Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: Western Fiction

SPOTLIGHT on LARAMIE Book Awards — American Western Fiction
Downtown Laramie, Wyoming

What’s a Laramie?

We thought you’d never ask!

We titled the Chanticleer International Book Awards (CIBAs) division for Western American Fiction and all things that gather around the campfire singing a lonesome tune, the Laramie Awards, after the county and city in Wyoming. You know the one, tucked into the lower right-hand corner of the state…

Yes, but why Laramie?

There are several reasons we chose Laramie for our iconically American Book Awards. For us, and those in the know, Laramie, Wyoming immediately calls to mind the image of a Wild West town filled with rough-and-tumble cowboys. At one point, the only law in Laramie was “lawlessness. Wild Bill Hickok was even known to visit from time to time.

Here’s a picture of the man, himself, on the left with his friends, Texas Jack Omohundro (center), and Buffalo Bill Cody on the right.

But that’s not the only reason we chose Laramie.

And, yes, there is yet one more reason we love Laramie!

The WOMEN!

Calamity Jane hails from Laramie, Wyoming – a skilled sharpshooter who was born to a gambler and a prostitute. She cared for her five younger siblings in Utah before traveling on to Wyoming in search of a better life. There she found work as a dance hall girl and then as a prostitute at Fort Laramie. It was there that she reinvented herself by wearing buckskins and dressing like a man. She was also known for her swearing and hard-drinking ways, but Calamity Jane was also known even more for her kind heart and helping folks out of calamities–thus her nickname.

Calamity Jane

While the men were wrestling in the streets and shooting up the place, it was really the women who brought civilization to Laramie and Wyoming Territory. They established the first school in 1869, served on a formal jury in the Spring of 1870, and were the first to gain the vote; which is exactly what Louisa Swain and 92 of her friends did on September 6, 1870 – 150 years ago!

Louisa Swain – she was made of stern stuff!

Early in the morning on September 6, 1870 in Laramie, Wyoming Louisa Swain became the first woman in the world to cast a ballot under democratically enacted laws granting women equal political rights with men. In the fall of 2008, 138 years later, the U.S. Congress passes a resolution proclaiming September 6th as “Louisa Swain Day” in recognition of this historic event. The Loiusa Swain Foundation

In 1870, Esther Hobart Morris (59 years old) became the first female Justice of the Peace. She served in South Pass City, Wyoming, which is to the northwest of Laramie.

Esther Morris “to pettifoggers she showed no mercy.” Wyoming Tribune

The Union’s first all-female jury was assembled in Wyoming in 1870.

Later, in 1894, Estelle Reel Meyer became Superintendent of Public Instruction, the country’s first female statewide elected official.

And the grand coup d’etat was when in 1889 when Wyoming vied for statehood—and refused to join the Union if the laws giving equality to women were not upheld, telling Congress (which wanted the suffrage law rescinded) via telegram,

“We will remain out of the Union 100 years rather than come in without the women.”

Wyoming is also the first state in the USA to allow women to own property and sign legal documents.

Quotes are from the Smithsonian Magazine
Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/women-voting-wyoming-150-years-here-how-state-celebrating-180971263/#6UKzMfMeCQsmbIIQ.99
Give the gift of Smithsonian magazine for only $12! http://bit.ly/1cGUiGv
Follow us: @SmithsonianMag on Twitter

{https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/brief-history-laramie-wyoming}

That, Chanticleerians, is why we love Laramie and have championed the name for our most iconic American awards group, The LARAMIE AWARDS. There is nothing better than the Wild West, Women’s Suffragette Success stories, Cowboys and Indians, History and Adventure all coming together with a true sense of the American West!

So, it is with pride we sponsor the LARAMIE Book Awards for American Western Fiction

Painting by C.M. Russell

Charles M. Russell painted the cowboy seen on Chanticleer’s very own Laramie contest badge. It is one of many such paintings he did that encompassed the Old American Wild West. An advocate for the Native Americans, Charles M. Russell also helped establish a reservation in Montana for the Chippewa people.

The Laramie Book Awards for American Western Fiction Hall of Fame First Place and Grand Prize winners!

2018 Laramie Book Awards for American Western Fiction First in Category Winners
- Living Where the Rabbits Dance by Jr. R. Collins
- Promise of Tomorrow by TK Conklin
- Chasing Demons by John Hansen
- A Female Doctor in the Civil War – Richard Alan
- Splintered by Curt Locklear
The 2018 Laramie Book Awards Grand Prize:

Blood Moon: A Captive’s Tale by Ruth Hull Chatlien

2017 Laramie Book Awards for American Western Fiction First in Category Winners
- Grasshoppers at Dusk by Kiki Watkins
- Mist-chi-mus: A Novel of Captivity by J.L. Oakley
- Sacrificial Lions by John Simons/David Simons
- The Hour Glass by Michelle Rene
- Away at War: A Civil War Story of the Family Left Behind by Nick K. Adams
- Threads of Passion by T.K. Conklin
- Desertion by Michael Aloysius O’Reilly
- Death in the Black Patch by Bruce Wilson
The 2017 Laramie Book Awards Grand Prize:

HOUR GLASS by Michelle Rene

2016 Laramie Book Awards for American Western Fiction First in Category Winners
- Western Romance: Seize the Flame by Lynda J Cox
- Prairie/First Nation: Big Horse Woman by Barbara Salvatore
- Classic Western (Manuscript): Clevenger Gold: The True Story of Murder and Unfound Treasure by Scott Eldon Swapp
- Contemporary Westerns: Improbable Fortunes by Jeffrey Price
- Civil War: Lincoln’s Hat by David Selcer
- Adventure/Caper: Hot Work in Fry Pan Gulch (Honey Beaulieu – Man Hunter) by Jacquie Rogers
The 2016 Laramie Book Awards Grand Prize:

Hot Work in Fry Pan Gulch: Honey Beaulieu – Man Hunter #1 by Jacquie Rogers

2015 Laramie Book Awards for American Western Fiction First in Category Winners
- Adventure/Drama: Martha Conway – Thieving Forest
- Classic: McKendree Long – Higher Ground
- Prairie: Alethea Williams – Walls for the Wind
- Debut: Lynda J. Cox – The Devil’s Own Desperado
- Romance: Kristy McCaffrey – The Blackbird
- Mystery: Linell Jeppsen – Second Chance
The 2015 Laramie Book Awards Grand Prize:

Doctor Kinney’s Housekeeper by Sara Dahmen

2014 Laramie Book Awards for American Western Fiction First in Category Winners
- Historical: Rebecca Rockwell for The Last Desperado
- Romance/Dramatic: Jacqui Nelson for Between Heaven and Hell
- Romance/Comedy: Jacquie Rogers for Much Ado About Miners
- Contemporary Western: Jared McVay for Not on My Mountain
- Adventure: Lorrie Farrelly for Terms of Surrender
- Classic: Ken Farmer and Buck Stienke for Nations
- Debut Novel: Juliette Douglas for Freckled Venom Copperhead
- Civil War: Christi Corbett for Along the Way Home
- YA: Elisabeth Ward for Wolf Eye’s Silence
- Blended Genre: Peggy L. Henderson for Come Home to Me
- Drama: Michael J. Rouche for A River Divides: Book Two of Beyond the Wood
- Literary Western: Theo Czuk for Heart-Scarred
The 2014 Laramie Book Awards Grand Prize:

Not On My Mountain by Jared McVay

Congratulations to the Laramie Awards 2013 1st Place Category Winners:
- Mystery: Double or Nothing by Meg Mims
- Action/Adventure: Haunted Falls by Ken Farmer & Buck Stienke
- Historical Fiction: Because of the Camels by Brenda Blair
- Civil War: Ford at Valverde by Anita Melillo
- Prairie Pioneer: They Rode Good Horses by Dale B. Jackson
- Literary Western: Unbroke Horses by Dale B. Jackson
- First Novel: Confessions of a Gunfighter by Tell Cotten
- Best Manuscript: “Lick Creek” by Deborah Lincoln
The 2013 Laramie Book Awards Grand Prize:

Unbroken Horses by Dale B. Jackson

HOW DO YOU HAVE YOUR BOOKS COMPETE? Submit them to the Chanticleer International Book Awards – Click here for more information about The CIBAs!

Want to be a winner next year? The deadline to submit your book for the 2019 Laramie awards is July 31, 2019. Enter here!

Grand Prize and First Place Winners for 2019 will be announced on April 18, 2020.

Any entries received on or after July 31, 2019, will be entered into the 2020 Laramie Book Awards. The Grand Prize and First Place for 2020 CIBA winners will be held on April 17, 2021.

As our deadline draws near, don’t miss this opportunity to earn the distinction your American Western readers deserve! Enter today!

The LARAMIE Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards – the CIBAs.

The 2019 winners will be announced at the CIBA Awards Ceremony on April 18, 2020, that will take place during the 2020 Chanticleer Authors Conference. All Semi-Finalists and First Place category winners will be recognized, the first place winners will be whisked up on stage to receive their custom ribbon and wait to see who among them will take home the Grand Prize. It’s an exciting evening of dinner, networking, and celebrations!

Don’t delay! Enter today!

As always, please do not hesitate to contact us with questions, concerns, or suggestions at Chanticleer@ChantiReviews.com

[20] McDougall, Walt, “Pictures in the Papers,” American Mercury, 6:21 (September 1925), 72.
July 18, 2019
HOUR GLASS by Michelle Rene – Coming of Age, Western Fiction, Tragic Drama/Plays

Hour Glass by Michelle Rene is the story of many lives, told through the lens of the young protagonist, Jimmy Glass. In non-linear fashion, Rene begins her story toward the end, when Jimmy and the infamous Calamity Jane once again cross paths. From there the story moves backward—to recount past events and the ways multiple lives are forever entangled. Hour Glass is a novel of strength, sadness, and perseverance.

Jimmy Glass’s father is dying of smallpox. With no options or way to help him at their homestead, Jimmy takes his dad and his younger sister Flower into the closest town—Dead Wood, South Dakota. A mining town is an unforgiving place, but Jimmy and his younger sister are quickly taken in by none other than Calamity Jane herself and a madam named Dora Duffran. The two siblings quickly find a home in the brothel and await news of their father’s health.

As their father’s life teeters on the edge, Jimmy’s dreams are full of visitations by his deceased Lakota stepmother Without Cage. She takes Jimmy to various times in their lives to show him things he needs to see and things he needs to remember.

Hour Glass is a novel driven by a complex cast of characters. There’s Calamity Jane, a belligerent drunkard with a kind heart. Jimmy Glass, a young boy with the burdens of manhood pushed on him far too early. Dora Duffran, the madam with a heart of gold and a spine of steel. Without Cage is seen only through memories, but her unbreakable spirit remains as strong as ever, and her character floats through the novel as any other earthly bound character with whom Rene gifts us.

Then there’s Flower Glass, Jimmy’s younger sister, a girl who many think of as peculiar for her anti-social behavior. She’s taciturn and reserved, dislikes loud noises and being touched, and appears not to pay any attention to what’s going on around her. Jane, however, seems to effortlessly bring Flower, or Hour as she comes to be known, out of her shell when others cannot.

This historical fiction manages to tell the story of many lives through only one character’s voice. Readers will find a sentimental novel that does an impressive job of recounting the meaningful ways in which lives can intersect, however briefly, and cause changes that will last forever.

Hour Glass by Michelle Rene won the 2017 Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards Overall Grand Prize!

March 12, 2019
The BLACKBIRD by Kristy McCaffrey – Western, Historical, Romance

An historical sensual romance set in the rustic Arizona territory of the late 1800s, the fourth in the Kristy McCaffrey’s Winds of the West series, The Blackbird hits the mark. It brings together two tortured souls who also have deep insights and gifts that may help them find their way to each other.

Tess Carlisle is a spirited but wounded young woman who suffered an assault by one of the men in her father’s gang that left her leg wounded and her soul scarred. Tess’s life was already tough when she began to ride with her father and his band of bounty hunters. She lived with her alcoholic mother and her beloved Abuela (grandmother) until the two older women died in a house fire, brought on by her mother’s depression and drinking. Tess has the ability to tell stories, a gift she learned from her grandmother and Tess knows this ability ties her spirit to the greater world. She sends word to Cale Walker, a man who used to ride with her bounty hunter father, to help her find Hank Carlisle, to find out answers to why her papa would allow one of his men to assault her and then abandon her.

Cale Walker joined Hank with his band of bounty hunters after a stint in the Army until he had a falling out with Hank over the ruthlessness of some of the other members “methods.” On his way from leaving Hank, Cale was attacked by a mountain lion and rescued by an Apache tribe, such as those that Hank and Cale hunted. During Cale’s time with a tribe of the Nednai, he learned their healing ways and became a di-yan (medicine man). Cale also has unresolved issues with Hank.

Cale and Tess are introduced to each other at the very beginning of the novel, when Cale arrives at Tom and Mary Simms’ home, having been summoned there by a letter from his half-sister, who also is Mary’s half-sister. Yes, there are a lot of names that are mentioned at the beginning of this story, and, as the fourth in a series, reading the first one helps set all the other characters in their proper place.

When Cale and Tess meet, there is an instant connection, one that Tess tries hard to ignore given her past, and one that Cale wants to suppress, because of the wounded spirit he senses in Tess. He wants to protect and help her. As they travel together to find Hank, Tess and Cale are wary of the growing feelings between them. It’s an unforgiving land, and they are both unsure who to trust, including themselves. When Tess is hurt in a fall during an attack, Cale finds his way to Vern, a rancher in the Dragoons where Tess allows Cale to use his healing knowledge to help her leg get strong, and she nurtures a wounded blackbird, aware of its connection to her, wounded and in a cage to heal, but wanting to be free. Can Cale bring her the same kind of healing?

Blackbird is a sensual romance and has all the aspects one might expect for the genre – and receives high marks as being a keenly written historical novel. The author’s attention to historical detail is evident in the use of traditional Apache terms and realism of the time. Tess’s storytelling ability and memories of her grandmother also add to the flavor of the novel as she sprinkles her stories and conversation with Spanish phrases. But it is the story of two wounded hearts finding each other in the hardscrabble environment of Arizona during the time of Geronimo that makes The Blackbird go beyond “romance.”

The storyline is so engaging and intense, it is difficult to put down. The description of the Arizona desert, such as the otherworldly look the Dragoon Mountains, as well as the brutality of both the bounty hunters and some native war parties, show the realities of what life was like during those time, for both the settlers and those Apache tribes that wanted to live at peace without government interference.

The Blackbird by Kristy McCaffrey won First Place in the 2015 LARAMIE Awards!

August 31, 2018
The LARAMIE Book Awards for Western Fiction – The SHORTLIST for the 2018 CIBAs
The LARAMIE Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Western Fiction. The Laramie Book Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions ( The #CIBAs).

These titles have moved forward in the judging slush rounds to the 2018 Laramie Book Awards SHORT LIST. These entries are now in competition for the limited 2018 Laramie Semi-Finalists from which the First Place Category Positions will be chosen. The Laramie Book Awards Semi-Finalists and First Place Positions along with Laramie Grand Prize Award Winner will be announced at the Awards Gala on Saturday, April 27th, 2019.

We are looking for the best books featuring cowboys & cowgirls, the Wild West, pioneering, Civil War, contemporary American West, and early North American and Central American History.

These titles are in the running for the next round – the SEMI-Finalist positions for the 2018 LARAMIE Book Awards novel competition for pre-1750s Historical Fiction. Good Luck to All!
- Brenda Stanley – The Treasure of Cedar Creek
- Juliette Douglas – Miss Birgit: Mail Order Bride
- J.L Oakley – Mist-chi-mas: A Novel of Captivity
- J.R. Collins – Living Where the Rabbits Dance
- TK Conklin – Promise of Tomorrow
- Preston Shires – Life in a Casket
- John Hansen – Chasing Demons
- Curt Locklear – Splintered
- Richard Alan – A Female Doctor in the Civil War
- Ronald E. Yates – The Lost Years of Billy Battles (Book 3 in the Finding Billy Battles Trilogy)
- Jenna Hestekin – Bicker and the Soolivans
- Pat Wahler – I am Mrs. Jesse James
- Jack E. Sanford – Relentless Pursuit: The Race of a Lifetime
- Ruth Hull Chatlien – Blood Moon: A Captive’s Tale
- Mari Anne Christie – Blind Tribute
- Jayme H. Mansfield – RUSH
Congratulations to these authors for their works moving up to the Short List from the slush pile. These novels will now compete for the (Semi-Finalists) Positions!

The LARAMIE Short Listers will compete for the SemiFinalists positions that will compete for the LARAMIE First-In-Category Positions. First Place Category Award winners will automatically be entered into the LARAMIE GRAND PRIZE AWARD competition. The CBR Grand Prize Genre Winners will compete for the CIBA Overall Grand Prize for Best Book and its $1,000 purse.

CIBA Overall Grand Prize Winner and Laramie Grand Prize Winner

We are now accepting submissions into the 2019 Laramie Book Awards writing competition. The deadline for submissions into the 2019 Laramie Book Awards is July 30th, 2019. Please click here for more information.

As always, please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions, concerns, or suggestions at Info@ChantiReviews.com.
August 29, 2018
THREADS of PASSION by T.K. Conklin – Western, Romance, Historical Fiction

Who is trying to kill Logan McCord?

The frontier town of Rimrock, deep in Wyoming Territory, is a usually a quiet little place, at least it has been for the past two years since Willow and Skye Strykes settled there to be close to their brother. The sisters stay busy with their successful dress shop, the occasional town dance breaking the monotony, but when Willow’s would-be suitor nearly hangs for a murder he didn’t commit, their lives are altered forever.

In a desperate bid to save the man she doesn’t even realize she loves, Willow does a crazy thing that ends with the two in a forced marriage, but the young couple’s problems don’t end at the wedding alter. Willow and Skye have their own secret, the secret which compelled them to run from New Orleans in the first place. Before long, Skye and Willow realize their secret has caught up with them, and they must find a way to escape it again before it consumes the entire town.

The Southern-transplanted sisters, Willow and Skye, are far from the typical romance novel heroines. Both women carry their own scars, Willow on the outside, Skye on the inside. Willow’s limp, the product of severe child abuse, isn’t a focus in the novel but is a definite reflection of the kind of protagonist Willow is. Her strength despite her weakness carries both herself and her sister for a time, and though Skye seems weak and damaged beyond repair, she manages to find a tenacity she never knew she had. Her ordeal is terrifying and devastating, but her love for Willow proves stronger than her memories and the pull of her suicidal thoughts. She must literally face her demons, and with her sister, she manages to do exactly that. Though initially, the number of familial relationships described are daunting, the connection between siblings, both with the women and the men, prove to be a major theme in the novel.

Logan, the barroom brawler, on the surface appears to be the typical romance hero. But he is more than tall, dark, and handsome. Both Logan and Rafe, his cousin who loves Skye, are gentle and loving. These men help the sisters find the courage to not only share their story but to challenge it head-on. The withholding of physical relationships by these characters creates a strong sexual tension which greatly enhances the plot, and for all those readers who love a touch of the paranormal, Logan’s family will add that, too.

With threats on all sides and action galore, the mystery will keep you guessing. The almost dual storylines give readers two loves stories for the price of one, and with the potential for a series, more great adventures are likely to come for the McCords and the Strykes.

Threads of Passion won First Place in the 2017 LARAMIE Awards for T.K. Conklin!

July 22, 2018
The DEVIL’S OWN DESPERADO by Lynda J. Cox – Western Gunslinger, Romance, Literary

Can a gunfighter ever truly hang up his guns and settle down in one place? When Colt Evans is wounded in a fight, he flees – as far away as he can get – searching for a place to heal. What he finds has the potential to change his life forever and make him yearn to settle down. But, will his past stay behind him?

Injured and on the run, Colt Evans stumbles upon a remote homestead owned and operated by Amelia McCollister and her two siblings. The orphaned siblings have strong feelings about gunfighters as their parents were shot to death by outlaws several years earlier. Due to this sad fact, when the well-known gunfighter arrives at the homestead, Amelia is reluctant to open her home to the man.

Despite this, she follow her nature to heal rather than harm the wounded Colt against the warnings of the doctor and Marshall of the town. As she nurses Colt back to health, Amelia’s strong misgivings about this stranger seem to disappear. Colt finds that the longer he is with Amelia, he doesn’t want to leave. However, he knows that someone will eventually come looking for him. He does not want to stay and bring trouble to Amelia and her siblings; however, the longer he remains on the homestead, the stronger his feeling for Amelia grow.

As Colt had feared, his enemies find him. The danger is just too severe for Amelia and her brothers, so Colt leaves. However, once a gunfighter, always a gunfighter – at least in reputation. When Colt is ambushed and left for dead, the only thing that keeps him alive is his last drive to find Amelia, the love of his life.

Lynda J. Cox has crafted an enjoyable novel of the Old West. Nelson’s writing is engaging and flawless as she weaves the needs and desires of her two main characters against the brutal reality of the 1880’s into the story. This is a classic romance set-up, and it works to the readers’ delight. The book presents a well-balanced mix of romance and gritty 1887 Wild West action. This combination makes for one page-turning Western epic.

The Devil’s Own Desperado by Lynda J. Cox won First Place in the 2015 LARAMIE Awards!

July 11, 2018
CLEVENGER GOLD: The TRUE STORY of MURDER and UNFOUND TREASURE by Scott Elson Swapp – Old West, Crime Thriller, Treasure

Sam Clevenger is an old curmudgeon, endlessly cranky and critical of those around him. He has liquidated his assets, his ranch and livestock, into gold bullion, worth about a million dollars by today’s figures. His “bank” is an old Dutch oven pot and no one knows the pot’s contents.

When Clevenger’s wife, Charlotte, falls ill with tuberculosis, Sam hopes moving to Washington Territory will improve her health. Sam is mean to everyone – even Jessie, the couple’s fifteen-year-old adopted daughter. He treats her like a ranch hand, and she resents it. But everyone has their limits, and Sam realizes that moving horses and mules through the Buckskin Mountains will be very difficult, more work than he and Jessie can manage, so he hires John Johnson, a bi-racial soldier just released from the U.S. Cavalry, and a handsome young man, Frank Willson, who’s eager to work.

The group has many adventures as they head from the Arizona Territory north. Several indigenous peoples are in the area and relations with various tribes are extremely tense. Hungry coyotes stalk the travelers and tensions rise high as the group must ferry the wagon and the animals across a tumultuous river. Despite the care the Clevenger’s take with the wagons, Charlotte has difficulty traveling over rough terrain and the biggest fear is she won’t last the trip.

Of course, where there are young vivacious people working together, romance is bound to grow. So, it is no surprise when a flirtation begins between Frank and Jessie blooms into something more, causing Frank to become increasingly protective of her when Sam treats her with cruelty and scorn. John and Frank work well together, but, being of mixed race, John is subject to Sam’s racist language and attitudes.

Traveling by wagon with a team of animals in the late 19^th century was a huge and precarious undertaking. Each day is a quest to cover as many miles as possible and to find a safe place to sleep at night. Hunting rabbits for dinner is a gamble because the sound of gunshots could alert Indians to the campers’ presence. Readers will feel as if they’re on the journey themselves.

Sam hides his gold in plain sight, the Dutch oven hangs from the wagon like any kitchen utensil by day, but he buries the pot each night. The scene is set for explosive confrontations, murders, cover-ups, lies, trials, jail sentences and fatal consequences. This book is as suspenseful as any thriller, more so because these events are a part of history.

Clevenger Gold is a scintillating work of historic fiction, but as its subtitle notes, it’s also “the true story of murder and unfound treasure.” In the book’s preface and introduction, author Scott Eldon Swapp states that the basic facts on which the narrative rests are accurate. While researching this deeply fascinating tale of a family journeying from the Arizona Territory to the Washington Territory in the 1870s with a couple of hired hands, Swapp studied county, state, territorial and national archives. He shares his methodology and research finds with the reader, and most chapter titles mark the exact location and time of specific incidents on the trip. Swapp clearly strives for the utmost accuracy in recreating this wildly dramatic episode in U.S. territorial history.

Much of the plot takes places via dialogue and Swapp writes the verve and sass of cowboy lingo with relish. Swapp’s enthusiasm for the mystery of the buried treasure is infectious.

Sam’s gold is still out there, waiting to be found. Swapp encourages the reader with these words, “If you have the skills and patience to seek real treasure, go get it!”

Clevenger Gold: The True Story of Murder and Unfound Treasure by Scott Eldon Swapp won First Place in the 2016 Laramie Awards!

July 3, 2018
IMPROBABLE FORTUNES: A NOVEL by Jeffrey Price – Western, Satire, Contemporary Fiction

Buster McCaffery wants a family. An orphan from birth, Buster has spent his entire life searching for a forever family in the tiny Western town of Vanadium, population 367. After a tragic birth, Buster is handed from family to family until he reaches his maturity. His only true protector, Sheriff Shep Dudival, ensures Buster stays out of trouble, but when three of Buster’s adopted fathers die in mysterious ways, the town quickly assumes the worst, and Buster becomes a social pariah.

No one trusts Buster until a wealthy New York businessman, Marvin Mallomar, reinvigorates the economy of Vanadium. Buster takes on hero status as foreman and friend of the would-be savior until a catastrophic mudslide wipes out half the town, and Buster is the suspected murderer of Mallomar. Now Buster must convince a jury he never killed anyone, much less his best friend.

Told as a flashback, Improbable Fortunes by Jeffrey Price is a wild romp! The prolific backstories, like the muskrat burrows that play a role in the novel, create a complex network of tunnels that twist and turn into an ironically stable tale of family, trust, and some flawed, albeit well-meaning, loyalty. This completely satirical read leaves the reader simultaneously laughing while feeling ashamed at finding humor in the pathetic lives of the characters.

From the Busy Bees, the local drug-dealing gang to the defunct uranium mine that gave the town its claim to fame, Lame Horse County will remind the reader of William Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha County or Mayberry gone awry. Buster McCaffrey, who looks like Howdy Doody and acts like the big-hearted–possible serial killing–buffoon, prays for those who take him in even though they deprive him of an education, use him for hard labor, attempt to molest him, and think he’s a murderer.

Sheriff Shep Dudival (think Andy Griffith with a dark streak) is Buster’s only real father-figure who touchingly gives Buster what is likely his first birthday gift in the form of a restored pickup truck. He’s a shepherd in the truest sense, steering Buster’s life as best he can. Jimmy Bayles Morgan, another important character, is an Old West cowboy with a strange secret and an undeniable affinity to Buster’s suffering.

Buster’s story meanders from a tile-making gangster family to pudgy Teutonic nudists to a rodeo star wife beater to a hen-pecked rancher with a maiden name to a cancer-riddled transvestite to a billionaire tycoon, and the reader will not be able to put it down. His devotion to the aptly named Destiny is touching and sad at the same time, and the petty caginess of his “families” only highlights Buster’s goodness. The reader will be rooting for Buster, Shep, and Jimmy even while feeling guilty for it.

Price’s novel is a bronc-busting ride that will have the reader holding on for the entire book. A clever mix of spaghetti Western and crime novel, Improbable Fortunes is a satirical treasure as “improbable” as the rebirth of the woe-begotten protagonist.

Improbable Fortunes by Jeffrey Price won First Place in the 2016 Laramie Awards!

July 3, 2018
SEIZE the FLAME by Lynda J. Cox – Romantic Western, Historical Fiction, Heartwarming Romance

Drake Adams and Jessie Depre want the same thing: peace. For Drake, peace will only come when he can rid his memory of Jessie’s heart-wrenching betrayal nearly two years earlier, at the altar. What began as a fairytale love between childhood sweethearts ended when Jessie married another man and left the Wyoming territory. Since then, Drake has given up his law career to become a bounty hunter, and when he sees Jessie’s wanted poster, he knows he has only one choice, track her down and return her to the man she ran off with.

Following a life-changing misunderstanding, Jessie married the first man she saw, but it wasn’t long before her would-be hero turned into a real-life monster. She will only find peace when she is far away from her homicidal husband, Robert. However, when Drake captures Jessie, both realize their own peace just might come from rekindling their love for each other.

Lynda J. Cox’s Seize the Flame is a story of reconciling the past. Both characters are emotionally and physically damaged. Jessie’s story will touch home with any woman who’s been the victim of abuse. Her fear, her panic, are so real the reader will instantly identify with her even if he/she has never suffered from that unfortunate malady. The strength she has in not only running from her husband but also in ensuring the safety of another innocent woman celebrates the determined female spirit. Despite the scars on her body and, more importantly, in her mind, Jessie manages to find her own way and create her own destiny.

Drake has a genuinely unique story. Kidnapped at the age of nine and forced to work for a ruthless thief until he’s rescued by Royce, Jessie’s father, Drake loved Jessie from the first moment he saw her. His continued devotion to the woman who shattered his dream of a home and family of his own is touching and endearing. Although the backstory is as winding as a Wyoming mountain trail, the story unravels slowly enough to allow the reader to soak it all in and experience the complexity of these characters, and though the genre is historical romance, the romantic content is limited enough that fans of the western genre will still enjoy the novel without blushing.

Seize the Flame by Lynda J. Cox won First Place in the Laramie Awards for Western Fiction in 2016.

June 30, 2018
The LARAMIE Awards for Western, Pioneer, and Prairie Novels – 2017 Official List of Winners
We are excited and honored to officially announce the Grand Prize Winner and the First Place Category Winners for the 2017 LARAMIE Book Awards for Western, Pioneer, and Prairie Fiction at the fifth annual Chanticleer Authors Conference and Chanticleer Book Awards Ceremony. This year’s ceremony and banquet were held on Saturday, April 21st, 2018 at the Hotel Bellwether by beautiful Bellingham Bay, Wash.

We want to thank all of those who entered and participated in the 2017 LARAMIE Book Awards, a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards.

When we receive the digital photographs from the Official CAC18 photographer, we will post them here and on the complete announcement that will list all the genres and the Overall Grand Prize Winner for the 2017 Chanticleer International Book Awards. Please check back!

Click here for the link to the 2017 LARAMIE Shortlisters! An email will go out within three weeks to all Shortlisters with links to digital badges and how to order Shortlister stickers.

Congratulations to the 2017 LARAMIE SHORTLISTERS!

Jacquie Rogers, the author of the 2016 Laramie Grand Prize Winner Honey Beaulieu, Man Hunter, announced the First Place Award Winners and the Grand Prize Winner for the 2017 LARAMIE Book Awards at the Chanticleer Awards Banquet and Ceremony.

Congratulations to the First Place Category Winners of the 2017 LARAMIE Book Awards.

An email will go out to all First Place Category Winners and Grand Prize Winners with more information, the timing of awarded reviews, links to digital badges, and more by May 21st, 2018 (four weeks after the awards ceremony). Please look for it.

2017 LARAMIE Book Awards First in Category Winners for Western Fiction are:

Laramie First Place Award winners
- Grasshoppers at Dusk by Kiki Watkins
- Mist-chi-mus: A Novel of Captivity by J.L. Oakley
- Sacrificial Lions by John Simons/David Simons
- The Hour Glass by Michelle Rene
- Away at War: A Civil War Story of the Family Left Behind by Nick K. Adams
- Threads of Passion by T.K. Conklin
- Desertion by Michael Aloysius O’Reilly
- Death in the Black Patch by Bruce Wilson
And now for the 2017 LARAMIE Grand Prize Winner for Western Fiction:

HOUR GLASS

by Michelle Rene

CIBA Overall Grand Prize Winner and Laramie Grand Prize Winner

The deadline to submit to the 2018 LARAMIE Book Awards is July 31, 2018.

Our next Chanticleer International Book Awards Banquet will be held on Saturday, April 20th, 2019, for the 2018 winners. Enter your book or manuscript in a contest today!
April 29, 2018