BOOKS OF WAR 6.1: Socialism, Revolution, Mafia

We take a look at the emergence of the fasci in 1890s Sicily, and look at the mafia's complex and contradictory response to the spread of labour militancy on the island.

A NOTE TO YOU FROM I:

I am aware that the release schedule has been...non-existent...over the last few weeks, and has been patchy at best since January. I also know this has been a recurring problem with the show for a while. If I'm being entirely honest, I think The Belgian X-Files really kicked the shit out of me, more than I realised, and it's taken me much longer than I anticipated to get back in the groove. I'm happy the last Ghost Stories episode went down so well, but you'll have noticed that was also another behemoth (it was like 2 hours long, right?).

I had a vexed debate with myself, and I've realised I can't keep letting episodes expand the way I have been doing. I don't want to be the guy who just pops up once in a blue moon with a Titanic-sized episode. So the last few weeks have been a process of rethinking how I work and experimenting with new research/writing techniques. The aim is to boost release frequency/quantity without sacrificing quality, and the trade-off is that I'm going to drastically reduce the average episode length. I think the idea of having to write 2 or 3 hours of material in one go every two weeks, then record and edit all that audio, was becoming a big mental roadblock and led to...I don't know, Podcaster's Inertia, or something?

I'm immensely proud of The Belgian X-Files, but in releasing that series in gargantuan 3 or 4 hour instalments over the course of a year, instead of just cutting the episodes into smaller weekly chunks to buy ourselves some breathing room, I'm only really appreciating now how it definitely led to something like burnout. You'd upload a 3 hour banger, feel great for a few hours, then with horror realise you had to start from scratch all over again to hit the next release date (which we also missed more than once anyway). I don't want to get a rep as the unreliable content guy (although I know it may be too late for that). So for the foreseeable, I'm aiming to keep episodes across both shows to a strict 45 - 60 minute run time, but preferably a nice tight 45 minutes or so. Old school, 2019-era Ghost Stories, basically. This means the writing part of the job will be less intimidating, it'll be easier to keep track of where we're at in particular stories/ongoing series, and editing won't take as long as it has been.

The next Books of War will be released by week's end, and then we'll be returning to regular Ghost Stories fortnightly releases. BoW will become a monthly release. We still have our MOVIE TIME list to work through, and if you have any suggestions for guests you'd like me to try and bag for an appearance, let me know in the replies.

I think I have a handle on it now and the old spark is back.

Thanks so much for your patience and trust.