LeBron James and Buzz Bissinger—co-authors of the LeBron-coming-of-age story Shooting Stars —are two names you’d never expect to see separated by an ampersand. Flip the soon-to-be-released book over and the bedfellows get even stranger. The blurbers for Shooting Stars , in order of appearance: Jay-Z (“When I first saw LeBron James play as a professional, it was his selflessness that dazzled me the most”), Bob Costas, John Grisham, Duke University basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, Warren Buffett ("Reading about LeBron James’s transition from boyhood to manhood was a thrill for me”), The Soloist author Steve Lopez, and In These Girls, Hope Is a Muscle writer Madeleine Blais.
This group of six rappers, sportscasters, writers, coaches, and tycoons will clearly never be in the same room together. What’s yet to be determined, however, is whether there’s a blurbing contingent that has even less of a chance of having a poker night or writing one another birthday cards. If you know of a book with a less likely collection of blurbers, please send your submission to slatebrowbeat@gmail.com by 6 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, Aug. 12.
