Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: Literary

Beauty and the Bridesmaid by Lisa Souza – Chick-lit

Beauty takes a different a form in Lisa Souza’s page-turning debut novel, Beauty and the Bridesmaid.

Dorothy (Dot) Lindell tags herself as a “relationship black hole.” An overweight software geek with a loser love life whose only wish is to not die a virgin.

At her cousin’s wedding, displayed in a tightly molded purple-ish taffeta gown, Dot feels she wins the award for the ugliest bridesmaid. To add injury to insult, Dot has lost hope of an amorous hookup since her escort, Kennedy J Kennedy is gay – and the life of the party. But when he offers to trade his image consulting services for her software know-how, Dot checks the box for a complete image overhaul.

What she doesn’t realize is that her extensive overhaul is bigger, financially and physically and emotionally, than she could ever have imagined. If facial acid applications through a dermatologist aren’t enough, Dot’s personal trainer works her to death. Although it only takes her three and a half months to lose the weight through rigorous exercise program and her spanking-new meal plan, it all pales in comparison to the painful aftermath of plastic surgery.

As a result of her hard work and her surgeon’s skill, Dot is NOT the same person, anatomically speaking, than before. Changing her moniker to her middle name, Alana (Dot) enters a new world of attraction. Among her many admirers, the first person to ask her on a date is none other than her heart-throb who didn’t know she existed – even though they worked in the same office.

As told through Dot, Souza’s first person narrative describes a young woman whose involvement as a bridesmaid is less than stellar for several reasons, hideously unflattering dresses near the top of the list. Beauty and the Bridesmaid is a fascinating story that will hit the nerve of women who have ever felt or been told that their physical appearance just isn’t enough.

Souza’s distinct cast encompasses a wide range of personalities. From the down-and-outers and geeks to the haughty, and those that are purely villainous, Souza has designed much of her figures to function as foils for the main purpose of shaping Dot’s persona. Scenes continually alternate between Dot’s work, home life, friendships, and attendance at weddings as she transforms from an unattractive heavyset woman to a slim drop-dead gorgeous diva. An appealing feature of Dot’s character is her snarky comebacks, which as comedic as they are, function as her defense mechanism. Underneath her callous demeanor is actually a very humble and compassionate side that remains consistent even though she changes outwardly.

Souza slowly but steadily builds her plot with various elements to keep the story fluid. Aside from cliffhanging chapter endings and scenes replete with copious amounts of unexpected everything, Souza eliminates monotony by sprinkling the storyline with Dot’s therapy appointments, her Barbara Cartland romance reads, and bridal excerpts from Sarah Stein and Lucy Talbot’s The Bridesmaid’s Manual.

Beauty and the Bridesmaid is a perfect read with broad audience appeal for both Chick Lit and Romance aficionados.

February 1, 2017
Robbing the Pillars by Kalen Vaughan Johnson – Historical Fiction

When James MacLaren flees his native Scotland, he leaves a body behind – but not his hatred of the upper class. In England, he meets and weds Emma, but will the skeletons in their shared past remain silent?

Robbing the Pillars crosses the Atlantic and lands in Nevada City, California at the beginning of the Gold Rush, amidst the discovery of seemingly endless supplies of the precious mineral. James and Emma, now with their young daughter Charlotte, come out to California by wagon train accompanied by Emma’s best friend, Althea and her son Justin.

Along the way and upon arrival in the region, they meet friends and ruffians including an entrepreneurial chancer with a conscience, an inveterate loser with a taste for alcohol and his eye fixed on Althea, and a Mexican who finds that MacLaren is the first white man he can trust.

MacLaren involves himself in mining, engineering, and homesteading while Emma and Althea get a taste of town life and community activism. Their children meanwhile are growing up with a sense of true freedom that their European-born parents could never have known. In pursuit of his personal quest, Justin will come up against Althea’s past; and the beautiful, willful Charlotte and her father must learn to live with the pangs of lost love.

Meanwhile, the territory is changing rapidly. Big men with big ideas are taking an interest in the fate of the new state and move to monopolize its resources. Into this mix, author Vaughan Johnson has expertly interwoven both fictional characters and real “empire barons” such as Leland Stanford, Collis Huntington, and Mark Hopkins into her epic tale.

This first part of a planned series ends with the rumbling of war that splits the nation and brings about a sad parting that begs for a reunion in a later volume.

Author Kalen Vaughan Johnson has created a large canvas; her knowledge of the region – its history, the mix of cultures, the lilt of varied accents, even the cuisine – highlights her obvious talent for creating richly detailed historical fiction. The title, for example, references an arcane aspect of mining in which, as the miners retreat from a played out vein, they risk dislodging the roof pillars as they go, endangering their lives by ferreting out every last flake of gold. Johnson depicts with equal verve and realism the lives of the rich, the wannabes, and those at the bottom struggling upward.

A sweeping look at personal idealism and autonomy pitted against the forces of greed and manipulation, Robbing the Pillars is an emotive family saga solidly rooted in the American dream.

January 24, 2017
THE UGLY by Alexander Boldizar – Contemporary Satire

Words thrown as hard as boulders are easy to catch – if you’ve had practice. Just ask our hero, Muzhduk the Ugli the Fourth in Alexander Boldizar’s new release, The Ugly.

In the great tradition of existentialism, Boldizar brings us a book that is hard to classify. It has aspects of the existential with a fair amount of satirical wordplay and a bit of theater of the absurd thrown in.

An interconnected story of a Siberian Slovak tribal leader looking for a way to save his land and his people, via Harvard Law School and the Tuareg uprising in Africa. Oh, and there’s dark magic and Winnie the Pooh thrown in as well.

Muzhduk the Ugli the Fourth is a mountain of a man who comes from a tribe of Siberian Slovaks where honor is found in throwing boulders-yes, actual boulders-and either causing great damage to one’s opponent or catching said boulders without physically breaking.

When his tribe has their land taken through the clever use of legal wrangling by an American lawyer, Muzhduk heads (on foot) to Boston to attend Harvard Law School. On the way, he floats on an iceberg to the Bering Sea, plays rugby for a college in Canada, and gets a perfect LSAT, which ushers him into Harvard where he hopes to learn the words that will help him win back his land for his tribe.

It is during this part of the story that the wordplay and Muzhduk’s obvious lack of “sophistication” are most enjoyable. In this first year in law school, Muzhduk observes how words are used to challenge and crush the students, much like the boulder throwing at home. This extended metaphor of words as boulders that can be thrown and cause damage, especially in the world of law where words can be twisted and used within the multiple connotations, is where the book finds its best rhythm and is most enjoyable. It is also where Muzhduk meets an odd assortment of professors and students.

Interspersed throughout the third person, past tense narrative of Muzhduk’s first year as a One-L at Harvard, is the first person account of his travels in Africa, looking for Peggy, his American girlfriend who has been kidnapped (or perhaps not) by the Tuareg in their war with the government.

This part of the novel unfolds like layers of an onion. As the One-L year continues chronologically, Muzhduk’s journey in Africa and his reason for being there unfolds with new layers of complexity. Even now, Muzhduk discovers that the dangerous game of words as crushing boulders still is in play, but there are added dangers as well.

There were times in this novel that it felt reminiscent of Heller or Beckett, as Muzhduk is challenged to understand the strange culture of Harvard Law and also navigate his way through a tribal uprising to accomplish his goals. In both places, Harvard and Africa, the story abounds in wordplay and existential ponderings. Just like reading Beckett or Heller or Buber (there’s a reference to his I-Thou theory in the book), or any other existential writer, The Ugly isn’t for everyone and it’s not an easy read. This eccentrically irreverent work, absurd in the very best sense of the word, will amuse and enlighten.

Alexander Boldizar is the first post-independence Slovak citizen to graduate with a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School. Born in Czechoslovakia (now the Slovak Republic) in 1971, he resides in Vancouver, British Columbia Canada where he writes, works his mad skills in the economic community of Wall Street, and brings meaningful commentary as an art critic. His writing has won the PEN / Nob Hill prize, represented Bread Loaf as a nominee for Best New American Voices, and been shortlisted for a variety of other awards. He has published over one hundred articles in a variety of venues. He states that his freelance writing pays for his son’s circus school.

January 9, 2017
November Spotlight: The Somerset Awards Bring a Satisfying Conclusion to the Submissions Deadlines for the 2016 Contest Year
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November is bringing a conclusion to the calendar year and to our contest year. It’s time to submit your work to the Somerset Awards for Contemporary, Mainstream and Literary Fiction. Get your manuscripts ready! The deadline is November 30.

The Somerset Awards – A Satisfactory Conclusion to the Chanticleer Conference Year

The Somerset Awards are the traditional end to the Chanticleer contest year. These awards are an interesting mix of genres coming together under one roof for a literary Thanksgiving dinner. Literary Fiction, Mainstream Fiction and Contemporary Fiction are all related but distinct in their own ways. Literary works are non-genre, elegantly written and often focus on deep characterization. Mainstream works are stories that don’t easily fit into a specific genre but also tend toward artful prose, sometimes called literary light. Contemporary stories are primarily defined by being stories set in modern times, with settings and events that could realistically occur, but that do not fit within any particular genre. Some of the categories in the Somerset Awards are: Adventure/Suspense, Women’s Fiction (for those that don’t fit within the romance genre), Satire, and Magic Realism. The Somerset Awards are a cornucopia of these stories and we are looking forward to feasting our eyes on them.

We are honored to name the Literary, Mainstream, and Contemporary Novel Writing Competition division of the Chanticleer International Novel Writing Awards the SOMERSET AWARDS.

William Somerset Maugham (pronounced MAWm), born January 25 1875 and died December 16, 1965, was one of the most popular and highly paid authors of the 1930s. During the WWI he served in the ambulance corps and then was recruited into the British Secret Service. He traveled widely, most notably to India, Southeast Asia, and Russia before the 1917 revolution, which influenced his writing. He was a contemporary of Hemingway, E. E. Cummings, William Faulkner, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, and Evelyn Waugh.

Maugham is known for his writing’s diversity that consists of plays, short stories, and distinctive novel genres that have been adapted to film. He is well known for The Razor’s Edge, Of Human Bondage, The Moon and Sixpence, Cakes and Ale, The Magician, Rain, The Painted Veil, and his first work: Liza of Lambeth. He has twenty novels to his credit, twenty-five plays, and sixteen collections of short stories.
Here are a few of tidbits of Somerset Maugham’s wisdom:
- There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.
- The ability to quote is a serviceable substitute for wit.
- Every production of an artist should be the expression of an adventure of his soul.
- I always find it more difficult to say the things I mean than the things I don’t.
- The fact that a great many people believe something is no guarantee of its truth.
- When I read a book I seem to read it with my eyes only, but now and then I come across a passage, perhaps only a phrase, which has a meaning for me, and it becomes part of me.
- We do not write because we want to; we write because we have to.
- I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o’clock sharp.
- If you can tell stories, create characters, devise incidents, and have sincerity and passion, it doesn’t matter a damn how you write.
The Somerset Awards History of Winners:

2015

The Alexandrite by Rick Lenz won the Somerset Award category for Magic Realism and then went on to take home the 2015 Somerset Grand Prize.

“Time-travel Noir becomes High Art with a wicked sense of humor in this fast-paced novel that offers up alternate views of Hollywood’s past and present….The Alexandrite by Rick Lenz playfully challenges the reader to ask questions about a world that exists outside of the four dimensions in which we live. A must-read for anyone and everyone who has been touched by the magic of Hollywood.“

Rick Lenz is a jack-of-all-trades in show business: actor, artist, and author. He has acted alongside many of the biggest names on stage and screen, and his prismatic role playing parlayed over to the pen with a successful string of plays from Off-Broadway to PBS. When Lenz is not riding away on his next kaleidoscopic quest, he can be found painting, playing the piano, or reading at home with his beloved wife, Linda.

2014

The Manipulator by Steve London won the Somerset Award category for Satire and then went on to take home the 2014 Somerset Grand Prize.

“With a fast-paced story line and a rich cast of characters, this award-winning winning novel offers a uniquely hilarious, but scary, perspective on the how the businesses of public relations and marketing can take technology to its precipice to take advantage of a media addicted public. Lundin’s clever blending of fact and fiction alternately tempts and taunts the reader with Vlad’s prophetic question, “Are you comfortable with the edge?” Highly recommended.“

Steve Lundin is the humor column for MediaPost’s Marketing Daily and has written for the Chicago Tribune, International Watch and a variety of aviation publications. He is a writer, cartoonist, photographer, videographer, designer, amateur sociologist, pop culture expert/collector, scuba diver, motorcyclist and aviator in the making. And he knows a few things about marketing, having consulted for nearly 100 companies from Fortune 50 to a couple of guys in a garage with a business plan.

2013

Individually Wrapped by Jeremy Bullian won the Somerset Award category for Speculative Fiction and then went on to win the 2013 Somerset Awards Grand Prize.

“Individually Wrapped tells us the bizarre tale of Sam Gregory’s descent over the condensed course of a couple of days. Set in a 21st century futuristic city, technology has permeated every aspect of the city dwellers’ lives. In some ways things are more efficient: cars drive themselves, doors open on voice command, money is exchanged via thumbprints. None of the technologies presented are far-fetched; many exist today.“

Jeremy Bullian is an Assistant Professor Librarian at Hillsborough Community College. He has a strong interest in emerging technologies in librarianship but also more broadly in terms of how these new technologies affect us as individuals and as a society. He lives in Tampa, Florida with his family where he is a librarian, writer, and musician. He is currently working on a follow-up to Individually Wrapped.

2012

Rain Shine Secrets by Alice T. Robb, manuscript won a Chanticleer Review award for best manuscript, women’s fiction category, in 2012. This book should be ready for publication within the next year or two. It is about an old woman with Alzheimer’s who gets lost in Seattle for several days. She is befriended by a homeless woman. Meanwhile her grandson and his wife, who live with her, are caught up in their search for her, while also coping with their own complex relationship.

SEE YOUR NOVEL in the SPOTLIGHT!

All you have to do is to enter your manuscript or published novel into one of the genre divisions of the Chanticleer International Novel Writing Awards.

The November 30th deadline for the SOMERSET submissions is going to be here before you know it.

Don’t miss this opportunity to earn distinction for your novel. Enter our contests today!

All category winners have the opportunity to attend our spring Award Gala ceremony that takes place during the 2017 Chanticleer Authors Conference where they will be whisked up on stage to receive their ribbon in a magical evening including dinner, networking opportunities, and celebrations–not to mention free reviews, and the chance to win the grand prizes and cash![/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container][fusion_builder_container background_color=”” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”” padding_top=”20px” padding_bottom=”20px” padding_left=”0px” padding_right=”0px” hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fusion_title size=”2″ content_align=”left” style_type=”single solid” sep_color=”transparent” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” class=”” id=””]What are the Somerset Awards?[/fusion_title][/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”3_5″ last=”no” spacing=”yes” center_content=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” hover_type=”none” link=”” border_position=”all” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”” padding=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_text]Our Somerset Awards are the Chanticleer Reviews search for the best Literary, Mainstream or Contemporary books of 2016!

Chanticleer Book Reviews is looking for the best books featuring contemporary stories, literary themes, adventure, satire, humor, magic realism or women and family themes, we will put them to the test and choose the best among them.[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”2_5″ last=”yes” spacing=”yes” center_content=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” hover_type=”none” link=”” border_position=”all” border_size=”1px” border_color=”#606060″ border_style=”solid” padding=”10px” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_text]

Our Chanticleer Review Writing Contests feature more than $30,000.00 worth of cash and prizes each year!

~$1,000 Overall Grand Prize Winner Purse
~$2,800 in Genre Grand Prizes Purses
~$28,980 in reviews, prizes, and promotional opportunities awarded to Category Winners

[/fusion_text][fusion_button link=”https://www.chantireviews.com/services#!/Contemporary-&-Mainstream-Novel-Writing-Contest/p/21521214/category=5193080″ color=”darkgray” size=”” stretch=”” type=”” shape=”” target=”_blank” title=”” gradient_colors=”|” gradient_hover_colors=”|” accent_color=”” accent_hover_color=”” bevel_color=”” border_width=”1px” icon=”” icon_position=”left” icon_divider=”no” modal=”” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”1″ animation_offset=”” alignment=”center” class=”” id=””]Enter Somerset Awards[/fusion_button][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container][fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fusion_text]

Don’t delay. Enter today!

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November 10, 2016
The UNEVEN ROAD: Book Two of First Light by Linda Cardillo — a coming of age novel

Ringing with the changes from the deceptively placid 1950s to the turbulent 1960s, from the picturesque New England island of Martha’s Vineyard to the bloody jungles of Viet Nam, The Uneven Road is a sophisticated coming-of-age novel that intersects with historical events of this period.

The second book of Linda Cardillo’s award-winning series, First Light, is written with verve and intelligence. Cardillo carefully constructs The Uneven Road with rich characterizations, diverging and interlocking plot elements, and fine attention to detail that explores family dynamics and the search for individual identity.

This gripping saga continues when Izzy, Mae and Tobias’ seven-year-old daughter, contracts polio. Their twelve-year-old boy, Josiah, feels responsible not only for his sister’s pain, but all the troubles in his small world. Jo’s conflicted feelings escalate when he realizes that Mae’s island property, Innisfree, will be sold to pay for Izzy’s surgery. Even though he loves Izzy and wants her to walk without crutches, his parent’s cold-blooded willingness to part with Innisfree drives Jo to smash an important symbol of his past, the ceremonial Wampanoag drum bestowed on him by Tobias, and then runs away to Boston, where he stays with his Irish uncle, a policeman. Finally he enlists in the army, winding up as a medic on the killing fields of Viet Nam.

Cardillo’s precise writing adds credibility to the vivid scenes that take place in Viet Nam where Jo struggles with the necessity to kill the enemy while charged with saving lives. Later, the author, again, deftly describes Jo’s very different experiences when he returns to the US, where he hangs out in a commune. No matter, Jo maintains his family contact mostly through Izzy, now in college on the mainland. Back on Chappy, Mae, going through her own changes, longs to see her son again. His journey home with Izzy and her friend Grace will re-connect him with his people, both Irish and Native American, and reveals to him that he and his mother are more alike than they ever thought possible.

Captivatingly infused with often raw emotions and haunting memories of race, heritage, culture, and family dynamics, The Uneven Road, scatters its characters over time and place and draws them back together again with enduring values of family love and respect for heritage.

October 13, 2016
REMEMBRANCE OF BLUE ROSES by Yorker Keith, a passionate literary novel

U.N. Human Resources Officer Mark Graham Sanders find his life turned inside out when a chance encounter reunites him with his friend, fellow U.N. colleague, Hans, and Hans’ beautiful, enigmatic wife, Yukari. Mark enters into this triangular friendship convinced that, although attracted to Yukari, he can maintain an appropriate emotional distance and still enjoy the deepening bonds of the trio’s relationship.

As the three friends grow closer, they discover their bond goes back several generations through their descendants, prompting Yukari to claim that destiny has brought them together. In tribute to this almost magical connection, the two men steal out to plant a rare variety of blue roses in the U.N. garden in Yukari’s honor.

In the meantime without warning, Yukari’s world is shattered when she learns of her husband’s infidelity. With a calm resolve, she takes Mark into her confidence, revealing her plan to divorce Hans. Mark’s loyalty to Hans pushes him to help the couple reconcile, and when Yukari becomes pregnant with Hans’ child, peace seems to return. But the quiet grace and gossamer vulnerability surrounding Yukari draws Mark in, like a moth to a bonfire. And when Hans’ quest for “meaning” in his life takes him to another continent, leaving Mark to care for Yukari during her pregnancy, tragedy beckons.

Set in the rich cultural backdrop of New York City, author Yorker Keith uses precise language and an insightful first-person narrative to explore the myriad facets of complex emotional relationships. A struggle of personal integrity allows his main character, Mark, to develop deeper levels of human understanding, to accept his own imperfections and rediscover himself while Han’s crisis of conscience forces him into a position of atonement. Yukari, like Madame Butterfly, spans the entire range of tragic, elegant love.

Yorker Keith’s Remembrance of Blue Roses is a slow-burning, passionate literary novel that speaks to the romantic in all of us.

July 21, 2016
The Official List of the Chanticleer 2015 Grand Prize Winners of the Blue Ribbon Writing Competitions

We are excited and honored to have announced the 2015 grand prize award winners at the third annual Chanticleer Authors Conference’s Awards Banquet held on Saturday, April. 30th, 2016 at the Hotel Bellwether by beautiful Bellingham Bay, Wash.

We want to thank all of those who entered and participated in the fiercely competitive 2015 Chanticleer International Writing Competitions.

Our next Awards Banquet will be held on April 1st, 2017, for the 2016 winners. Enter your book or manuscript in a contest today!

CBR– Discovering Today’s Best Books with the CBR BLUE RIBBON Writing Competitions!

The Chanticleer Grand Prize Award 2015 for Overall Best Book:

Daughter of Destiny by Nicole Evelina was awarded the Chanticleer Overall Grand Prize for the Best Book in the 2015 Chanticleer International Writing Competitions. Congratulations to author Nicole Evelina.

The Chanticleer Genre Grand Prize 2015 Winners are as follows:

The Cygnus Grand Prize for SciFi and Fantasy Fiction 2015 was awarded to:

The Great Symmetry
by James Wells

View Cygnus Category 1st Place Winners

The Journey Grand Prize Ribbon for Narrative Non-fiction 2015 was awarded to:

Rhythm for Sale
by Grant Harper Reid

View Journey Category 1st Place Winners

The M&M Grand Prize Ribbon for Mystery & Mayhem Fiction 2015 was awarded to:

There’s Something About Marty
by Wendy Delaney

View Mystery & Mayhem Category 1st Place Winners

The Dante Rossetti Grand Prize Ribbon for YA Fiction 2015 was awarded to:

The Girl and the Clockwork Cat
by Nikki McCormack

View Dante Rossetti Category 1st Place Winners

The Chaucer Grand Prize Ribbon for Historical Fiction 2015 was awarded to:

Valhalla Revealed
by Robert A Wright

View Chaucer Category 1st Place Winners

The Laramie Grand Prize Ribbon for Western, Pioneer, Civil War Fiction 2015 was awarded to:

Doctor Kinney’s Housekeeper
by Sara Dahmen

View Laramie Category 1st Place Winners

The Chatelaine Grand Prize Ribbon for Women’s Fiction and Romantic Fiction 2015 was awarded to:

Daughter of Destiny
by Nicole Evelina

View Chatelaine Category 1st Place Winners

The CLUE Grand Prize Ribbon for Mystery/Thriller/Suspense Fiction 2015 was awarded to:

Blood Relations
by Lonna Enox

View CLUE Category 1st Place Winners

The Paranormal Grand Prize Ribbon for Paranormal/Supernatural Fiction 2015 was awarded to:

The Aurora Affair
by Carolyn Haley

View Paranormal Category 1st Place Winners

The Somerset Grand Prize Ribbon for Literary, Contemporary, & Mainstream Fiction 2015 was awarded to:

The Alexandrite
by Richard Lenz

View Somerset Category 1st Place Winners

Now this is something to CROW about!

Enter Your Book or Manuscript in a contest!

Please note that the above awards are for submissions that we received in 2015. The award winners were acknowledge at the 2016 annual Chanticleer Authors Conference and Awards Banquet on Saturday, April 30th, 2016.

The winners of the 2016 Chanticleer Blue Ribbon Writing Competitions (works entered in 2016) will be recognized at the 2017 Chanticleer Authors Conference and Awards Banquet held April 1st, 2017. Reserve your spot now.

We invite you to read the Chanticleer editorial book reviews of these stellar works. The reviews will be published on our website and in the Chanticleer Reviews online magazine. If they are not currently posted, they will be posted as they are reviewed! Congratulations, again, to these award winning authors!

For more information about the Chanticleer International Writing Competitions, please visit our Writing Contests pages.

We are currently accepting 2016 and 2017 contest entries: CBR International Blue Ribbon Writing Competitions.

We would like to thank our sponsors who make the Chanticleer Blue Ribbon Writing Competitions and the Chanticleer Authors Conference possible.

May 2, 2016
The SOMERSET Awards for Contemporary & Literary Fiction 2015 First Place Category Winners
The Somerset Awards Writing Competition recognizes emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Contemporary/Literary Fiction. The SOMERSET Awards is a division of Chanticleer International Novel Writing Competitions.

We are honored to announce the 2015 SOMERSET Awards Official First Place Category Winners. Good Luck to them as they compete for the 2015 SOMERSET Grand Prize Award.

Congratulations to the 2015 SOMERSET Awards First In Category Award Winning Contemporary/Literary Fiction Novels:
- Contemporary: Tom And Nancy Wise – Life On Base: Quantico Cave
- Women’s Fiction: Kayce Stevens Hughlett – Blue: a novel
- Speculative Fiction/Magical Realism: Rick Lenz – The Alexandrite
- Literary: Caitlin Hicks – A Theory of Expanded Love
- Mystery/Suspense: Judith Kirscht – Hawkins Lane
- Adventure/Action: Jen Michalski – The Tide King
- Blended Genres: Gary Grossman – Old Earth
Honorable Mentions:
- J.P. Kenna – Toward a Terrible Freedom
- James Gregory Kingston – The City Island Messenger
- Cat Lynn Boyle – Shadow Dance
- Tom Glenn – The Trion Syndrome
More than $30,000 dollars in cash and prizes are awarded to Chanticleer International Blue Ribbon Awards Winners annually.

The SOMERSET First Place Category award winners will compete for the SOMERSET Grand Prize Award for the 2015 Contemporary/Literary Fiction Novel. Grand Prize winners, blue ribbons, and prizes will be announced and awarded on April 30, 2016 at the Chanticleer Authors Conference and Awards Gala, Bellingham, Wash.

The First In Category award winning titles will receive an award package including a complimentary Chanticleer Book Review of the winning title, digital award badges, shelf talkers, book stickers, and more.

We are now accepting entries into the 2016 SOMERSET Awards. The deadline is November 30, 2016. Click here for more information or to enter.

Congratulations to those who made the SOMERSET Awards 2015 FIRST PLACE official listing.

More than $30,000 worth of cash and prizes will be awarded to the 2015 Chanticleer Novel Writing Competition winners! Ten genres to enter your novels and compete on an international level.

Who will take home the $1,000 purse this coming April at the Chanticleer Awards Gala and Banquet?
March 20, 2016
WAKE ME UP by Justin Bog — a psychological mystery/suspense literary work

A teenage boy lies in a coma, mentally reliving the events leading up to his attack by a gang of classmates on a random wilding spree.

From his hospital bed, Chris Bullet suffers the aftermath of being cornered, mocked, and bludgeoned by boys who have correctly sensed his vulnerability (from their viewpoint)—he is gay, though Chris tries to hide it. Comatose, Chris “sees” through closed eyes the hidden actions, fears, loves, and guilt of those whose lives intersect his.

Why did Ellis, the boy Chris secretly desired, join his attackers? Why is Geoff, Chris’ lawyer father, so depressed, and indeed, suicidal? Why does Chris’ poetess/professor mother clamp the lid so tightly on her feelings? In the middle of this triangle, is a visiting writer named Deepika who begins an affair with Geoff, is going to have his “love” child, Chris’s half-sibling. All the while, Deepika may be running away from her own fate. Somehow, Chris walks in the minds of these people and others, slowly comprehending what led to his attack. At times he accesses an alter ego, the main character in Deepika’s latest collection of short fiction—Sai, a quick-witted, openly gay newspaper reporter.

The genius of author Justin’s Bog’s first full-length novel is that though everything Chris “knows” and recounts in his inner monologue is mysterious, maybe mystical, there is no hint of hocus-pocus, nor of the vague disjointed dream sequences one might expect from an unconscious protagonist.

In the brief lead-up and denouement we see reality clearly: the attack and the aftermath. In between, everything that “happens” to Chris in his shut-off state is just as real and just as believable–but impossible. It would be hard to identify a literary precedent for this method of construction—Franz Kafka, perhaps, meets Lewis Carroll.

Bog’s Wake Me Up is a mind-tickling read, combining a headline-grabbing story (defenseless boy battered to mental oblivion by brutish thugs), an over-arching theme (how do we as a society handle hate crime?), and a line-up of complex characters subtly analyzed and connected in the mind of a brilliant, hypersensitive, but comatose adolescent.

Wake Me Up is a trip through the brain of an injured teenage boy whose supercharged perceptions expose the secret sins of those he wants to love and hopes to believe in.

March 20, 2016
The SOMERSET Awards for Literary and Contemporary Novels 2015 – Official Finalist Listing
The Somerset Awards Writing Competition recognizes emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genres of Literary and Contemporary Novels. The Somerset Awards is a division of Chanticleer International Novel Writing Competitions.

More than $30,000.00 dollars worth of cash and prizes will be awarded to Chanticleer Book Reviews 2015 writing competition winners at the Chanticleer Authors Conference April 30, 2016!

The Somerset Awards FIRST IN CATEGORY sub-genres are:
- Literary
- Contemporary
- Adventure/Suspense
- Humor/Satire
- Women’s Fiction
- Magic Realism
The following titles will compete for the FIRST IN CATEGORY Positions and Awards Packages.

This is the OFFICIAL FINALIST POSTING of Authors and Titles that have made it to the Short-list of the Somerset 2015 Novel Writing Contest.
- Gail Cleare – Secrets We Keep
- ~CRK – Beyond the Further Sea
- Victoria Hughes – The Cloister Door
- Stanley Levers – Kuiperbelt Scrapyard
- Tom And Nancy Wise – Life On Base: Quantico Cave
- J.P. Kenna – Toward a Terrible Freedom
- Geoff Sokol – Will the Axe Hurt
- Patricia A. Williams – The Two Weddings of Zhao Ping
- Laurence Klinger – Billy
- Mary Avery Kabrich – Once Upon a Time a Sparrow
- Karen Fitzpatrick – After the Rain
- Kayce Stevens Hughlett – Blue: a novel
- Patrick M. Garry – Blind Spots
- Tom Glenn – The Trion Syndrome
- Rick Lenz – The Alexandrite
- Cat Lynn Boyle – Shadow Dance
- Kenneth Stokes – Return to Villa Serena
- R Schick – Little Light
- Gail Cleare – Secrets We Keep
- C.G. Fewston – A Time to Love in Tehran
- Jen Michalski – The Tide King
- James Gregory Kingston – The City Island Messenger
- Rian Everest – Tangerine Tigress
- Andreas Morgner – Kinyamaswa
- Beth Burgmeyer – The Gathering
- Judith Kirscht – Hawkins Lane
- Gary Grossman – Old Earth
- Caitlin Hicks – A Theory of Expanded Love
- N J Cooper – Beat The Rain
- Stephen Glines for Poplar Hill or Kitty Stevenson’s Two Wakes
- James Zerndt – Brailling For Wile
- Miriam Polli – In A Vertigo of Silence
- Steve Bruno – Blinded by the Light
- Jacinda DeRoy – Finding Hopewood Lane
The Somerset Finalists will compete for the Somerset Awards First In Category Positions, which consists of Four Judging Rounds. First Place Category Award winners will automatically be entered into the Somerset GRAND PRIZE AWARD competition, which has a cash prize of $200 or $500 dollars in editorial services. The CBR Grand Prize Genre Winners will compete for the CBR Overall Grand Prize for Best Book and its $1,000 purse.
- All First In Category Award Winners will receive high visibility along with special badges to wear during the Chanticleer Authors Conference and Awards Gala.
- First In Category winners will compete for the Somerset Awards Grand Prize Award for the $200 purse and the Somerset Grand Prize Ribbon and badges.
- TEN genre Grand Prize winning titles will compete for the $1,000 purse for CBR Best Book and Overall Grand Prize.
- A coveted Chanticleer Book Review of the winning title valued at $345 dollars U.S. CBR reviews will be published in the Chanticleer Reviews magazine in chronological order as to posting.
- A CBR Blue Ribbon to use in promotion at book signings and book festivals
- Digital award stickers for on-line promotion
- Adhesive book stickers
- Shelf-talkers and other promotional items
- Promotion in print and on-line media
- Review of book distributed to on-line sites and printed media publications
- Review, cover art, and author synopsis listed in CBR’s newsletter
- Default First in Category winners will not be declared. Contests are based on merit and writing craft in all of the Chanticleer Writing Competitions.
As always, please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions, concerns, or suggestions at Info@ChantiReviews.com.

Congratulations to the Finalists in this fiercely competitive contest!
Good Luck to all of the Somerset Finalists as they compete for the coveted First Place Category positions.

First In Category announcements will be made in our social media postings as the results come in.

The Somerset Grand Prize Winner and the First Place Category winners will be announced and recognized at the April 30th, 2016 Chanticleer Writing Contests Annual Awards Gala, which takes place on the last evening of the Chanticleer Authors Conference that will be held in Bellingham, Wash.

We are now accepting submissions into the 2016 CLUE Awards writing competitions for Western Fiction. Please click here for more information or to enter the contests.
March 13, 2016