Dear soon to be my agent,

Abandonment.
If I had to pick just one word to describe what my memoir is about, that’s the word I’d go with. Don’t Call Me Jupiter! is the true story of an eccentric mother who searches to find herself and loses her family along the way. It’s the tale of an all-American family that becomes all hippied out and what happens years later when they are forced to together to deal with an unimaginable crisis.

Although I was the one who took the time to put pen to paper, this story was really written by my mother. In our family history, she is the producer, director and star. The rest of us were just production assistants, crew members and extras.

I grew up in the sixties and seventies. It was an era of expanding consciousness for many; but for me, it was an era of growing self-consciousness. I was the reluctant hippie kid. I tried to fit into the family I deeply loved, but I was frustrated and embarrassed by them, too. Half of my book is written in first person from the eyes of a twelve year old boy, which makes this both a coming-to-age and a coming-to-grips story. It includes plenty of the soul-sucking embarrassing situations that we tried to forget and eventually learned to laugh at.

Fast forward to July of 1996. My beautiful sister Chris, just 36 years old, is killed by her abusive boyfriend, leaving the fate of her two young boys in the hands of our family. Don’t Call Me Jupiter! is also about the eleven days following my sisters' demise as we struggle and eventually find an unlikely hero to keep the kids in the family. The juxtaposing time lines give the reader insight into the characters and provide comic relief from the crushing intensity that comes with death.

Don’t Call Me Jupiter! will appeal to the readers who made bestsellers of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, This Boy’s Life, Running with Scissors and Glass Castle. The situations we faced and endured were certainly unique, but the emotions they stir are universal.

Never a ‘poor-me’ book, this is a richly textured story that’s honest, raw, vivid and surprisingly uplifting. Climb aboard our yellow bus for a psychedelic trip with a cast of unforgettable characters caught in circumstances that will make you laugh cry and cringe. It’s a page-turning journey you’ll always remember.

Read the first five chapters now.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Tom J. Bross

tom.bross@gmail.com / 509-979-6309