“The Whip” wins the 2013 National Indie Excellence Award for Best Western Click to read the announcement
Karen Kondazian
Actress, Writer, Adventurer
“The Whip” wins the 2013 National Indie Excellence Award for Best Western
By on May 23, 2013 Leave a Comment
The Whip wins USA Book News Best Historical Fiction Award
By on February 6, 2013 Leave a Comment
For Immediate Release
November 2012
USA BOOK NEWS ANNOUNCES
WINNERS AND FINALISTS OF
THE 2012 USA BEST BOOK AWARDS
Mainstream & Independent Titles Score Top Honors in the
9th Annual USA Best Book Awards
St. Martin’s Press, Harper Collins, Crown, John Wiley & Sons, Hyperion, McGraw-Hill, Sterling, Llewellyn Worldwide, Tyndale House, Thomas Nelson, Sounds True, Chicago Review Press, NASA, American Cancer Society, and hundreds of Independent Houses contribute to this year’s Outstanding Competition!
LOS ANGELES – USABookNews.com, the premier online magazine and review website for mainstream and independent publishing houses, announced the winners and finalists of THE 2012 USA BEST BOOK AWARDS on November 16, 2012. Over 400 winners and finalists were announced in over 100 categories covering print, e-books and audio books. Awards were presented for titles published in 2011 and 2012.
Jeffrey Keen, President and CEO of USA Book News, said this year’s contest yielded over 1500 entries from mainstream and independent publishers, which were then narrowed down to over 400 winners and finalists.
Award highlights include the following (Full results listing available on USABooknews.com):
- Until Tuesday: A Wounded Warrior and the Golden Retriever Who Saved Him by Luis Carlos Montalvan with Bret Witter (Hyperion) was honored in the “Autobiography/Memoirs” category
- The Whip by Karen Kondazian (Hansen Publishing Group) won “Best Historical Fiction”
Notes From Machu Picchu – by Karen Kondazian
By on January 31, 2013 2 Comments
It was time for me to finally lay eyes on the mystical Machu Picchu, a place I had always heard about in awed tones, by the people who had been there– although I knew little about. I flew from Lima to Cuzco, high in the Andes at more than 10,000 feet above sea level. When I got off the plane, I felt winded, dizzy, had a bad headache. I was told that I had altitude sickness and was handed a hot cup of coca tea. After several cups, I felt light and chipper, myself again (While there, I drank many cups of this delicious brew… outlawed in the U.S. as it comes from the coca leaf – translated by the US immigration as cocaine). It kept me well… It kept me thriving… Without it, I could not have conquered the altitude.
Cuzco was founded in the 15th century by the Incas, and then later vanquished by the Spaniards. I stayed in an ancient Monastery (1595) the Hotel Monasterio del Cuzco, and at breakfast I heard chanting… beautiful, peaceful chanting – and drank coca tea. Blissful is how I started my day.
Notes From Easter Island by Karen Kondazian
By on January 2, 2013 Leave a Comment
December 12th 2012 arrived quietly behind my back… I had been so busy assisting The Whip to find its own strong wings that there had not been a chance to look forward and dream about my forthcoming trip to South America, Easter Island, Machu Picchu–but unbelievably, it was now in my lap looking up at me.
The moment that I truly realized I was on my journey, I watched Los Angeles disappear through the small airplane window and heard first in Spanish, the emergency instructions, then in English. The next hours on LAN (Lima Airlines) were a Fellini blur of trays of airplane food and wine, tangled airplane blankets and pillows– waiting in strange airports feeling lost, not sure if I was in the right place, the right terminal, the right gate, as no one seemed to speak English… clocks that seemed to go forward, backward—Finally, seventeen hours, one refueling and 2 planes later, I peered out a now familiar little window, and watched mysterious dark fingers of clouds bleed into the psychedelic orange sunrise. We were heading over a small piece of land that, seemingly, was floating at the very end of the earth. At long last, we were landing… on the most isolated inhabited island in the entire world… the mysterious, mystical Easter Island!
The Whip wins USA Book News Best Historical Fiction Award
By on November 19, 2012 Leave a Comment
For Immediate Release
November 2012
USA BOOK NEWS ANNOUNCES
WINNERS AND FINALISTS OF
THE 2012 USA BEST BOOK AWARDS
Mainstream & Independent Titles Score Top Honors in the
9th Annual USA Best Book Awards
St. Martin’s Press, Harper Collins, Crown, John Wiley & Sons, Hyperion, McGraw-Hill, Sterling, Llewellyn Worldwide, Tyndale House, Thomas Nelson, Sounds True, Chicago Review Press, NASA, American Cancer Society, and hundreds of Independent Houses contribute to this year’s Outstanding Competition!
LOS ANGELES – USABookNews.com, the premier online magazine and review website for mainstream and independent publishing houses, announced the winners and finalists of THE 2012 USA BEST BOOK AWARDS on November 16, 2012. Over 400 winners and finalists were announced in over 100 categories covering print, e-books and audio books. Awards were presented for titles published in 2011 and 2012.
Jeffrey Keen, President and CEO of USA Book News, said this year’s contest yielded over 1500 entries from mainstream and independent publishers, which were then narrowed down to over 400 winners and finalists.
Award highlights include the following (Full results listing available on USABooknews.com):
‘Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.’
By on November 5, 2012 Leave a Comment
The suffragette movement protesting against Woodrow Wilson in front of The White House, 1917
As the time for our right to vote as Americans approaches, we thought we’d share the stories of some extraordinary and courageous women in U.S. history… who exercised their right as citizens of this country, defied authority in order to make their voices heard — and defended the 1st Amendment of our Constitution regardless of the consequences.
Women were not given the right to vote until 1920. But in 1917, 33 women were jailed for protesting in front of the White House. They were beaten, abused, and tortured because of their decision to defy the government and stand for their beliefs that women were equal to men and had the same right to place a mark on the ballot! Their resilience and bravery during their time in prison gives testament to women’s ability to overcome any and all obstacles that stand in their way.
The infamous “Night of Terror” on November 15, 1917, claimed many victims from the suffragette movement to the unspeakable horrors at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia.
Lillian Smith: The Champion California Huntress
By on October 28, 2012 Leave a Comment
Portrait of Lillian Smith
Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show was a staple of Old West entertainment during the 1800s and featured many of the era’s famous sharpshooters and pioneers, such as Annie Oakley, James “Wild Bill” Hickok, and Calamity Jane herself. However, the youngest ever to join Buffalo Bill’s troupe of performers was a brassy California teen by the name of Lillian Smith… who would then become Annie Oakley’s strongest female rival.
Born Lillian Frances Smith in Colville California, she was the quintessential tomboy at age 7 (when, growing bored with playing with dolls, she asked her father for a rifle to play with instead). By age 10, she was nearly unbeatable and her father bet $5000.00 to anyone that could surpass little Lillian’s shooting. Buffalo Bill was touring in California at this time, and discovered the girl prodigy, inviting her along to be a part of his troupe at the mere age of 15 and naming her “The Champion California Huntress.”
A young Lillian with a Stevens Tip-Up Rifle
Women in History: Calamity Jane
By on October 14, 2012 Leave a Comment
A legend like Charley Parkhurst is hard to come by — but Calamity Jane was certainly legendary in her own right. There has been plenty of speculation and unsubstantiated rumors about Martha Jane Canary — some of it straight from her own account. The city of Deadwood recognizes her as quite a storyteller, but historians agree that some of Canary’s exploits and accomplishments are indeed based on pure, undisputed facts. Below are some true stories about Calamity Jane that you may be surprised to find out:
1. Martha Jane Canary (or Cannary) was born to Robert and Charlotte Cannary, the oldest of six siblings, in Princeton, Missouri. Her mother died of pneumonia during a wagon-train move to Virginia City, Montana — and her father died soon after moving the family to Salt Lake City, Utah. Martha Jane, now in charge of her brothers and sisters, packed up the children on the Union Pacific Railroad and settled in Piedmont, Wyoming.
2. Martha Jane was not an educated girl. She was illiterate and her knowledge was mostly based on survival skills. During her time traveling with the caravan from Missouri to Montana, she was often in the company of the party hunters, from whom she learned how to ride horses, shoot, and hunt for herself.
Karen Kondazian and Louis L’Amour: A Review
By on September 26, 2012 Leave a Comment
When the Going Gets Tough
by
Katherine Hauswirth
Besides meeting kindred spirits, one of the nicest things about this column is the access to books of all kinds from publishers and publicists. These perks include genres that don’t usually draw me, and I surprised myself when I signed on to read the novel The Whip. Normally reading “a piece of the “Old West” in a cover blurb would have me passing on the book. But this one had a hook.
Charley Parkhurst, when she was alive, was known far and wide as a brave and highly skilled stagecoach driver. Women didn’t drive stagecoaches, you say? Well, she lived most of her life as a man; it was only after her death that Charley’s gender was discovered, to the incredulous surprise of the “tough guys” who (thought they) knew “him.”
Author Karen Kondazian found a gem when she found Charley’s story, and she’s done a good job polishing and embellishing it. There isn’t a lot of verifiable information about Charley’s life, and Kondazian discloses up front that she’s made up some historical details. It is a novel, after all. But the draw of the story, for me, was that it was based on someone who must have had one heck of an adventure, whether or not the novel gets the particulars exactly right.
