Christmas When Music Almost Killed the World


Original cover art by Luther E. Vann

With excerpts and snippets from the book Christmas When Music Almost Killed the World having been posted around the Internet for several years, award-winning U.S. author and poet Aberjhani announced the novel’s publication November 12, 2007, Veteran’s Day.

The author, whose previous books include Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance, cautioned that despite the use of the word “Christmas” in the title, readers should not expect a typical Christmas story novel. “This is actually the very novel I’ve always said I was writing but it wasn’t until we were preparing to go to publication that I realized how big a role the holiday, especially Christmas Eve, plays in it,” said Aberjhani. “That made the new title very appropriate and even more accurate in some ways.”

Early on the book stirred controversy because of a plot scenario that links mass suicides to music by a fictional character. The author has declined to state whether the iconic figure, called “Jimmy Redfyre” in the novel, is based on an actual performer. He admitted, however, that the controversy was a major part of the reason it has taken the book this long to make it to print. The book’s cover, featuring original art by Luther E. Vann, recently debuted on the Creative Thinkers International and MySpace web sites.

“It’s more about the issues than that particular individual,” said Aberjhani. “I actually expected a bigger fallout from the experimental writing style used in the book, which maybe I shouldn’t say a whole lot about just yet other than that it employs both very modern techniques and very classic ones.”

In addition to Christmas When Music Almost Killed the World (ISBN 0966235681) Aberjhani’s books include: the aforementioned Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance (ISBN 0816045395); The Wisdom of W.E.B. Du Bois (ISBN 080652510X); and I Made My Boy Out of Poetry (ISBN 0595157653). Among his awards are the Choice Academic Title Award, Poet of the Year Award, Best History Book Award, Best of Publication Award, and Thomas Jefferson Journalism Award.

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