# Stonedogs

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***Stonedogs*** is the first novel by [New Zealand](/source/New_Zealand) writer [Craig Marriner](/source/Craig_Marriner). It was published in 2001 and has won a [Montana New Zealand Book Award](/source/Montana_New_Zealand_Book_Awards). The book has been described as "a kind of *[A Clockwork Orange](/source/A_Clockwork_Orange_(novel))*-meets-*[Once Were Warriors](/source/Once_Were_Warriors)* as imagined by [Irvine Welsh](/source/Irvine_Welsh)".[1] In 2003, the film rights were sold to [Australian](/source/Australia) production company [Mushroom Pictures](/source/Mushroom_Pictures), but no film has eventuated.

*Stonedogs* is structurally unusual; some text takes the form of a play with stage directions, and there are sudden shifts from narrator's voice to outside observer. Pages of inner narrative are italicised. For Marriner, "It was important to do something that would be seen as innovative in terms of structure and format, to come up with mediums which are slightly alternative to what's been done. I saw devices which hadn't been used and I couldn't see why they hadn't."[1] *Stonedogs* received critical acclaim, winning the [Deutz Medal](/source/Deutz_Medal) for Fiction in 2002[2] in the Montana New Zealand Book Awards.[3]

## Themes and plot

The novel deals with issues such as [alienation](/source/Social_alienation), social decay, drug use and New Zealand [gang culture](/source/Gang_culture), as well as political and environmental issues. Speaking of the novel, Marriner told an interviewer, "I've been pretty disillusioned with mainstream society for a while, I just don't see a future in it. And I've been moving in working-class circles and watching the quiet desperation everyone lives their lives through. So the novel comes from there, and questions where we're going environmentally and politically."[1] There are strong [left-wing](/source/Left-wing) political themes expressed; Marriner has cited leftists such as [Noam Chomsky](/source/Noam_Chomsky),[3] [Robert Fisk](/source/Robert_Fisk) and [Leon Trotsky](/source/Leon_Trotsky) as influences.[4]

The story revolves around the protagonist, Gator, an unemployed young adult with [anti-capitalist](/source/Anti-capitalist) and neo-[Nietzschean](/source/Nietzschean) philosophies, and his friends in [Rotorua](/source/Rotorua). All are involved in [recreational drug use](/source/Recreational_drug_use). After they try to purchase [LSD](/source/Lysergic_acid_diethylamide) from members of the fictional gang "The Rabble", Gator causes an incident and makes an enemy in the leader of the gang chapter. After a tip-off from his friend Steve, whose cousin is a gang prospect, Gator and the others plan to steal the harvest of the gang's [marijuana](/source/Marijuana) crop. They drive their [Holden](/source/Holden) to [Northland](/source/Northland_Region) and after unplanned events take place attempt to sell their haul to a gang of [Auckland](/source/Auckland) [skinheads](/source/Skinhead), later running into trouble with a corrupt police officer.

## References

1. ["Hard lines of reality"](http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/6/story.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=219141). *The New Zealand Herald*. 2001-09-29.

1. ["New Zealand Books"](http://www.nzs.com/new-zealand-articles/arts/books.html). *NZS.com*

1. ["Craig Marriner"](http://www.critic.co.nz/archive?page=6&archive_id=4349&type_code=b). *Critic*. 2006-03-28.

1. ["Marriner returns"](http://www.dailypost.co.nz/localnews/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3683033&thesection=localnews&thesubsection=). *Rotorua Daily Post*. 2006-05-05.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Stonedogs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonedogs) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonedogs?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.