Josie Bloss
Schuler Books and Music
2820 Towne Center Blvd., Lansing
March 1, 6 p.m.
schulerbooks.com, (517) 316-7495
Everyone remembers something about his or her high school experience, for better or for worse. Whether it was being asked to prom by a senior, or the haircut disaster of sophomore year, the memories created during those formative years never leave us.
For author Josie Bloss, those memories have led to success. Her first book, Band Geek Love, was published in July of 2008 and introduced Ellie Snow, a member of the school band who alternately obsesses and spurns the opinions of her peers. The book found a welcoming audience in what Bloss feels is an underrepresented segment of high school life: so-called band geeks. Band Geeked Out was released in 2009, and the story follows Ellie to college. Bloss's third and most recent book is Albatross, which was released in early February and introduces a new set of characters but keeps a similar theme.
As a band geek herself, Bloss played in the marching band during her college years at the University of Michigan. She draws inspiration from journals she kept while in school.
"It's amazing how easy it is to fall back into that mindset when I read through them," she says. "I actually had relatively good teenage years, mostly because of the great friends I made in band."
A "die-hard fan" of the Maize and Blue, Bloss grew up in East Lansing and moved to Indiana after graduating. She's returning to Lansing for a pizza party and book signing for Albatross, a new stand-alone novel with a fresh set of characters.
"The story of Albatross was really calling to me and demanding to be written," explains Bloss.
The setting is familiar-high school-but the story has a more serious tone than the romantic comedy of the Band Geek books.
Her third book follows a girl who develops an obsessive relationship that is anything but harmless fun. The destructive manipulation and co-dependency demonstrated by the relationship are prevalent themes in young adult writing, Bloss believes.
"There are...plenty of teenagers reading certain books that depict controlling and emotionally abusive relationships as romantic and perfect...I'm tired of that!" she says. "I know there are many teenagers dealing with similar issues...sometimes you just need to hear that you're not alone."
Bloss enjoys writing for teenagers and connects with the young adult age group.
"There's just something inherently traumatizing about a stage of life where everything is so fraught and new and you often feel like no one gets you and like you're stumbling through without a road map," explains Bloss. "I love writing YA [young adult] for that reason-so many important ‘firsts' happen when you're a teenager."
Though the subject matter of Albatross is darker and more serious, Bloss believes it has something in common with the Band Geek books.
"I'd like to think the core theme of all three of my books is about a girl finding her strength and figuring out how to be true to herself... There's nothing I like more than the story of a girl overcoming her demons and finding her inner badass."
