Don’t Spare the Horses!

The Laramie Awards are only open through the end of September!

Tales of frontier life steeped in historic places and dates have long captivated readers of all ages. From Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House series to The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane, these stories give readers a glimpse into what was or what may have been. This Americana genre focuses mostly on Western/Pioneer/Civil War stories but can easily contain sub-genres including mystery, romance, and adventure as long as they are dressed with the American West or South as a backdrop. This division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (CIBAs) is meant to celebrate stories that evoke the rough-and-tumble nature of the Wild West, the heartbreaking croon of a lonesome cowboy by his fire, and the overly perfumed air of a small town saloon.

The Categories for the Laramie Award are:

• Western Romance
• Adventure/Caper
• Classic
• Civil War/Prairie/Pioneer
• Contemporary Western
• Americana
• First Nations

If you’re looking to shine a lantern on your work, submit to the Laramie Awards today! If you’re just a fan of some good ol’ fashioned themes coloring your experience, take a look at some of the previous Laramie Award winners.

We are delighted to celebrate the 2023 Winners of the Laramie Awards!

• Barbara Salvatore – The Trail to Niobrara
• T.K. Conklin – Promise of Spring
• Elizabeth Woolsey – The Travels of Dr. Rebecca Harper A Matter of Time
• Daniel Greene – Northern Dawn (Northern Wolf Series Book 4)
• K.S. Jones – Tastefully Texas

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 LARAMIE Awards is:

The Last Man

A Novel of the 1927 Santa Claus Bank Robbery

by Thomas Goodman

More articles will come out celebrating those Laramie Awards Winners this month! For now, we’d like you to join us in celebrating these amazing books in the genre we’ve recently received!

BED of CONSPIRACY
By Juliette Douglas
Laramie First Place Winner

Growing up alone on the streets of Saint Louis in the mid-1870s, nineteen-year-old Samantha Davis has had to fight for everything.

When she rescues Colonel Brady from armed attackers, she isn’t trying to be a hero or land a dangerous new job, but the moment Brady sees her deadly aim and unparalleled courage, he knows he’s found his new undercover agent. Brady has been tasked with infiltrating the KGC, the Knights of the Golden Circle, a group of Southern sympathizers hellbent on bringing down the government in a Confederate uprising.

Brady believes Sam will be the perfect partner for Ross Cooper, a veteran agent who spends his off-time as a trail boss in Kansas. However, Ross is less than thrilled with Brady’s choice of the untrained, bad-tempered girl. Despite his misgivings, Ross agrees to team-up with Sam, and the two go undercover as Jim and Virginia Van Meter, a newlywed couple from South Carolina visiting Washington. After being introduced to Adam Mundy, the leader of this cell of the KGC, Ross (aka Jim) agrees to use his shipping business to help the Confederate cause.

Read more here!

TOM SAWYER RETURNS
By E.E. Burke
Laramie Grand Prize Winner

Tom Sawyer Returns is the second book in The New Adventures series by author E.E. Burke.

Readers join a now grown up and far more independent Becky Thatcher as she maneuvers her complicated life in Civil War era Mississippi. Tom has long since left, and Becky is engaged to Union Captain Alfred Temple, who offers her all the safety and security she needs in such uncertain times. But does she love him? Actually love him?

Becky soon discovers that her heart may have other plans.

Read more here!

MATAMOROS
By James Kahn
Laramie First Place Winner

With the American Civil War as a grisly backdrop, James Kahn shines a light onto the real old West in his latest novel, Matamoros: Civil War Adventure, Romance and Espionage in an Old West Border Town.

The tiny Mexican town of Matamoros becomes a haven for traders, traitors, ex-slaves, and card sharks. Bring the war into the mix with Northern and Southern agents, both self-appointed and official, and the result is perfect for plenty to go wrong.

Clayton Wilkes owns the Brave River Gambling Emporium and can smile and shoot almost in the same breath.

Read more here!

ROLLING HOME
By David Fitz-Gerald
Series Grand Prize Winner

David Fitz-Gerald concludes the Ghosts Along the Oregon Trail series with a grand finale for an eclectic cast of characters, as the long wagon train is finally Rolling Home to their new lives in the wild west of Oregon.

With the end of the trail just out of reach, however, their hopes dwindle and their hunger rages. The rigor of the western environment continues to test their determination and threaten vows of heartfelt romance. These weary people ache and mourn losses, while seeking new ways to survive and pull each other forward in the face of impending winter.

This wagon train of travelers will also face venomous villains who have been lurking in the shadows, outlaws waiting for their best opportunity to pounce.

Read more here!

Note: David Fitz-Gerald’s entire series of Ghosts Along the Oregon Trail is excellent. You can read all our reviews for it here.

GUARDED HEARTS
By T.K. Conklin
Laramie Grand Prize Winner

Guarded Hearts by T K Conklin is a sensual romance in the Wild West, with all the passion and excitement natural to the setting.

Sparks fly between a man with an outlaw past and a woman with a terrifying gift to heal or harm. Strykes is a man haunted both by a violent childhood and his time in an outlaw gang. But he has found a place in Rimrock, where he met LaRisa, an auburn-haired woman whom the townspeople have labeled a “witch” due to her healing herbs and rumors of her “powers”.

LaRisa has kept her distance from people, afraid of her gift of healing touch that can turn dangerous, even deadly. But, when she comes to town to deliver her medicinal herbs, she makes her way to the livery with tasks for Strykes such as shoeing her horse or fixing a spring in her wagon. He is only too happy to oblige the auburn-haired beauty. The attraction between them is instantaneous, yet they both are hesitant to act on it, fearing they would hurt the other– he from his violent past, and she from her “witch” power.

Read more here!

Give another three cheers for the amazing Westerns and Americana Fiction here!