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Who you gonna call for the Best Paranormal Fiction?
It’s a good guess, but not these folks!
The Shelley Awards!
Paranormal fiction opens doorways to worlds where the impossible becomes reality—where vampires walk among us, where psychic powers shape destiny, and where the supernatural lurks just beyond the veil of everyday life. From spine-tingling mysteries to heart-pounding romances with otherworldly beings, the Shelley Awards celebrate the authors who dare to explore the realm between the known and unknown.
Let’s Dive into the Paranormal Categories of the Shelley Awards!
- Adventure/Mystery/Thriller combines supernatural elements with pulse-pounding action and intrigue—think Supernatural meets Sherlock Holmes, where paranormal investigators solve crimes that defy explanation.
- Paranormal Romance is where love transcends the boundaries of the mortal world. Whether it’s vampires finding their eternal mates or witches discovering love through magical bonds, these stories prove that romance knows no supernatural limits—perfect for fans of Twilight, True Blood and Shadowhunters.
- Magical Beings & Creatures features the fantastic inhabitants of paranormal worlds: vampires, werewolves, witches, demons, angels, and beings born from imagination. These stories explore what it means to be otherworldly in a human world.
- Strange and Unexplained delves into the mysterious phenomena that science can’t quite explain—haunted houses, unexplained disappearances, psychic phenomena, and encounters with the truly unknown. Think The X-Files in book form.
- Supernatural Powers focuses on characters gifted (or cursed) with abilities beyond normal human capacity: telepathy, precognition, telekinesis, or powers yet to be imagined. These stories explore how extraordinary abilities shape ordinary lives.
The beauty of paranormal fiction lies in its endless possibilities—where else can a detective consult with ghosts, or a romance bloom between a time traveler and an immortal?
Celebrating Our 2024 Shelley Grand Prize Winner!
After months of reviewing entries, we announced on April 5, 2025 at CAC25 that Shami Stovall claimed the 2024 Shelley Grand Prize with her exceptional novel Time-Marked Warlock! This thrilling book delivers Groundhog Day meets the Dresden Files—featuring a captivating adventure and murder mystery that will keep readers spellbound.
Stovall’s compelling narrative and masterful blend of time manipulation with supernatural investigation exemplify the innovative paranormal storytelling we seek to recognize. In addition to all the featured posts that have already gone out for the Shelley Awards, Time-Marked Warlock will be regularly promoted throughout the year on the Shelley Awards submission page and for the next five years in our upcoming Hall of Fame post. Shami Stovall will also be invited to participate in a Chanticleer 10-Question Interview, and Time-Marked Warlock will receive a coveted Chanticleer Editorial Review.
Looking for Your Next Paranormal Read?
Check out some of these incredible books we’ve reviewed recently that showcase the amazing diversity of paranormal fiction!
SOMETHING I KEEP UPSTAIRS
By J.D. Barker
An old and hungry thing wakes beneath the house on Wood Island. It calls out to another generation of children. In J.D. Barker’s supernatural mystery, Something I Keep Upstairs, a circle of New Castle teenagers digs up the unholy secrets of those who came before them.
When the hermit Geraldine Rote dies without clear cause, her grandson Spivey inherits Wood Island and the historic house upon it. He plans to spend the summer as a carefree sixteen-year-old rather than submitting to another round of cancer treatments. With the help of the mysterious estate lawyer Marston, Spivey escapes his parents’ reach.
At first, the island becomes a perpetual party, drawing an endless stream of kids and alcohol. But only a few learn the truth behind Wood Island’s dark stories.
THE MONARCHS
By Mark Sabbas
Hounded by an authoritarian military, vicious fellow psychics, and his own mental shadows, teenage Samuel Helen seeks the only people who can help his comatose beloved Evelyn. In Mark Sabbas’s Metaphysical adventure novel, The Monarchs, Samuel has no choice but to trust a strange and powerful girl, Luna, as his guide.
Decades after a nuclear apocalypse devastated Earth, the New Youth were born amidst rebuilding civilization. Vested with large, shining eyes and mysterious psychic power, these children are often feared as demons and taken by the Union military to be molded into weapons. Samuel himself spent most of his life in a military research facility. He grew up believing that a dark and furious power slumbered within him, eager to emerge and wreak havoc.
But Samuel’s not quite alone in this painful world. He has the love of an orphaned non-psychic girl, Evelyn, who urges him to run away with her. And within the walls of the Facility, Samuel relies on the mentorship and counsel of the psychologist Walter. Walter’s old-world music awakens a sense of beauty and inspiration in Samuel, though he struggles to accept Walter’s belief in a beneficent cosmic power.
BECOMING CRONE: Book 1 of The Crone Wars
By Lydia M. Hawke
There’s a darkness rising from the Otherworld in Lydia M. Hawke’s Becoming Crone, and only the Morrigan’s Crones can send it back. But For Claire Emerson, her first challenge is accepting the fact that she is a Crone.
On Claire’s sixtieth, friends and family come to celebrate her milestone birthday. But with her daughter-in-law Natalie giving out advice more suitable for an 80-year-old, her neighbor Jeanne’s annual gifting of a garden gnome, and her best friend Edie cracking wise and irreverent, Claire’s milestone is more like a millstone around her neck. Fresh off a divorce, in a funk, and seeking purpose in her life, her day is only brightened by her grandson Braden gifting her an antique pendant.
The owner of the antique shop, her neighbor Gilbert, wants to buy it back. Claire refuses for Braden’s sake and finds the pendant proves to have a value stranger than money. Other strange occurrences happen as well, including a strange, angry man, and protective crows. Determined to resolve this new mystery, Claire sets out to find the address.
DREAMS And ILLUSIONS: Gabrielle Dorian Mysteries Book 1
By Rebecca Olmstead
Dreams and Illusions by Rebecca Olmstead is a delicate interplay of mysteries balanced on an emotional undercurrent, exploring the immutable ebb and flow of life to find resilience in the shadow of misfortunes.
In the bustling town of Whitman, Gabrielle co-owns the boutique Belle Femme with her best friend, Kate. Radiating the tranquil aura of an empowered business owner, Gabrielle is a caring woman, but burdened with a secret she hides from everyone. Gabrielle is blessed—or perhaps cursed—with prophetic dreams.
Almost as if they are a glimpse into the future, Gabrielle wrestles with dreams that foretell an ominous fate. Soon she is confronted with a series of distressing events that thrust her into a mystery.
These reviews represent just a glimpse of the supernatural worlds waiting to be discovered in today’s paranormal fiction.
See the Chanticleer Difference for Yourself!
We’re so excited about all the great books 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!
This is the journey from beginning to end for the CIBAs! Every list you make means more promotion for you and your work as each advancement tier is posted right here on our website, on our social media, and also out in our newsletter! Your book deserves to be discovered.
Don’t Let Your Supernatural Story Remain in the Shadows!
The paranormal world is vast and full of untold stories waiting to find their readers. Whether your tale features ancient vampires navigating modern life or psychic detectives solving otherworldly crimes, the Shelley Awards are your gateway to recognition and readership.
Paranormal fiction has the power to make readers question reality while providing thrilling escapism. Don’t let your supernatural story remain hidden in the darkness—submit to the Shelley Awards today and join the ranks of celebrated paranormal authors who’ve found their audience through Chanticleer!
You know you want it…
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