Kingdoms of the Radio:
A Novel
Get a head start on the new story by acclaimed writer Román Leão, author of the mind-bending novels, Inside a Broken Clock, and Burn Your Starry Crown. This time, Leão looks back at the trappings of fame and the end of the idealism and social experimentation of the ’60s.
Follow the story:
Kingdoms of the Radio: Spiral Architect (1953)
Kingdoms of the Radio: Serafina’s Gift
Kingdoms of the Radio: Charlie Perigo 1
Kingdoms of the Radio: Zongo Kumalo 1
Kingdoms of the Radio: Karoline Rosenda 1
Kingdoms of the Radio: Zongo Meets The Stick (Pt. 1)
Kingdoms of the Radio: Zongo Meets The Stick (Pt. 2)
Kingdoms of the Radio: Ride a Painted Pony
Kingdoms of the Radio: Fadeout (Rock Hound Magazine, 1970)
Kingdoms of the Radio: Tibetan Bells & a Bird from Hell
Kingdoms of the Radio: Enrique Bravocado 1
Kingdoms of the Radio: Zongo Khumalo 2
Kingdoms of the Radio: Karoline Rosenda 2
Kingdoms of the Radio: Enrique Bravocado 2
Kingdoms of the Radio: Salt Peanuts, Salt Peanuts (Pt. 1)
Kingdoms of the Radio: Salt Peanuts, Salt Peanuts (Pt. 2)
Kingdoms of the Radio: Whole Lot of Shakin’ Going On (1957)
Kingdoms of the Radio: Charlie Perigo 2
Kingdoms of the Radio: Zongo Khumalo 3
Kingdoms of the Radio: Charlie Perigo 3
Kingdoms of the Radio: Chae Burton 1
Kingdoms of the Radio: Enrique Bravocado 3
Kingdoms of the Radio: Don’t Poke the Bear (Pt. 1)
Kingdoms of the Radio: Don’t Poke the Bear (Pt. 2)
Kingdoms of the Radio: Police Chief Warren Burton 1
Kingdoms of the Radio: Enrique Bravocado 4
Kingdoms of the Radio: Charlie Perigo 4
Kingdoms of the Radio: Zongo Khumalo 4
Kingdoms of the Radio: Chae Burton 2
Kingdoms of the Radio: A Prisoner at the Palace (Pt. 1)
Kingdoms of the Radio: A Prisoner at the Palace (Pt. 2)
Kingdoms of the Radio: Down on the Mission
Kingdoms of the Radio: Death & the Back Catalog
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POINT ARENA, CALIFORNIA | 1971 Floyd Anderson opened the door to the Quonset hut serving as the temporary home of the Point Arena Veteran’s Hall since the historical location on Shoreline had suffered a small fire. If he was pressed, Anderson preferred the corrugated metal building to the mustard-colored stucco affair that looked like a…
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SOHO, LONDON, ENGLAND | 1958 “What time is it, Mr. Wolf?” A lanky, teenaged Lucious Cole sidled up to the edge of the Berwick Street Market in Soho, his pegged jeans and blonde hair carefully tortured into a quiff like his latest American hero, Jerry Lee Lewis. “Time for you to nick a watch, Louie,”…
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CRIPPLEGATE, LONDON, ENGLAND | 1953 The Sun uncharacteristically beat down on the still-broken streets of London’s Cripplegate as a call went up among the children gathered in a bombed-out corner lot slowly on its way to being reclaimed as a proper English garden. “What time is it, Mr. Wolf?” The small gang inquired. The wolf…
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SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA | 1971 It was still dark when Karoline Rosenda unlocked the front door to the offices of Celestial Records. The thick fog smothering the Outer Sunset had long begun to seep into her bones as well as her spirit. Without bothering to turn on the overhead lights, she made a beeline for…
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UNFINISHED DOCUMENTARY, KINGDOMS OF THE RADIO | 1995 I guess Lucious Cole was just on our minds that night. He was all over the radio as he had just been reported missing. The pirate radio station out of Boonville had been playing nothing but National Loaf records all weekend. It was a weird soundtrack to…
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UNFINISHED DOCUMENTARY, KINGDOMS OF THE RADIO | 1995 Once we decided to renovate Girassol, I figured I ought to let Mrs. Chaves know what was going on; that way if we ran into a hassle, we would be coming from a place of righteousness. I had to go into town and call her from the…
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UNFINISHED DOCUMENTARY, KINGDOMS OF THE RADIO | 1995 When Zongo and I first got our thing together out at the ranch, it was paradise, man. It took a lot of elbow grease to clean up the property, but once all the heads starting showing up and pitching in, it went really quickly. And the big…
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UNFINISHED DOCUMENTARY, KINGDOMS OF THE RADIO | 1995 Once we put the word out on the street about what we wanted to build, it was amazing how quickly it caught on. There were a lot of heads that had been at loose ends, which was causing them heat in some of the small towns around…
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UNFINISHED DOCUMENTARY, KINGDOMS OF THE RADIO | 1995 Of course I remember when that so-called rock star disappeared in San Francisco. I still had some friends on the force out that way. You can’t believe the stories they used to tell me; drug addicts from all over the country pouring in to the City and…
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POINT ARENA, CALIFORNIA | 1971 “What about you, man? So, you’re a cook?” “Shit,” Khumalo groused, as he grabbed the passenger assist grip, “I was a cook. There was an… incident this morning. With a goose.” “OK, now you have to tell me,” Perigo laughed as he downshifted and swung into a turnout at an…
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MEMORANDUM FOR: THE RECORDSUBJECT: Project MKULTRA, Subproject 3 REDACTED CD/TSS APPROVED:REDACTEDChief, CD/TSS APPROVED FOR OBLIGATION OF FUNDS:REDACTED Research Director Date: 11 November, 1971 SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA | 1971 Carol Davidson parked the 1963 Volkswagen Beetle she had been saddled with by the agency on Bartlett Street, around the corner from their clandestine office on Mission…
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BOONVILLE, CALIFORNIA | 1995 Joaninha pulled her 1982 Honda Accord up to the high curb in front of the Boonville Mercantile and killed the engine. The weary mid-size sedan, however, had its own ideas and continued to diesel as if it was having an epileptic fit as the young woman gathered up the items that…
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UKIAH, CALIFORNIA | 1995 The Kid zipped up the ripstop nylon track bag he had just stuffed with everything he would need to conduct the interviews to complete his Senior film project. He had just spent the morning checking out one of the college’s brand new Sony DCR-VX1000 video cameras upon penalty of slow and…
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SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA | 1971 With Shane’s meaty presence gone from the scene, the concrete bunker seemed to close in on the pair left alone for the first time since they left the airport. “So…” Rosenda began before being cut off by a recalcitrant Cole. “Look,” the fallen star looked down at his bare feet,…
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SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA | 1971 A heavy drizzle spattered the Lincoln as it rolled through the damp San Francisco night. Karoline Rosenda was silent and still except for periodically twisting around in her seat to check on their charge. A clarion call of Be OK! Be OK! clanged over and over in her brain like…
Román Leão 