Brad Chisholm & Claire Kim Win in Two Categories of the 2nd Annual...

Los Angeles award-winning authors, Brad Chisholm & Claire Kim won in two Categories in the 2nd Annual PenCraft Awards for Literary Excellence. Their novel Kat & Maus took 1st place in Romance Contemporary. Their crime novel K-Town Confidential won a hotly contested 2nd place for Fiction- Suspense. They also won the 2018 MAXY Award for Best Detective/Mystery for K-Town Confidential.

Chisholm and Kim are a unique writing team; Claire is the storyteller and Brad is the wordsmith. Their diverse backgrounds give them an edge over many other writers. Brad grew up reading the works of many novelists, including Texas novelists Larry McMurtry and Peter Gent among others. He sharpened his writing skills as a copywriter. In fact, Brad Chisholm, born in Toronto, Canada, is also an award-winning advertising expert who now applies those skills to marketing their books. Much of the description of the terrain described in Kat & Maus was made authentic by Brad’s knowledge of the Canadian wilderness.

Claire Kim, an extraordinary writer who is also a real-life Los Angeles Attorney esteemed by her clients. In K-Town Confidential, attorney Holly Park just might have a persona highly influenced by Claire Kim's experiences as an attorney right in the heart of K-Town. Claire Kim has the real-life experience to write authentically about K-Town issues and of the legal problems that so many immigrants face trying to assimilate to a different culture.

Claire Kim’s childhood as an Asian-American was a huge influenced in her desire to become a serious writer. As a child, she read many books with strong Asian themes, but none with Asian-American protagonists. Claire stated, “I found that while the first generation Asians pursuing the ‘American dream’ were represented, what was lacking were stories of the second generation, the Asian-American, who straddles both worlds. The old through parental influence and being ‘American’ through birth, school, friends, and experiences growing up in America.“

Brad and Claire are creating books that will feature positive Asian American protagonists and contribute to a market that is rapidly growing.

Claire candidly expressed her feeling about their books with Asian themes, “For the Asian-American, it is a constantly evolving experience of how one feels on the inside and is perceived on the outside. For instance, I am still surprised to this day when I meet someone new, and the small talk turns to this: ‘I really like Chinese food.’ Or, ‘What are you?’ It catches me off guard every time because I don't see myself as ‘Asian’ first. But that is what the world sees because that is what I look like. It is fair. But surprising. Also, the world is not colorblind. In fact, it is rich in color, and people see color first. So it is important for the Asian American voice to be heard so people will know it is not color that defines a person but enhances them. That applies not only Asian-Americans but to any 2nd Generation ethnic American group.”

Brad and Claire are more than a writing team, they are also husband and wife and have a 15-year-old son who is the inspiration for their next book. It is a book for teenage boys who are facing the challenge of becoming a man.

Brad stated, “We realized how difficult it is for young men of today's generation as there are so many choices and roads which lead to nowhere. It was with this thought that Claire started advising our son and his friends. It caught on, and we decided to write a book for that audience because it is needed. The sequel to K-Town was temporarily put aside, and this book, The Boys' Book is our current project.”

Their 1st Place romance novel Kat & Maus is an interesting tale of adventure and the issues that so many of us face in trying to juggle our work with our personal lives. It is a story of possessiveness, jealousy, betrayal and then the struggle of trying to survive in a freezing wilderness after a terrible accident.

Brad and Claire have been interviewed by the Huffington Post and have received great reviews on Goodreads, Amazon.com, AuthorsReading.com, BeaconAudioBooks.com, and Kirkus Reviews.

They will be available for interviews November 10, 2018, during the meet and greet at the 2nd PenCraft Awards Ceremony at Book Nook Inn located in Lumberton, Texas. The Public is welcomed. Tickets to the dinner and ceremony are available at PenCraftAward.com

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