New York: Norton, (1997.) dj. Hardcover first edition - Amazing first novel by this jazz musician and journalist - the hero is "an alto saxophone virtuoso trying to evolve a personal style out of Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, and Ornette Coleman. He also happens to be a walking, talking, Shakespeare- and Blake-quoting bear whose keen sense of irony protects him from the double loneliness of the artist and animal in an underappreciative metropolis." Surprise winner of the 1998 PEN/Faulkner Prize for fiction. A lyrical, funny, and also realistic portrait of a jazz musician. Small first printing (reportedly of only 5000 copies.) 480 pp. ISBN: 0-393040372.