1978

Synopsis

In this violent, raw, and often beautiful novel, Daniel Jones captures the long-vanished Toronto where a broke teen punk could buy a beer with a two-dollar bill. Soo, Kid, Jacky, and Boy are damaged and self-destructive, losing whole days to cheap booze and pills, accidental blackouts and hospital stays. They badly want to emulate local punk idols like the Viletones and Teenage Head, but can't hold it together long enough to learn an entire song. 1978 is Jones' uncompromising literary take on the frantic energy and bleak extremes of the early Toronto punk scene, but it's also the story of a group of messed-up kids in a squalid apartment, desperately looking underneath all the attitude and filth for something real.

About the Author

Daniel Jones was born in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1959 and died in Toronto in 1994. In between, he worked as a dishwasher, cook, caretaker, editor, and writer. Jones left behind several volumes of highly acclaimed and
controversial poetry and fiction, including The Brave Never Write Poetry (Coach House Press, 1985) and The People One Knows (Mercury Press, 1994).

Reviews

"1978 reveals necessary but difficult truths about Toronto...
I read it, feeling more hungover by the page, but also somehow increasingly alive and both viscerally activated and frightened."
-Amy Lavender Harris, Imagining Toronto

"A hyper-realist portrayal of punk back in the days when it was still a fresh hell and not a lifestyle... 1978 is a work that deserves to be read and remembered."
-Juliet Waters, Montreal Mirror

Publicity
The National Post's The Afterword Arts Blog
The Globe & Mail
Quill & Quire