Cal Basketball: Leon Powe Publishes His First Novel: `Brother in Disguise'
Personable and tough, Leon Powe boasts an impressive resume that includes being a crowd favorite with Cal basketball fans at Haas Pavilion and an NBA champion with the Boston Celtics in 2008.
Add author to Powe’s list of credits.
The 38-year-old Oakland native has self-published his first novel, “Brother in Disguise.”
Powe began formulating the book during the pandemic, when he found himself doing what most of it did.
“I was watching all these Netflix things and I was thinking I can create some better stories than what I was watching,” he said in a Friday interview. “I tell a lot of stories to people and they say, `You should write them down.’ ”
That finally clicked for Powe, who sought the assistance of editors at the Los Angeles-based Pacific Ghostwriting, which works with fledgling authors.
He developed an outline for his book and recorded portions of the narrative. Then he worked with his editors, who took his words and put them into book form.
“They wrote it down but that’s my story to the T. I love it,” he said. “There’s a plot twist at the end of the story. They were impressed.”
Here’s a synopsis of the book, courtesy of amazon.com:
"Two identical twins separated at birth – one raised in a warm, loving environment, the other in a cruel world of violence and bloodshed. When the latter finds out the truth about his origin and all that he has missed out on, feelings of envy and being lied to all his life fester. Learn how lies, deceit, and a thirst for vengeance tears an already broken family apart once again.”
The book, which became available the start of July, has received limited attention so far. Powe said he has not yet done marketing beyond word of mouth with friends.
There are no reviews yet on the website “Goodreads,” and just one on Amazon. But it’s a good one:
Amazon
The book is not biographical, said Powe, adding, “Some of the experiences I went through but most people went through some of those.”
He has tentative plans to make this the first of a three-book series, and hopes to someday have it made into a movie for Netflix or another platform. “I’ve got a lot of stories,” he said.
Powe was a special player for the Bears and a special guy. He overcome his own tough childhood then battled back from repeated knee injuries, first at Oakland Tech High School, then at Cal, to assemble a productive basketball career.
A classmate of future Cal and NFL star Marshawn Lynch, Powe averaged 27.4 points and 14.2 rebounds as a senior at Tech then was an all-Pac-10 player for the Bears. He played parts of six seasons in the NBA, highlighted by the 2008 playoffs, during which he had five double-figure scoring games including a 21-point performance in a Game 2 Finals victory over the Lakers.
Powe said he never imagined while growing up that he’d someday write a novel.
“I never thought about it,” he said. “I never thought I was going to do a lot of things I’ve done.”
*** "Brother in Disguise" is available on Amazon.com, priced at $17.95 for paperback or $24.95 for hardcover.
Cover photo of Leon Powe and his novel, "Brother in Disguise"
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo
