I am honored and excited to announce that the final (and best) novel in the Chrysathamere Trilogy just won a Silver Medal in the Epic Fantasy category at the Reader’s Favorite book awards, a major awards contest for indie authors that receives thousands of entries from authors across the world in a wide array of different categories and genres.
Last week, I had the opportunity to attend their awards ceremony in Miami, where I got to meet a number of absolutely delightful fellow indie authors ranging from the newly-published to the long-established, and in genres ranging from the familiar (fantasy, mystery) to a few I didn’t even know existed (Christian Romance is a thing?). The one thing they all had in common was that they were absolutely wonderful to talk to.
Among the people I met (and whose books I hope to check out in the not-too-distant future!) were:
- J.L. Askew, a friendly man with an absolutely killer website and a thriller set in Alaska, a place he has spent an ample amount of time exploring. Yes, as a big hiker, I am extremely jealous.
- Fred Gracely, author of the YA horror novel Misfit’s Magic, which is giving me vibes of Harry Potter crossed with all my favorite horror movies.
- Carl Brothers, author of the epic Keepers & Destinies series, who is now working on the third book in his fantasy trilogy. As someone who struggled so immensely with the last 150 or so pages of Chrysathamere, I wished him luck on one of the hardest parts of a work like this—wrapping everything up!
- D. Wallace Peach, author of the Necromancer’s Daughter, also in the category of Epic Fantasy. Sadly, she wasn’t able to attend, so I didn’t get to meet her in person, but I did get a chance to dive into her book on the plane ride over, and you can check out my review on BookBub.
- Alison McBain, one of the coolest people I’ve met, who not only writes her own book (she won an award for The New Empire, an alternate history about what might have happened had China discovered the Americas, which is fascinating) but also works as an honest-to-God ghostwriter in romance and other genres, churning out more than one book a year. As someone who can only manage to write about 1 book every few years, I am in awe of her prolific-ness.
- Kelli McKinney, author of the humorous story of a boy trying to figure out a way to get un-grounded.
After chatting and wandering the Miami book fair, we got to take our turns walking across the stage to receive our medals. For an introvert like me, a somewhat nerve-racking experience—but also a thrilling one! I am glad I went.