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The Shelley Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Supernatural Fiction. The Grand Prize Winner, Shami Stovall’s book, Time-Marked Warlock will be promoted for years to come in our annual Hall of Fame article, as well as be featured on the Shelley 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 Shelley Winners were announced on April 5 at the 2025 Chanticleer Authors Conference in April, and you can see the official winners post here!
Join us in celebrating the 2024 Shelley First Place Winners!
Evette Davis – The Gift
After a brutal act of terrorism shakes the Council to its core, they send supernaturally gifted Olivia Shepherd on assignment in Eastern Europe. What Olivia really wants is time to recover and process the stunning revelations she recently uncovered—secrets her parents have hidden from her all her life. But with a thousand-year-old vampire on her trail, rest is not in the cards for the reluctant witch, who is still discovering the extent of her powers.
When her nemesis makes the fight horribly personal, Olivia becomes blinded by her need for revenge. Pulled back into the Council’s treacherous politics, she finds herself separated from her lover, William, and thrust into an uncomfortable partnership with his beguiling brother, Josef. Meanwhile, danger lurks around every wintry corner in Eastern Europe.
As everything in Olivia’s life spins out of control, will she surrender to destiny—or forge her own path?
Alexander Fernandez – Above the Ashes
Fleeing barbaric witch hunts in England, Sybil Cotterill sails to the British Colonies only to find herself trapped by another witch hysteria in Salem of 1692. Caught by a frenzied mob, Sybil’s witchcraft saves her from the noose; however, a gruesome man with mysterious powers defeats Sybil and confines her in a tomb for over 300 years.
In modern times, a vampire named Marcelo discovers Sybil’s tomb and unwittingly releases the raging spell-caster. With centuries of pent-up vengeance, Sybil initiates a quest to destroy the descendants of those who murdered her fellow witches and tried to kill her. Marcelo attempts to quell Sybil’s wrath and protect the innocent descendants, yet his growing desire for the witch leaves him to question his motives as an undead blood-drinker.
Confused, lonely, and troubled by the modern world, Sybil’s lust for revenge conflicts against her rising adoration for Marcelo. Will she commit murder to fulfill her need for retribution, or will love from an unlikely source free the witch from the darkness within her?
Keith Steinbaum – In Lieu of Flowers
Tim Facciola – Ghosts of Rheynia
Some curses run in the family. This one seeks to consume it.
Ten years ago, Threyna’s family fractured: her father lost in the Battle of the Cut, her mother and sister vanishing from her life. Now she fights with the Underground resistance, dreaming of rebellion — until a mission to save her condemned father goes wrong, leaving her cursed with blood magic that demands souls to survive.
Laela has spent a decade becoming her own kind of rebel: leading the Wraith in a desperate plan to escape their cursed isle. But when her careful exodus falls apart, she’s forced to seek help from the sister she abandoned. The sister who now wields the same dark power that turned their realm into a prison for the dead.
Their reunion was meant to be temporary. Their alliance, tactical. But with the Skeleton King’s undying army hunting them both, they’ll have to decide what’s stronger: the bonds of blood, or the curse running through it.
AA DaSilva – Periphery
Charlotte barely survived the accident that killed her husband four years ago. Resuscitated a savant, she struggles to find meaning in her survival.
When she meets Simon, a mysteriously familiar stranger, they are drawn to each other with undeniable magnetism. But Simon is contracted to a black-ops agency.
With the agency on her heels, and Simon claiming her heart, Charlotte’s past and future collide when she’s offered a chance to reconnect with her late husband.
As secrets are revealed, motives uncovered, and alliances are formed, Charlotte must choose…between the fate of the world and the fate of her heart.
Rhett C. Bruno and Jaime Castle – Vein Pursuits
The path to Heaven runs through miles of icy Hell…
James Crowley has ridden the road to Crescent City before, but never with companions like these. Never with a woman whose very presence jeopardizes everything he’s fought for over the past two decades.
The swamps are a brutal, nasty place filled with creatures most people think only exist in nightmares and fever dreams. When Crowley, along with Rosa, Bram Stoker, Harker, and Irish stumble upon such a creature, and one of their party finds themselves mortally wounded, they must find help in the most unlikely of places.
But that wasn’t James Crowley’s mission. As a Black Badge, a Hand of God, he’s been tasked with hunting down the worst Hell has to offer, and at Shargrafein’s beckoning, he must suss out the Betrayer – a mysterious being about whom no information is given.
What he finds is something he never could have guessed. The city is overrun with vampires, werewolves, and worse, including an old acquaintance with nothing good in mind.
Meanwhile, Rosa has continued her pursuit to reconnect with her dead husband, Willy Massey. With the help of a Voodoo Queen, she must do the unthinkable. Only Crowley stands between her and a choice that would forever scar her soul. But will he be able to escape the clutches of Hell in order to keep her from destroying everything and everyone in her path?
With the question of right and wrong always nagging at Crowley’s undead heart, he must decide where his loyalties lie in this pulse-pounding sequel to the hit Cold as Hell. The Witcher meets The Dresden Files in this weird Western series by the Audible number one bestselling duo behind Dead Acre.
From Chanticleer:
See our review of book 1 in this series, and the 2022 Paranormal Grand Prize Winner, Cold as Hell, here:
James Crowley isn’t your average, run-of-the-mill cowboy. Nor is Cold as Hell, by Rhett C. Bruno and Jaime Castle, your typical gunslinging western.
Although he’s got all the right characteristics – tough exterior, snarky personality, and commitment issues – Crowley is much more than he appears. Resurrected to immortality straight from death’s “sickly sweet aroma,” Crowley is duty-bound as a Hand of God to serve the White Throne in its shadow war against demonic presences called the nephilim unleashed by freezing hell.
But it’s not all ‘good guys versus bad guys’. As Crowley learns, “good choices don’t always mean doing right or wrong things. Especially when it comes to serving a Master like [the White Throne].” Forced to be the middle man between God and the Devil, Crowley has to decide for himself how to care for the people around him and bring true justice to fruition. Forced to be the middleman between God and the Devil, Crowley has to make his own choices about how to care for the people around him and bring justice to fruition.
Thank you for joining us to celebrate the 2024 Paranormal First Place Winners!
Your book can join the Tiers of Achievement, but only if you submit to the Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards!
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