Cutting Contest

Connie Benson is a 26-year-old trombone player whose reckless online persona is taking over her life - and trashing it. She's buried under a mountain of personal debt, her professional reputation is falling apart and her relationship with her mother is hanging by a thread.

When she snatches the last open spot in a sponsored music contest, Connie has one final opportunity to turn her life around. Six young jazz musicians with strong social media profiles travel across Europe, battling on stage and online for a chance to grab a lucrative recording contract. But only one performer can win...

With breathless momentum and intoxicating prose, Cutting Contest marks the exhilarating arrival of a buoyant and distinctive literary voice.

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Matty Bannond is a fiction author and journalist. His short stories have appeared in Open Pen, Litro, Storgy and Selcouth Station. He regularly contributes to publications around the globe including The New York City Jazz Record, Jazz Journal, All About Jazz, Hot House Jazz Guide and Free Jazz Collective. Matty was born and raised in Stockport, UK. After graduating from the University of East Anglia, he emigrated to Germany. He is forty years old and lives in Hilden, near Düsseldorf.
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