Edinburgh author F. Coe Sherrard celebrates his award-winning new novel, ‘The Other Side of Good’.
The book won a second silver award for readers’ favorite in the detective fiction genre, exceeding Sherrard’s expectations as he said he was hoping for at least an honorable mention.
“It’s as excited as ever to get second place,” said Sherrard, who uses the pen name EA Coe.
Sherrard, 73, submitted her book to about seven credited competitions, but this one was particularly exciting because it is world-renowned.
“This one was the biggest,” he said. “It’s a huge reward.”
The novel also won first place for Crime Fiction at this year’s Outstanding Creators Awards and Firebird Book Awards. It won a Literary Titan Gold Medal and was a finalist in the Indies Today and Chanticleer Somerset Awards.
The International Readers’ Favorite Book Prize competition has brought together thousands of applicants from more than a dozen countries, ranging from new independent authors to New York Times bestsellers and celebrities, the competition says in a press release announcing Sherrard’s second place.
It is one of the largest online book review and awards contest sites, the statement said.
Independently published by Koehler Books in Virginia Beach, Sherrard said the book awards give an author and his books more credibility in an already crowded market.
“The Other Side of Good” tells the story of a notorious criminal and his former best friend, a Cincinnati police officer, who find evidence that an international criminal organization is engaged in human trafficking. To stop the organization, they assemble a diverse group of clergy, local and federal law enforcement, and other criminals.
“I think this one kind of caught the judges’ attention because it insightfully explores what’s good and what’s bad,” Sherrard said. “The book makes you realize that we all live in this gray area.”
It also makes you think of friendships, he said. “Can you still be friends with people who turned out not to be such good people?”
Sherrard, who has a bachelor’s degree in economics, is a member of the local Shenandoah Valley WRITES writing group, made up of county chamber of commerce members who are also authors.
He has published two other books.
“Full Count” is about two college baseball players trying to build their careers. Sherrard dubbed it “The Hallmark Movie” because of the life lessons it imparts.
“All my books have happy endings,” he said.
“The Road Not Taken” is a contemporary romance that has environmental overtones and a military plot that he wrote after serving as a Navy pilot from 1977 to 1991, first in Vietnam and then in Navy reserves. .
During this time he also worked for Cruise International Travel, building Spirit Cruises for six years. After 1991 he worked for Herschend Entertainment.
Then in 2005, he opened Woodstock Cafe & Shoppes, which he and his wife, Jean, sold in 2019.
“I’ve had several careers, all of them interesting,” he says.
But coffee, “was my favorite job in life. It was the first time that I really, really absolutely loved my boss, who was Jean, my wife.
For more information, visit eacoe.online/book/the-other-side-of-good.
