LAUNCH PARTY FOR MY e-NOVEL: January 31, 5-7 p.m. at the Broad Ripple Tavern.

   The Mob, a crazy college hoops coach, a would-be international super model, an obscure cult, former high school hoops stars sprung from various departments of correction, rare books "borrowed" for use as collateral to bet on the annual college basketball tournament, and a Chicago-area law school library clerical assistant with a knack for picking winners in the tournament are elements of Billion Dollar Ball$, the latest novel by mark small.

   The clerical assistant’s wife, as they separate in late August, 1984, gives vent to a couple of years of frustration when she says: "You’re the smartest guy I know, but you don’t make any money."

   He takes that as a challenge and sets about to win, as an arbitrary but impressive figure, a billion dollars via his "knack" for the tournament. A parlay is the only means by which he can win such a large sum. The odds are better if he picks an obscure team. This parlay means he bets on six consecutive games—the more obscure the team, the better the odds—the outcome of each a requirement for the bet to continue. If "his" team fails to beat the spread on even one game, he loses the bet and the "borrowed" rare books become the basis for felony charges. The clerical assistant takes a leave of absence and travels by bus around the country to find the right team. He stumbles across a team from an obscure college in Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, or one of those states, whose crazy coach has convinced the billionaire owner of the college to hire the best criminal defense lawyers to obtain release from prisons, across the country, of former high school blue-chip players.

   The Mob....Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations....A parlay bet that either wins a billion dollars or zip....A would-be international supermodel....A college basketball coach who wins games but is borderline insane—and the latter not in a nice way...A basketball team recruited from the nation’s prisons by highly-paid criminal defense attorneys...And a way to "fix" each game until the very last, when the "kid" either wins one billion dollars or faces a long time in a government facility with free room and board...

   These are some of the elements of the plots of Billion Dollar Ball$, an e-novel by mark small available on Amazon dot com January 31.