23rd Annual Writer's Digest Self-published Book Award

Alas, I didn't win the 23rd Annual Writer's Digest Self-published Book Award, but the judges awarded me high marks (5 of 5 in three categories and 4 out 5 in three others.) I also received this review for which I am truly humbled:

"I'm not surprised to learn from his author's bio that Charles Souby lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, because the sense of place is extremely strong in his novel A SHOT OF MALARIA. The book follows the misadventures of Daniel Martin, who is hooked on heroin (and lots of other things), and his struggle to get his life together. What's most remarkable about the book is that Souby manages to make Martin, who, in the hands of another writer, might be quite revolting, completely appealing and sympathetic. This is not a bad man; this is a screwed-up man. Souby depicts the 1990's with a remarkable vividness-I remember these years quite well myself though on the opposite coast. And while I think the book does tend to be a little longer than it should be and could use some tightening and editing, the pace held me as did the writing itself. The novel's grounding in specific details-details of drug use, of sex, of pop-culture references to films like THE GODFATHER, MIDNIGHT COWBOY, and DRUGSTORE COWBOY-give the book an immediacy and vividness that many writers simply don't know how to pull off. I felt, reading A SHOT OF MALARIA that I'm in safe hands, that the writer knows precisely what he's doing. I don't know to what extent Souby is drawing from real-life experiences in the writing of this book, but if he is, he's put those harrowing years to excellent, beautiful use. While I think some of its content might offend the squemish, it's a book that I believe will resonate with readers who stick with it. We might not all be heroin addicts, but we all have our stuff, whatever that stuff is."

- Judge, 23rd Annual Writer's Digest Self-Published Book Awards