May 28, 2004 For more information: Frank R. Scatoni 619-807-1887 frank@ventureliterary.com "No Kill Date" Venture Literary Sells Basketball Rebel Marvin "Bad News" Barnes’ Memoir to Carroll & Graf On May 28, 2004, Greg Dinkin of Venture Literary sold the North American rights to Marvin "Bad News" Barnes’ memoir Rebound, co-authored by Ed Miller, to Don Weise at Carroll & Graf. "Bad News" Barnes was professional sports’ original rebel. When he played for the Celtics in 1976, he snorted cocaine during a game…sitting on the bench…with a towel draped over his head. He traveled with two hookers on the Celtics team plane. He’d show up at his locker and hang up his two guns—a .45 and a .38. According to ABA broadcaster Van Vance, "There are so many stories about Marvin Barnes that after a while you don’t know what to believe." Barnes was also an incredible basketball player who led his hometown Providence Friars to the Final Four. Bob Costas, who covered the St. Louis Spirits as a rookie broadcaster, said, "Had Marvin Barnes stayed straight, he definitely would have been one of the fifty greatest basketball players of all time." Unfortunately, the most telling quote about Barnes came from New Jersey Nets president Rod Thorn, who said, "I have never seen a player lose so much talent so fast." The miracle is that after nineteen stints in rehab, four stays in jail, and years of homelessness, "News" has found redemption and has become a pillar in the very city where he first learned to rob a grocery store. Barnes has plumbed the depths of society and (barely) lived to tell about it. That’s why his memoir is aptly named Rebound, as no one has recovered from more—and turned a lifetime of scars into a life of helping kids. Ed Miller, co-author of Rebound and three-time APSE award winning journalist, writes for The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Virginia. He’s also written for Sports Illustrated, Inside Sports, Athlon Sports College Basketball edition, and several other national publications. His work was cited twice in the anthology Best American Sports Writing in 2001 and 2002. To learn more about Venture Literary, visit: www.ventureliterary.com. To learn more about Carroll & Graf, visit: www.carrollandgraf.com