R. Luce Receives International Recognition Through the NYC Big Book Award®

ATHENS, OH, UNITED STATES, September 29, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The 2025 NYC Big Book Award recognized "Walking on Nathan's Grave: A Tale Traversing Heaven and Hell" by R. Luce in the category of General Fiction as a winner.

The competition is judged by experts from different aspects of the book industry, including publishers, writers, editors, designers, booksellers, librarians and professional copywriters. Winners and distinguished favorites are based on overall excellence.

"Walking on Nathan's Grave: A Tale Traversing Heaven and Hell"

What if the past refused to stay buried?

"Walking on Nathan’s Grave" is a gripping literary novel that seamlessly blends psychological depth, crime fiction, and romance. Author R. Luce delivers an emotionally charged story of heartbreak, self-destruction, and redemption set against the backdrop of a century-old murder mystery

At forty, Rob Wilson’s life has unraveled. A devastating breakup sends him spiraling into a haze of alcohol, reckless encounters, and creative stagnation. Desperate for a fresh start, he leaves Chicago for the quiet of Emberland, Ohio, where he hopes to rebuild his life and his career as a writer.

When he meets Jake Davidson, a young and enigmatic police officer with a personal connection to a long-buried crime, Rob finds himself drawn into a haunting murder case from the 1870s—one that challenges his understanding of truth, justice, and his own resilience.

As Rob delves into the past and simultaneously becomes involved in Jake’s current criminal case, the lines between fact and fiction blur, and Rob’s growing relationship with Jake forces him to confront his fears of intimacy and trust.

With evocative prose and a suspenseful narrative, Walking on Nathan’s Grave is a compelling story of loss, second chances, and the ghosts both real and metaphorical that refuse to be forgotten.

Read the FALCON book review here: https://www.printedwordreviews.com/bookreviews/9798992220247.

NYC Big Book Award received book submissions worldwide. Journalists, well established authors, small and large press, and first time indie authors participated in record numbers. Entries this year were received from the United States as well as countries such as Australia, Canada, China, Dubai, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Scotland, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Cities represented among the entries were Chicago, Hamburg, Los Angeles, Melbourne, New York, Quebec, Rome, San Francisco, Seattle, Singapore, and Victoria.

Publishers included Berrett-Koehler; Brown Books Kids; Central Avenue / Simon & Schuster; Forbes Books; New Harbinger Publications; New York University Press; Old Stone Press; Oxford University Press; Pegasus Books; She Writes Press; University of Massachusetts Press to name a few.

Winners included "What is My Legacy?" by Martin Luther King III, Arndrea Waters King, Marc Kielburger and Craig Kielburger; "Mikhail Gorbachev - How he changed our lives" by Bettina Schaefer; Berrett-Koehler's "From Founder to Future: A Business Roadmap to Impact, Longevity, and Employee Ownership" by John Abrams; The Cooking Lab's "Modernist Bread at Home" by Nathan Myhrvold; and "Wild Fox Ridge" by Xue Mo to name some key titles on the awarded list.

"With so many quality publishers and authors from around the world participating this year, I’m eager to share these books with a global readership," said awards sponsor Gabby Olczak.

View the NYC Big Book distinguished favorites: https://www.nycbigbookaward.com/2025-favorites.

About the author
Ron Luce writes fiction, non-fiction, plays, short stories and poetry. During his career as an educator and trainer, he wrote professional articles, book chapters, promotional materials, scripts and more. As an actor, he has performed in and directed plays and appeared in Ohio University student film productions. A graduate of SUNY Brockport, he earned M.A. and Ph.D. degrees at Ohio University in Creative Writing, American Literature and Rhetoric.

NYC Big Book Award is announced every fall. NYC Big Book Award is open to all authors, publishers, and illustrators, and includes submissions from the big five publishers: Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Hachette, Macmillan, and Simon & Schuster.

Join us for the Independent Press Award, deadlines every December and announced every spring, is open to independent authors and publishers. Visit: https://www.independentpressaward.com/2025winners.

Join us at the Awards Dinner on April 25th to celebrate the recipients of both programs as they receive their awards on stage. The dinner is part of the BookCAMP event, a publishing industry conference held in the New York metro area, April 24-25, 2026, https://www.independentpressaward.com/ipabookcamp.

Gabby Olczak
NYC Big Book Award
+1 973-969-1899
gabby@NYCBigBookAward.com
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