Arthur Byrd In this saga of an old man’s retreat to the river and his teenage grandson’s quest to bring the family back together again, we see personal stories come to life and friendship’s fill the void of creeping age. This multi-generational tale from Mississippi will warm your heart, and break it.
The Book Of DjinnHonorable Mention
2017 Los Angeles Book Festival
P.K. Silverson Magic has disappeared from this wondrous world we all share. Corruption and greed rule in its place. Only a resplendent genie can set things to right. It will take the help of a confused wizard and what’s left of the fairy fay to rescue the race of man from the clutches of the…
A Darker Magic This Way ComesHonorable Mention
2017 Los Angeles Book Festival
Carmel Niland A portal between modern day and Arthurian Britain has mysteriously opened bringing Merlin, a handsome young magician into the life of Emily Hughes a headstrong high school student. The teenagers share an intense and uncanny bond that sets in motion a chain of events that will change their lives.
The Hedgecock FriaskoHonorable Mention
2017 Los Angeles Book Festival
Rick Hussey A runner is shot by an unknown assailant in Fort Lauderdale. The injury interrupts his flight from the scandal he exposed linking a Ponzi scheme and dirty fracking operation in California. Chased by multiple parties with varied agendas, the runner must overcome more obstacles to the new life he craves.
Looking Glass FriendsWinner
2017 Los Angeles Book Festival
E. L. Neve Woven with poetry and philosophy, this is the story of two people who fell in love over email. Both were married already, and she had a five-year-old son. But in the span of a few letters each discovered his soul’s mirror-image. So how could they live apart?
Oh No, Charlie. Not Again!Winner
2016 Great Southeast Book Festival
Don Landy Made fun of and laughed at by competitors showing cats – called the wrong breed by a national judge, the little cat that couldn’t win grew into his little body and went on to place second in the South Western United States, missing first place by 5 point. They weren’t laughing now!
Mommy Haiku’d All Over the BabyHonorable Mention
2017 Los Angeles Book Festival
Chelle Landers In this funny, dark, fast-paced collection, author Chelle Landers commiserates on the tumult of new motherhood. From pregnancy and infant care, to the postpartum marriage, to mommy groups and siblings, Landers covers all. Mothers of every age can relate that having a baby is lonely, humbling, terrifying… and worth it.
The Evangelical’s DaughterHonorable Mention
2016 London Book Festival
Debra Roberts Torres-Reyes In this memoir, the author recounts her youthful struggles with religious fanaticism. Torres-Reyes describes how being raised in a fiercely religious household in which both parents were devout evangelicals caused her torment as a youth and panic attacks and depression as an adult. With extreme candor and wit, she details her childhood…
Motley Education Winner
2016 Book Festival
S.A. Larsen A class assignment sends a misfit medium and her legless-lizard totting best friend on a ghostly journey battling creatures of Norse Mythology to find a relic vital to saving the Underworld only to discover the true meaning of her quest has been inside her all along.
Natasha’s ConfessionsRunner-up
2017 Florida Book Festival
Sarah Melo Natasha’s Confessions takes readers on a young woman’s harrowing and sometimes painful journey from being a self-imposed hostage to fully embracing her triumphant reawakening – mentally, emotionally and sexually. After years of putting everyone else first, Natasha craved a change in her life. Her transformation, though, wasn’t easy.