The CIBA SERIES Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in any of our 16 Fiction Divisions and 7 Non-Fiction Divisions where the author has written a series. The Series Book Awards is a division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (CIBAs).
Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs) is seeking for the best book series in all of the CIBA Divisions. These books have advanced to the next judging rounds. We will put them to the test and choose the best among them.
These titles have moved forward in the first look rounds from all 2024 Series Award entries to the 2024 Series Book Awards LONG LIST. These entries are now in competition for the 2024 Series 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 at the Bellingham Yacht Club sponsored by the 2025Chanticleer Authors Conference.
These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST of the 2024 Series Book Awards competition!
Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works!
Samantha Schinder – The Deliverance Series
Antonia Gavrihel – Back To One
John J. Spearman – Mercenary Navy
Elliott Foster – Panic River
Alan B. Gibson – Magic at Myers Beach
D. L. Wilburn Jr. – The God Protocol
Jule Selbo – Dee Rommel Mystery Series
Susan Rogers and John Roosen – Yoga Mat Mysteries
Evette Davis – The Council Trilogy
Taryn R. Hutchison – A Cold War Trilogy
Laurie Buchanan – Sean Mcpherson Novels
Kari Bovee – The Pryce of Murder
April Sebree – Through the Woods
M.K. Dean – The Ginny Reese Mysteries
Sandra Wagner-Wright – Salem Stories
Melrose McFadden – Major Bummer Murders
Valerie Green – The McBride Chronicles
Jeff Nania – Northern Lakes Mystery series
J.L. Oakley – The Jossing series
A. Keith Carreiro – The Immortality Wars
Mike Murphey – Tales of Physics, Lust and Greed
Rose Prendeville – Brides of Chattan
Don Stuart – Washington Statehouse Series
Jomo Jesus Thomas Suriel – Emotional Intelligence Book Series
TK Sheffield – The Backyard Model Mysteries
Eve M Riley – The Techboys series
Steven Joseph – Snoodles Book Series
Ralph R. “Rick” Steinke – Jake Fortina Series
Ron Singerton – Sword of Rome
Karen Inglis – Secret Lake Mystery Adventures
Anika Savoy – Ungilded
Michael J Bowler – The Lance Chronicles
D.V. Chernov – Nick Severs Mysteries
McKendree Long – The Superstition Gun
Tamar Anolic – The Vanguard Warrior Trilogy
E. Alan Fleischauer – Just Die Series
R.w. Meek – The Dream Collector
Tim Facciola – A Vengeful Realm
Glen Dahlgren – The Chronicles of Chaos
Bert Entwistle – Leftover Soldiers
D.F. Kennedy – So Help Me God
J.C. Ahern – The Strategy series
Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.
PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!
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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.
The Series Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in Genre Fiction (and now Non-Fiction). The Grand Prize Winner, David Fitz-Gerald’s Series, Ghosts Along the Oregon Trail will be promoted for years to come in our annual Hall of Fame article, as well as be featured on the Series 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!
While these Award Winning Series are all Multi-book sagas, we are going to showcase the most important part of a Series. The beginning. Having a good start makes it memorable. The first book is the foundation, laying the first stitches into what later becomes a whole tapestry, telling their story.
Join us in celebrating the 2023 First Place Series Winners!
Introducing Casimir “Caz” FitzDuncan, a resident of the medieval kingdom of Aquileia. He makes his living retrieving things when the law will not help.
A woman has come to him, seeking his assistance in escaping a contract to marry a nobleman with a foul reputation. After their meeting, she is kidnapped not far from his residence.
Caz is accused of abducting her and forced to investigate her disappearance. Aided by his friend Freddy, Lord Rawlinsford, and Freddy’s mysterious cousin Lucy, Caz works to find the kidnapper.
Be careful Caz, the closer you get to finding the truth, the more tangled you are in a web designed specifically to trap you.
In this fantasy adventure book series you will be whisked away in a medieval time of magical realism, masters of sword fighting, and action & adventure that won’t allow you to put the book down.
Will Caz be able to rescue an innocent victim and save himself when skill with a sword is not enough?
When Thomas’s family is annihilated in a raid, his life changes forever. Wandering for days, starving and hopeless, he is rescued by a monk and is taken to live at the abbey of Eynsham. There he receives a curious education, training to be a scholar, a merchant and a spy. His mission: to develop commerce in Muslim lands and dispatch vital information to the Holy See.
His perilous adventures during the 11th century’s commercial revolution will take him far from his cloistered life to the great trading cities of Almeria, Amalfi, Alexandria and Cairo.
But the world in which he lives is chaotic. Struggling with love and loss, faith and fortune, can Thomas carry out his secret mission before conflict overtakes him?
Spanning the tumultuous medieval worlds of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, The Sugar Merchant is a tale of clashing cultures, massive economic change and one man’s determination to fulfil his destiny.
From Chanticleer: 2019 Chaucer 1st Place Winner
Narrated by a boy who grows up in a monastery and is trained to be a spy, The Sugar Merchant is set in the late 11th Century when the Great Crusades were on the verge of erupting in Europe and the Middle East.
When Thomas is forced to flee after rebels attack his family, he is finally discovered, ragged and starving, by a giant of a man named Leofric. Taken under the wing of the monks at Eynsham Abbey, Thomas is educated while accepting the strict discipline of the Benedictine order. In his late teens, he is surprised and disappointed to learn he will not join the Order but will be employed as an agent and spy. His task will be to find, secretly copy and send back manuscripts written by Islamic scholars. These documents contain knowledge that the Catholic Church needs to maintain its control.
Accompanied by Leofric, who taught him the arts of war based on his own checkered past as a mercenary, Thomas travels to Spain, to the city of Granada (called Gharnatah at the time). His travels will take him through the known Catholic realms and beyond, and, paradoxically, afford him the chance to meet, befriend and be aided in the abbey’s mission by good men of other faiths, both Muslim and Jew. As a cover for his work for Eynsham, he adopts a persona as a merchant of sukkar, or sugar, a commodity that will soon have excellent trading value. When a beautiful Muslim girl crosses his path, all that he has been taught will come into question as he strives to do what he believes to be right.
Sixteen-year-old Susan Smithson – pretty but poor, clever but capricious – has just been expelled from a school for young ladies in London.
At the mansion of the formidable Lady Catherine de Bourgh, she attracts a raffish young nobleman. But, at the first hint of scandal, her guardian dispatches her to her uncle Collins’ rectory in Kent, where her sensible cousin Alicia lives and “where nothing ever happens.”
Here Susan mischievously inspires the local squire to put on a play, with consequences no one could possibly have foreseen. What with the unexpected arrival of Frank Churchill, Alicia’s falling in love and a tumultuous elopement, rural Kent will surely never seem safe again…
In Europe, the Nazis are triumphant. England is under siege by air and sea. France has fallen to the Nazi Wehrmacht, which in turn fell on Soviet Russia. The Red Army is reeling in full retreat, with the Nazis at the gates of Moscow itself.
In the Pacific, Japan has been at war with China since 1937. Her war industries depend upon imports of scrap metal and oil from what are now the Allied nations. When an embargo is placed on imports to Japan, they are left with a year’s supply of oil to supply their armed forces.
Japan surrounds American possessions in the Philippines on three sides. The US Army is making a desperate, last-minute attempt to reinforce the Philippines garrison, but the clock is ticking for the Japanese, with their oil running out. The armed forces of Imperial Japan may attack the Philippines at any moment.
Two brothers, Jack and Charlie Davis, are pilots in the US Army Air Forces. They are part of the reinforcements sent to the Far Eastern Air Force, charged with air defense of the Philippines.
For Jack and Charlie, in a time when the US is on the brink of world war, a simple question must soon be answered: what will I do when the Japanese come?
From Chanticleer:
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.
The importance of their family gradually emerges, too, through their mother’s letters and their memories of their father who flew racing planes. The more readers learn, the more attachment they feel to these characters, giving weight to the growing danger they face.
An overzealous rookie cop. A biased old-boys club. Will she have to shoot her way in? Ro Delahanty never let her dream of becoming a cop out of her sights. Between years of black-belt judo lessons and sharpshooting championships, she thought she could handle anything the academy threw her way. But as the only female rookie on the force, she soon discovers it’ll take a warrior’s determination to get out from behind the desk and into the action.
Knowing she’ll have to work twice as hard for half the respect, she refuses to let distractions like a new boyfriend block her target. And her sacrifices will be well worth it if she can secure a “handle” that brands her as an equal instead of the butt of a joke. When a simple field assignment spirals into a heavily-armed hostage standoff, will Ro and her trusty Sig Sauer P229 .357 aim true or will she miss the shot she’s trained her whole life to take?
Ro’s Handle is the first book in the gritty Ro Delahanty police procedural series. If you like tenacious heroines, crime scene drama, and high-octane shootouts, then you’ll love David Lager’s torn-from-the-headlines tale. Buy Ro’s Handle and test your aim on a straight-shooting criminal case today!
Amid a violent Hudson Valley thunderstorm, Jessie Martin discovers a woman lying unconscious in a roadside ditch. The badly beaten victim, Lissie Sexton, a local prostitute, claims she’s escaped the attack of a killer.
Jessie’s more than a casual driver who passes by; she’s a criminal-defense attorney. And Lissie is more than an ordinary hooker. She’s the key witness in a cold case under investigation by Jessie’s estranged longtime friend, Detective Ebony Jones.
And now Ebony can’t find her witness. Jessie’s new boss has sent Lissie into hiding. If Jessie reveals Lissie’s location she compromises her client, her firm and her professional ethics. If she doesn’t, she risks alienating not just Ebony but the entire police department backing her.
A simple act of compassion forces Jessie to choose between her duty and her friend.
For over three hundred years, that’s what the Hamilton family has called a shrinking swath of farmland in the Appalachian foothills of South Carolina.
Home.
That’s the failing tobacco farm where Walter and Maggie Hamilton choose to raise their three children. Walter has big plans to make the farm more profitable, but his plans are interrupted by World War II and family heartbreak. Walter returns from the war a changed man and finds Maggie, too, has changed, neither of them for the better. But at least their family is together again at…
Home.
More than anything, that’s where their eight-year-old son, Jimmy Hamilton, wants to be. However, after an unspeakable tragedy, he’s sent away from the only life he’s ever known to live with a kindly uncle in North Carolina.
Home.
That’s where Jimmy is finally going to be, unless fate has plans of its own…
A Song that Never Ends is the first installment of the Hamilton Place series, an epic family saga extending from the Great Depression to present day. Through war and peace, love and loss, triumph and tragedy, follow the Hamilton family on their journey from a run-down farm in South Carolina, through the jungles of Vietnam, to the top of the world in New York City, and beyond the gardens of stone at Arlington.
From Chanticleer:
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.
James proves to be an extremely intelligent and talented youngster who longs for a connection to his family. In the meantime, he learns from his gracious uncle to deal with dire situations and unexpected circumstances in life, as well as the importance of having a charitable heart. Under the tutelage of this kind, caring, and nurturing man, the story begins to evolve into a coming-of-age tale.
Only 7 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!
Alice McVeigh – Warleigh Hall Press Jane Austen Series
Tom Burkhalter – No Merciful War
Dave Lager – The Ro Delahanty Novels
Jode Millman – The Queen City Crimes Series
Mark A. Gibson – Hamilton Place
The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 SERIES Awards is:
Ghosts Along the Oregon Trail
by David Fitz-Gerald
We are so looking forward to celebrating these incredible book series!
First though, let’s celebrate some recent books in a series that have come our way for review!
SUMMER CYCLONE: Magic at Myers Beach Book 4
By Alan B. Gibson
The citizens of the three fairy kingdoms clash, forced to live shoulder-to-shoulder alongside ungoverned Outliers. In Summer Cyclone, fourth book of Alan B. Gibson’s Magic at Myers Beach series, unassuming tea-shop manager Stefán tries to find love while keeping all of fairy society from fracturing.
The three fairy kings, Theos, Zsombor, and Christophe, evacuate their people to Myers Beach. It’s only here that they have any chance of recreating fairy dust after their old sources had been poisoned, and saving every fairy life. They take in the Outliers, remnants of a fallen kingdom, and at first find good will between the groups. But with thousands of fairies moving in, they have to keep everyone on a short leash or else risk humans catching wind of their new neighbors. Resentment of these strange Outliers builds.
Stefán, a close confidant to Theos, struggles to keep anti-Outlier sentiment at bay with the help of some enigmatic and knowledgeable new friends. Rumors of him giving the Outliers special treatment grow stronger as some fairies begin to suspect that he’s actually one of them.
Read more here!
SEA TIGERS And MERCHANTS: Salem Stories Book 2
By Sandra Wagner-Wright
Two families vie for power in mercantile 18th-century Salem. Sea Tigers and Merchants, the second book in Sandra Wagner-Wright’s Salem Stories series, returns to a world of treacherous storms, tantalizing wealth, and the demands of high society on its children.
Elias Hasket Derby, Sr. has kept his promise to his wife Eliza—they rule Salem. Hasket’s merchant ships bring in great fortune, while Eliza holds court as the most influential woman in the city’s social spheres. And their ambitions have grown to meet their station. Hasket launches his riskiest endeavor—the Grand Turk, a ship so massive she’s nearly too heavy to be pulled out of the docks. Meanwhile Eliza, snubbed by George Washington’s stay at another family’s mansion, insists they build a house so grand it will put all others to shame.
Such success, of course, draws the envious eye of Hasket’s competitor.
MAYDAY: Land, Sea, and Air Series Book 2
By Sue C. Dugan
In Sue C. Dugan’s middle grade adventure, Mayday: Land, Sea, and Air Series Book 2, thirteen-year-old Jessie and her father, Adam, take an unexpected detour when their plane crashes on a secluded island.
On their final vacation before Adam begins chemotherapy for thyroid cancer, Jessie and her father take off in their Cessna aircraft over the boundless, azure Atlantic Ocean. Jessie’s anxiety about her father’s health is on high-alert during the trip, especially when she remembers her mother’s cancerous death.
Twenty minutes into their flight, the sky grows gloomy, and the wind picks up speed from all sides.
DREAMS And ILLUSIONS: Gabrielle Dorian Mysteries Book 1
By Rebecca Olmstead
Dreams and Illusions by Rebecca Olmstead is a delicate interplay of mysteries balanced on an emotional undercurrent, exploring the immutable ebb and flow of life to find resilience in the shadow of misfortunes.
In the bustling town of Whitman, Gabrielle co-owns the boutique Belle Femme with her best friend, Kate. Radiating the tranquil aura of an empowered business owner, Gabrielle is a caring woman, but burdened with a secret she hides from everyone. Gabrielle is blessed—or perhaps cursed—with prophetic dreams.
Almost as if they are a glimpse into the future, Gabrielle wrestles with dreams that foretell an ominous fate. Soon she is confronted with a series of distressing events that thrust her into a mystery.
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!
David Fitz-Gerald concludes the Ghosts Along the Oregon Trail series with a grand finale for an eclectic cast of characters, as the long wagon train is finally Rolling Home to their new lives in the wild west of Oregon.
With the end of the trail just out of reach, however, their hopes dwindle and their hunger rages. The rigor of the western environment continues to test their determination and threaten vows of heartfelt romance. These weary people ache and mourn losses, while seeking new ways to survive and pull each other forward in the face of impending winter.
This wagon train of travelers will also face venomous villains who have been lurking in the shadows, outlaws waiting for their best opportunity to pounce.
Now they feel the traveling train is at its weakest, and strike without mercy. Dorcas and her family are in a desperate situation, clinging to the hope of a better life ahead. But even if they can hang on to reach that final destination, they doubt whether the life they’d planned in Oregon is still the future they want.
Injured at the beginning of this final leg of their journey, Dorcas Moon struggles desperately to keep her family together.
Her young children have had to rapidly grow up and take on responsibilities well beyond their years in order to keep pace with this treacherous, unpredictable life. Surrounded by perils, their joys are fleeting and cannot be taken for granted.
Fellow travelers have become friends and family, tying their futures together, and Dorcas feels the weight of responsibility for all of their dreams.
Dorcas’s children are pulled deeper into the world of spirits and the paranormal. Even Dorcas begins a tentative connection with those forces. She must also open herself to feelings in the material world— she had been resistant to embracing the love she has for Agapito, but now she can no longer hold back. Does he feel the same?
The wagon train keep moving, but at times with a painful slowness. When they roll through snow on the trail, their fear becomes tangible. If they’re caught in the heights of the mountains when winter descends, warmth and safety will be impossible to reach.
Disagreement among the travelers on the best way forward fuels those fears. Decisions need to be made and mistakes can be deadly. The dangers of river crossings claim Dorcas’ own belongings and wagon. And when the outlaws strike, Rose and Dorcas herself are both kidnapped. Precious lives are lost and more surprises yet wait in store. Will they ever see the promised land of Oregon?
Our wagon master, author David Fitz-Gerald, has skillfully guided readers on an epic journey to a time and mode of travel that excites the imagination and pushes the limits of suspense.
His story is compelling from the first book all the way through to this incredible end of the trail. The growth of the characters through their adventures, sacrifices, and joys along the way shows human nature’s persistence and people’s dedication to each other. As long as there is the glimmer of hope, Dorcas and her band will set their sights on the future, and set their wagon wheels Rolling Home.
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.
The importance of their family gradually emerges, too, through their mother’s letters and their memories of their father who flew racing planes. The more readers learn, the more attachment they feel to these characters, giving weight to the growing danger they face.
Even side characters in Everything We Had have names, hometowns, and sweethearts they’ve left behind. This grants a sense of truth in the actual people who were lost to war.
Readers may not track every last piece of information—especially the technical details of planes and flight—but the story remains accessible, with its most important details emerging with time. Like flying a P-26, it takes a bit of patience and skill to follow everything in this book, but Burkhalter trusts his readers to keep up.
The perspective switches between Jack, Charlie, and occasionally Al, who becomes Charlie’s navigator. Al’s viewpoint lends interest at first, but Everything We Had focuses on Jack and Charlie’s narratives as they become more complex and dire.
Through dialogue, readers start to piece together the puzzle: why Jack and Charlie’s father is gone, who Jack’s mysterious love interest is, and the strength of Charlie’s desire to be a leader. Burkhalter makes good use of dialogue for exposition as readers see how the war gradually unfolds, and how little information the men prepping for combat are told. For much of the book, Jack and Charlie aren’t even sure of each other’s whereabouts.
Sensory descriptions help ground this intricate story.
A few wonderful flying scenes—including Jack flying in challenge to a rival pilot—give physicality to the technical descriptions of planes. Small details, like a black Bakelite telephone, and a manila envelope holding mysterious contents, make the narrative even more tangible—not to mention historically accurate. Character descriptions remain simple, but with so many named characters in the story, this helps avoid overwhelming the reader with information.
The book uses true-to-form period language and stereotypes of US enemies. While this can make for an uncomfortable read at times, it serves the book’s historically-accurate illustration of a growing conflict. However, the main characters show their good hearts. They speak respectfully of women and, for the most part, of each other. In fact, a sense of camaraderie grows steadily even among former rivals as the war creeps closer.
When the war arrives, late in the book, it shakes the reader like a stone thrown into the still pond of the characters’ lives, who wait for war with a growing sense of apprehension.
With war, of course, comes injury and more death than these characters have ever seen.
Yet Burkhalter steers away from lurid, bloody descriptions and instead focuses on how the violence affects Jack and Charlie internally as people. They come from a privileged background, with a healthy dose of luck, and have distinguished themselves each as leaders by the time war arrives. Yet it’s far from certain that these accolades will help protect them from the hopeless-sounding odds: the US is under-prepared and low on supplies, while the enemy has at least one ace in the hole.
After such a carefully paced book, the ending comes quickly, and leaves some loose ends untied, nudging readers to continue with this fascinating series.
Thanks to Burkhalter’s meticulous research, real events, places, and even people in the early Pacific war get a well-deserved remembrance in the form of fiction.
Motherhood is a never-ending, all-encompassing role that is hard, but willingly taken on by mothers around the world. In the United States, we celebrate Mother’s Day on the second Sunday in May (this year on May 12) with gifts of flowers, candy, or a brunch prepared at home or enjoyed at her favorite restaurant. It’s a tradition that began in 1914 with the “Mother’s Day Proclamation” to create a federal holiday recognizing the devotion and love we have for our mothers.
A Celebration of Mothers Across the Globe
Countries around the world have created their own traditions to celebrate mothers, with unique activities that make it a special day for their moms. Here are just a few of the many ways people celebrate Mother’s Day across the globe.
Peru
Just as it is in the United States, Peru celebrates Mother’s Day on the second day in May. Along with flowers, candy, and gifts, families gather in cemeteries to honor the mothers, aunts, and grandmothers who have passed away. It’s a joyous occasion for socializing and enjoying food and drinks before cleaning and decorating the grave sites.
Russia
It’s a fall holiday for Russia’s Mother’s Day! A proclamation signed in 1998 by then president Boris Yeltsin dictates the last Sunday of November as a day of celebration “to maintain the tradition of careful attitude to the woman” and “to consolidate the foundations of the family.”
Thailand
Thailand combines the meaning of their Mother’s Day celebrations to recognize their Queen Mother on her birthday, as well as all Thai mothers. Mothers visit their children’s school, where sons and daughters kneel before them as a sign of respect and offer white jasmine flowers to symbolize the purity of a mother’s love. Later, fireworks displays and candle-lighting traditions make the night sparkle.
Mexico
Flowers play a big part in celebrating Mothers Day in Mexico, and children living outside their family home make it priority to stay overnight so they can be with their mother when they wake up the next morning to a mariachi band singing “Las Mañanitas.”
Chanticleer Celebrates Mothers with Inspiring, Fun, and Compelling Stories of Motherhood!
Need some great books about Mom’s? Check out our Mother’s Day Reading List!
Master storyteller Reenita Malhotra Hora’s YA romance Operation Mom: My Plan to Get My Mom a Life and a Man takes us on a charming journey through the life of one teen, Ila Isham.
Hora introduces Ila and her best friend Deepali, two boy-crazy teens on a summer quest. Readers will fall in love with the smart, sassy, angst-filled, rebellious Ila. A typical teenage girl, Ila lives in Mumbai with her mom and Sakkubai, their house manager. Ila’s mother calls her obsessed, but that seems unfair. Is she obsessed just because her every waking minute is spent thinking of Ali Zafar, famous pop icon, singer, and heartthrob? Or is she obsessed with fellow classmate Dev?
VOICES OF NAVAJO MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS by Kathy Eckles Hooker with photos by David Young-Wolff
Voices of Navajo Mothers and Daughters: Portraits of Beauty by Kathy Eckles Hooker is a heartwarming work exploring the relationships between Navajo mothers and daughters, their connections with each other and their families, and their hopes and dreams for their children as they encounter a world far removed from their traditional lives.
In these insightful interviews with Navajo women—grandmothers, mothers, and daughters—the twenty-one families that the author spoke to talked about their backgrounds and histories. They contrasted how the elder women grew up compared to their daughters and granddaughters (such as the lack of amenities like electricity, running water, or internal combustion vehicles). And they explored the many ways that traditional matriarchal Navajo culture continues to enrich their lives today.
LILLY AND MAY LEARN WHY MOM AND DADWORK by Anthony C. Delauney
Lilly and May both wish that their parents didn’t have to leave for work day after day. Discover the power of money and its impact on family in the delightful Lilly and May Learn Why Mom and Dad Work.
They’re both upset one morning, as Mom and Dad go to work yet again instead of staying home with them. Lilly and May’s mother assures them that they will be back later, but they have to go and earn money to support the family. Before leaving, their mother teaches Lilly and May all the ways they need and use money. She shows how it impacts the people and community around them.
Our Time to Dance: A Mother’s Journeyto Joy by Eva Doherty Gremmert demonstrates the importance of advocacy for those who are disabled, intellectually or otherwise.
In the early morning of August 18th, 1979, Eva Doherty Gremmert awoke with a contraction. A young mother already, Eva is worried about how she will cope with caring for two infants. She tried to calm her concerns by remembering that babies typically arrive easier and more quickly the second time around; however, the delivery ends up being long and exhausting. Once her son Nick arrived, Eva could not shake the feeling that something might be wrong. For the first several months of Nick’s life, doctors actively ignored her concerns and told her nothing was wrong with her son.
A GRAVE EVERY MILE: Ghosts Along the Oregon Trail, Book 1 By David Fitz-Gerald Series Grand Prize Winner
Each day’s trumpet blasts the predawn quiet of the sleeping wagon train, demanding that its migrating families face what’s ahead, whether incredible scenery or mortal danger, in David Fitz-Gerald’s A Grave Every Mile.
This beautifully told story mixes adventure, survival, community, and history, all shown through the eyes of Dorcas, a feisty mother of four. She’s dreamed of hitting the trail to the storied West for so long, but much about this trip and their destination remains unknown.
Another wagon travels alongside hers. Who are they? Will they remain strangers, or become friends? Now that Dorcas stands with her family at the trail’s starting point and on the brink of changing their lives forever, a tremor of doubt surfaces about what lies ahead. Is her family strong enough to face their future? Will it be everything she and her husband hoped for? That future is 720,000 turns of the wagon wheels away, and there may be A Grave Every Mile. It all starts with that first pull by the team of oxen.
We would like to wish all mothers, mothers-to-be, stand-in mothers, and those who possess the mothering instinct, a very Happy Mother’s Day!
Thank you for joining us in celebrating the Mothers in our life!
Do you have a book with mothers that deserves to be discovered? You can always submit your book for an Editorial Review with Chanticleer!
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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!
Thank you again to the authors who wrote these wonderful books, and to all who act as mothers! You are so loved and appreciated! Enjoy Las Mañanitas below!
The CIBA FICTION SERIES Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in any of our 16 Fiction Divisions where the author has written a series. The Fiction Series Book Awards is a division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (CIBAs).
Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs) is seeking for the best book series in all of its fifteen fiction divisions: Mysteries, Suspense Thrillers, Espionage/High Stakes, Young Adult, Middle-Grade Readers, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Supernatural and Paranormal, Romance, Historical Fiction.
1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners were announced at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony by Diane Garland on Saturday, April 20th, 2024 at the Four Points by Sheraton in beautiful Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference.
This is the OFFICIAL 2023 LIST of the SERIES BOOK AWARDS First Place Category Winners and the M&M Grand Prize Winner.
Join us in congratulating the following award-winning authors and their works in the CIBAs
Fantasy – OZMA
John J. Spearman – FitzDuncan
Early Historical Fiction – CHAUCER
James Hutson-Wiley – The Sugar Merchant
Late Historical Fiction – GOETHE
Alice McVeigh – Warleigh Hall Press Jane Austen Series
20th Century Wartime Fiction – HEMINGWAY
Tom Burkhalter – No Merciful War
Mystery – CLUE
Dave Lager – The Ro Delahanty Novels
Jode Millman – The Queen City Crimes Series
Americana – LARAMIE
David Fitz-Gerald – Ghosts Along the Oregon Trail
Contemporary/Literary – SOMERSET
Mark A. Gibson – Hamilton Place
The Grand Prize Winner for the 2023 SERIES Awards is:
Attn CIBA Winners: More goodies and prizes will be coming your way along with promotion in our magazine, website, and advertisements in Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards long-tail marketing strategy. Welcome to the CIBA Hall of Fame for Award Winners!
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A Note to ALL the WINNERS: The coveted CIBA Blue Ribbons will be mailed out starting inJune. We will contact you with an email to verify your mailing address and other items. You will receive an OFFICIAL EMAIL NOTIFICATION with Digital Badges and more information.
NOTE: We will post at least two 2023 CIBA Divisions’ OFFICIAL Winners per business day starting April 24, 2024. We do a final sweep and reconciliation prior to making the Official CIBA Posts for the 2023 First Place and Grand Prize Winners. We thank you in advance for your patience and understanding. There are many moving parts involved with the Chanticleer International Book Awards Program.
Thank you for participating in the 2023 CIBAs! We are looking forward to reading your future entries.
In Mistress of Legend, the enticing finale of Nicole Evelina’s Guinevere’s Tale trilogy, matters are life-and-death by the second sentence, pulling readers deep into Guinevere’s fate in this retelling of Arthurian legend.
We come upon heroine Guinevere in the midst of an ill-fated romance with Lancelot. It’s far from her first troubled entanglement, but the stakes rise as she’s severely injured and faces even more threats, pursued by possible enemies. The novel’s beginning is woven with backstory, which adds suspense to the drama unfolding in Guinevere’s present. This summarizing might be slow for readers familiar with the series, but makes the story accessible for those who haven’t picked up the first two books.
Many more characters appear, waving the web of intrigue Guinevere finds herself caught in.
Evelina builds this setting through well-researched cultural details, like the holidays and rites of Guinevere’s pagan world, and the symbolism and ideology of the Christianity that threatens to blot her world out.
Though it’s a work of fantasy, Mistress of Legend has the feel of magical realism. Paranormal abilities like Guinevere’s “sight” fit subtly within Evelina’s carefully constructed foundation. Details down to ritualistic makeup and intoxicants are based on fascinating historical truths, many of which are explained in the author’s notes at the end.
Evelina avoids foreshadowing to ensure her characters’ futures long remain inscrutable. Unpredictable shifts in individuals and relationships seem to arrive at every turn, making for a thrilling, if at times mystifying, read. Guinevere’s relationship with Morgan, Arthur’s second wife, feels uncertain until the end, as the two vacillate from enemies to friends and back again. Meanwhile, Mordred, son of Morgan and Arthur, undergoes surprising development that makes perfect sense only in retrospect.
The use of “the sight” by characters like Guinevere and Morgan provides windows into other places, even the future, as the women experience highly realistic visions.
This allows Evelina to show two places at once without using multiple points of view (though some characters are so fascinating that readers may wish they could see things through their eyes). Instead, only Guinevere’s perspective is given, and readers feel her claustrophobic sense of being trapped in the mechanisms of fate.
Along with the characters involved in it, this tale of political intrigue only grows more complex with time.
The story begins to feel like a tapestry whose threads disappear and reappear in the weave. Some characters – even main ones – vanish and are nearly forgotten, only to return when they’re least expected. Guinevere’s life-threatening injuries, so crucial to the first pages, are soon eclipsed by even more pressing problems. Yet they return to the narrative from time to time, the marks left behind to remind the aging Guinevere of how much she’s lived – and how much is still in store.
Mistress of Legend fits well within the literary tradition of retelling classics from a strong woman’s point of view.
It’s a great pick for readers of magical realism, historical fiction, and new twists on old classics. It takes things a refreshing step further, too, with a strong female character who remains formidable, agile, and the subject of much male attention as she ages past 40. Youth is no threat to Guinevere. The foolish grabs for power that surround her are.
The pace of the novel shifts wildly: speeding through seasons, only to suddenly slow and zoom in on the intense details of a moment. At times, it feels a bit like whiplash – but surely that’s how Guinevere felt, as the life she built crumbled time and time again. Readers remain close within her viewpoint, feeling everything she feels, in a world whose only constant is change. Ambitious though she is, her true quest is simply for peace.
The CIBA FICTION SERIES Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in any of our 16 Fiction Divisions where the author has written a series. The Fiction Series Book Awards is a division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (CIBAs).
Chanticleer International Book Awards (the CIBAs) is seeking for the best book series in all of its fifteen fiction divisions: Mysteries, Suspense Thrillers, Espionage/High Stakes, Young Adult, Middle-Grade Readers, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Supernatural and Paranormal, Romance, Historical Fiction. These books have advanced to the next judging rounds. We will put them to the test and choose the best among them.
These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from the 2023 Series Book Awards Short List to the 2022 Series Book Awards Finalists. All FINALISTS will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC24).
The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 25 CIBA divisions’ Finalists.
We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 20th, 2024 at the Four Points by Sheraton in beautiful Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2024Chanticleer Authors Conference.
These titles are the Finalists of the 2023 Series Book Awards novel competition for Genre Fiction!
Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works in the 2023 CIBAs.
Mystery/Suspense
Mary Seifert – Katie and Maverick Cozy Mysteries – M&M
Jeannée Sacken – The Annie Hawkins Series – Clue
Chuck Morgan – Crime – M&M
Ralph R. “Rick” Steinke – Jake Fortina – Global Thriller
Jode Millman – The Queen City Crimes Series – Clue
Sharon Michalove – Global Security Unlimited – M&M
Dave Lager – The Ro Delahanty Novels – Clue
Speculative Fiction
John J. Spearman – FitzDuncan – Ozma
Elizabeth Woolsey – The Travels of Dr. Rebecca Harper – Cygnus
C.K. Donnelly – The Kinderra Saga – Ozma
Andrew Sweet – Reality Gradient – Cygnus
Marieke Lexmond – The Madigan Chronicles – Ozma
John J Spearman – Halberd – Cygnus
Tony Johnson – The Story of Evil – Ozma
Historical Fiction
Sophia Alexander – The Silk Trilogy – Laramie
James Hutson-Wiley – The Sugar Merchant – Chaucer
Murray Pura & Patrick E. Craig – Islands Series – Hemingway
David Fitz-Gerald – Ghosts Along the Oregon Trail – Laramie
Alice McVeigh – Warleigh Hall Press Jane Austen Series – Goethe
Tom Burkhalter – No Merciful War – Hemingway
E. Alan Fleischauer – How the West was Won then Lost Annihilation – Laramie
Young Adults through Children:
Brooks Olbrys – The Adventures of Blue Ocean Bob – Little Peeps
Laura Teste – Book of Bad Manners Series – Little Peeps
Rae St. Clair Bridgman – The MiddleGate Books – Gertrude Warner
AG Flitcher – Boone and Jacque – Gertrude Warner
Jodi Lea Stewart – Silki, the Girl of Many Scarves – Dante Rossetti
McKinley Aspen – Shadows in the Wind – Dante Rossetti
Michele Kwasniewski – The Rise and Fall of Dani Truehart – Dante Rossetti
Grab Bag
Mark A. Gibson – Hamilton Place – Somerset
CK Van Dam – On the Dakota – Chatelaine
Holly Brandon – Chastity Series – Somerset
Lucinda Brant – Roxton Foundation Series – Chatelaine
PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!
This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the FB post. However, for FB to allow us to tag an author, that author must LIKE our page and Follow Chanticleer Reviews.
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Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging!
Note: We tend to offer up to 5 First Place Blue Ribbons per division. Please be aware that this is also the case for the Series Awards! Good luck to all!
The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2022 Series Awards is: The Curtis Jefferson Series By Vince Bailey
Featuring authors like D.D. Black, Kim Hornsby, book doctor Christine Fairchild, and Mark Berridge, our twelfth annual conference is shaping up to be excellent! You won’t want to miss out on the best tips around the business of being an author!
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.
The CIBA SERIES Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in any of our 16 Fiction Divisions and 7 Non-Fiction Divisions where the author has written a series. The Series Book Awards is a division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (CIBAs).
David Fitz-Gerald concludes the Ghosts Along the Oregon Trail series with a grand finale for an eclectic cast of characters, as the long wagon train is finally Rolling Home to their new lives in the wild west of Oregon.
Submitting to 
In Mistress of Legend, the enticing finale of Nicole Evelina’s Guinevere’s Tale trilogy, matters are life-and-death by the second sentence, pulling readers deep into Guinevere’s fate in this retelling of Arthurian legend.
