the tribe’s future. Until events prove her father wrong. Harriet’s life in the territory is more like that of a free person than anywhere she’s lived. She even falls in love with Dred Scott and dreams of a life with him. But they are both enslaved, and she keeps being reminded of how little control she has over her own fate. As their cultures collide, each of these three women must find a way to direct her own future and leave a legacy for her children.

Find it Locally and on Amazon

Nicole Evelina – Catherine’s Mercy

Based on a true story, Catherine’s Mercy brings to life Irish reformer and Sisters of Mercy founder Catherine McAuley.

In 1824, Catherine, a Catholic spinster of 44, unexpectantly inherits millions. However, she doesn’t use it to climb the social ladder or snare a husband; she uses it to fulfill a lifelong dream of building a refuge for the poor and sick of Dublin, Ireland. That an unmarried woman would dare propose such a thing is so scandalous, even her own brother calls it “Kitty’s Folly.” Society turns against her. The Church tries to take over. Catherine must defend her choices or lose not only her inheritance, but her reputation and life’s calling.

One of the first women who seeks Catherine’s help is Margaret, a maid in the house of Lord Montague, the loudest of Catherine’s detractors. Daring to protect herself from his advances and rebel against his maxim of total obedience, Margaret is forced to flee for her life. She desperately approaches Catherine for help, setting off a series of events that haunt Catherine all her days and prompt a rule that holds today, in the real-life Sisters of Mercy.

Find it Locally and on Amazon

William Maz – The Bucharest Legacy: The Rise of the Oligarchs

The CIA is rocked to its core when a KGB defector divulges that there is a KGB mole inside the Agency. They learn that the mole’s handler is a KGB agent known as Boris. CIA analyst Bill Hefflin recognizes that name—Boris is the code name of Hefflin’s longtime KGB asset. If the defector is correct, Hefflin realizes Boris must be a triple agent, and his supposed mole has been passing false intel to Hefflin and the CIA. What’s more, this makes Hefflin the prime suspect as the KGB mole inside the Agency.

Hefflin is given a chance to prove his innocence by returning to his city of birth, Bucharest, Romania, to find Boris and track down the identity of the mole. It’s been three years since the bloody revolution, and what he finds is a cauldron of spies, crooked politicians, and a country controlled by the underground and the new oligarchs, all of whom want to find Boris. But Hefflin has a secret that no one else knows—Boris has been dead for over a year.

Find it Locally or on Amazon

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

You can see our Hall of Fame on the Goethe Grand Prize Winners, including David Calloway’s incredible book If Someday Comes here.

Your book can join the Tiers of Achievement, but only if you submit to the Goethe Awards!

Got a great Historical Fiction Story?

The 2024 Goethe Book Awards are open through the end of June!

Submit to the Goethe Awards Today!

July 23, 2024
A Chanticleer Happy Birthday to Ernest Hemingway – A Man Who Defined His Times Through Writing

This year we celebrate the 125th anniversary of the birth of one of America’s most important authors, Ernest Hemingway.

Born on July 21, 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois, the influential American literary icon changed the style of novel writing by creating prose that was straightforward and concise, while not sacrificing the emotional impact and lyrical prose. Hemingway wrote about important and timely topics, such as war and the bloody sport of bullfighting, in an accessible way without losing the underlying meaning or sacrificing the emotional reaction he strove to activate in his readers. For this reason, he continues to be celebrated today. In honor of his 125th birthday, I’ll connect three of his most famous stories with the real-life events that influenced his writing.

A Farewell to Arms – Exploring the Heart of A Young Man in Love and War

After graduating high school, Hemingway became a reporter for the Kansas City Star in Missouri, and the following year he volunteered as an ambulance driver for the Red Cross in Italy during World War I. He was wounded by mortar fire and spent months recuperating under the care of an English nurse, Agnes von Kurowsky, with whom he fell in love and had affair. She was an older woman who eventually broke Hemingway’s heart when she ended the relationship after he returned to the United States.

In A Farewell to Arms, Hemingway’s fictional character Lt. Frederic Henry falls in love with Catherine Barkley, and their relationship explores the emotional, physical, and spiritual connection Hemingway and van Kurowsky shared during the tumult of World War I.

A Moveable Feast – A Writer’s Life in 1920s Paris

Ernest Hemingway chronicled his early years as a struggling journalist and writer in Paris during the 1920s in A Moveable Feast. The work mentions Paris’s legendary bars, cafes, and hotels of the era, and gives insight into his relationships with other notable cultural figures of the “Lost Generation,” such as Sylvia Beach, Aleister Crowley, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, and Gertrude Stein.

One scene in the book offers a moment of reflection for every writer. His first wife, Hadley Richardson, mistakenly throws out the only copy of a book he’d been working on. It’s a heartbreaking scene, but one that adds to the poignancy of the story.

The Old Man and the Sea – The Death of the Writer’s Soul

After a period of frustrating writers block, Hemingway published what would become his last significant work in 1952. “The Old Man and the Sea,” a novella about an aging fisherman in pursuit of a marlin off the coast of Cuba explores how perseverance and dignity are the “weapons” used to battle through a person’s struggles in life and the theme acts as an allegory of the writer’s own struggles to preserve his art in the face of the fame and attention.

Hemingway struggled to produce a major literary work for more than a decade before the “The Old Man and the Sea” debuted, and despite some critics proclaiming it didn’t hold up next to his earlier works, the book was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1954.

We will always remember Hemingway

Oftentimes, Ernest Hemingway’s life is told as a series of amazing adventures, mental and physical suffering, lost loves, and a sad and unfortunate ending. Many would say his life was tragic, but that life provided a deep well of stories that propelled Hemingway to produce some of the most important literature in the American cannon. With the skill of a surgeon, Hemingway relied on lessons gained as a reporter to deliver emotionally impactful storytelling in a clear and concise way that many writers continue to turn to for inspiration and learning.

Happy 125th birthday, Ernest Hemingway!

Interested in exploring the times Hemingway experienced through the storytelling of today’s authors? We encourage you to dig into stories written by Chanticleer’s authors who bring to life the early days of the Twentieth Century with the following books.

Passage Home to Meuse
By Gail Noble-Sanderson
First Prize Winner in the Chatelaine CIBA Division

It’s 1923 and character Marie Durant Chagall is now 27 years old as she tells about her life-altering events inThe Passage Home to Meuse,thanks to author Gayle Noble-Sanderson. This is the second historical novel in the Meuse Trilogy. The world around Marie is still reeling from the devastation of World War I. She and the other characters in the book are learning how to continue living, and perhaps more importantly, wishing to find joy once again in life.

Marie is at home in France, seeking peace within, as well as for those around her. She looks for ways to help others who are in need, and her nursing skills come in handy to help this farming community. Nearby she’s found a sense of belonging with the Sisters at the Chapel, and her friendships continue with Henri and others.

Continue Reading here…

A War in Too Many Worlds
By Elizabeth Crowens
Grand Prize Winner in the Cygnus CIBA Division

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.

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A Week at Surfside Beach
By Pierce Koslosky Jr.
Grand Prize Winner in the Shorts CIBA Division

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

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

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

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Sower of the Black Field
By Katherine Koch

In The Sower of Black Field, Katherine Koch’s historical fiction novel, Father Viktor Koch— a 67-year-old Catholic priest— presides over a monastery in a small German village, as the Nazi regime sweeps through the country.

The time is April, 1941. Fr. Viktor’s order, the U.S.-based Passionists, built the monastery eight years prior, providing employment for most of the villagers and remaining a symbol of their faith.

Fr. Viktor has lived in Europe for over 20 years, but balances his love of Germany, its land, its mysticism, with his American roots. He will need all his personal and religious resources over the next four years as the Nazis take hold in the village and, later, the Americans come to “de-Nazify” the town and hold its people responsible for the horrors of the Holocaust.

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Thank you for joining us in celebrating America’s literary icon, Ernest Hemingway!

Do you have a book that deserves to be discovered? You can always submit your book for an Editorial Review with Chanticleer!Chanticleer Editorial Review Packages are optimized to maximize your digital footprint. Reviews are one of the most powerful tools available to authors to help sell and market their books. Find out what all the buzz is about here.

Is your book an Award Winner?

Submitting to Book Awards is a great way to get your book discovered! Anytime you advance in the Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards, your name and book are promoted right here on our website, through our newsletter, and across social media. One of the best ways to engage in long tail marketing!

The 2024 Hemingway Awards are open until Oct 31, 2024!

Thank you again to the authors who wrote these wonderful books, and to Ernest Hemingway, who inspired so many to pick up the pen!

July 21, 2024