Three books in the news with (OK tenuous) jazz connections

First of the three books is "Half Blood Blues" by Esi Edugyan. A book with jazz connections shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Whoda thunk?  Unexpected juxtapositions in imagery abound: at one point trumpet playing is  described as  “wild and unexpected, like a thicket of flowers in a bone-dry field.” The story engineers a meeting between the main fictional character and the real Louis Armstrong in Paris, there are stories of (fictitious) musicians on the run from the Nazis.. one of our writers is currently reading it...

Second, it is announced today that "The Rough Guide to the Future" jazz writer Jon Turney - he recently wrote a round-up of Brecon for us - has been shortlisted for the Royal Society's Winton science book prize. Congratulations!

Third is David Guterson's Ed King. Thanks to a representative of the publisher - who also happens to run an important jazz gig, we will have a copy of the book to offer as a prize draw for newslettter readers. Ed King is unlike Guterson's previous work, and is an artful updating to our time of the Oedipus myth, with a brilliantly amoral central character called Diane Burroughs. UK Publication date is October 17th.