A gripping tale of an alternative timeline where the government performed occult rituals in BBC Basements during World War 2 and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop (or rather their equivalent in this timezone) discover the tapes to devastating consequences.
The format is very unique, the story presented as a film script on the left page and illustrated on the right. The design and illustration is outstanding with every page demanding your eyes embrace it yet it never clashes with the film playing in your head, serving as a sort of leader for your imagination.
There’s also plenty of prefaces and appendices as Gubby began by telling this story through multi-media performances including a night in a bunker and an actual festival on an active military base. All this is presented with flyers, event photos and even schematics. Very handy context for those of us who never had a hope in hell of attending.
There’s a lot going on in this story. A central thread being the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and with most central characters being analogous to actual composers who worked at the Workshop, though you don’t need to know anything about the Workshop to enjoy the story [however, if you would like to know more then you should read my book!]. Then you’ve got witch cults, haunted electronics, cursed recordings and soundwaves as a means to revolution with some sex and violence thrown in too (not at the same time).
All that draws a Venn diagram of pertinent themes with ‘The Delaware Road’ right in that perfect sweet spot at the center. It would make one hell of a movie, for sure, but it also works great in this format. I practically inhaled it, only stopping to read due to the demands of work and life.
My copy even came stunningly wrapped in printed paper with art prints and postcards and radiation pills. The strong visual aspects echoing the multi-media origins of the tale. Once you’ve consumed the story, the book’s stunning visual aesthetics means you’ll still not be letting it go and enjoying a flick through the art many a time. I suspect I’ll be lured back in to reading it all again by that art in the none too distant future.
I mostly buy ebooks these days due to space constraints but this was one I had to have a physical copy of on my shelf and if you’re the sort of person who reads this website, I suspect you need one too.