Three Trafford authors are recipients of the 2008 Premier Book Awards! This is a the first year of the award and it is causing quite a stir in independent publishing. Sincere congratulations to authors John Warner, Graham Clews, and Kenn Joubert for their outstanding achievement. From the Premier Book Awards website:

The primary goal of Premier Book Awards is to recognize authors and publishers for superior achievements in their chosen genre. The secondary goal is to assure readers that a book chosen to receive a Premier Book Award is truly of outstanding merit and well worth adding to their libraries. We believe we have achieved both goals.[…]We highly recommend that you check out the titles on the list and read the books chosen for an award. They are all a wonderful reading experience.

Meet the winning authors!

Mystery/Thriller/Suspense/Horror winner: Golden Quest by John Warner

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Historical Fiction winner - first place: Eboracum, The Village by Graham Clews

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Historical Fiction winner - Escape to Freedom: Book One of the Huguenot Trilogy by Kenn Joubert

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Author: Jerry Tomlin
Book: The Book of Knotsense

The Book of Knotsense has a new fan: author/comedian Jeff Foxworthy. Foxworthy, author of the You Might Be a Redneck books and television host of Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?, offers the following praise for Tomlin’s fun and funny book:

“You are knot going to believe how many ways Jerry has found to use tree knots in this book. He’s knot right! I hope you get as big a kick out of it as I did!” Jeff Foxworthy

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Author: Frederick E. Bryson
Book: Scent of the River: The Story of Tsali and the Cherokee

Author Frederick E. Bryson draws on his Southern Appalachian roots to spin a fascinating read in Scent of the River. Recently, Barbara Boyea of the Lake Champlain Review caught up with Bryson and talked to him about his novel. Bryson is also the author of Wind in the Web: A Cherokee warrior’s epic journey of rebirth.

Read the full article below:

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Author: Calvin Olson
Book: The Chess Kings: Volume One

Notable chess reviewer Rick Kennedy is singing praises for Trafford author Calvin Olson. Kennedy recently held his Perry PawnPusher Awards for books about chess, and writes:

“In the final tally, though, with no disrespect to the authors named above, the Perry PawnPusher Was-There-Chess-Before-Fischer Award goes to The Chess Kings: Volume One - History, Politics, and the Fine Art of Mythmaking in Chess by Calvin Olson. As a self-published book, with Trafford, it is a model for what hard, skillful work and belief in your subject can produce. As I wrote, it “is well written and can be easily understood by ages 12 through adult. It will appeal not only to those wanting to gain an insight into the history of chess but to players wanting to improve their game and understand which games are a important part of chess history.”

Read the full details of the Perry PawnPusher Awards here.

Kennedy also published his review on Chessville.com, stating:

“The author writes easily and understandably, reflecting an academic awareness, curiosity and perspective – but it is all very accessible. (He suggests age 12 and older.) His eye for irony is sharp, and his sense of humor is sprinkled throughout[…] To refer to The Chess Kings: Volume One as merely a “history” is to do it an injustice. When you learn that Emanuel Lasker left Moscow for New York in October of 1937, escaping one of Stalin’s purges, you have not yet reached the half-way point of the book. What remains is part source material, part entertainment, adding up to “a good resource and a good read.”

Kennedy also praised Olson for the aesthetic quality of his book:

“Readers may have noticed that the publisher of The Chess Kings: Volume One is Trafford, a self-publishing, publish-on-demand press. In most cases this means that the quality of the product rests directly in the hands of the author – not only the words, but the organization of the book and the layout of each and every page. Let me reassure you that this is one of the best, if not the best designed self-published chess books that I have ever read. It is easily on par with the quality of many other main-stream publishers. Hats off to Mr. Olson for significant value added. “

Read the full review here.

Congratulations to Calvin Olson on behalf of all of us at Trafford! Books like The Chess Kings: Volume One prove that independent authors can produce books of exceptional quality and find audiences that appreciate their work.

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Author: Andrew F. Maksymchuk
Book: From Muskeg to Murder: Memories of Policing Ontario’s Northwest

Andrew Maksymchuk, a former Inspector for the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), has published a book about his life and experiences serving in Northwestern Ontario. He was fortunate to be interviewed by CBC recently. Please visit www.cbc.ca/thegreatnorthwest/ and scroll down the page to find the audio link and listen to this interesting interview!

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Author: Jerry Tomlin
Book: The Book of Knotsense

Those who love a good pun love it a lot. Hearty congrats to Jerry Tomlin for finding an appreciative audience for The Book of Knotsense!

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Author: Janice Minott
Book: Letters From Kabul, 1966-1968: A Memoir

Congratulations to Ms. Minott for receiving the opportunity to be interviewed in this prestigious newspaper. Click on the interview to enlarge.