“RAVER” is set in London in 1989, the summer we remember as the second summer of love and loosely based on real-life events, Amazon would call it “fact-based-fiction”.Words by Stephen Jaydell
Through the lens of an interrogation, (of sorts), we follow the life of Devon Walters, a veteran of the 1981 Brixton riots as he descends into the murky world pirate radio, rave promotions, cocaine and ecstasy. We follow him from dub-reggae sound systems of South London through to him somehow getting involved with Millwall hooligans and eventually into pirate radio and illegal rave promotions.
Fate and inevitability eventually catch up with him and he inadvertently gets involved with some gangsterish types, and is forced to promote what turns out to be the biggest outdoor illegal rave ever staged in the UK. On the way, his life spirals out of control as he struggles to deal with fatherhood, heroin, loss and mental health.
Most of the characters will be familiar to us all, they’ll be our mates, or mates of mates or even a small part of us, but it’s not really a story of drug dealing, football hooligans, city slicker wide-boys, steroid pumped psychopathic gangsters – although it of course deals with all these things. It’s a story about life, and what it was like to grow up in the 80s and 90s, which, (if I’m honest), was awesome, but also overwhelming (if we’re really-really honest with ourselves).
“RAVER” is part of a trilogy of books I’ve written over the past nine years, and is book number 2. The first book is called “Riot”, and set in 1981 dealing with the Brixton Riots, (of course, Devon has a hand in that!). The third book is called “Yuppie” and set in New York City in 1992 ish, and follows on from the end of “RAVER”.
“Riot” will be released early 2021.
I started to write for a couple of reasons. The first main reason is my mates and work colleagues would sit and listen to me drone on about my teenage years for ages, and eventually, to shut me up, they’d say “you should write a book”… which I did, 3 of them!
The second reason is close to my heart but I’ll share it anyway. Although nowadays I’ve a steady job now, house, car, wife and kids and all that, when I was at school I was an absolute nightmare, hated all types of authority and of course left with a couple of GCSEs and went to work on a building site. Reading, for me, was nothing but a chore and as a result I was pretty naive and uneducated. I’ve realised since, self educating is the only way to make something of your life – so, “RAVER” is written for normal everyday geezers like me in the hope we can get inspired to read more and perhaps even write something too. Knowledge is power, and education is a gift.
The third and final reason is a bit deep. I don’t know about you, but looking back on the 80s and 90s, it was mad and if I’m honest, I’m probably lucky to be alive. Similar to our main character, Devon, I had a brief spell in the music industry and released a few tracks on Global Dance Records, deejayed on pirate radio and did a few night clubs (mainly house parties though). Personally, I have struggled with mental health and I know a fair few other veterans of that era have too … so, the not so hidden message in “RAVER” is about mental health.
Through the lens of an interrogation, (of sorts), we follow the life of Devon Walters, a veteran of the 1981 Brixton riots as he descends into the murky world pirate radio, rave promotions, cocaine and ecstasy. We follow him from dub-reggae sound systems of South London through to him somehow getting involved with Millwall hooligans and eventually into pirate radio and illegal rave promotions.
Fate and inevitability eventually catch up with him and he inadvertently gets involved with some gangsterish types, and is forced to promote what turns out to be the biggest outdoor illegal rave ever staged in the UK. On the way, his life spirals out of control as he struggles to deal with fatherhood, heroin, loss and mental health.
Most of the characters will be familiar to us all, they’ll be our mates, or mates of mates or even a small part of us, but it’s not really a story of drug dealing, football hooligans, city slicker wide-boys, steroid pumped psychopathic gangsters – although it of course deals with all these things. It’s a story about life, and what it was like to grow up in the 80s and 90s, which, (if I’m honest), was awesome, but also overwhelming (if we’re really-really honest with ourselves).
“RAVER” is part of a trilogy of books I’ve written over the past nine years, and is book number 2. The first book is called “Riot”, and set in 1981 dealing with the Brixton Riots, (of course, Devon has a hand in that!). The third book is called “Yuppie” and set in New York City in 1992 ish, and follows on from the end of “RAVER”.
“Riot” will be released early 2021.
I started to write for a couple of reasons. The first main reason is my mates and work colleagues would sit and listen to me drone on about my teenage years for ages, and eventually, to shut me up, they’d say “you should write a book”… which I did, 3 of them!
The second reason is close to my heart but I’ll share it anyway. Although nowadays I’ve a steady job now, house, car, wife and kids and all that, when I was at school I was an absolute nightmare, hated all types of authority and of course left with a couple of GCSEs and went to work on a building site. Reading, for me, was nothing but a chore and as a result I was pretty naive and uneducated. I’ve realised since, self educating is the only way to make something of your life – so, “RAVER” is written for normal everyday geezers like me in the hope we can get inspired to read more and perhaps even write something too. Knowledge is power, and education is a gift.
The third and final reason is a bit deep. I don’t know about you, but looking back on the 80s and 90s, it was mad and if I’m honest, I’m probably lucky to be alive. Similar to our main character, Devon, I had a brief spell in the music industry and released a few tracks on Global Dance Records, deejayed on pirate radio and did a few night clubs (mainly house parties though). Personally, I have struggled with mental health and I know a fair few other veterans of that era have too … so, the not so hidden message in “RAVER” is about mental health.
couple of classic tunes mentioned on the book
“RAVER” is independently published on Amazon in both Paperback and also Kindle. The publishing process is pretty simple to do on Amazon and I love that fact they are, in effect, destroying the traditional, snobbish, middle-class, cliquey publishing industry. Some academic types call it the “democratisation of knowledge”, which I like.
When I first finished “RAVER”, I sent it out to maybe 170 agents, I researched them all, saw who they represented and all that, but I found it really hard to get anyone engaged in the story… with feedback like, a) theres no market for anything to do with the rave scene (er-hello!) and b) we’re only interested in celebrity stories or established authors. It seemed that nobody would take a risk – which, in hindsight, actually turned out okay. I’ve been self-promoting on facebook and twitter and the support I’ve received from absolute strangers is phenomenal and awesome and kind of rekindled my love for social media. Everyone has been super kind, encouraging and really decent… reminds me, in the best of ways, of how I used to feel way back when, 3am in the morning with rushes up my spine. All I can say is “nice one”.
BUY on AMAZON:
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