NEW YORK, New York – The NYC Big Book Award recognized “Pie in the Sky and Other Illusions We Live With” by R. Luce of Athens, Ohio, in the category of “anthologies” as a “Distinguished Favorite.” 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.
“Pie in the Sky and Other Illusions We Live With” by R. Luce
“In an era of glossy self-help and curated personas, R. Luce’s “Pie in the Sky and Other Illusions We Live With” arrives as a jagged, necessary corrective. This is a structural autopsy of the American Dream, performed through a sophisticated blend of fiction, poetry, drama, and raw memoir. Luce targets the ‘illusions’ we cling to: work, family, and justice, and exposes the hollow spaces where those promises often fail to materialize.
Luce’s versatility is the collection’s greatest strength. By moving between the internal monologue of a blocked writer and the epic, blood-soaked history of a West Virginia coal strike, the author suggests that whether our struggles are private or systemic, the root cause is often the same: a fundamental gap between cultural ideals and lived reality. The prose is unflinching, favoring a grit-under-the-fingernails realism that demands the reader look directly at the discomfort.”
– Falcon Review, May 14, 2026
NYC Big Book Award received book submissions worldwide. Attorneys, Doctors, Entrepreneurs, Film & Television writers, Historians, Journalists, and Professors, from well-established authors to first-time indie authors as well as small and large presses participated.
Entries this year were received from the United States as well as countries such as Australia, Canada, China, Dubai, England, Estonia, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, New Zealand, Scotland, Singapore, South Korea United, Sweden, Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. Cities represented among the entries were Auckland, Baltimore, Dallas, Frankfurt, Hollywood, Johannesburg, Manhattan Beach, New Orleans, NYC, Philadelphia, Sydney, and West Palm Beach.
Publishers included R. Luce, Beacon Press, Berrett-Koehler, Casemate, Edinburgh University Press, Forbes Books, Kiplinger Books, NYU Press, Palgrave Macmillan, Penguin Random House, Rizzoli, Routledge, University of California Press, University of Nebraska Press, Weaving Influence Press, and Wiley.
Winners and distinguished favorites included “Pie in the Sky and Other Illusions We Live With” by R. Luce, The Lab Press’s Essentials Vol. 1 by Luke Arnold (Black Sails) & Chris “Doc” Wyatt (TV producer/writer); Berrett-Koehler’s Catch People Doing Things Right by Martha C. Lawrence; The White House Historical Association’s White House Memories 1970–2007 by Gary J. Walters (White House Chief Usher); and Eternal Love by Xuemo to name some key titles on the awards list.
“We have an amazing list of authors from around the globe participating this year,” said awards sponsor Gabby Olczak. “I’m so excited to share these books with a worldwide readership!”
To view the list of NYC Big Book winners and distinguished favorites, please visit here.
The NYC Big Book Award is announced every fall. It is open to all authors, publishers, and illustrators, and includes submissions from the big five publishers including Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Hachette, Macmillan, and Simon & Schuster. Our Independent Press Award (deadlines every December 15th) is open to independent authors and publishers. To see this year’s list of IPA Winners, visit here.
