Eric Hoffer Book Category Finalists
After our rigorous first round of judging, less than 10% of the nominees become category finalists. We consider this a distinction of its own merit and, in 2008, began officially announcing these titles. Finalists are selected by category scoring and considered for category honors. There are typically 1-6 books per category selected as a finalist. Below are the current and previous category finalists in alphabetical order by book. (Please click here to view the Montaigne Medal Finalists, da Vinci Eye Finalists, First Horizon Award Finalists, or Medal Provocateur Finalists.)
2021
* 3-D Disneyland, David A. Bossert, The Old Mill Press
* 8:15 – A True Story of Survival and Forgiveness from Hiroshima, Dr. Mikamo, Westwood Books Publishing, LLC
* A Dinosaur Made Me Sneeze, Carla Mae Jansen, Turtle Trails Publishing
* A Gay Man’s Guide to Life, Britt East, Houndstooth Press
* A Noble Calling, Rhona Weaver, Two Oaks Press
* A Pyrrhic Victory, Vol II, Ian Crouch, Stratetic Book Publishing
* Above and Beyond Cancer, Richard L. Deming, MD, Drake Community Press
* After the Body, Cleopatra Mathis, Sarabande Books
* Again, Jennifer Perrine, Airlie Press
* Alfred: The Quiet History of a World War II Infantryman, Louise Endres Moore, HenshelHAUS
* All Flowers Bloom, Kawika Guillermo, Westphalia Press
* American Dreamer, Tim Tran with Tom Fields-Meyer, Pacific University Press
* An Improbale Spy, David Paul Collins, iUniverse
* An Oddity of Some Consequence, Gary Dickson, Pairings
* Another Troy, Joan Wehlen Morrison, Susan Signe Morrison (editor), Finishing Line Press
* API’s Berlin Diaries, Gabrielle Robinson, She Writes Press
* Baby Bumbu, John Koski, Outskirts Press
* Becoming Our Future, Julie Nagam, Carly Lane & Megan Tamati-Quennell, ARP Books
* Betrayed, Beverley Chalmers, DSc(Med): Phd, Grosvenor House Publishing
* Beyond Repair, Sebastian Matthews, Red Hen Press
* Billion Dollar Bracket, Drew Bridges, BQB Publishing
* Boop and Eve’s Road Trip, Mary Helen Sheriff, She Writes Press
* Breath from Salt, Bijal P. Trivedi, BenBella Books
* Butter Side Up, Jane Enright, FriesenPress
* Canada in Chaos, Walter Benstead, LitPrime Solutions
* Celebrating Naked, Lindsey Issow Averill, KDP
* Churchill & Roosevelt, James Mikel Wilson, Gatekeeper Press
* Cobalt Chronicles, Kathryn Den Houter, Mission Point Press
* Coming Home to Greenleigh, Maya Rushing Walker, Apollo Grannus Books
* Crimson Letters, Tessie Castillo, Black Rose Writing
* Criss Cross, Mukta Arya, PartridgeSingapore
* Cruising Interrupted, Paul C. Thornton, BookBaby
* Cry from an Unkown Grave, Joseph LeValley, Bookpress Publishing
* Czech Techno, Mark Jarman, Anvil Press
* Dead Shark on the N Train, Susana H. Case, Broadstone Books
* D’eux & Other Sorrows, Laurie Byro, Cowboy Buddha Publishing
* Earth As It Is, Jan Maher, Indiana University Press
* EarthbodyBoat, Ahjo K. Sipowicz, Growling River Books
* East-West Sword and Word, Anwar A. Abdullah, Urlink Print & Media
* Echoes of the San Andreas, Jane Culp, Fresco Books
* Elephant Speak, Melissa Crandall, Ooligan Press
* Empire’s Daughter, Marian L. Thorpe, Arboretum Press
* End Your Relationsh*t with Compassion, Self-Respect, and Logic, D.L. Dempsey, Writers Republic LLC
* Estelle: A Novel, Linda Stewart Henley, She Writes Press
* Family Redefined, Kimberly Ewertz, Little Creek Press
* Fierce Aria, Maxima Kahn, Finishing Line Press
* Finding the Song, Amy R. Saltz, KDP
* First Among Nations, Ira Mosen, Olive Blossom Press
* Flight 3108, Sharon Mikeworth, River Nation Publishing
* Flipping Teams, Vernon Mason III, XlibrisUS
* Flower Storms in the Riverbank, Preeti Kulkarni, SDP Publishing
* FoodWISE, Gigi Berardi, North Atlantic Books
* Forever Dogs, Tricia Spencer, Lilac Bloom Press
* Fractures, Carlos Andrés Gómez, University of Wisconsin Press
* From Adam to Omega, A. R. Roberts, iUniverse
* From Miniskirt to Hijab, Jacqueline Saper, Potomac Books of the University of Nebraska Pres
* Galileo! Galileo!, Holly Trechter and Jane Donovan, Sky Candle Press
* Gender Fraud: a fiction, Peg Tittle, Magenta
* Half the Terrible Things, Paul Legler, North Dakota State University Press
* Heirloom, Nancy Wakeley, Torchflame Books
* Henry and Anthony, H. Lynn Beck, iUniverse
* Homicide In Bronze, Joan Andrew, Westwood Books Publishing, LLC
* Honoring the Enemy, Robert N. Macomber, U.S. Naval Institute Press
* How Much Big Is the Sky, Sherry Chapman, Pedigree Publishing
* How to be a Buddhist Millionaire, Matt Jardine, Short Books
* I Have the Answer, Kelly Fordon, Wayne State University Press
* If You Could Ask Dog One Question, Kim Messina, My Human “N” Me
* Imagine That, George Yuhasz, Outskirts Press
* Indelible, Laurie Buchanan, Spark Press
* It Wasn’t Enough, Peg Tittle, Magenta
* Journey to the Ancetral Self, Tamarack Song, Snow Wolf Publishing
* Kenturah Davis, SCAD Museum of Art, SCAD University Press
* Leadership, Craig B. Whelden, New Insights Press
* Leading in Chaos, I.J. Neal, Christian Faith Publishing
* Liberty in Peril, Randall G. Holcombe, Independent Institute
* Life After 60, Paul M. Valliant, Tellwell
* Dylan’s Birthday Present, Victor D.O. Santos, Linguacious
* Live or Die Stroke of Good Luck, Richard L. Burns, Author Reputation Press
* Love Poems from New England, Jon Meyer, Brilliant Light Publishing
* Love’s Labour’s Won, William Gray
* Low Centre of Gravity, Michael Dennis, Anvil Press
* Lucitan, Emir Phillips
* Maker Messiah, Ed Miracle, Russian Hill Press
* Manipulating the Masses, John Maxwell Hamilton, LSU Press
* Mei Ling in China City, Icy Smith, East West Discovery Press
* Mind in the Clouds, Bruce M. Perrin, Mind Sleuth Publications
* Missing, Tim Parker, Stratton Press
* Modernism Foretold, Asen Kirin and Katherine Marsengill, Georgia Museum of Art, Univ. of GA
* Mom’s Gone Missing, Susan A. Marshall, HenschelHaus Publishing
* Mosquitoes and Men, Mark Alan Polo, Devil’s Party Press
* Nothing Bad Between Us, Marlena Fiol, Mango Media
* One Family: Indivisible, Steven Greenebaum, MSI Press
* One of US, Scott Nadelson, BkMk Press
* One Summer in the Old Town, Randy Cribbs, OCRS
* Open Burning, Christopher McCurry, Accents Publishing
* Out of Slavery, Carol A. Trembath, Lakeside Publishing MI
* Peripheral Visions and Other Stories, Nancy Christie, Unsolicited Press
* Pilgrimage Through Loss, Linda Lawrence Hunt, Westminster John Know Press
* Pole Dancing in the Night Club of God, Walter Bargen, Red Mountain Press
* Puanani and the Volcano, Jo Ann Jeffries, Bluewater Publications
* Reinventing Masculinity, Dr. Edward M. Adams and Ed Frauenheim, Berret Koehler Publishers
* Rise Wildly, Tina Kelley, CavanKerry Press
* River Creed, Kelly Coleman, XlibrisUS
* Santa Fe Tom, Rachel bate, Mascot Books
* Saving Free Speech… from itself, Thane Rosenbaum, Fig Tree Books
* Searching for Family and Tradition at the French Table, Book Two, Carole Bumpus, She Writes Press
* Secretocracy, Tom Glenn, Adelarde Books
* Seize, Brian Komei Dempster, Four Way Books
* Shadows of Leonardo, Will Ottinger, Black Rose Writing
* Side Effects, S. Montana Katz, Guernica World Editions
* Sojourn with Heidi, Heidi Fearon, AuthorHouse
* Sorry You Missed It…, Fred Hosley, Backwater Bayou Books
* Stillwater, Mary Jo Hazard, Mascot Books
* Surfing the Waves of Alzheimer’s, Renee Brown Harmon, MD, Many Hats Publishing
* Surviving the Job Search, Jane Snipes
* Take Me with You, Wherever You’re Going, Jessica Jacobs, Four Way Books
* Temple of Eternity, R. Scott Boyer, Main Street Publishing
* The Arizona Water Bar, Drew Aquilina, Green Pieces Press
* The Art of Wisdom, Tammy Lea Fabian, Time in the Desert
* The Book of True Believer, M. Funk, Wild Abandon Books
* The Burning Where Breath Used to Be, Jen Karetnick, David Robert Books
* The Chainmakers, Laura Smith, LitPrime Solutions
* The Christmas Spirit, Alexandrea Weis, Rosewind Books
* The Commemoration, JJ Winston, Wins Consulting Press
* The Crucial 12, Steve Wolgemuth, Bookpress Publishing
* The Dandelion Insurrection, Rivera Sun, Rising Sun Press
* The Door, M.D. Allen, Pixerati
* The Earthling’s Brothers, Earik Beann, Profoundly One Publishing
* The Edge of Elsewhere, Sam Stea
* The Education of a Teacher, Noel Nation, XlibrisUS
* The Exit Strategy, Lainey Cameron, The Wild Rose Press
* The Expendable, John Lewis Floyd, MD, Trou de Lapin
* The Forest Service and the Greatest Good, James G. Lewis, Forest G. Lewis
* The Happy Clam, Rosemary A. Schmidt, Gainline Press
* The Journalist, Jerry A. Rose and Lucy Rose Fischer, Spark Press
* The Last Dance of Dynamite, Ayman Baroudi, Xlibris
* The Museum of Small Bones, Miho Nonaka, Ashland Poetry Press
* The National Parks, Karla K. Morton and Alan Birkelbach, TCU Press
* The Ottoman Excursion, Tim Pelkey, SDP Publishing
* The Stumble Fields, Malaika King Albrecht, Main Street Rag Publishing
* The Theft of the Ayn Noor, Charles L.M. Lartigue, Girl Friday Productions
* The Twelve Murders of Christmas, Jane Bennett Munro, iUniverse
* The Venturi Effect, Sage Webb, Stoneman House Press
* The Veteran, Clarke W. Owens, Adelaide Books
* The Vines, Shelley Nolden
* The Ways We Get By, Joe Dornich, Black Lawrence Press
* The Woman in the Basement, Tina Williams
* Thicker Than Water, Geoffrey Carter, HenschelHaus Publishing
* Thrown in the Throat, Benjamin Garcia, Milkweed Editions
* Tip of the Arrow, Charles A. Bonner, Page Publishing
* To Bury the Cloud, Leah Margolis, Mindstir Media
* Toro, Andrew Avner, Black Rose Writing
* Training Wires of the Soul, David Solomon & Delynn Solomon, DS Media Pub
* Trauma, Elizabeth Jaikaran, Shanti Arts Publishing
* Truth Has a Different Shape, Kari L. O’Driscoll, CavanKerry Press
* Understanding Startup, Dan Slagen, Vicara Books
* Unforgettable Tribute To Healthcare Professionals, Dealing with Grief, and Global Pandemic!, Simeon Johnson, PageTurner Press and Media
* Unseen City, Amy Shearn, Red Hen Press
* Vestal Virgin, Katherine Spada Basto, Painted Turtle Press
* Victoria’s War, Catherine Hamilton, Plain View Press
* Village of Knives, Helli Fang, Driftwood Press
* Whispers of the Sidhe, CL Roberts-Huth, Evolved Publishing
* Who Killed the Lisping Barista of the Epiphany Café?, Keith R Wilson, Kindle Direct Publishing
* Willie Wombat’s Walk, Sandra Swain, XlibrisUS
* Winds of Change, Rivera Sun, Rising Sun Press
* You Look Something, Jessica Mehta, Wyatt MacKenzie Publishing
* You’ve Got Something Coming, Jonathan Starke, Black Heron Press