Happy Boy
Johnny Kessler’s life is anything but child’s play. It’s the ’90s, and while his classmates rollerblade and listen to Walkmans, twelve-year-old Johnny hides a devastating secret. As the weight of keeping his secret grows, his imagination offers a refuge, bringing his Lego men to life and conjuring a giant golfing bee whose wayward tee shot lands him in detention. Johnny’s irreverent humor and cynical wit are his only defense as he tries to make sense of the adult world that betrayed him. But when the truth threatens to come out, Johnny has to decide who to trust, before it’s too late.
Listen to the First Chapter
Happy Boy – Behind the Novel
Happy Boy is set in the ‘90s because I began writing it in the early ‘90s. I was around 19 years old and working for my friend’s dad at a furniture store: Best Seats in Town. I always loved the name -cheeky in its way yet simultaneously upper crust. I worked in the warehouse assembling furniture and making deliveries. One day, while I was alone in the warehouse, a few lines came into my head. I always have a pen and paper handy, and I leaned against the workbench where I was supposed to be making a futon mattress and started writing. I wrote a page but had no idea what I was writing or what was happening. I titled it ‘Acid in my Toothpaste’ because the page I wrote was about a boy who brushed his teeth and then saw his Lego men moving and talking. I was instantly drawn into Johnny’s voice and I had to know what he was trying to tell me. This began a decades-long journey with Johnny and his story.
I always knew Happy Boy would be a novel but it took me about 5 years to finish it. Well, to get it to the point where someone other than myself could read it. After that, the novel sat on my shelf, or rather on a floppy disk (remember those?) for several years. Then in 2006 I was accepted into the creative writing program at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, BC. I took Happy Boy into that program and honed the manuscript with the help and feedback of my peers. I read at the Granville Island Readers and Writers Festival and was even
interviewed and read a short section of Happy Boy on the radio. Then…well… a lot of life happened, and that will be another book. Happy Boy sat on my bookshelf and in my computer for 15 years or so, but Johnny and his story never left my mind.
I had sent Happy Boy to a few publishers and agents over the years but “It did not fit what they were looking for at the time”. Then one day in 2023 just after my morning meditation, the thought of turning Happy Boy into an audiobook came to me. I was beyond excited and eagerly set to work researching what I needed to do to set up at home and record. I knew I wanted to narrate Happy Boy myself, but I needed the equipment and software to do it. I figured that part out (see my blog post for the technical side if you are interested) and had so much fun bringing Happy Boy to life.
I am so grateful for all those who have taken the time to listen to or read Happy Boy. Thank you for supporting me. If you haven’t already, email me your thoughts or leave a review, reviews are so helpful and appreciated. I have a number of other projects on the go in a few different genres. The best way to keep up to date with me is to join my newsletter, read my blog or subscribe to me on YouTube. I am also on Instagram and Facebook.
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I appreciate all of you and I am so grateful for your support.
Thank you,
Orrin Hargrave