Watch and read all about the Book Trailer for my novel Letters From Johnny, which captures the zeitgeist of Toronto and Canada in the 1970s.
What was the last book trailer you watched?
Most will say they’ve never seen one. Yet as a marketing tool in a crowded book market, rather than the traditional book summary or review, a trailer gives the reader a unique way to be introduced to my work. Not being a videographer or having any experience at trailer making, my instincts were to follow the strengths of the book.
Opening the video is feel-good footage from City TV’s sign-off, which included Tommy Ambrose’s famous jingle, People’s City, the endearing and unmistakable unofficial anthem of Toronto in the 70s and 80s.
We see Johnny’s world, which includes my elementary school Orde Street, Lichee Garden where my father worked, and the Henry Street house of my youth where much of the story takes place. A montage of his idol Dave Keon follows, showing Johnny’s hero-worshipping and longing for his father. Very quickly we shift to the darker underbelly of Toronto and Canada, capturing the richly layered downtown neighbourhood with draft dodgers, immigrants and the murdered Meany Ming. Just as the explosive actions of the FLQ grip the young country, Johnny is blackmailed and all separation from his mother becomes real.
Much like the novel, it’s emotional core is the tone and voice of Johnny. None of this would have worked without the stellar narration of eleven-year-old Miles Boode who perfectly captured Johnny’s idolization of Dave Keon, balancing his fear and confusion with wonderment and innocence as his world and his country unravel.
While grainy images evoke a by-gone era and a country in crisis, the trailer ends with a modern, contemporary Chinatown and Tommy Ambrose playing in the background once again, where he speaks of, “tomorrow’s faces…showing you faces…in Toronto”
My wife, Trish says that despite the sense of dread and the background violence of Johnny’s world, the trailer is a love letter to Toronto and its aspirations. A harsher critic would be Justine, my ten-year-old niece, who hates everything that isn’t Billie Eilish. She said the trailer was cool.
What do you think?
Letters From Johnny will be published by Guernica Editions April 1, 2021. Get your copy now from your favourite local bookstore or buy online.
