This month’s focus on Fiction

Fiction: a literary work, an invented statement, or a story that contains imaginary or false events. Some fiction is based on a myth – urban, traditional, or otherwise. There’s heaps of it here…

1. Grace Gibson produced quite a number of book adaptations which became very popular radio series. (eg The Catherine Gaskins novels – Sara Dane, The Tilsit Inheritance & I Know My Love, along with the Aussie favourite, Cattleman)
2. Quite the reverse of the norm, The Castlereagh Line was written for radio, then transferred into book form.
3. Radio series can’t always stay true to the words of a book – dramatising the words on a page requires a different approach. Acting out the drama is different to reading a story.
4. There are many titles of fiction within our shelves that were written just for radio (eg A Relative Affair, The Way Of The Cat, Give Me No Pity, Violets Are Blue, For Infamous Conduct)
5. There are also many titles on our shelves which are based on ‘fact’ and then dramatised to ‘bring them to life’ – quite successfully too! (Exciting Lives, White Coolies, Tudor Princess/Tudor Queen, Verdict, Lust For Life)
6. Some writers began with a traditional story (or myth) and turned it into a 20^th Century work of fiction, dramatised for Australian radio (eg The Strange Life of Deacon Brodie, The Uninvited)
7. Address Unknown is a ‘classic’ in terms of presenting a factual series, which is actually fiction. The style of this show, and the skill of the narrator, make ‘suspension of belief’ an almost automatic response.
8. Fiction on radio when it has a character to hate, a character to love and a good cast of ‘in betweens’ who mesh the opposite sides together – Jack and Lottie in The Castlereagh Line are perfect examples of this, ably supported by the earthy Mrs Mac, and the old rogue Mat Gore.
9. Sometimes ‘authorities’ use fiction on radio, TV, etc, to espouse messages to the general public – be it something like updates on health, safety, culturally appropriate behaviours, etc. Portia Faces Life was one such vehicle for ‘getting the message across’ and whilst we don’t have the whole series available we do have four series starring Portia – The Haverlock Affair, Partners In Jeopardy, The Silent Witness & The Seed Of Evil. Also, road safety is the central theme in I Killed Grace Random
10. In Parliament, the word ‘fiction’ is usually used in the negative, which is why How Green Was My Cactus is the perfect antidote – it provides some ‘truth’ in amongst all the fiction, whilst also ensuring everyone ends up with a good laugh.