An Aussie rock icon dies. The myriad ripples this creates and the innovative way those ramifications are captured in the debut novel A Minor Fifth is already making waves on the literary scene.
Brisbane author Gareth Dickson’s first fictional foray as G.S. Dickson takes us on the journey of getting to know rock star Billy Ordain and the mystery of how and why he died – and the legacy he leaves behind.
Dickson changes points of view throughout the novel, taking the risky approach of telling the story from the perspectives of five people who knew Billy Ordain.
“The five perspectives are an important aspect,” Dickson says. “It’s this idea of the choral narrative, the layered voices. It’s a Rashomon (the 1950 film directed by Akira Kurosawa) idea of different perspectives on one thing, which is, of course, a classic technique.”
The novel charts Billy’s ascent to fame, from music lessons as a suburban teenager in the ’60s to his apotheosis as the most lauded, biggest-selling music artist in the country.
These five people, who knew Billy better than anyone else, recount loving him and helping him, but also Billy’s capricious tendency for betrayal.
The fact this fictional Aussie rock icon could be any one of a few actual ageing rock stars in the Aussie music universe at the moment isn’t lost on Dickson, who says it took him more than five years to pull all the strands together for this book.
“The way that we remember figures like that or think of figures like that in culture – they become pervasive,” he says. “It’s the dead rock star as martyr. You only have to go to Central Park and look at the memorial across the street from where John Lennon was shot to see that almost literalised.”
This distinctly Australian debut novel, shortlisted for The Australian/Vogel Literary Award, lays bare a (sometimes) bitter industry. The novel is funny and risky, fearlessly ripping apart the noise and hype of celebrity culture. Ultimately, A Minor Fifth asks – what is really real?
“What I was really interested in trying formally was how to make that work against this forking-path narrative device,” Dickson says. “So, the main character (Billy) dies in each of these five parts, but each (death) is quite different.”
While describing himself as “a singularly untalented musician”, Dickson says his book is a love letter to Australian rock music and one that solidified in his mind over a number of years as he lived and travelled between countries.
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“I do love rock music and am deeply interested in it,” he says. “I have been on the very fringes of the music industry enough to have met people and heard their stories. I sat in with a variety of musicians and different genres. They all have funny stories that are easily transferable.
Dickson’s shortlisting for the Vogel Literary Award was with an earlier draft of the novel, since when “there was another couple of years of revision when I was living in the UK.
“When I moved back here, I found (the novel) a home with John (Hunter Publishers) – so quite a while from go to whoa.
“Rewriting, updating and re-contextualising was necessary along the way.”
A Minor Fifth by G.S. Dickson, Hunter Publishers, $35. A book launch will be held at House Conspiracy, 42 Mollison St, West End, on May 8 from 6pm.
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