When I first started thinking about launching Aural Traditions all I really knew was that I didn’t want to get tied up in another long-running serial, with all the coordination of recurring characters, actor and writer schedules, story continuity, and everything else that goes with it. I wanted to do an anthology so my writers and I could do what we love – writing stories – and still produce them for the world to hear.
I still liked the idea of having something to tie it all together. Some anthology series have a common theme. This one doesn’t. We plan on doing comedies, dramas, kid’s stories, sci-fi, fantasy – really, whatever story is in us and wants to come out. Some anthologies are based off of a particular theatre troupe, performing live and then releasing their works as a podcast. We don’t have the resources for live shows just yet.
Yes, I said yet. A man can dream, can’t he?
It came to me that we could frame the stories in some conceit. Maybe humanity has spread throughout the galaxy and there are some who are responsible for retaining stories from their home world so that the cradle of humanity is never forgotten. As a huge fan of Anne McCaffrey’s Pern series, that was very attractive.
Maybe a gathering of storytellers throughout the world coming together to share their own cultures and experience. Think of a United Nations of playwrights rather than politicians. A camp fire rather than a sterile building of concrete and glass.
I don’t remember exactly how it popped into my head, but I suddenly recalled Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury. It had been over 30 years since I read it, but there was this scary future world in which a small group of people took it upon themselves to retain the great stories of the past. With that in mind, I quickly dug up a copy of the original and burned through it. (see what I did there?)
If you haven’t read it in a while, I encourage you to do so (Paperback. Kindle). Within Montag’s story I see so many things that are relevant to today: a near-addiction to television, political correctness taken to an extreme, a disdain for thought and reason, and a disconnect from the relevant problems of the world.
It was with that in mind that I developed our introductory story for Aural Traditions: The Mirror Factory.
Now, I don’t know if our listeners will care about the tie-in. Bottom line is that we just have to produce good stories, no matter what conceit we use to wrap it in. Some may scoff and say, “Sorry, these stories aren’t the masterpieces that the characters in Fahrenheit 451 were saving.”
Maybe not. We don’t have Shakespeare, Austen, Thoreau, or Angelou in our writer’s circle. What we do have are writers with a wealth of life experiences who can bring their own views on the human condition and share them in new and exciting ways.
As we enter into the recording stage of our first few stories, I hope you’ll stay tuned. Subscribe to our Facebook page if you’re on that platform. Or get on our mailing list using the form on the right. We won’t inundate you with emails nor give your information away. If you’re on another platform, let us know. We can’t hit every social media platform out there, so it helps to know where you are and how you want to keep hearing about what we’re working on. Our goal isn’t to be the sound of one hand clapping.
So it’s time for me to stop writing and, well, start writing. So many stories to tell and so little time!
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