Marriner was born in Rotorua and had what he describes as a "strictly working-class background"; his father was a forestry worker until he was made redundant.
Marriner left high school before completing his final year, describing himself as being "on the edge of the rails by then".
He moved to the remote town of Mount Magnet, Western Australia with the intention of getting a mining job, and worked doing geological sampling.
[7] In 2001 Marriner described himself as wanting to be seen as "a Kiwi art house youth culture-type writer".
[1] He cited his influences as George Orwell, Kurt Vonnegut and Hunter S Thompson, as well as journalist Robert Fisk and Marxist theorist Leon Trotsky.