The Secret Ventriloquism
Cover and interior art by Dave Felton.
"Padgett... proves with his stunning debut collection [to be] a worthy successor to the master [Thomas Ligotti]. There's no gristle, no bone, no dilly-dallying here: only pure meat whose terrors seamlessly grow into the metaphysical... this volume is jam-packed with the stuff that nightmares are made of." - Dejan Ognjanovic, RUE MORGUE MAGAZINE
With themes reminiscent of Shirley Jackson, Thomas Ligotti, and Bruno Shulz, but with a strikingly unique vision, Jon Padgett's The Secret of Ventriloquism heralds the arrival of a significant new literary talent. Padgett’s work explores the mystery of human suffering, the agony of personal existence, and the ghastly means by which someone might achieve salvation from both. A bullied child who seeks vengeance within a bed’s hollow box spring; a lucid dreamer haunted by an impossible house; a dummy that reveals its own anatomy in 20 simple steps; a stuttering librarian who holds the key to a mill town's unspeakable secrets; a commuter whose worldview is shattered by two words printed on a cardboard sign; an aspiring ventriloquist who spends a little too much time looking at himself in a mirror. And the presence that speaks through them all.
"The Secret of Ventriloquism is horror with a capital H. Some of Padgett's lines raised the hair on my neck." - Laird Barron, author of Swift to Chase
Contents:
- Introduction by Matt Cardin
- The Mindfulness of Horror Practice
- Murmurs of a Voice Foreknown
- The Indoor Swamp
- Origami Dreams
- 20 Simple Steps to Ventriloquism
- Infusorium
- Organ Void
- The Secret of Ventriloquism
