A bit of of a back-slap, this, but I think it’ll be interest to anyone who happens across this blog looking for our late sponsor.

I’ve just edited a book, available now from Amberley Publishing, in which the estimable and gentlemanly Alan Gallop tells the full story of the big man’s notorious Halloween ‘38 broadcast of H. G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds. It’s great fun – I’ve rattled through it a few times, obviously – and paints a believable picture of New Deal New York, and all those bold theatrical folk (incl. John Houseman and Marc Blitzstein) making experimental (& often Government-subsidised) drama for a mass audience.

So far this blog has been about cinema (and a little bit of anime), but there’s no reason we should restrict ourselves so completely. We’ve talked about doing some pieces on American telly. I’ll be running an interview with Tom Baker later in the year. And you can expect some posts on video art and (believe it or not) Cracker in the near future. Our ever-reluctant patron, of course, was revered as a theatrical impresario before he became a film director, and I couldn’t possibly finish this sentence without mentioning his stage magic. But it’s his radio work – especially The Mercury Theatre on the Air – that gives me all the excuse I need to bring The True History of Faction Paradox to your attention.

The True History – of which ‘The Judgment of Sutekh’ is the final, sixth, installment, is not cinematic. But I could call it cinematic, for want of a better word (sonic won’t do). It’s an epic science fantasy drama set in the political domains of the embattled and morally eccentric Ancient Egyptian pantheon, spread across six discs, which together form the complete novel (again, this is for want of better – correct me if you think radio doesn’t lack a lexicon).

What I say next will prove offputting, but I haven’t much choice. Stick with me.

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