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