Five Years

by Tony Stowers

Two short novels straddling the five years between 1989 – 1994, “Disorientation”, the first, is a crude, rude and rapidly paced novel that charts the life and times of “John” from May to August 1989 after his return from working in Israel, to London and then through to his departure again for Thailand four months later. Taken from a typewritten manuscript produced over the summer of that year, “Disorientation” records one young man’s splintered existence, fractured past and uncertain future. While events beyond his control redraw the world’s political, geographical and economical maps, his everyday life remains unchanged and forever daunting, day-to-day survival the only objective, a life skating on the edges of survival, flirting with dangers, strangers, drugs, drink, casual work and casual sex. “A Teesside Voice”, set in 1994 in London at the dawn of mobile communications, is a strident commentary on Thatcherism. Rob Barlow, a Class-A drug-dealing northern immigrant to the capital, is inextricably tangled up in this highly lucrative but dangerous business. Money is designed to buy things yet it seems Rob, who has thousands lying around his unfurnished luxury apartment in London’s Chalk Farm, only uses it to make more. Despite living in a decadent, material world where everything has an over-inflated price, Rob exists on less than the essential: drugs, cigarettes, rent, booze, taxis and luck. He has no friends - only customers, and they pay him to take the risks they daren’t. Emotional contact is reduced to brief sexual exchanges, human contact to voices on telephones and, when one voice in particular starts to threaten him, his anaesthetized world unravels just enough to offer a splinter of redemption, but at what price?

338 pages, Paperback

First published March 21, 2015

About the author

Tony Stowers was born into a working class family in North East England in 1963. A love of literature, a supportive English teacher, school pantos, theatre and writing sustained him through his early years, despite getting up to all manner of trouble associated with disenfranchised youth in small towns. In 1979, against his better instinct, he signed up for an apprenticeship but was fired in 1981 for daydreaming. From that moment he determined to become a writer and artist. 1981 - 1985 saw him experimenting with various styles of theatre and he became a published poet and performed much of his work to "punk" audiences or in support of the Miners' Strike. As well as attending various drama groups, he wrote theatre plays in the search for an original voice, highlights including "The Waiting Room" which featured a young Mark Gatiss and "Norm & Ahmed" by Alex Buzo. Unable to attend The Drama Centre, London as an acting student in 1984 due to being turned down for a grant because of professing a doubt in the existence of God when interviewed by Durham County Council, he went on writing, performing and publishing, some of his best poems having been recently set to music and recorded by French group Insanzo. In 1985, successful as an applicant to London's Central School of Speech and Drama, he left the North East and lived in London for the next 11 years. As well as graduating as an actor, he pressed on with his own unique vision and, despite an irregular and itinerant lifestyle, wrote some of his best plays in various squats and whilst living on friend's floors. In 1996 he returned to the North East and formed The Northern Line Theatre Company, beginning with TIE issue-based plays, 1997-2000 producing six new plays, employing up to 30 actors and technicians, giving many Equity cards and entertaining around 75,000 children. After a brief sojourn in France in 2002, he again returned to the North East and formed Associated Professional Artists and it was with this company he gained creative successes with "Space Jockey" and "X", employing up to 50 NE-based actors in a variety of workshops and read-throughs, as well as travelling in Europe and the UK to enhance his skills and knowledge. Today he lives in France and continues to create new theatre work which always strives for originality both in terms of writing and direction, as well as performing in challenging spaces. His most recent success is the one-man show "Gauguin's Ghost" which was first performed in Pont-Aven, Brittany in August 2009 in French and English at the same time! Happy to receive the label "maverick", Tony continues to write, act and direct and continues to strive to create original work and to challenge conventional ideas.

Reviews

[Doug Fields · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read Five Years because I lived in London during the late 80s/early 90s as a young man so was interested to see the author's take on that era. Stowers does a great job with the material. He writes 2 highly evocative stories that bring the era to life in vivid prose. The stories are enthralling and conjure up the time period perfectly. Cracking good stories. 5 stars and 2 enthusiastic thumbs up!!