Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: Pacific Northwest

Launch into Boating Season with 5 Inspiring Nautical Adventures

What Opens but Never Closes? The Opening Day of Boating Season

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Opening Day of Boating Season

Here are five of our favorite reads from authors who followed their dreams to sail away.

One couple (with two teenagers in tow – yikes!) started by building their boat in the backyard of their suburban home; two who started only with the love for each other, the support of friends and family, and a dilapidated hull and a three cylinder iron works engine; one whose true story will make you reconsider taking to the tall seas; one whose story will inspire you to look beyond society’s conventional solutions and rationalizations and to plot your own course; and one who shares how an everyday couple made their dream come true of sailing the Pacific Ocean on a 31-foot boat and a tight budget.

[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container][fusion_builder_container backgroundcolor=”” backgroundimage=”” backgroundrepeat=”no-repeat” backgroundposition=”left top” backgroundattachment=”scroll” video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” bordersize=”0px” bordercolor=”” borderstyle=”” paddingtop=”20px” paddingbottom=”20px” paddingleft=”0px” paddingright=”0px” menu_anchor=”” equal_height_columns=”no” hundred_percent=”no” 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_text]Boating season begins in the Pacific Northwest on the first Saturday in May, a tradition which goes back to the 1920’s. To celebrate, we thought we would offer you this superb reading list of true story boating adventures by local northwest authors.

After all, if you are going to be spending time boating this summer, or enjoy dreaming about boating from your lawn chair, stocking your library is just as important as stocking your galley!

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More Faster Backwards: Rebuilding David B by Christine Smith

“Christine Smith and her husband Jeffrey race against time, money, and natural elements to save the David B—the vessel that they bet all of their resources on in hopes of making their dream of owning and operating a small expedition cruise boat in the Pacific Northwest come true.

“More Faster Backwards, Rebuilding David B” seamlessly mixes nautical terms with natural elements and boat builder’s craft. Those who enjoy cooking and baking will also discover it a delightful read. Seafaring people will sail through the narrative like soul mates, but landlubbers might appreciate a glossary of boating terms. The map provides great references and the photo albums heighten the pleasure.

More Faster Backwards, Rebuilding David B by Christine Smith won the Grand Prize of the Journey Awards for Narrative Non-fiction, a division of Chanticleer Book Reviews Blue Ribbon Writing Competitions.” Read full review…

Christine Smith started working on tour and whale watching boats in 2001. It combined her love for nature and her interest in helping others to enjoy it. She is also an avid birder, and has worked as a volunteer interpreter for the Eagle Watchers on the Skagit River from 1997 to 2008, she helps visitors observe the local eagle population. She is also a founding member of the Northwest Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, which became part of Whatcom Humane Society in 2014. She served for two years as a board member and Secretary for the North Cascades Audubon Society in Bellingham, Washington. When not watching birds or cooking on the David B, Christine enjoys running, ice skating and downhill skiing. [/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container][fusion_builder_container backgroundcolor=”” backgroundimage=”” backgroundrepeat=”no-repeat” backgroundposition=”left top” backgroundattachment=”scroll” video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” bordersize=”0px” bordercolor=”” borderstyle=”solid” paddingtop=”20px” paddingbottom=”20px” paddingleft=”20px” paddingright=”20px” menu_anchor=”” equal_height_columns=”no” hundred_percent=”no” 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_text]

Cape Horn: One Man’s Dream, One Woman’s Nightmare by Réanne Hemingway-Douglass

“In Cape Horn: One Man’s Dream, One Woman’s Nightmare,” Réanne Hemingway-Douglass vividly recreates a sailing voyage in which she and her husband Don set out to round Cape Horn. As the reader discovers, they never quite got there. Meanwhile, Hemingway-Douglass shares the heady magic of starlit nights and breathtaking dawns, grueling and toilsome days, emotions ranging from joy to absolute terror, and a determination not to give up hope when all seems lost.” Read full review…

Réanne Hemingway-Douglass is a sailor, writer, cyclist and language teacher. Here articles have appeared in numerous outdoor magazines. Her best-selling book, Cape Horn: One Man’s Dream, One Woman’s Nightmare, has been published in French and Italian and is being translated into Spanish. In the 1980s, Réanne led the first women’s bicycling team to cross Tierra del Fuego at the tip of South America.[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container][fusion_builder_container backgroundcolor=”#f8fafb” backgroundimage=”” backgroundrepeat=”no-repeat” backgroundposition=”left top” backgroundattachment=”scroll” video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” bordersize=”4px” bordercolor=”#4687bf” borderstyle=”solid” paddingtop=”20px” paddingbottom=”20px” paddingleft=”20px” paddingright=”20px” menu_anchor=”” equal_height_columns=”no” hundred_percent=”no” 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_text]

Home on the Waves by Patrick Hill

“Family, love, and adventure are all tied together in Patrick Hill’s alluring travel memoir “Home on the Waves.” It’s a story set in the 1970’s that provides remarkable insight into the lives of a family exploring the open ocean and discovering new cultures and people.

Hill’s memoir is an excellent read for everyone interested in reading about out-of-the-ordinary lifestyles and family adventures, even if they have never set foot on a boat.

“Home on the Waves” brings life to exotic cultures, sailing, and family life in 1970’s America. It’s a true story that will inspire readers to seek their own adventures and find ways of making dreams come true.” Read the full review…

Patrick Hill, with wife Heather and family, have been sailing out of Vancouver, B.C. for years. They’ve owned nine sailboats from a 17′ to a 42′ boat, Sky One Hundred which they built. They have cruised extensively, written articles for magazines, made presentations to yacht clubs, libraries, the Vancouver Aquarium, and a major Alaskan cruise line[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container][fusion_builder_container backgroundcolor=”” backgroundimage=”” backgroundrepeat=”no-repeat” backgroundposition=”left top” backgroundattachment=”scroll” video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” bordersize=”0px” bordercolor=”” borderstyle=”solid” paddingtop=”20px” paddingbottom=”20px” paddingleft=”20px” paddingright=”20px” menu_anchor=”” equal_height_columns=”no” hundred_percent=”no” 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_text]

Prepare to Come About by Christine Wallace

“Christine struggles with her loss of identity as a successful professional, a role model, a caring mother, and a supportive spouse while she battles with the economic recession, personal depression, and, worst of all, her own loss of trust in herself and her capabilities.

Her fractured family makes an unorthodox choice that pivots them all into unfamiliar waters. Their lifeline comes in the form of a tall ship named Zodiac and its enigmatic captain. Life or death challenges and unforeseen moments of wonder and awe await Christine and her family. As they venture forth together in this new venture, the family members reconnect and rebuild their lives.” Read full review…

Christine Wallace is the author of two books including The Pocket Doula and Prepare to Come About. Her work has appeared in the literary journal Clover (vol. 3, 2012, vol. 6, 2014). Christine was founder and CEO of “Gracewinds Perinatal”, a nationally award winning business. Christine currently resides in the Pacific Northwest onboard an ex-forestry boat with her husband, youngest daughter and a seaworthy tabby named Lucky Jack. [/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container][fusion_builder_container backgroundcolor=”#f8fafb” backgroundimage=”” backgroundrepeat=”no-repeat” backgroundposition=”left top” backgroundattachment=”scroll” video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” bordersize=”4px” bordercolor=”#4687bf” borderstyle=”solid” paddingtop=”20px” paddingbottom=”20px” paddingleft=”20px” paddingright=”20px” menu_anchor=”” equal_height_columns=”no” hundred_percent=”no” 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_text]

Tightwads on the Loose by Wendy Hinman

“Tightwads on the Loose – A Seven Year Pacific Odyssey” opens with a map of the Pacific Ocean that showed the voyage of the sailing vessel Velella starting and ending in Seattle. Soon the reader is immersed in the plans of Wendy and her husband, Garth, to set sail on their open-ended adventure. And we wonder how long an introvert, whose motto is “always be prepared,” can live in tight quarters with an extrovert whose motto is “just wing it.”

This book will definitely appeal to those who are curious about sea voyaging. Armchair travelers will find a diversity of cultural experiences, historical details, and adventures for their entertainment and education. Come on board and sail away with the intrepid Wendy Hinman and her humorous and ingenious insights about life at sea.” Read full review…

Wendy Hinman, author, editor, and speaker, has shared her sailing adventures through emails and her blog. She is a regular contributor to the Magazines 48 North and Latitude 38. Wendy’s also been featured in Sail, Cruising World, Sailing, CYC Leadline, Hebe Jebees (Hong Kong) and Kazi Magazine (Japan).[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

Enjoy getting to know these intrepid souls by visiting their websites for more information and the latest updates on their adventures.

Reanne Hemingway-Douglass

Patrick Hill

Wendy Hinman

Christine Smith

Chris Wallace

Fair Winds and Following Seas!

May 7, 2016
How to Become a Jedi Knight at Book Marketing by Susan Colleen Browne

“You can’t become a Jedi at whatever it is you’re doing unless you know it.” Jeni Britton Bauer.

Take book marketing. A lot of students in the writing classes that I teach are really intimidated at the thought of marketing and promoting their book. But it’s not rocket science.

To get started, you can go to writers’ networking meetings, see what other authors are doing—maybe launch a blog or update your existing one, or join Goodreads and run a contest. You can attend events like the Chanticleer conference, and learn more about social media or refresh your marketing skill set—perhaps get up to speed with book clubs or the latest in online retailers’ promotions, or meet experts in book marketing you may want to collaborate with.

Once you’ve assessed your options, you can focus on the strategies that especially resonate with you. If you’re the adventuresome type, you can also try the proverbial “throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks” approach. Whatever you choose, you can make the most of your marketing funds if those tools not only fit your budget and available time, but are those you’re most likely to follow up on.

Whether you’ve published your book or you’re an aspiring author, keep your eyes open for inspiration in unexpected places. I recently came across a piece in More magazine about updating your elevator pitch. To take your pitch or tagline from generic to sparkling, don’t begin with your name. Instead, tell a personal mini-story, then use vivid language to briefly describe what sets you apart. (From Robin Hatcher of SpeakEtc., a company that focuses on communication and presentation skills.)

Ms. Bauer (see the Jedi quote, above) is an ice cream impresario, who not only makes ice cream but lives it. She isn’t talking about executing something perfectly, but mastering a skill until it comes organically to you. And having a great time doing it! Which brings us back to writing…

Many authors say the best marketing you can do is to write your next book. So…above all, reserve the mental bandwidth you need for storytelling, keep refining your editing talents, nurture your creativity and have fun! Hopefully, you’ll find a balance between writing, promotion, and cultivating an interesting and creative life.

May the Force be with you!

A note from Kiffer Brown:

I would like to thank Susan Colleen Browne for her guest blog-post. Susan will present several sessions at the Chanticleer Authors Conference that will be held on April 29, 30, & May 1, 2016 in Bellingham, Wash. She writes Irish stories about love, friendship, and family. You can find her books available for purchase at the Books By the Bay Fair that will be held in conjunction with the conference.

We invite you to visit Susan’s delightful website for more information and for links on how to order her books.

April 23, 2016
HOME ON THE WAVES: A Pacific Sailing Adventure by Patrick Hill

Family, love, and adventure are all tied together in Patrick Hill’s alluring travel memoir Home on the Waves. It’s a story set in the 1970’s that provides remarkable insight into the lives of a family exploring the open ocean and discovering new cultures and people.

Hill’s memoir is an excellent read for everyone interested in reading about out-of-the-ordinary lifestyles and family adventures, even if they have never set foot on a boat.

As a previous liveaboard and fellow sailor, I enjoyed reading a story that showed the family’s journey in becoming familiar with the sea. Their adventure starts with Patrick, a civil engineer, sitting in his office reliving fond memories of his days on the water.

He decides to take action and create more treasured memories and to share his love of sailing with his wife and children. That momentous decision will disrupt his normal life with its mortgage almost paid off and a boss not expecting him to ask for an extended leave of absence just so he could go sailing.

From start to finish, we see every step of Patrick and his family’s adventures in building the boat and getting it into the water. I particularly liked watching them build the boat in the backyard, and reading about all the BBQs they had and the friends they made (and neighbors they probably annoyed).

A novel and compelling addition to this engaging memoir is his incorporation of his family’s perspectives. His wife, Heather, and his children Jeremy and Erica, voice their experiences, including both the happy memories and the frustrations of living together on a 42-foot sailboat with one head (toilet) over fourteen months and across 15,000 miles at sea while moving at an average speed of five miles per hour.

This family travel memoir uses some technical terms of boating and lingo of sailors, adding to the genuine nautical ambiance of the story. I found it fascinating to read about sailing during the 70’s before computer technology was available to individuals. Cell phones, personal computers, chart-plotters, “epirbs” for satellite location, and other gadgetry didn’t exist. Noon sights had to be taken from hand-held sexton for navigation, printed charts were a must, and de-salinator water makers were not readily available, so gathering rain water using tried and true methods was essential.

What really makes this memoir a special gem are all the nuances incorporated into the chapters. I learned about pleasingly random things such as how to make limes last longer and on which side to wear a flower in your hair when attending local festivities. As well, Hill is unflinchingly honest about the less glamorous aspects of sailing: trash on the shores, paying people off to get gas, and long johns. Are you wondering what they are (and they are not what you thinking)? Join Hill and his family to find out.

The Hill family definitely was at home on the waves as they sailed down the coast from Vancouver, British Columbia to Mexico, over to the Marquesas, on to Bora Bora, and finally, back north to Alaska. As I sailed with them, I kept an atlas nearby to orient myself to major points. This gave me a deeper “armchair adventure” to the South Pacific and to Alaska. I was engaged quickly and then transported because there was never a dull moment in this Pacific sailing adventure and Hill graciously supplied photographs of the family’s journey.

Home on the Waves brings life to exotic cultures, sailing, and family life in 1970’s America. It’s a true story that will inspire readers to seek their own adventures and find ways of making dreams come true. Here’s to the Hill family and their adventures, their boat, Sky One Hundred, and to all those who follow their dreams.

April 21, 2016
THE CLOUD SEEDERS by James Zerndt, a dystopian-future novel

Environmental dangers, such as recent droughts on the West Coast, motivate many writers to explore futures where significant resources are scarce. Imagine a world where water is a rare, precious gem that people are trying to snatch up. James Zerndt builds a dystopian future in his novel The Cloud Seeders where the lack of water, and more importantly rain, has resulted in a dictatorial regime with water police, severe punishments, and near total control.

Enter Thomas, his little brother Dustin, and Thomas’ girlfriend Jerusha.

Zerndt is an expert on point-of-view and he crafts memorable characters who have unique assets and flaws. The juxtaposed positions of Thomas being a young enforcer for the water police and Jerusha being a member of a secret society that resists the regime offers a fascinating view of young love and its willingness to put up with opposing worldviews. Dustin’s surprising capabilities further round out a strong set of diverse characters. Zerndt’s three-dimensional characters remind the reader that none of us are all good or all bad – we have faults and strengths that set the foundation for who we are and who we will become.

A prose professional, Zerndt’s pages are filled with dynamic characters and scene building craft that grips the reader from the beginning to the end. The poems between chapters, written by the two brothers’ deceased mother, are carefully crafted and also capture the reader’s attention.

The adventure the three characters go on is fraught with realistic and compelling subplots that pull you along and make you want to keep reading late into the night. The scenery has a fresh perspective that puts the reader into Orwellian territory as the devastation to the country is revealed through the storyline.

Even though this novel, which crosses the genres of science fiction, new adult, romance, and dystopian, presents a coming-of-age story, I would recommend it to either young adults with parental guidance (PG) or the 18-year-old and over audience because the coarse language, sexual content, and violence–while not gratuitous–still permeates this riveting story.

Readers will be enthralled by the novel’s climax, which is both clever and believable. The ending begs the question of what’s next.

The Cloud Seeders is a gripping dystopian-future novel that leaves us questioning just how far are we from a future of environmental chaos, and how blurred the line can be between fiction and reality.

April 8, 2016
TIMBER ROSE by J. L. Oakley – 1900s historical fiction in the PNW

In the early 1900s, an independent young woman is forced to choose between family ties and romantic love, and face the consequences of her decision.

Caroline Symington could live out the privileged life that her birth in a well-to-do family entitles her to, but her nascent notions of feminism take her on adventurous hikes and climbs in the northwestern mountains, where she meets a man whose grit matches her own. He gradually lures her to a far different destiny—one that she willing embraces over the path her parents have planned for her.

Bob Alford, son of Scandinavian immigrants, is a tough logger sympathetic to the union struggles with Caroline’s wealthy relatives. He loves hiking just like Caroline. She disguises her surname when they first meet, with near-disastrous consequences to their growing and mutual affection. Once the two acknowledge their feelings with total honesty, marriage is the next logical step, even though it will alienate Caroline’s family.

Life for Caroline with her chosen mate (rather than a husband preferred by her father) will involve unexpected sacrifices. His new job as a forest -ranger will take him away from home for days at a time. Pregnancy looms as a hoped for event, while childbirth, alone in the wilderness, is a terrifying prospect.

Luckily, there is a female soul-mate in the wings for Caroline, a fellow feminist named Cathy, and, for Bob, a mysterious and canny mountain man, Micah, who will provide rescue more than once. But before the young couple can really be free to live as they choose, they must face down the hypocritical, haughty Symington clan and prove that love can conquer both snobbery and scurrilous terror tactics.

Spanning the years from 1907 to the rumors of the world war in 1916, this historical romance by award-winning author J. L. Oakley assuredly creates and sustains a magical love affair between Caroline and Bob, while successfully tackling a multitude of overarching themes: the determination of American working men to act collectively against self-seeking business titans; the will of American women to demand their autonomy despite the many subtle societal forces holding them back; and the formation of American national parks to preserve and protect nature’s beauty.

Set at a time when the old ways were yielding to the industrial age on a number of significant fronts, Timber Rose is a timeless love story on a human scale, but one with a heart as big as the mountains of the great Pacific Northwest.

April 4, 2016
BANISHED THREADS by Kaylin McFarren – a standout romantic thriller

Chase and Rachel travel to England on board the Stargazer, intent on enjoying a week of vacation and receiving her uncle’s blessing for their marriage. Though this should be a joyous time for the couple, all is not well.

Rachel is four months into a difficult and unintended pregnancy, and she’s feeling ambivalent about becoming a mother. Chase, though pleased about the baby, is having mixed feelings about his proposal of marriage, regardless of how much he loves Rachel. Rachel is acting distant, and he’s wondering whether a marriage with someone who doesn’t seem as committed as he is has any hope of succeeding.

In addition to his troubled thoughts surrounding their relationship, Chase knows he faces an uphill battle with regard to receiving Paul Lyon’s blessing. Paul blames Chase for the drowning death of his brother, Rachel’s father, and odds are good that he’ll never forgive Chase. Chase is well aware that Rachel holds the power to persuade her uncle to approve of their marriage, but to do that, she’ll have to convince him that she’s truly in love with Chase, a fact even Chase isn’t all that confident of.

When a thief makes off with a priceless collection of paintings from Paul Lyon’s estate, Chase seizes on the opportunity to help solve the crime and win back the good graces of his soon-to-be uncle-in-law. But the theft becomes complicated by unsolved murders, both in the present and from the past. The police are taking a close look at Paul Lyons and his wife, Sara, for those murders, and Chase is terrified that Rachel and the baby will be the killer’s next victims.

In Banished Threads, McFarren proves that relationships can be just as treacherous as international treasure hunting, and that evil exists everywhere, not just in the form of the criminal organizations. McFarren has a gift for portraying complex family dynamics, the baggage people bring into relationships, and the unintended consequences of dysfunctional behavior.

The author deftly immerses the reader in those complex relationships, revealing the real killer in a surprise ending that will leave the reader gasping. Family secrets, a need for revenge, the heat of romance, a cerebral intriguing plot, and a ticking clock with a killer who needs to exact a unique form of revenge makes Banished Threads a gripping psychological thriller.

March 27, 2016
The CHATELAINE Awards for Romantic Fiction 2015 First Place Category Winners
The CHATELAINE Awards Writing Competition recognizes emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Romantic Fiction and Women’s Fiction. The CHATELAINE Awards is a division of Chanticleer International Novel Writing Competitions.

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

Congratulations to the 2015 CHATELAINE Awards First In Category Award Winning Romantic Fiction Novels:
- Legacy/Legend: Nicole Evelina – Daughter of Destiny
- Historical Romance: Susan Örnbrattt – The Particular Appeal of Gilliane Pugsley
- Regency: Julie LeMens – Once Upon a Scandal
- Women’s Fiction-Short Story Collection: Mary Ann Henry – Ladies in Low Places
- Women’s Fiction: Miriam Polli – In a Vertigo of Silence
- Adventure/Suspense: Kaylin McFarren – Banished Threads
- Mystery/Suspense: Joanne Guidoccio – A Season for Killing Blondes
- Inspirational/Restorative: Andrea Weir – A Foolish Consistency
- Young Adult/New Adult: Natasha Boyd – Deep Blue Eternity
Honorable Mentions:
- Danica Winters – Smoke and Ashes
- Belangela G. Tarazona – Hiatus
- J.L Oakley – Mist-shi-mus: A Novel of Captivity
- John Herman – The Counting of the Coup
More than $30,000 dollars in cash and prizes are awarded to Chanticleer International Blue Ribbon Awards Winners annually.

The CHATELAINE First Place Category award winners will compete for the CHATELAINE Grand Prize Award for the 2015 Romantic 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 CHATELAINE Awards. The deadline is November 30, 2016. Click here for more information or to enter.

Congratulations to those who made the CHATELAINE 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 14, 2016
First Place Category Winners for the 2015 JOURNEY Awards
The JOURNEY Awards writing competition recognizes emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Narrative Non-fiction. The Journey Awards is a division of the Chanticleer Awards International Writing Competitions.

We are pleased to announce the 2015 JOURNEY Awards Official First Place Category Winners. Good Luck to them as they compete for the 2015 Journey Grand Prize Award.
- Enlightenment: Grant Harper Reid – Rhythm for Sale
- Travelogue: Bonnie Rose Ward – Winds of Skilak: A Tale of True Grit, True Love, and Survival in the Alaskan Wilderness
- Self-help/How-to: Dr. Harish K. Malhotra, M.D. – Metaphors of Healing
- Volunteer Experience: George DeVault – Fire Call: A Volunteer Firefighter’s Memoir
- True Action/Adventure: Wendy Hinman – Tightwads on the Loose – A Seven Year Pacific Odyssey
- Memoir/Journey: H. Alan Day – The Horse Lover: A Cowboy’s Quest to Save the Wild Mustangs
More than $30,000 dollars in cash and prizes are awarded to Chanticleer International Blue Ribbon Awards Winners annually.

The Journey First Place Category award winners will compete for the Journey Grand Prize Award for the 2015 Best Narrative Non-fiction work. 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 winners will receive an award package including a complimentary book review, digital award badges, shelf talkers, book stickers, and more.

We are now accepting entries into the 2017 JOURNEY Awards. The deadline is February 28, 2017. Click here for more information or to enter.

Congratulations to those who made the JOURNEY AWARDS 2015 FINALISTS 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 3, 2016
THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARTY by Wendy Delaney – a Working Stiffs Mystery Series

Part-time Deputy Coroner and full-time Prosecutor’s Assistant, Charmaine “Char” Digby has a secret. Her childhood heartthrob, hunky Detective Steve Sixkiller, is back in her life, not to mention under her covers. But the relationship comes with a catch.

Char’s insecurities keep her from telling anyone about it, so it’s no surprise when her matchmaking best friend, Rox, works double time to fix her up with Port Merritt’s eligible and handsome ER doc, Kyle Cardinale. The good doctor goes out of his way to let Charmaine know that he’s up for the chase while Detective Sixkiller questions Char’s motives for keeping their relationship under wraps.

Charmaine’s problems multiply when her boss sends her to interview the bereaved family of Port Merritt’s wealthiest businessman, Marty McCutcheon, who rolled over dead at his 63rd birthday celebration. With a life-long diet of double cheeseburgers and a sultry new wife twenty years his junior it’s no wonder Marty’s heart stopped.

Health issues aside, his ex-wife, Darlene, is pointing fingers and crying “foul play.” Between his greed-driven progeny, a jilted girlfriend, and a last minute decision to change his will, Charmaine’s built-in lie detector is telling her it wasn’t the clogged arteries that took Marty out.

As she pieces together the circumstances surrounding Marty’s “last supper,” Charmaine realizes that nearly everyone in his close circle has something to gain from his death. And when the cause of his death looks more and more like poisoning she presses an unconvinced County Prosecutor to open a formal investigation.

Unable to make her case, and over Detective Sixkiller’s protests, Char takes it upon herself to dig into the McCutcheon family’s personal business. Her determination to learn the truth lands her smackdab in the middle of the killer’s radar, and as she mines the hidden corners of Marty’s past, the information she unearths may never see the light of day.

Tightly written and packed with small town innuendo and gossip, Wendy Delaney’s action-packed novel moves beyond the simple cozy mystery genre. With a wink and a nod to the Shakespearean complexities of a duplicitous, wealthy family, There’s Something about Marty exposes the insatiable cravings and rivalries that arise when blood ties go bad.

This third installment of Wendy Delaney’s “Working Stiffs” mystery series is an engaging, fast-paced read. Through her nimble use of wit and humor Ms. Delaney delivers rich, eccentric characters and clever plot twists that promise to keep the reader turning the page.

February 1, 2016
17,000 Feet: A Story of Rebirth by Fox Deatry – an adventurous PNW novel

What do you do after you’ve done all you can? Jo Packwood, marine biologist at the top of her professional game, decides to climb Mt. Olympia, all 17,000 feet of it, looking for clues to her blighted childhood and facing the cold mists of her future.

The book begins on the trail up the mountain. Jo is accompanied by Solomon, nicknamed Squibb, her long-lost uncle, the person most likely to help her reconnect spiritually with her father Papi, or Nelson, who abandoned her and her mother when she was a small child. Why?—Jo has only vague memories to rely on, most of them painting a scurrilous impression of Nelson—a decorated soldier, yes, but a reckless rake and deceiver.

Jo has recently placed her mother, increasingly isolated by Alzheimer’s, in a nursing home, evoking guilt, as well as frustration at the lack of information about the fractured family. As they ascend, Jo and Squibb spar, share, and commiserate, while he gradually, gruffly, fills in a more human, ameliorative portrait of Nelson, who disappeared, presumed dead in an avalanche, on the very mountain they are climbing.

Squibb is a reluctant mentor whose advice will reverberate for Jo at a critical moment: “Life isn’t a sprint, sugar pie. It’s about bases: you get to each for the grand slam homerun.” Loss of radio contact with a group of hikers up ahead, hallucinations possibly brought on by oxygen deprivation, and the horrifying discovery of a cache of frozen corpses (could Nelson’s be among them?) stymie the pair, with worse to come.

Fox Deatry, media executive and author (American Witches: An American Witch in New York City), tells Jo’s story in flashbacks as she hikes up Mt. Olympia: her discouraging visit with her deluded mother; her mentoring moment with a female cleric; an unexpected talk with one of her father’s old war buddies; and her introduction to Solomon/Squibb who will challenge her to conquer the mountain that killed her father (“Up there, you’ll experience unexpected things”).

Deatry’s descriptive prose shows practiced sophistication, and he conveys ordinary conversation believably. The plot is well constructed, and readers may appreciate the story’s close adherence to the classic concept of the hero’s journey: reluctance at the outset, fateful guidance, life-threatening peril, all leading, as the subtitle references, to rebirth, in a most surprising, cinematic conclusion.

17,000 Feet, an adventure combining real time, powerful memory and lush imagination, offers a heroine in crisis coming to terms with her life’s big questions by taking courage and, finally, taking charge.

October 27, 2015