SCRAPER
A Novel About Punk
by James Gilberd

I've been working on this for some time. Rather than let it fester in the bottom drawer as a personal exercise in how to write a novel (or how not to), here it is, on the internet. The link is down below.

What is Scraper about?

It's the story of a young punk rocker, Steve Bryant, who's hell bent on getting a band going. He has continual run-ins with skinheads, hippies, girlfriends, streetkids, tunnels, hyperactive drummers, the police, rugby thugs, proto-Goths, and most of all his father, Tom.

As the country becomes increasingly divided over the Springbok Tour and Scraper transforms into a political band, things go from bad to worse.

If you must classify things, it's a coming-of-age story aimed at young adults. Or middle-aged people who maybe once played in a band or just love music, are a bit left-wing, and sometimes get nostalgic for more passionate times, like me.

The usual disclaimer

Scraper is a work of fiction. It's set somewhere in New Zealand in 1981, but the characters are not in any way based on or drawn from real people and the events and locations are made up. While there is reference to the infamous Springbok Tour of that year, there is no attempt at historical accuracy. And it is definitely not autobiographical.

A note on language

This is a story told in first person by an angry young man, and so for realism contains a fair amount of swearing. The word fuck appears around 160 times in its variations, which is an average of almost once per page. (I first counted 163 fucks, culled three then gave up.) There is also some mild drug use (mostly centred around the hippy character) and a little bit of sex. If you think this will offend your sensibilities, don't read the novel.

Feedback

You can leave comments on the Scribd site, where I will most likely delete them if they are unfavourable.

But seriously, say what you want, and don't forget to rate it with the star thing.

I hope you enjoy the book. If you do, please tell your friends. If not, tell your enemies. If you are a publisher or publishing agent and are interested in this work, please get in touch!

Download

* * * Download or read SCRAPER on Scribd website * * *

If you have any difficulty downloading Scraper, or wish to report a fault, please email me.

Links to related sites:

www.scribd.com
Internet publishing website

www.obooko.com
There's a book in everyone (Search for Scraper here too)

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