Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: Writing competitions

The 2025 Hemingway Hall of Fame for 20th and 21st c. Wartime Fiction

The Past Always Impacts the Present

Enter by August 31st to be considered for the 2025 Hemingway Book Awards for Wartime Fiction!

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

To read more about Ernest Hemingway, please click here.

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

Historical Book Awards here at Chanticleer Reviews and the CIBAS.

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

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

Of White Ashes
By Constance Hays Matsumoto and Kent Matsumoto

Our review for the newest Grand Prize Winner is forthcoming. In the meantime, here is what GoodReads readers have been saying:

“In “Of White Ashes,” Constance Hays Matsumoto and Kent Matsumoto tell the tales of two individuals and how their lives intertwine during one of the most horrific times in history: World War II. Based on the true stories of Mr. Matsumoto’s parents, this utterly captivating novel represents historical fiction at its finest, and most heartbreaking.” -Amy

“Constance and Kent have written an insightful story about the experience of Japanese Americans during WWII. The weaving of a love story with history is so well done and it draws the reader into the story and inspires you to turn page after page. Ultimately, it is about the human story to survive, grow and find love amidst the circumstances life brings to us. Artfully done, many lessons from the past but lessons we can use for the future.” -Michael

“I found my favorite novel of the year, in this tragic but beautiful story of two families, each experiencing WWII in different countries and in different ways, who meet and are able to blend their experiences and suffering into rich and satisfying lives.”

-Leanna

Find the book here!

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

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

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

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

Read More Here

RUNNING WITH CANNIBALS
By Robert W. Smith

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

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

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

Read more here!

EO-N
By Dave Mason

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

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

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

Read more here!

THE QUISLING FACTOR
By J. L. Oakley

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

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

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

Read more here!

Now that you’re set on your next reads, what are you waiting for? The only way to join this amazing list of Hemingway Winners is to submit today!

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

You know you want it…

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

August 8, 2025
The 2024 Hemingway First Place Roundup for 20th & 21st c. Wartime Fiction

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

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

The 2024 Hemingway Winners were announced at the 2025 Chanticleer Authors Conference in April, and you can see the official winners post here!

Join us in celebrating the 2024 First Place Hemingway Winners!

R.L. Pace – Rising Son

After centuries of self-imposed isolation, the Empire of Japan has re-emerged onto the world stage.

From their poverty-stricken farm in a remote village, the Sakai family sends their eldest son to the New World to begin life in the cane fields of Hawaii. There he is forced to adapt to a new climate, culture, and searing racial intolerance. With his new “picture bride”, the young man must flee the grueling sugar plantations for California, where their immigrant dream continues to elude them. Finally arriving on Bainbridge Island in Washington State, they will try to raise a family in a new era of hope.

Meanwhile, the son of a Japanese consular attaché, born and schooled in the USA, is whisked back to his homeland for military training in the tense months before the outbreak of WWII. His assignment to a clandestine spy operation targeting the western United States leaves him stranded with severe injuries. His recovery, his tenuous situation, and a newly kindled romance finds him questioning his true allegiance. Is Japan his homeland, or is it the US where his heart calls him?

From the splendid palaces of tsars, emperors and sugar barons to the dirt floor hovels of society’s most desperate, many of the historical figures who shaped the modern world come to life. Experience through these characters how simple misunderstandings, poor statecraft, and devastating wars whipsaw the lives of those they rule, often with tragic consequences.

Rising Son is an epic saga spanning a century in the lives of two families as their challenges, secrets, and desires intertwine. It is the story of simple people navigating a difficult world. A story of fear, of racial bigotry, of deception, honesty and love. Equal parts romantic adventure and cautionary tale.

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

Katherine Koch – The Sower of Black Field

A Priest’s Courage. A Village’s Redemption. A True Story of Faith and Resistance in the Third Reich.

In a Bavarian village gripped by Nazi tyranny, an American priest’s faith will be tested like never before.

Father Viktor Koch has spent the war quietly ministering to his parish, keeping their faith alive under the watchful eyes of Nazi authorities. But as Germany crumbles in 1945, a shocking discovery thrusts the village into a moral crisis.

A mass grave of concentration camp victims lies on the village’s border. When American liberators demand justice, the commander gives the villagers an impossible choice: unearth and bury the dead within 24 hours—or face mass execution.

With time running out, Father Viktor must summon extraordinary courage to protect his people. But can he convince the Americans of the villagers’ humanity, or will the legacy of Nazi atrocities condemn them all?

Inspired by true events, The Sower of Black Field is a poignant and gripping historical novel of resilience, faith, and redemption.

From Chanticleer:

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

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

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

The village is far more Catholic than Nazi, even as the regime does its best to turn its citizens away from their faith.

Read More Here!

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

Tim Turner & Moisey Gorbaty – The Reluctant Conductor

Feeling stifled as a Jew living in a Moldovan shtetl, violinist Elazar just wants to find love and eventually succeed his father as conductor of the family band and hardware business. But that could take years, and in 1922 Kalarash, there are very few girls his age and he’s known all of them since he was a child. He would love to move to Kishinev, Odesa, or Kyiv on his own and become a musician, but he knows it would kill his mama, and he’d feel guilty for the rest of his life.

At his cousin’s wedding in Kishinev, Elazar falls for Ita Kaplan, a wealthy heiress from Bolgrad, a key trade city on the Black Sea near the Romanian border, but she shuns him because she dreams of moving to Paris and becoming a painter. He then loses his heart to Mariam Gabashvili, the blossoming daughter of a local vintner, but his papa forbids him from marrying her because she’s not Jewish.

History-the rise of Stalin, his brutal takeover of Ukraine, and later Hitler’s invasion of the USSR-grants Elazar’s wishes in ways he never dreams, sending he and his family on an epic flight to Uzbekistan, where they endure the war, and then back to Moldova, where they pick up the pieces of their shattered lives.

In this stunning novel based on true events, Tim Turner and Moisey Gorbaty brilliantly re-create Jewish life in the Soviet Union, where, while life was punishing and brutally unfair, one violinist finds music in devastation and conducts his family-his orchestra-in such a way as to not let the horrors defeat them or hate to overcome them.

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

Kay Smith-Blum – Tangles

Also a 2024 Somerset First Place Winner!

Oppenheimer was just the beginning.

When a harpooned whale offers proof the Hanford Nuclear Reservation is endangering all life in the Columbia River Basin, Luke Hinson, a brash young scientist, seizes the chance to avenge his father’s death but a thyroid cancer diagnosis derails Luke’s research. Between treatments, he dives back in, making enemies at every turn. On an overnight trek, Luke discovers evidence that Mary, his former neighbor, embarked on the same treacherous trail, and her disappearance, a decade prior, may be tied to Hanford’s harmful practices mired in government-mandated secrecy.

A love story wrapped in a mystery, this stunning Cold War home-front tale reveals the devastating costs of the birth of the nuclear age, and celebrates the quiet courage of wronged women, the fierce determination of fatherless sons, and the limitless power of the individual.

Tangles is a genre-defying must-read for our time.

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

Kathryn Gauci – Midnight in Istanbul

‘Meet me near the Galata Bridge in thirty minutes. On the quay – the Karaköy side – at the pier, opposite Ali’s Fish Tavern. Don’t be late.’ There was a slight pause. ‘Make sure you’re not being followed.’

‘How will I recognise you?’ I asked.

‘You won’t. I will recognise you.’ There was a click and the line went dead.

Istanbul 1943. A place where you can easily lose yourself: an intoxicating mix of the orient – sweet and sensual – combined with an ever-present sense of adventure, intrigue, and danger. A place where the unknown lurks in the shadows of its famous winding streets and minarets; in every nightclub and backstreet cafe; on every ferry ride which makes you wonder if you will reach the other shore; and perhaps most of all, in the arms of every beautiful woman who declared her love for you.

Elliot Caldwell, an OSS agent operating from neutral Turkey, finds himself entangled in a dangerous mission to aid the Austrian resistance group known as CASSIA or the Maier-Messner group, which delivers vital information about Nazi armaments factories, including the production of the infamous V-2 rocket.

But after two men are found murdered, Elliot is forced to conclude there is a traitor in the network. In a cat and mouse game to uncover who it is, the network suffers a crushing blow with devastating consequences.

Based on real events, this is the story of one of the most important resistance groups of WWII, whose contributions were crucial for Operation Crossbow and Operation Hydra, both preliminary missions for Operation Overlord.

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

Travis Davis – One of Four: World War One Through the Eyes of an Unknown Soldier

Also a 2024 Chanticleer Cover Design First Place Winner!

From New York Harbor to the battlefields of France, relive World War I through the eyes of an unknown soldier, as told through his diary. See how the 100-year-old diary brings a father and his estranged son back together by retracing his experiences fighting in the battlefields of France in 1917 – 1918 to his final resting place—the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.

His diary was found next to his lifeless body by a young French girl who witnessed his death and bravery as he tried to protect his fellow soldiers. How the unknown soldier felt and what he experienced fighting on the Western Front in World War One —his day-to-day struggles and life as a private and then as an NCO. As he led his men into combat. The pride and fear he felt and the overwhelming stress he encountered, sometimes frozen with fear from the sheer brutality of modern warfare from all sides. His bravery in combat and leadership in training and on the battlefield. How he coped as he watched his fellow soldiers, battle buddies, and friends die one after another. Some from battlefield injuries from conventional weapons and gas attacks, but also diseases from the unsanitary conditions of trench warfare and influenza. His only wish was to come out alive, a wish that would never come true.

But return home, he did.

From Chanticleer:

One of Four: World War One Through the Eyes of an Unknown Soldier by Travis Davis is a compassionate and intimate portrait of the tenuous and unforgiving First World War, as shown through the eyes of an American soldier on France’s front lines. Based on real people and events in 1918 France, One of Four begins with a young French girl, Camille, who stumbles upon a diary lying next to an unknown American soldier. He was killed among his comrades in a German ambush near the banks of the Aire River, as he tried to protect his fellow soldiers. When Camille comes of age, she leaves her hometown to seek a better life in Paris. There, she is killed after joining a German resistance group. But before her death, she tucked the soldier’s diary in her Bible and hid it in a local bookstore.

Decades later, a man by the name of Walter travels to France with his son, Alex, to whom he’d become estranged after the painful divorce from Alex’s mother. He hopes this will be a journey of healing and exploration and that their time together will revive their shaky relationship. While there, Alex purchases the Bible left by Camille many years ago. By reading the hidden diary entries of the soldier together, Alex and Walter’s relationships takes an unexpected turn.

Read More Here!

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

Bharati Sen – My War, My Child

A law student at Dhaka University, Afsana’s future is bright. Her greatest concern is whether or not her parents will approve of her marriage. When they do, the young bride knows she can face anything the future holds.

Then war breaks out.

Six years later, she encounters a ghost from her past—her first husband, presumed dead in the fighting.

My War, My Child vividly and compassionately tells the story of Bengali birangona, the war heroines, whose lives were brutally torn apart by the 1971 War for Independence. Though the fight resulted in the freedom and independent nation so craved by the Bengali people, hundreds of thousands of women’s lives were devastated, leaving them to scrape together the pieces and carry on as best they could—often with children and orphans forced upon them.

This is a piece of history you’ve never heard before, an inside look at the resilience and strength of women around the world.

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

H.W. “Buzz” Bernard – When Heroes Flew

For B-24 bomber pilot Al Lycoming, the mission was history in the making. For Women’s Airforce Service Pilot Vivian Wright, it was a chance to put her skills to the ultimate test…and share in the burden of combat.

Dispatched to Benghazi on mysterious orders, Al Lycoming finds nearly 200 other B-24 bombers being assembled…and a top secret assignment that will catapult them all into seemingly impenetrable Nazi defenses.

Their mission: a daring low-level attack on Hitler’s extensive oil refineries.

But when his co-pilot falls ill at the last moment, Al secretly finds help from an unlikely source—Vivian.

Together, the two fly towards dark skies filled with enemy flak and fighters…and into the pages of history.

With perspectives from American and German pilots alike, When Heroes Flew masterfully weaves together one of the most dangerous and incredible aerial operations of World War Two with a riveting tale of bravery, suspense, and self-sacrifice.

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

Thank you for joining us to celebrate the 2024 Hemingway First Place Winners!

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

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

The 2025 Hemingway Book Awards are open through the end of August!

Submit to the Hemingway Awards Today!

August 6, 2025
The 2024 Goethe First Place Roundup for Late Historical Fiction

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

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

The 2024 Goethe Winners were announced at the 2025 Chanticleer Authors Conference in April, and you can see the official winners post here!

Join us in celebrating the 2024 First Place Goethe Winners!

Janis Robinson Daly – The Path Beneath Her Feet

Steeped in rich historical detail, Dr. Eliza Edwards, the ingénue student in The Unlocked Path, becomes the mature mentor, steadfast in her calling to effect social change by addressing women’s health issues and guiding others to realize their dreams. In 1936, as the Depression ravages careers, Eliza re-defines her abilities, traveling to Georgia and Tennessee as she reclaims her purpose and rediscovers her ambitions. Returning to Boston, she endures heartbreak with the eruption of World War II, bringing chaos to the world and sending her sons into battle. Will her unyielding pursuit to limit suffering and save lives sustain her amid the tumultuous landscapes of 1930s and 1940s America?

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

Sandra Wagner – Wright- Sea Tigers and Merchants

Also a 2024 Series Award Winner!

In 1790 the United States has a new Constitution. George Washington presides as the first elected president. Abroad, France and Britain are at war. And by 1795 seafaring Americans are accosted on the high seas by French privateers and British naval ships.

Tensions rise as American merchants continue to trade. Among them, Hasket Derby and Captain George Crowninshield acquire wealth and build maritime empires while their sons and other adventurous young men take risks on the high seas and in the exotic ports at Isle de France, India, and China dodging accidents, disease, British warships and French privateers. A rich cargo, the turn of a card, or an unlucky storm can make or break a young man’s career. But men like Nath Silsbee fight for the chance to make their fortune and become part of America’s promise.

Women are equally determined and adventurous. Orphaned Lizzie Rowell takes a job at Ship Tavern, and meets the dashing Captain George Crowninshield Jr., a man far above her station in life. Torn between duty and desire, Geordie must choose between his family’s expectations and his growing affection for a mere tavern maid.

In this historical page-turner, family bonds are tested and romantic dreams challenged against the backdrop of ambition and adventure on the high seas. Immerse yourself in the captivating world of trade and intrigue in the new United States of America.

From Chanticleer:

Sandra Wagner-Wright’s audible version of Sea Tigers & Merchants: A New American Generation, Salem Stories Book 2 continues the sagas of two prominent families that dominate the shipping industry of young Salem. Narrator Christa Lewis fully embodies the unique characters of this swashbuckling historical adventure.

Wagner-Wright takes us back to 1790. In recently independent America, the next generation of the Crowninshield and Derby families try to continue building their fortunes on the treacherous high seas. Threats of pirates, storms, and ever-changing economies drives their fates, their successes, and their failures. Wagner-Wright’s skillful pen brings to life each young person, female and male, as they variously seek out or shun a chance at love on shore.

Captain George Crowninshield and Haskett Derby duke it out for power and control of the Eastern Seaboard, with their families caught up in the contest.

Wagner-Wright shows how these merchants brave great risk through maritime exploits in France, the Netherlands, the West Indies, Africa, and Asia. During their adventures on the sea, these captains fight relentlessly for the vessels—which become as famous as those captains themselves.

Read More Here!

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

James Conroyd Martin – Napoleon’s Shadow Wife: A Novel of Countess Marie Walewska

Embark on a voyage through unconditional love, power, and betrayal!

How could an emperor like Napoleon Bonaparte be so captivated by the twenty-year-old Polish Countess Marie Walewska—admittedly a rare beauty but of minor nobility—that their affair would last through both his marriages? And if it wasn’t romance that first drew Marie to Napoleon, what was it?

At just eight years old, Marie finds her life forever changed by the death of her father, killed in battle against the Russians. This tragedy sparks a deep, lifelong patriotism in her as Poland is fragmented and divided among Russia, Prussia, and Austria.

A fan of Napoleon since her school days, Marie eagerly seizes the opportunity to meet him when he passes through the former Poland, his intention to secure military support for his campaign to conquer Russia. She seeks only to express Poland’s gratitude and hope he would restore the nation’s independence. She never imagined a romantic entanglement. But Napoleon, taken with her patriotism, youth, and beauty, soon sets his sights on her—and begins a campaign to win her heart.

Though Marie resists, powerful forces pressure her—just as they had in her marriage—to give in to the emperor’s desires.

Expect to be immersed in Marie’s world, where love and loyalty collide amidst a galaxy of powerful aristocrats, politicians, and military leaders. You’ll journey from Marie’s manor house on the plains of Poland to cosmopolitan Warsaw, through grand palaces in Austria, France, and Italy—before sailing to the Island of Elba, where destiny awaits.

Find it on Bookbub and Amazon!

Florence Reiss Kraut – Street Corner Dreams

A suspenseful family saga, love story, and gangster tale, wrapped into one great book club read . . .

Just before WWI, Golda comes to America yearning for independence, but she tosses aside her dreams of freedom and marries her widowed brother-in-law after her sister dies giving birth to their son, Morty.

In the crowded streets of Brooklyn where Jewish and Italian gangs demand protection money from local storekeepers and entice youngsters with the promise of wealth, Golda, Ben, and Morty thrive as a family. But in the Depression, Ben, faced with financial ruin, makes a dangerous, life-altering choice. Morty tries to save his father by getting help from a gangster friend but the situation only worsens. Forced to desert his family and the woman he loves in order to survive, Morty is desperate to go home. Will he ever find a safe way back? Or has his involvement with the gang sealed his fate?

Another stunning work of historical fiction by Florence Reiss Kraut, Street Corner Dreams is an exploration of a timeless question: how much do we owe the families that have sacrificed for and shaped us—and does that debt outweigh what we owe ourselves and our own hopes and dreams for a better life?

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

Leo Daughtry – Talmadge Farm

It’s 1957, and tobacco is king. Wealthy landowner Gordon Talmadge enjoys the lavish lifestyle he inherited but doesn’t like getting his hands dirty; he leaves that to the two sharecroppers – one white, one Black – who farm his tobacco but have bigger dreams for their own children. While Gordon takes no interest in the lives of his tenant farmers, a brutal attack between his son and the sharecropper children sets off a chain of events that leaves no one unscathed. Over the span of a decade, Gordon struggles to hold on to his family’s legacy as the old order makes way for a New South.

A sweeping drama that follows three unforgettable families navigating the changing culture of North Carolina at a pivotal moment in history, readers have been raving that Talmadge Farm is one they cannot put down. Perfect for fans of Wiley Cash and Amor Towles.

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

Jeza Belle – Blood Rouge

Josef Dietrick lives with his self-absorbed mother, abusive step-father, and bullying step-brother, Marteen, in 1930s Berlin, Germany. When a brutal sexual attack at the hands of Marteen’s friend, Tielo, sends Josef homeless into the streets, he is taken in by the kind-hearted Lucas and his sister Anke.

Over time, gender-fluid Josef transforms into die blaue blume, the blue flower of Schöneberg, at one of the last underground cabarets for gay men and their entertainers, known as dolls.

A raid on the Rote Schwein leads to the capture of both Josef and Lucas who are violently carted off to Dachau, the notorious death camp. Here Josef is forced to choose between his lover Lucas or his now-Nazi childhood assaulter, Tielo. Forced into a form of slavery, Josef hatches a desperate plan to save both Lucas and himself forever.

Will Josef choose self-preservation or to live authentically? Can he do both?

Warning: contains sexual assault.

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

R.W. Meek – Sabrine and Vincent Van Gogh, Book 2 of the Dream Collector

Sabrine, hospitalized for five years at the infamous Salpêtrière Asylum for Women, gains her release due to the intervention of her sister Julie Forette and a young Sigmund Freud. The reunited sisters are introduced to the dazzling art milieu of 1886 Paris, and soon become close friends to the leading Impressionists. Sabrine attracts a cult following as a poetess, the enigmatic “Haiku Princess.” Seemingly cured by Freud of her Grand Hysteria, Sabrine soon enters into a tumultuous relationship with Vincent van Gogh.

Jule and Sigmund Freud, alarmed by the eerie parallels between the emotionally volatile couple and their self-destructive impulses, begin an urgent search to discover the root causes for Sabrine and Vincent’s growing psychoses. Julie, ‘The Dream Collector’ seeks their most unforgettable dream for Freud’s interpretation and revelations occur.

The Dream Collector is an exploration of the psychological consequences of betrayal, abandonment–and the redemptive power of art.

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

Sherry V. Ostroff – The Wall at the Sugar Factory

When Shaindel Pogrebiski’s life is shattered and uprooted by the senseless looting and murder that follow the civil war in Ukraine in 1919, she needs to figure out how to survive. With only her young daughter, Shaindel must flee the turmoil. But where will she go? While the world seems indifferent to the bloodbath upending Shaindel’s homeland, who will take in the refugees fleeing for their lives?

The era of the anti-Jewish riots, the pogroms in Ukraine from 1918-1921, has taken on new scrutiny. Some scholars suggest that this period which resulted in great atrocities against the shtetl Jews, perpetuated by their neighbors, was really the beginning of the Holocaust. The pogroms normalized the slaughter and created ready and willing executioners for the Nazis. Their goal of making Europe Judenrein became easier.

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

Thank you for joining us to celebrate the 2024 Goethe First Place Winners!

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

Got a great Historical Fiction Story?

The 2025 Goethe Book Awards are open through the end of August!

Submit to the Goethe Awards Today!

August 6, 2025
The 2025 Hemingway Spotlight for 20th & 21st c. Wartime Fiction
In War’s Shadow, Humanity Endures

The Hemingway Awards Honor 20th & 21st Century Wartime Fiction

The submissions for the 2025 Awards are underway, and Hemingway closes on August 31, 2025!

Ernest Hemingway understood that war reveals both the worst and best of human nature, the capacity for cruelty and the resilience of the human spirit, the cost of conflict and the bonds forged in extremity. The Hemingway Awards carry forward this literary tradition, celebrating authors who explore the profound impact of modern warfare on individuals, families, and entire generations caught in history’s most turbulent moments.

From the trenches of World War I to the complex conflicts of the 21st century, these stories preserve experiences that must not be forgotten. They honor the soldiers who fought, the civilians who endured, the families who waited, and the communities forever changed by the reverberations of war. In an age when conflicts can feel distant or abstract, wartime literature serves as an essential bridge to understanding war’s true human cost.

The Sacred Trust of Wartime Stories

Writing authentic wartime fiction requires both historical knowledge and deep empathy for human suffering. These stories serve as witnesses to history, preserving experiences that statistics and headlines cannot capture. They help readers understand that behind every battle, occupation, or campaign are individual human stories of courage, sacrifice, love, and survival. Whether based on family histories, extensive research, or personal experience, these narratives create emotional connections that ensure historical events remain meaningful to new generations.

The authors recognized by the Hemingway Awards understand that wartime fiction carries special responsibilities, to honor those who served and suffered, to accurately portray the complexities of conflict, and to illuminate the lasting impacts of war on both individuals and society.

Celebrating Our 2024 Grand Prize Winner!

We’re deeply honored to recognize Constance Hays Matsumoto and Kent Matsumoto, whose powerful novel Of White Ashes claimed the 2024 Hemingway Grand Prize with a story that captures the emotional impact of tragic events from a child’s heart and perspective. Inspired by their own family histories, the authors craft a sweeping narrative that follows two Japanese Americans whose lives are shattered by Pearl Harbor: Ruby Ishimaru, who loses her liberty and is forced from Hawaii to mainland incarceration camps, and Koji Matsuo, who endures the menacing clouds of war in Japan while concealing a dangerous family secret.

When destiny brings Ruby and Koji together in post-war California, their magnetic chemistry must overcome the deep wounds of trauma that threaten to make their love another casualty of war. Of White Ashes exemplifies the finest wartime literature by illuminating “the remarkable lives of ordinary people who endure seemingly unbearable hardship with dignity and patience,” creating a story that compels reflection on both human resilience and the ongoing risk of history repeating itself. In addition to ongoing promotional features, Of White Ashes will be regularly promoted throughout the year and for the next five years in our upcoming Hall of Fame posts. Constance Hays Matsumoto and Kent Matsumoto will also be invited to participate in a Chanticleer 10-Question Interview, and Of White Ashes will receive a coveted Chanticleer Editorial Review.

Categories That Honor Every Wartime Experience

The Hemingway Awards recognize the full spectrum of modern wartime stories:
- World War One – The Great War that changed the world forever, exploring the conflict that introduced modern warfare’s devastating scale
- World War Two – The global conflict that defined a generation and reshaped international order
- Women in War – Stories of the often-overlooked contributions and sacrifices of women during wartime
- Occupation/Diaspora – Narratives of displacement, internment, exile, and the struggle to maintain identity under oppression
- Espionage – The shadowy world of intelligence, resistance movements, and the moral complexities of wartime secrets
- Love in Wartime – Romances tested by separation, danger, and the uncertainty that war brings to every relationship
- Specific Campaign/Theater/Battle – Focused explorations of particular military operations, battles, or theaters of war
Each category represents a different lens through which to examine war’s impact on the human experience, from the grand sweep of global conflict to the intimate stories of individual survival and love.

Explore All Historical Fiction Divisions

The Hemingway Awards complete Chanticleer’s comprehensive celebration of historical fiction across all time periods:

Chaucer Awards for Early Historical Fiction – Ancient times through medieval periods, capturing the distant past

Goethe Awards for Late Historical Fiction – Post-1750s historical fiction spanning The Georgian era through 20th century

Laramie Awards for Americana Fiction – First Nation stories, the American frontier, pioneer tales, Civil War narratives, and contemporary westerns

Whether your historical fiction explores ancient civilizations, peaceful periods, or the specific crucible of modern warfare, Chanticleer offers recognition for every historical perspective.

Looking at Wartime Literature Excellence

Check out some of these outstanding wartime fiction works we’ve celebrated recently!

The Rocket Man’s Daughter
By Bruce Gardner

The Rocket Man’s Daughter: A Novel of Family, Faith and Resistance in Nazi Germany by Bruce Gardner tells a harrowing story of German life under the Nazi Regime from 1934 to 1945.

Through the experiences of a young woman whose family is torn by competing loyalties, this riveting tale shines a rarely seen spotlight on some of the most heart wrenching moral dilemmas faced by German civilians and soldiers caught up in the crucible of fascist tyranny and war.

Klara Neumann is the Rocket Man’s Daughter. She’s only fourteen in 1934 when the Führer, Adolf Hitler, finally eliminates all rivals and consolidates his control of Germany under the Nazi Party.

Klara’s family represents a microcosm of the country’s middle socio-economic class, working in government-sponsored roles that demand slavish obedience to the Führer and his decrees. Her father, Erich, is the quintessential ‘rocket man’, a university professor dragged into the Nazi war machine to help his friend and colleague Dr. Wernher von Braun develop the deadly new V-2 rockets intended to terrorize Germany’s future enemies. Her mother, meanwhile, strives to be a dutiful Nazi wife, her brother an honorable Wehrmacht army officer, and her elder sister Elke the devoted leader of a female Hitler Youth section.

Read More Here

Broken Faces
By Chris Karlsen and Jennifer Conner

A towering achievement, Broken Faces: Historical Romance Based on True WWI Events by Chris Karlsen and Jennifer A Conner follows two young people who, for different reasons, embark on a journey to restore the self-esteem torn from wounded soldiers by bloody conflict.

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 28, 1914 plunged Europe into one of the most horrific wars in history. Daily British papers featured articles about a bleak future. London quickly felt the effects of the war, with stores closing and basic goods in limited supply.

Abigail Belorman, a young American woman and talented sculptor, had relocated to Britain with her newlywed husband Theo, the US ambassador to England. Pained by Theo’s emotional neglect, Abigail finds comfort in visiting injured soldiers who had returned from the front to a nearby hospital. Each of the young men there has a story to tell and wounds to recover from. Some, however, suffered irreparable damage to their faces, along with any chance at a normal life taken from them, and they will be forced into isolation.

Read More Here

Crossroads of Empire
By Michael J. Cooper

A Hemingway First Place Winner!

Crossroads of Empire by Michael J. Cooper brings readers back into sixteen-year-old Evan Sinclair’s journey through the battlefields of WWI. The adventures and the war itself pick up right where the award-winning Wages of Empire left off.As in the first book, Evan begins his part of this story by going missing, this time not just from his father’s perspective, but from his own. Severely injured during his service with the Flemish resistance, Evan is discharged from a French field hospital. He’s on his way back to England by hospital ship when it is sunk by a German U-boat. When he reaches British shores as the sole survivor in a lifeboat, he’s left with amnesia and has no memory of who he is.

Evan’s search for his own identity leads him to Rosslyn Castle, the Sinclair family’s ancestral home in Scotland. There he unravels secret family histories and connections long buried. Finally, with assistance from a wise woman, Evan regains his memory. Without the protection the amnesia provided, he faces a host of painful and traumatic memories.

Read More Here

See our Review of Book 1 Here

One of Four
By Travis Davis

A Hemingway First Place Winner!

One of Four: World War One Through the Eyes of an Unknown Soldier by Travis Davis is a compassionate and intimate portrait of the tenuous and unforgiving First World War, as shown through the eyes of an American soldier on France’s front lines. Based on real people and events in 1918 France, One of Four begins with a young French girl, Camille, who stumbles upon a diary lying next to an unknown American soldier. He was killed among his comrades in a German ambush near the banks of the Aire River, as he tried to protect his fellow soldiers. When Camille comes of age, she leaves her hometown to seek a better life in Paris. There, she is killed after joining a German resistance group. But before her death, she tucked the soldier’s diary in her Bible and hid it in a local bookstore.

Decades later, a man by the name of Walter travels to France with his son, Alex, to whom he’d become estranged after the painful divorce from Alex’s mother. He hopes this will be a journey of healing and exploration and that their time together will revive their shaky relationship. While there, Alex purchases the Bible left by Camille many years ago. By reading the hidden diary entries of the soldier together, Alex and Walter’s relationships takes an unexpected turn.

Read More Here

Everything We Had
By Tom Burkhalter

A Series First Place Winner!

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

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

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

Read More Here

These works demonstrate how the best wartime literature combines historical accuracy with profound emotional truth to honor both history and humanity.

See the Chanticleer Difference for Yourself!

We’re honored to receive the wartime stories that authors trust us with each year. The Chanticleer International Book Awards offers an incredible $30,000 in cash, prizes, and promotion across all divisions!

The Hemingway Awards provide recognition for stories that preserve crucial historical experiences while exploring the timeless themes of courage, sacrifice, and resilience. Whether you’re drawing from family history, extensive research, or historical records, these awards celebrate both the literary craft and moral responsibility required to tell wartime stories with authenticity and respect.

Your Wartime Story Matters

In an era when the veterans of major 20th-century conflicts are passing away, preserving their experiences through literature becomes increasingly important. Your wartime story, whether based on family history, historical research, or imagined experiences grounded in historical truth, helps ensure that the lessons of war and the resilience of the human spirit are not forgotten.

Honor the legacy of those who endured war’s trials—the deadline is August 31, 2025!

You know you want it…

Submit to the Hemingway Awards today and help us preserve the human stories behind history’s greatest conflicts!
August 4, 2025
The 2025 Goethe Spotlight for Late Historical Fiction
Where History Comes Alive on the Page

The Goethe Awards Celebrate Late Historical Fiction Excellence

The submissions for the 2025 Awards are underway, and Goethe closes on August 31, 2025!

From the elegant ballrooms of the Regency era to the trenches of the Great War, from Victorian drawing rooms to the tumultuous changes of the early 20th century, the Goethe Awards celebrate the rich tapestry of late historical fiction. Named for the great German writer who understood that literature must capture the spirit of its age, these awards honor authors who bring post-1750s history to vivid, authentic life.

Late historical fiction occupies a unique space in literature: close enough to our modern world that we can trace the roots of contemporary society, yet distant enough to feel like stepping into another universe entirely. These are the periods that shaped our current world: the rise of industrial society, the emergence of modern democracy, the birth of contemporary romance, and the social movements that defined human progress.

The Art of Bringing Recent History to Life

Writing compelling late historical fiction requires a delicate balance of thorough research and engaging storytelling. Authors must master not just the major historical events, but the daily details that make a world feel authentic—how people dressed, spoke, courted, worked, and dreamed. The best late historical fiction doesn’t just tell us what happened; it helps us understand how it felt to live through transformative periods of human history.

These stories resonate with modern readers because they explore themes that remain relevant today: social class struggles, religious freedom, women’s rights, immigration, and the eternal human desires for love, family, and belonging. Whether set in Napoleonic England or Jazz Age America, these novels illuminate both how much the world has changed and how much human nature remains constant.

The research required for excellent late historical fiction is extraordinary! Authors often spend years studying everything from period clothing to social customs, from political movements to technological innovations, ensuring that every detail serves both historical accuracy and narrative power.

Celebrating Our 2024 Grand Prize Winner!

We’re delighted to honor Alina Rubin, whose moving novel Abigail’s Song claimed the 2024 Goethe Grand Prize with a beautifully crafted story set in 1809 England. The novel follows orphaned Abigail Jones, who after losing her mother and being cast out on Christmas Eve, finds refuge with medical student Oli Higgins (born David Fridman), who is hiding his Jewish identity to pursue his profession. Through Oli’s devout, loving Jewish family, Abigail discovers both belonging and her musical talents.

Rubin masterfully explores the complex social dynamics of early 19th-century England, particularly the challenges faced by religious minorities and the rigid class structures that determined life opportunities. As Abigail grows up caught between worlds, “not Christian enough for the Gentiles, but as a non-Jew, she has no hope of marrying David.” The novel examines themes of identity, belonging, and the healing power of music that resonate across centuries. In addition to ongoing promotional features, Abigail’s Song will be regularly promoted throughout the year and for the next five years in our upcoming Hall of Fame posts. Alina Rubin will also be invited to participate in a Chanticleer 10-Question Interview, and Abigail’s Song will receive a coveted Chanticleer Editorial Review.

Categories That Span the Modern Historical Era

The Goethe Awards welcome historical fiction across the transformative periods of recent history:
- Regency & Georgian – The elegant world of Jane Austen and beyond, featuring social refinement and romantic complexity
- Turn of the Century – The pivotal period when the 19th century gave way to the modern world
- 20th Century – The dynamic decades that shaped contemporary society (excluding wartime, which belongs to Hemingway)
- World/International History – Global perspectives on historical events and cultural movements
- U.S. History – American stories from the colonial period through modern times
- 1830s-1900s, Victorian Era & Edwardian – The height of empire, industrial revolution, and social transformation
Each category represents a different window into the forces that created our modern world, from intimate personal stories to sweeping social movements.

Explore All Historical Fiction Divisions

The Goethe Awards are part of Chanticleer’s comprehensive celebration of historical fiction across all time periods:
- Chaucer Awards for Early Historical Fiction – Ancient times through medieval periods, capturing the distant past
- Hemingway Awards for 20th Century Wartime Fiction – The World Wars and military conflicts of the modern era
- Laramie Awards for Americana Fiction – First Nation stories, The American frontier, pioneer tales, Civil War narratives, and contemporary westerns
Whether your historical fiction spans ancient civilizations or recent decades, Chanticleer offers a home for every period and perspective.

Looking at Historical Excellence

Check out some of these outstanding late historical fiction works we’ve celebrated recently!

Tsarina’s Jewels
By Jerena Tobiasen

Viscount Simon Nightingale-Temple seeks a life of peace with his beloved Mary after the harrowing years of the Bolshevik Revolution. But in Tsarina’s Jewels, the second book in Jerena Tobiasen’s The Nightingale and Sparrow Chronicles, Simon is dragged back into global conflict through his very family.

While serving in the British Embassy in Petrograd, Simon witnessed firsthand that bloody revolution and the assassination of the Tsar’s family—all but one daughter, Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna, the beautiful woman who became his wife.

Maria, “Mary”, hides in plain sight among the British aristocracy, and the couple hope to settle into their lives with Simon’s parents. However, soon after his return, the highest levels of the British government force Simon into service for the newly minted MI6. Under threat of being blamed entirely for the Romanov family’s execution, Simon has no choice but to accept.

Little does Simon know he’ll soon be spying on his own brother.

Read More Here

See our Review of Book 1 Here

Sea Tigers & Merchants
By Sandra Wagner-Wright

A Goethe and Series First Place Winner!

Two families vie for power in mercantile 18^th-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.

The Crowninshield family has an uphill battle before them. The patriarch, George, Sr., is unable to employ all his own sons as captains of his small fleet—leaving them to work for their uncle Hasket. But George shares Hasket’s ambition. With the support of his wife, Hasket’s sister Mary, he builds greater ships of his own. If only he could get his eldest sons to follow his wishes, all his goals would fall into place.

Read More Here

See our Review of Book 1 Here

If Someday Comes
By David Calloway

The 2023 Goethe Grand Prize Winner!

David Calloway’s moving historical fiction, If Someday Comes: A Slave’s Story of Freedom, tells the true story of his great-grandfather George Calloway, born into slavery on January 8, 1829. in Cleveland, Tennessee.

It is a tale of determination, perseverance, and achievement before and during the Civil War. If Someday Comes covers George’s final years in slavery; detailed accounts of the Civil War and its impacts on George and his family, both Black and White.

It is a family saga of survival and endurance.

The story begins in Cleveland, Tennessee, March 6^th, 1857. We meet George and his family, his wife Elizabeth, their infant daughter Baby Caroline, and the stratified world of slavery in which they live. Thomas Howard Calloway (Marsa Thom), is their White owner who owns the East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad, the South’s only copper mines, and the local bank. He is one of Cleveland’s prominent town leaders.

Read More Here

The Last Dahomey Warrior
By Dr. Amy Holda Gueye

The Last Dahomey Warrior by Dr. Amy Holda Gueye is the gripping story of a group of fearless and feared female soldiers of the Dahomey kingdom—and the young girl who withstands grave peril to stand among them.

At age 11, Nanissa becomes the youngest candidate ever chosen to be one of the legendary Dahomey Akodgjie, an all-female elite class of warriors who protect their king and the Kingdom of Dahomey (now Benin).

Left in the sacred forest with no weapons or food, Nanissa must survive ten days to earn her place on the path to becoming a Dahomey warrior. She encounters dangers during her test, but by listening to the voice of her mother she not only survives but is endowed by the spirit of the Leopard, which serves her well in battles to come.

Nanissa learns to listen to more than just the teachings of her mother. The Queen Mother, Ahosi, who trains the Akodgjie warriors also serves as mentor to the young warrior. “Observe carefully, learn quickly, listen more, speak less…If you can learn what one does not say, memorize what one never teaches, and trust your gut, the voice right here in your chest… then you will make an excellent warrior.”

Before Nanissa faces her first battle as a young woman, the Chief of a smaller tribe comes to the Palace with word that the French are coming—prepared for battle with armor and rifles.

Read More Here

These works demonstrate how the best historical fiction combines meticulous research with compelling storytelling to transport readers across time.

See the Chanticleer Difference for Yourself!

We’re excited about all the exceptional historical fiction we receive every year for both the CIBAs and for our Editorial Reviews. The Chanticleer International Book Awards offers an incredible $30,000 in cash, prizes, and promotion across all divisions!

The Goethe Awards recognize the extraordinary research and storytelling skill required to bring recent history to authentic life. Whether you’ve spent years researching Victorian social customs, Georgian political movements, or early 20th-century cultural changes, these awards celebrate both your historical scholarship and narrative artistry.

Your Historical Vision Awaits Recognition

Great late historical fiction doesn’t just recreate the past—it helps us understand how we became who we are today. Whether your story explores the drawing rooms of Regency England, the immigrant experience in turn-of-the-century America, or the social transformations of the early 1900s, the Goethe Awards celebrate the authors who make history feel immediate and alive.

Bring your historical vision to life—the deadline is August 31, 2025!

You know you want it…

Submit to the Goethe Awards today and help us celebrate the artistry of late historical fiction!
August 4, 2025
The 2025 Hearten Hall of Fame for Uplifting and Inspiring Non-Fiction

Take a deep breath and smile

The Hearten Awards are here to bring you joy, and maybe a few tears with some of these excellent books

**Your Story is Worth Sharing**

You have until August 31st to share your uplifting memoir with us and enter the 2025 CIBAs!

Enter by August 31, 2025

Uplifting and heartwarming work is a vanishingly rare thing these days, and we love having an Awards Division that can inspire readers and writers alike. The Hearten Awards seeks true stories about adventures, life events, unique experiences, travel, personal journeys, global enlightenment, and more.

Join us in celebrating the Hall of Fame for Grand Prize Winners of the Hearten Awards!

Elk Love: A Montana Memoir
By Lynne Spriggs O’Connor

Our review for the newest Hearten Grand Prize Winner is still upcoming. In the meantime, here is what some GoodReads readers have to say:

“This is a must-read for everyone who loves nature and farm life. The author adequately describes her feelings, and I felt like I was right there, hearing, seeing, and feeling everything she was talking about. A memoir not to forget.” -Ineke

“If you’re looking for an action-packed thriller, this is not it, but if you seek a slow, mind-soothing antidote to the craziness of the world, try this memoir. It’s simply beautiful in every way, the language, the setting, the message, and yes, the love. The author, then single and in her early forties, comes to Great Falls, Montana to build a museum exhibit. She meets Harrison, a widowed cattle rancher who is often rude and closed off. They slowly bond over a shared love of the land and all the beings that live there. If you have ever marveled at the colors and patterns on the feathers of a wild bird or felt blessed to see a herd of wild elk, this book is for you. If you have no experience with nature, it will reveal a new world, even if you’re reading it on your Kindle in a crowded city coffee shop. Give your brain a spa day and read this book.” -Sue

“OMG! I was so taken with this book that I had trouble putting it down. I didn’t look at it as a memoir, but I love story. The way Lynne describes life in Montana, I felt I was walking beside her. I really hope you keep writing, although it seems life is pretty busy on the ranch. I have never thought much about visiting Montana, but after reading your story, I would love to see it for myself, but only if I could experience the gift through nature and not guided tours. Thank you so much for sharing your fears and joys with me!” -Jeanie

Find more from this author on her website

Buy the Book

Running Away from the Circus
By Nove Meyers

Debut author Nove Meyers breathes life into the big tent of human aspirations and desperations, from his birth into a raucous circus atmosphere to his diligent study for Catholic priesthood.

Running Away from the Circus is a vibrant chronicle that opens with a vignette of his grandmother, clad in sequins and flying on a trapeze. She spun like a top to enthusiastic applause under the circus tent, until the fateful day when she included her young child in the act, dropping her thirty feet to the sawdust-covered floor below. But this did not prevent Nove Meyers from being born and having a story to tell.

The boyhood described was as wild as the circus acts. He was encouraged to smoke cigarettes like his father and watched in astonishment as his mother burned up paper money, possibly to protect his uncle, a counterfeiter. Yet despite his unusual upbringing as one of the family’s third generation of circus owners, Meyers was taken regularly to Catholic church services. There, he discovered God, an entity as mysterious as the traveling circus and carnie crowds he was raised among.

Read more here!

INNER TREK – a reluctant pilgrim to the Himalayas
By Mohan Ranga Rao

A disinclined traveler journeys into the heartland of the revered Mount Kalash Parikarma in Tibet. Inner Trek by Mohan Ranga Rao follows a voyage that culminates in self-discovery and spiritual enlightenment.

Mohan Ranga Rao, a retired Indian businessman, finds himself between a rock and a hard place when a ruthless Bangalore mob boss threatens him to sell his land at a throwaway price. The situation escalates when he discovers that his trusted lawyer has joined forces with the enemy. He can only turn to his wife for solace.

With nothing for him to do about his land, Rao vows to trek around Mount Kailash, a holy Tibetan Mountain. This travel memoir traces his and his wife’s journey to the deified Himalayas, the land of Lord Shiva. Rao shares intimate details of his experience, including the spiritual transformation that he went through during his challenging high-altitude trek.

Read more here!

DAWGS: A True Story of Lost Animals and the Kids Who Rescued Them
by Diane Trull & Meredith Wargo

We love our dogs. We love our cats. But what do we do when people no longer want them, use them for cruel purposes, or release them into the streets with no thought for what will happen to them? Diane Trull’s memoir with Meredith Wargo, DAWGS, shines a light on these questions.

Trull begins the story as a fourth-grade teacher in Dalhart, Texas. One of her young students asks about an article in a local paper showing photos of adorable dogs at a shelter who were up for adoption, wondering what happened to those who weren’t adopted.

Instead of dodging the question, and with great trepidation, she answered it with the truth: those who weren’t adopted would be put to sleep. Her tiny students were understandably shocked. Then one of them said, “I don’t want any of those dogs to die. Isn’t there something we can do to save them?”

Read more here!

Love, Life, and Lucille
By Judy Gaman

Award-winning author, motivational speaker, and podcast host Judy Gaman befriends a fun-loving and feisty centenarian in her CIBA Grand Prize-winning novel, Love, Life, and Lucille.

The list of titles and accolades Judy Gaman has accrued begin to pale when she encounters Lucille Fleming for the very first time. The whole reason for the meet-up with the centenarian was specifically to get her opinions on “aging gracefully,” the featured topic of a new book Judy planned to write. What was scheduled as an hour-long interview turned into an absolutely delightful, near three-hour visit. Lucille turned the tables and began asking questions about Judy’s life with compelling earnestness—something Judy rarely experienced. She was unprepared yet exhilarated.

Judy couldn’t stop thinking about this “dressed to the nines” woman with an ear-to-ear smile and a sturdy, affectionate hug. Her contact with this larger-than-life woman was so infectious, Judy made up an excuse—so that she could see her again. During that second meeting, the two became fast friends as they set Fridays aside as their day to get together. Before their next planned meeting, Judy learned that Lucille had gone into cardiac arrest. She was dead for three minutes before she came back full of vim and vigor as if nothing had happened. Five months later, Lucille was more than ready for TV interviews. With that, Judy made plans to write a second book about Lucille and their relationship.

Read more here!

Now that you’re set on your next reads, what are you waiting for? The only way to join this amazing list of Hearten Winners is to enter today!

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

You know you want it…

July 25, 2025
One week left to enter 3 Mystery Divisions and more!
One week left to enter 3 Mystery Divisions and more!

Three excellent divisions close at the end of July! Don’t let your book miss out!
Only 1 week left to submit your books to these prestigious CIBA Divisions and embark on an extraordinary journey to success. With over $30,000 in prizes awarded annually, now is the time to make your mark!

The Clue Awards, The Global Thriller Awards, and the Mystery and Mayhem Awards are still open!

Congratulations to the Winners of the 2024 Clue Award for Suspense/Thrillers!
- Pamela Beason – If Only
- Jeff Nania – Musky Run
- Sean Hagerty – Jones Point
- Kathryn Caraway – Unfollow Me
- Carl Vonderau – Saving Myles
- Shanessa Gluhm – A River of Crows
- Michael Pronko – Shitamachi Scam
And a huge round of applause for the 2024 Clue Grand Prize Winner:

Enemies Domestic by John DeDakis

Congratulations to the Winners of the 2024 Global Thriller Awards!
- T.O. Paine – The Delusion
- Charlie Robinson – Heavy Hysteria: A Novel of Corporate Intrigue Involving the Minerals of this Sacred Earth
- Tony Ollivier – The Tokyo Diversion
- Ralph R. “Rick” Steinke – Change of Mission: A Jake Fortina Series Novel
- Ron Singerton – Ruptured
- Sheri T. Joseph – Edge of the Known World
- Carla Seyler – A Place Unmade
- Randall Krzak – Frozen Conquest
And a huge round of applause for the 2024 Global Thriller Awards Grand Prize Winner:

A Blanket of Steel by Timothy S. Johnston

Congratulations to the 2024 Winners of the Mystery & Mayhem Awards!
- Patrick E. Craig – The Boy In Blue Denim
- Lori Roberts Herbst – Graven Images
- Gail Noble-Sanderson – A Cup of Revenge – A Drew Davies Railway Mystery – Book 2
- M. K. Graff – Death in the Orchard: A Trudy Genova Mystery
- Miriam Verbeek – The Forest
- Kari Bovee – The Pryce of Conceit
And a huge round of applause for the 2024 M&M Grand Prize Winner:

If Two Are Dead by Jeanne Matthews

At Chanticleer, we see your success as our success. The CIBAs provide dedicated promotion at every advancement tier, from our highly anticipated Long Lists to our prestigious Grand Prize Winners. We work tirelessly to maximize your digital footprint through our high-traffic website, social media campaigns, and newsletter features that energize both authors and readers.

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

Your book deserves to be discovered, celebrated, and shared with the world. Don’t miss the chance to showcase your talent and gain valuable exposure at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (April, 2026) where Winners from all 28 Book Award Divisions will be announced and honored.

Readers are always searching for their next great thriller, and your story deserves to be heard. Submit now and leave a lasting impression.

Let’s celebrate exceptional storytelling together!

Don’t Delay! Enter Today!

The Global Thriller Awards, Clue Awards, and M&M Awards await!

Below are all the divisions scheduled to close at the end of July. We accept both manuscripts and published work!
Your book deserves to be discovered
July 24, 2025
The 2024 Hearten First Place Roundup for Uplifting and Inspiring Non-Fiction

The Hearten Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Uplifting and Inspiring Non-Fiction. The Grand Prize Winner, Lynne Spriggs O’Connor’s book, Elk Love will be promoted for years to come in our annual Hall of Fame article, as well as be featured on the Hearten contest page year ’round!

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

The 2024 Hearten Winners were announced at the 2025 Chanticleer Authors Conference in April, and you can see the official winners post here!

Join us in celebrating the 2024 First Place Hearten Winners!

Genét Simone – Teaching in the Dark

Also the 2024 Chanticleer Cover Design Grand Prize Winner for Non-Fiction!

A young teacher buys a one-way ticket to Shishmaref, Alaska. Within minutes of landing, she finds herself dealing with unexpected, rustic accommodations, and the culture shock of living in a remote Iñuit community. She relies on her courage, resilience, and wit while enduring freezing temperatures, power outages, loneliness, and first-year teacher anxieties and missteps, but eventually realizes that those challenges pale in comparison to the life lessons she learns about the heart of teaching—lessons from her students, their culture, and their community, on the vast, windy landscape at the edge of the Chukchi Sea.

From Chanticleer:

How does place shape who we are—and who we’ll become? In this memoir, Teaching in the Dark, Genét Simone puts that question to the test by recounting her first year as a teacher.

The initial year of teaching is never an easy feat, but for Simone it was especially challenging, and transformative. She spent it with Native students in the remote island village of Shishmaref, on the Arctic edge of Alaska—no small wonder the school year became an unforgettable one.

Today, Simone has decades of teaching experience to draw upon. Yet, in this memoir she rarely employs her present voice to reflect on the past. Instead, the narrator remains in the moment: a young and inexperienced Simone, who only knows that she feels destined to be a teacher. When she signs up for the Shishmaref teaching job, she doesn’t even realize that it’s on an island.

Equipped with snow boots and passion, she arrives on the island only to realize just how unprepared she is.

Read More Here!

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David Hutton – Drums of a Distant Tribe

This is a true-life story of a crusader for peace amid the backdrop of war and personal loss. You will be captivated as you experience the poetry of life and discover an amazing intervention revealing the Afterlife.

Walk slowly lest you miss your turn in the forest.

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Etsuko Diamond Miyagi – Diamond: The Memoir of a Lost Daughter of Japan

DIAMOND: The Memoir of a Lost Daughter of Japan tells the tale of a small girl orphaned in a hostile foreign country, who must live by her wits and courage until fate decides to favor her many years later.

Told in the thrilling voice of an expert storyteller, this memoir reads like page-turner fiction yet is factual down to the letter. It is a compassionate look into human hearts under the worst of conditions, and at what a gentle soul will do to protect the people she loves.

Set in the Philippines near the end of the Second World War, DIAMOND rolls back the curtain on a time and place about which little has been written. It is history. It is drama. It is a story of personal triumph.

From Chanticleer:

In a world ravaged by conflict and loss, Etsuko Diamond Miyagi’s memoir, Diamond: The Memoir of a Lost Daughter of Japan is a shining testament to the beauty of love and the human spirit’s ability to overcome adversity.

Etsuko enjoys a peaceful childhood on the Philippine island of Mindanao, where her father owns an abacá plantation. But they are not safe when guerilla forces destroy her village murdering everyone and leaving her as the sole survivor. This deeply personal narrative of grief chronicles Etsuko’s harrowing journey to find solace and joy after the death of her parents.

At first, passed from house to house, Etsuko is forced to work as a domestic servant until a kind family takes her in. However, her safety and survival is once again in danger when she’s forced to leave her adopted family and take a position at Chief Doming Apostol’s estate in Magpet. It is there Etsuko receives the name ‘Diamond.’

Diamond works for years in the Apostol household where not all is terrible. She forms a loving bond as the caretaker for the youngest of the children. When their father is imprisoned, the household falls apart, but Diamond stays.

Read More Here!

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Rachael Siddoway and Sonja Wasden – An Impossible Life: A True Story of Hope and Mental Illness

Also a 2024 Journey First Place Winner!

An award-winning and best-selling memoir, An Impossible Life, tells the powerful true account of one woman’s descent into depressive and manic episodes and how she found lifesaving therapy and medication to overcome and triumph. When thirty-five-year-old Sonja Wasden is involuntarily admitted to a psychiatric hospital by her husband and father, she is sure it is a mistake. Wife of a CEO, mother of three, and living in a beautiful suburb, Sonja’s life appears ideal. How did she get here?
In this gripping and breathtaking narrative that makes the reader feel as though they are listening in on a private conversation, Sonja reveals her delusions and battles with mental illness, motherhood, and marriage. When all hope seems lost, this true story of perseverance is inspiring and unforgettable.

An Impossible Life is a lighthouse of hope for those facing an all-consuming mental illness, either for themselves or for someone they love.

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

Susan Cole – Holding Fast: A Memoir of Sailing, Love, and Loss

HOLDING FAST: A Memoir of Sailing, Love, and Loss is the story of leaving everything behind to follow her husband’s lifelong dream of sailing away. Many people dream of escaping reality but few actually go.

Blond, blue-eyed, irreverent John bursts into Susan’s life in her twenties with a dream of sailing off. Susan dreams of settling down and doesn’t want to go. A three-year voyage with their young daughter profoundly changes their lives. A gripping adventure story and an inspirational memoir of finding our power in the unlikeliest of places.

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Tony Jeton Selimi – The Unfakeable Code®

The Unfakeable Code(R) Take Back Control, Lead Authentically and Live Freely on Your Terms.

Meticulously researched and written by Tony Jeton Selimi, The Unfakeable Code(R) explores the fierce scientific, psychological, leadership and business impact of wearing ‘masks’, feeling stuck, powerless, out of control, and being a people pleaser, disengaged and unproductive at home and work – a growing problem in a fast-paced world full of expectations, information overload, fake news and uncertainty, which will leave behind a cosmic trail of mental health issues, acute social confusion and a significant rise in unemployment.

Empowering readers to redefine themselves and overcome the adversity, anxiety and stagnancy likely blighting their lives, Selimi truly breaks new ground in a volume that gives you the clarity, the hope, and the code to own your power and continue to evolve into the authentic, unfakeable leader you were born to be. The Unfakeable Code(R) offers a fresh and robust five-step methodology for business, personal or professional transformation. It assists in upgrading your psychology and harmonising body-mind-heart intelligence so it can deal with any form of anxiety, conflict, and stress.

Throughout the book, Tony J. Selimi shares inspiring actual client stories who have used the five principles to successfully liberate themselves from the emotional baggage and distress by fully completing the five-step method. It’s also been a hit among critics, too, with one recently writing, “The worldview developed here transcends science, dogma, and belief, giving readers a new code to reconnect with their true, authentic individual and the Divine within that knows how to take back control, lead authentically and live freely on your terms.” Foreword written by Dr John Demartini, a World Renown Human Behavioural Specialist.

Find it on Amazon!

Thank you for joining us to celebrate the 2024 Hearten First Place Winners!

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

Got a great Fiction Book? The 2025 Hearten Book Awards are open through the end of August!

Submit to the Hearten Awards Today!

July 23, 2025
The Journey 2024 First Place Round Up for Overcoming Adversity!

The Journey Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Overcoming Adversity in Narrative Non-Fiction and Memoirs. The Grand Prize Winner, Kathryn Caraway’s book, Unfollow Me will be promoted for years to come in our annual Hall of Fame article, as well as be featured on the Journey contest page year ’round!

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

The 2024 Journey Winners were announced at the 2025 Chanticleer Authors Conference in April, and you can see the official winners post here!

Join us in celebrating the 2024 First Place Journey Winners!

Kirsten Throneberry – Guided: Lost Love, Hidden Realms and the Open Road

On the eve of her 40th birthday, Kirsten, a happily married mother of two, receives an unsolicited message foretelling the collapse of her life as she knows it. This startling news is delivered by the unseen guides who have been with her for over 14 years.

In the devastating aftermath of their prediction, these same guides return to offer Kirsten an unconventional path forward through her grief: a yearlong road trip around the country in an RV―something she has never owned, wanted, or even driven before.

Though anxious and uncertain, she decides to heed their advice to sell her home and head out into the unknown in 300 square feet of living space with her two young sons, two large dogs, and one aging flower-child mother.

On this wild and often harrowing journey, Kirsten discovers the true depths of her resilience and a way to finally reclaim her life.

From Chanticleer:

In her stunning memoir, Guided: Lost Love, Hidden Realms, and the Open Road, Kirsten Throneberry weaves together the highs and lows of a road trip packed with life wisdom, where she explores grief, spirituality, and rekindled hope.

Throneberry’s achingly vulnerable memoir splits its readers’ hearts and tenderly sews them back together.

In the aftermath of the devastating loss of her husband, Kirsten sells her home and takes her two small sons, two elderly pups, and eccentric mother on a year-long road trip around the United States in their new-to-them Bigfoot RV.

Encouraged by the same spirit guides whose earlier advice for her husband’s health left her broken and untrusting, Kirsten must learn to face the open road with an equally open heart and mind.

Read More Here!

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Jennifer Gasner – My Unexpected Life: Finding Balance Beyond My Diagnosis

Jennifer Gasner is seventeen when her dreams are shattered overnight.
Receiving a diagnosis of Friedreich’s ataxia, a rare genetic neuromuscular disease, means she must prepare herself for a life of loss. When she starts college, she can still walk on her own, but as her disease progresses, she spirals further into sadness, denial, and alienation. She turns to alcohol and a toxic relationship to distract her from what she refuses to accept—that her body, her self-esteem, and her hope for her future are failing.

When Jennifer develops a friendship with rock star Dave Matthews, her outlook changes. She begins to understand that using a wheelchair doesn’t mean her life is over. In fact, when she discovers disability culture, she realizes it’s not her body that needs to be fixed but her assumptions about being disabled.

In her captivating memoir, My Unexpected Life: Finding Balance Beyond My Diagnosis, Jennifer invites you into her world, where she must learn to view her changing body with compassion and choose gratitude over anger as she finds strength and acceptance in a whole new way of moving through life.

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

Anne Gately – Sunburnt: A Memoir of Sun, Surf, and Skin Cancer

Also a 2024 Chanticleer Cover Design First Place Winner!

After living an average Aussie life playing sport, spending languid days on the beach, and falling in love with ocean swimming, Anne Gately received unwelcome news. She had Stage IV melanoma.

Yet Anne is one of the lucky ones. After a dire prognosis, she dug deep to face the clear and present prospect of death, head-on. In Sunburnt, her revealing memoir, Anne recounts the emotions and challenges of her life-saving immunotherapy treatment under the care of Professor Georgina Long to come through the other side.

Not only has Anne survived, she is issuing a clarion call for a change to the bronzed Aussie culture. In Sunburnt Anne combines a nostalgic view of a charmed Aussie childhood, a jolting review of Australia’s sun-worshipping norms, and enough scientific research to encourage us all to redefine our relationship with the sun.

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

Sonja Wasden and Rachel Siddoway – An Impossible Life: A True Story of Hope and Mental Illness

Also a 2024 Hearten First Place Winner!

An award-winning and best-selling memoir, An Impossible Life, tells the powerful true account of one woman’s descent into depressive and manic episodes and how she found lifesaving therapy and medication to overcome and triumph. When thirty-five-year-old Sonja Wasden is involuntarily admitted to a psychiatric hospital by her husband and father, she is sure it is a mistake. Wife of a CEO, mother of three, and living in a beautiful suburb, Sonja’s life appears ideal. How did she get here?

In this gripping and breathtaking narrative that makes the reader feel as though they are listening in on a private conversation, Sonja reveals her delusions and battles with mental illness, motherhood, and marriage. When all hope seems lost, this true story of perseverance is inspiring and unforgettable.

An Impossible Life is a lighthouse of hope for those facing an all-consuming mental illness, either for themselves or for someone they love.

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

Lindsey M. Henke – When Skies Are Gray: A Grieving Mother’s Lullaby

Lindsey Henke is freshly married and a newly practicing psychotherapist when she finds out she is pregnant with her first child. Nine months later, on a cold Minnesota night in December 2012, after a perfect pregnancy, Lindsey goes into labor—only to be told upon arrival at the hospital that her baby has no heartbeat.

After the stillbirth of her daughter, Lindsey grapples with the unbearable agony of losing a child. Unprepared to cope with a sorrow this deep, she uses the only tools she has—her skills as a therapist—to plot her own path through grief. Over the next year and half, as Lindsey mourns the loss of one child while simultaneously trying to hold space for the joy of expecting another baby, she learns that grief can live side by side with joy.

When Skies Are Gray offers a poignant message to any mother who is grieving: Your pain is real. The sharp ache of the grief you feel will soften over time, though your love for the child you lost will always remain. And it’s okay to feel that love; it’s a mother’s love, and like lullabies, a mother’s love never dies.

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

Claudia Marseille – But You Look So Normal: Lost and Found in a Hearing World

By age four, Claudia Marseille had hardly uttered a word. When her parents finally had her hearing tested and learned she had a severe hearing loss, they chose to mainstream her, hoping this would offer her the most “normal” childhood possible. With the help of a primitive hearing aid, Claudia worked hard to learn to hear, lipread, and speak even as she tried to hide her disability in order to fit in. As a result, she was often misunderstood, lonely, and isolated—fitting into neither the hearing world nor the Deaf culture.

This memoir explores Claudia’s relationships with her German refugee parents—a disturbed, psychoanalyst father obsessed over various harebrained projects and moneymaking schemes and a Jewish mother who had survived the Holocaust in Munich—and with her own identity. Claudia shares how she emerged from loneliness and social isolation, explored her Jewish identity, struggled to find a career compatible with hearing loss, and eventually opened herself to a life of creativity and love.

But You Look So Normal is the inspiring story of a life affected but not defined by an invisible disability. It is a journey through family, loss, shame, identity, love, and healing as Claudia finally, joyfully, finds her place in the world.

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

Thank you for joining us to celebrate the 2024 Journey First Place Winners!

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

Got a great Non Fiction Book? The 2025 Journey Book Awards are open through the end of August!

Submit to the Journey Awards Today!

July 23, 2025
Ten days remain! The countdown continues with Series, Shorts, and Collections
Three Divisions Close at the end of July

Three excellent divisions close at the end of July!

Discovery is just a click away!
Only 10 days left to submit your books to these prestigious CIBA Divisions and embark on an extraordinary journey to success. With over $30,000 in prizes awarded annually, now is the time to make your mark!

The Series Awards, The SEA Shorts Awards, and the Collections and Anthologies Awards are still open!

Congratulations to the Winners of the 2024 Series Award for Fiction and Non-Fiction!

And a huge round of applause for the 2024 Series Grand Prize Winner:

A Vengeful Realm by Tim Facciola

See the full list of 2024 Book Series Winners here!

Congratulations to the Winners of the 2024 SEA Shorts Awards!

And a huge round of applause for the 2024 SEA Shorts Awards Grand Prize Winners:

Something About Lizzy by Robin Elizabeth Kobayashi

Dream Rut: Navigating Your Path Forward by Dr. Yumiko Shimabukuro

Illustrated by Jieyu Deng

See the SEA Shorts Winners for shorter work here and for longer work here!

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

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

Your book deserves to be discovered, celebrated, and shared with the world. Enter to showcase your talent and gain valuable exposure at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (April 2026) where Winners from all 28 Book Award Divisions will be announced and honored.

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

Let’s celebrate exceptional storytelling together!

Don’t Delay! Enter Today!

The Series Awards, The SEA Shorts Awards, and The Collections and Anthologies Awards

Your book deserves to be discovered
July 21, 2025