The Secret of Ventriloquism

With themes reminiscent of Shirley Jackson, Thomas Ligotti, and Bruno Schulz, 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.