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Short Work? No problem
We’ve got winners!
**Got a Short to Share?**
Submissions for the 2024 Shorts Awards are open through August 31st!
The Shorts Awards is one of the newest divisions at Chanticleer, but it didn’t have the normal ramp up time to become one of the biggest powerhouses in our Book Awards! If you want to put your work to the test, submit it to the Shorts Awards today!
Shelter in A Hostile World
By Mack Little
Our review of the 2023 Shorts Grand Prize Winner for Collections will post any day now! In the meantime, this is the second Grand Prize Winner Mack Little has sent us, and you can see our review for Daughter of Hades here!
The Heart of Kublai Khans Menagerie Keeper
By Catherine Brown
A Manuscript
God, The Mafia, My Dad and Me
By Lori Lee Peters
God, the Mafia, My Dad, and Me by Lori Lee Peters begins in the voice of a child, compelling not just for its narrative honestly, but for the fact that it might not be reliable. As the book opens, we learn that this narrator firmly believes she will be killed.
Readers can easily see through the childlike hyperbole, but that doesn’t detract from the intrigue. How did a kid come to such an extreme conclusion? Is there any seed of truth to it? These questions will hook readers from the start.
Author Peters set out to write a book about her dad. God, the Mafia, My Dad, and Me tells the true story of her father, and his fascinating work helping the FBI tackle Mafia activity in Lodi, California. Yet in the end, this is a memoir in which the compelling lead character – young Lori – overshadows her father in many ways.
Old Man Baseball
By Mike Murphey
New York: Give Me Your Best or Your Worst
By Elizabeth Crowens
Prepare to be carried away to bustling, vivacious streets as you read Elizabeth Crowens’ New York: Give Me Your Best or Your Worst.
This captivating literary anthology is a love letter to the great city from a group of brilliant artists and authors, which delves into the multifaceted lives of New Yorkers.
Short fiction and a few poems describe the ins and outs of New York living. Murder mysteries, revenge, family struggles, family sagas, and, of course, the most important questions regarding real estate. Finding the perfect place to live in the city may be difficult, but this story brings into vivid relief the heart of what makes New York special: the people.
Homegoing
By Toni Ann Johnson
Homegoing by Toni Ann Johnson is an intimate portrait of a middle-aged African-American woman dragging herself hand over hand out of grief and despair.
This story begins with her aching, echoing pain after the one-two punch of a miscarriage and the dissolution of her marriage. Her journey takes her back to the upper-middle-class white suburb where she grew up, through childhood memories that refuse to be denied and to, of all times and places, a funeral.
Something and someone is supposed to be buried. Certainly the deceased. But quite possibly the woman who has held on to her losses and her grudges long enough to poison her own future.
Savonne, Not Vonny
By Robin Lee Lovelace
Robin Lee Lovelace evokes a world in which the mystical intertwines with the everyday in Savonne, Not Vonny, a coming-of-age story set in rural Louisiana.
Nine-year-old Savonne lives in a small room at the back of Mama Gwen’s whorehouse, in Indianapolis in the ’60s. Her mama is one of the working girls, and her father is Mama Gwen’s own son. Savonne’s daddy dotes on her, and Mama Gwen loves Savonne like the daughter she never had; the two of them together make a loving home for Savonne, in the midst of their raucous brothel.
By contrast, Savonne’s birth mother rarely pays her any mind. A “crazy-ass woman” with a temper “as hot as a Mississippi afternoon,” Coco is not at all opposed to beating the bejesus out of someone. In a fury one night, she does something that cannot be undone, and in her headlong flight out of town, she takes Savonne with her.
A Week at Surfside Beach
By Pierce Koslosky Jr.
Vacationers from all walks of life converge on Portofino II-317C, South Carolina, a quaint blue beach house, in Pierce Koslosky Jr.’s short story collection, A Week at Surfside Beach.
From May 30th-December 26th each group of people comes to stay one week at a time, to forget their cares of the big city, to work, to celebrate, or to simply get away. Surfside Beach has much to show them, including temperamental weather.
The small town itself offers a charming supermarket where fishing supplies, whoopie pies, and local southern favorites can be found. The Christmas vacationers, the final of the thirteen beach house renters, struggle to find a tree in time; a real tree simply wouldn’t allow enough space for the family to sleep, and the fake tree would cost too much. But they find arts and crafts supplies in town, to fashion a paper Christmas tree during a day of rainy weather.
Remember to add your next reads to your StoryGraph or Goodreads account! Now that you’re set on your next five reads, what are you waiting for? The only way to join this amazing list of Chatelaine 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!
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! Here are some recent achievements from our authors:
- Journey Grand Prize Winner Mark Berridge featured on TedX Brisbane!
- USA Today Best-Selling Author Nicole Evelina Published Nellie Bly Grand Prize Winning Book
- CIBA Overall Grand Prize Winner Rebecca Dwight Bruff’s novel Trouble the Water brought to stage
Reach out with your news to info@ChantiReviews.com
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