The genre of fiction that I identify as weird tales has always appealed to me, though it's hard to describe. There are also...flavors of weird tales, they're not always the same, even though they may belong to the same genre. For instance, Thomas Ligotti may be described as an author of weird fiction. While I love his style, I often find his work too nihilistic for me. Laird Barron could be described as an author of weird fiction as well, though his style generally leans toward cosmic horror. Lastly, Robert Aickman is admired as an author of weird fiction, but I often find his stories to be rather...unsatisfying. Jon Padgett, however, satisfied ALL of my wants and needs as a reader of dark and weird fiction. These stories have a clear beginning and end, (though some continue on, in other stories), and are as utterly satisfying as short fiction can be. In fact, I'd call them brilliant. That's right. BRILLIANT!

Starting with the appealing cover, (what horror fan could resist it?), and ending with Little Evie singing, in the story "Escape to the Mountain," (which makes me shudder just thinking about it.) These amazing stories are beyond impressive, each and every one of them.

After "Origami Dreams" I will never look at folded paper in the same way again. I will never see the word "appendage" again and not think of Solomon Kroth and his endless research in the University Library. I will not pass the abandoned paper mills in nearby towns without thinking of those ugly "paper mill days" and the filth they spewed upon the town of Dunnstown. I will never again pass a swamp without thinking of the room in "Indoor Swamp":

"Perhaps there is a room that contains a worn vintage tea party set with frilly dressed dolls, but one of those doll's heads gradually rotates completely around, going from an expression of knowing, smiling perversion to an open-mouthed, silent O of horror and back again."

I cannot possibly give this book a higher recommendation. As you read it, you may feel dizzy at times, or maybe even a little sick.

"You may begin to imagine you hear something that sounds static or even the roar of an airliner. you may feel lightheaded you are going to pass out. Ignore these feelings. They are normal."

They are a trifle. YOU are a trifle.

If you want to fully understand the meanings of these things, you MUST read this book. For me it started with the cover. It was the cover that made me BUY this book, rather than accept the free copy submitted for review to Horror After Dark. That's right, I bought it. You should too. Seriously. Right. Now.

Go here: The Secret of Ventriloquism
(You can add the audio for only $1.99 more!)

Usually this is where I say I was provided a free copy in exchange for honest feedback. However, (see above), I bought this book, and this is my honest opinion.all-time-favorites coolthulhu-crew-2017 dark-fiction ...more120 s1 comment Janie1,122

Do you want to see something strange? Are you certain? Ok. First, take a look at the cover illustration on this book. Study the details. You will remember them later. Next, pay close attention to the details in each consecutive story. Be sure to read them in order. You will begin to notice recurring images. They're so uncanny ... are they real? The sights on the Indoor Swamp tour are certainly disorienting. Is this deja vu? Have you been here before? That city outside is vaguely familiar. How many fingers do you have? Humor me. Count them again. Did you know that houses can dream? Have you practiced the 20 simple steps of ventriloquism, animal-dummy? The rules may break you, but then again, they might put you together. Have you been brave enough to enter Treasure Forest? Have you seen the skeletons? Their bone structures are mutated. Sometimes I can hear them growing. Have you been skeletonized? Do you know? Here's the train. Can you hear the sweet song of Little Evie? It is cold underneath the overpass. We long for Thin Mountain and we surrender to wonderful things. To Mr. Vox. What are you?102 s3 comments Karl3,258 317

I cannot think better way to start this 2017 New Year than with a good book. And with Jon Padget’s “The Secret of Ventriloquism”, which is published by Dunhams Manor Press , I have found a real winner.

The book is a collection of Mr. Padget’s short stories and a play, now packaged all together in a single volume that should be sought out. Not only does the book offer a fantastic dust jacket, there are also some nice interior illustrations by Dave Felton. And for those that do not know the name Jon Padgett, he is the founder and administrator of Thomas Ligotti Online website. The influence on Mr. Padgett of Mr. Ligotti is clear in these stories of paranoia and dread.

The book consists of the following:

013 – Introduction by Matt Cardin
019 – “The Mindfulness of Horror Practice”
023 – “Murmurs Of A Voice Foreknown”
033 – “The Indoor Swamp”
037 – “Origami Dreams”
061 – “20 Simple Steps to Ventriloquism”
103 – “The Infusorium”
143 – “Organ Void”
153 – “The Secret of Ventriloquism”
193 – “Escape To The Mountain”
203 – Notes
205 – Acknowledgements
207 – About the Author

I say again, what a great way to start the year, I believe that the hardcovers are now sold out, however the paperback version is still available from the publisher, and well worth seeking out.
2016-12-books-bought dunhams_dynatox-own68 s Sirensongs44 94

Over the past few years I have been tantalized by, and read, several overhyped debut collections. In the somewhat incestuous-seeming, segregated, and cliquish horror and weird fiction communities, writers, publishers and reviewers were bending over backwards to heap praise and accolades upon newer writers, who, quite frankly, still had a long way to go to hone their craft. Don't get me wrong: I'm not saying that I didn't get anything out of reading these fledgeling collections, or that there was no merit to be found within the pages of these books. What I am saying is that I learned to take overly glowing and blurbs with a grain of salt. There may just be a gem or two within these collections of tales I was going to eventually get around to reading, but I knew that I had to hone my expectations.

I began reading Jon Padgett's THE SECRET OF VENTRILOQUISM with these resevervations in mind. All the I had read of this collection were full of the praise and accolades I was somewhat wary of. Granted, I had read a few of these stories in their first appearances in anthologies and as chapbooks, and I knew that they were, in fact, quite good. However, I was not prepared to have my mind blown so completely and thoroughly. Here, again, finally, is a book that lives up to all the hype; if anything, perhaps it has not been hyped quite enough! This collection is a dark marvel of unsettling, sharp prose that cuts its way deep into the marrow of the psyche. I haven't read a book that affected me this way since I first discovered Ligotti, imbued with that bleak grayness that underlies reality, no matter how shiny and pretty its surface might seem.

As I have stated, I have read several of these pieces before, and thought they were quite good. But read together as a continuum, they are beyond good; they are stupendous and mindblowing. Because of my poor memory, when reading the pieces several months, if not years, apart, I did not notice the common threads and themes that ran throughout them. Having devoured this collection over the past couple of days, I can only marvel at the sheet brilliance of how all these disparate themes and common imagery come together, a true example of synergy; the sum truly is greater than all of its parts, and the greatness of this sum is truly staggering. My mind will be teeming with sinister, disembodied voices, static, smog and sheer nothingness for some time to come. There is more than just pessimism here though; there are several moments of absurd humour which had me laughing out loud at their bizarre hilarity; there are segments of poetic prose that are heart wrenchingly beautiful; there are profound philosophical/spiritual insights that had me questioning my own views of reality; and there are truly terrifying moments and images that I'm sure will permeate my nightmares far into the forseeable future.

I wish I had the type of mind that could analyze the stories and write a piece by piece criticism that was worthy of this book. Sadly, I experience any form of art subjectively, and find it very difficult to provide objective viewpoints in writing. This perhaps overly emotional gushing will just have to suffice then. Matt Cardin expounds quite effectively in his introduction about how Jon Padgett has developed his own distinct authorial voice, and I must concur wholeheartedly. It's a voice that I hope to hear much more from in the future, even if it's through my own trembling "mouth that is not a mouth", and "is indeed nothing the voice [I] once recognized as [my] own", projected and willed by the Ultimate Ventriloquist.dunhams-manor50 s ??? 2.?159 302

Why the long face? Life got you down? What’s eating you? Aw, you say it’s Horror Week and you have nothing to read? Well, fret not, my friend, for there’s a simple solution. What if I could show you how all of life’s troubles are but trifles. Now, doesn’t that sound appealing?



And no, it’s not Chicken Soup for the Soul, merely 20 Simple Steps to Ventriloquism. Sounds crazy, right? Well, stick with it and I can promise you, in no time at all, you’ll feel right as rain!

The first eight steps lay the groundwork for working with a dummy. Here, the entire process is detailed in this book - The Secret of Ventriloquism, take my copy. Practice makes perfect, so follow the directions to the letter, and come back when you’re ready to carry on . . .

Back so soon? Good, good. Now our real work can begin.

Okay, by now you should be well adept at manipulating your dummy, so now it’s time to elevate yourself above the sheep—above all the people in your daily life and the distractions they bring. They’re all dummies. Unburden your mind—take all of those worries, doubts, and fears that have been holding you back and cast them asunder. Static. It’s all static. Wipe the slate clean—gather up everything that’s good in your life and grind it to dust. This will help me put you together. Now, try to imagine a world of infinite possibilities—all of your dreams or nightmares fleshed out into reality. Thanks to your tremendous powers of Greater Ventriloquism, anything is possible. Just keep an open mind and don’t get discouraged because suffering and exhaustion are both key to your future mastery of Greater Ventriloquism. Soon, all will be revealed.

Quickly now, we’ve reached the final step, without a moment to lose. {The drone of an airplane engine approaches} Raise your arms up to the sky, close your eyes, and focus on your breathing. Concentrate on the droning engine noise, reach out with your mind, let it begin . . .

I don’t often dabble in weird fiction, and here’s why - Although this was a superbly written piece of dark fiction that evoked hauntingly vivid, disturbing imagery, much of the narrative was shrouded in a haze, which left me feeling confused and out of my depth. Also, there was little to no resolution of the overarching storyline. There was clearly a connection between all the stories, with overlapping characters and locations, so I falsely assumed that all those divergent threads were slowly being woven together towards some epic, mind-fuck of a conclusion. But alas, that wasn’t to be the case. And while I’m typically A-okay with ambiguous endings, here I was hoping to resolve some of my earlier confusion. Therefore, I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed with how things were left.

Nevertheless, this was a remarkable short story collection—worthy of adulation. Individually, I’d rate most of the stories somewhere between 3 to 4 stars, but the crème de la crème was the story of the Infusorium, which easily rates 5 stars, in my book.horror short-story-collection47 s Char1,746 1,616

Head's up, dummies! THE SECRET OF VENTRILOQUISM is back in an expanded edition, with 3 additional tales of weirdness and dread.

In the grayness of Dunnstown, where paper ash still floats in the air even though the papermill has long since been abandoned, the past is layered over the present. The Indoor Swamp is still there, the homeless are still there, dreaming of an escape to a mountain and welcomed by a dwarf. The lessons on how to become Greater are still there as well as the dummies. All the dummies. Both human and wooden. What am I talking about? You'll have to read this brilliant collection to find out!

This time around I reveled in the awesomeness and fear of FLIGHT 389, a story new to this collection and another instance of the horrors that crash into, and that are part of, the very being of Dunnstown.

Also new, A LITTLE DELTA OF FILTH has to be one of the best stories yet from Mr. Padgett. A convention for work brings back to Dunnstown a former inhabitant. Drawn to visit her old house and the drainage ditch behind it, the woman discovers she s it in the dark, she s parts of her body being numb. Who cares if her arms are a little discolored? And small?

And lastly, the ghostly yellow house, (is it even real?), in 3 different locations? THE SECRET SOCIETY OF DUMMIES knows. Don't you want to know?

Perhaps some of the reason that this collections speaks to me so loudly is the fact that I grew up near these towns. Abandoned paper mills, especially near rivers, abound up here in the northeast. The towns that hosted them have lost a great deal of their population along with the mills. Left behind are often pollution and scars upon the earth. A certain type of grayness hangs over some of these places, whether it be from environmental concerns or just some type of leftover dark, (psychiatric?), miasma.

As the dummy's head turns all the way around, while the little dolls in the Indoor Swamp are engaged in their little tea party, Jon Padgett is busy creating dark, weird fiction. Fiction that creates that slow creeping dread that we horror lovers adore: fiction about a small, gray, dying, (dead?), town. Personally, I don't think Dunnstown will ever die. Certainly not while all these stories are still crawling about wildly in my brain!

THE SECRET OF VENTRILOQUISM (EXPANDED EDITION), once again was almost too much for my small brain to take. Then again, I am only a dummy, after all. This is a brilliant work of fiction that you should not miss!

My highest recommendation!

Click here to read my review of the original edition: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

*Thank you to Jon Padgett for the paperback of this new edition in exchange for my honest feedback. This is it!*all-time-favorites corruption dark-fiction ...more46 s6 comments Richard1,017 432

It is best not to think about what must come next. It might be too dismissive to call The Secret of Ventriloquism merely a short story collection. It's much more than that. It's more than just the sum of it's parts and as you experience each story more layers are built onto the themes, location and characters, and you'll realize that the stories form one cohesive whole. It's similar to what Laird Barron also did last year with Swift To Chase .

The book opens fittingly with a guided meditation on horror called "The Mindfulness of Horror Practice". It's a perfect primer that sets the disturbing tone and seems designed to put you in the right mindset to tackle the rest of the book. And from there you will journey into a strange dimension that is all Jon Padgett's creation. A place where reality is fickle and a "trifle," and the line between dreams and what's real is constantly blurred. In my more lucid moments I know that this life, such as it is, will not last much longer. The man I once was would consider that a mercy, but I no longer even believe in the release of death. It is only a transition into yet another borrowed reality. I'm not sure who Jon Padgett is or where he came from but he definitely left an impression with this one and I'll be on the lookout from now on for more of his work. There is a level of creativity and bravery here that I personally rarely see in story collections. Every story has an undeniably unique voice and perspective, and each one is impressive in the way that the tension and unease builds and carries over to the next.

There are things in this book that I'm almost positive that I recognize from my own nightmares. In that way, Padgett's work really is pretty unsettling and I would go so far to say that it's a masterpiece of horror and weird fiction and will probably end up on my favorites list at the end of the year. Any fans of dark work should decide if they are ready to gain the knowledge of Greater Ventriloquism. And if that is case, tune out the Static, buy this book, read it slow and let it soak, and while doing so, don't forget to count the fingers on your right hand.

Oh and don't worry: "Being sick to your stomach now is perfectly normal." essential-horror horror short-stuff36 s Kimberly1,788 2

4.5 stars!

THE SECRET OF VENTRILOQUISM, by Jon Padgett, is a collection of stories ingeniously interconnected to each other. This is one book that you really need to read the stories in the order presented to get the full effect of just how powerful this book, as a whole, is.
Even the cover (I own the paperback version) has bearing on the stories contained within.

Padgett gives a great deal of credit to Thomas Ligotti for the inspiration of this collection. Right from the beginning in the selection titled "The Mindfulness of Horror Practice", the stage is being set for the reader to "alter their awareness". The following stories all build upon this; some using overtly recognizable pieces from previous stories, others more ambiguous ones--such as the fog, or a dream sensation while looking in a mirror.

Although I enjoyed all of these stories, my personal favorites were, "The Infusorium", "The Indoor Swamp", "Murmurs of a Voice Foreknown", and "Origami Dreams". Now ventriloquist dummies are creepy to begin with, but after reading these stories, you may find yourself looking at them with a newfound horror altogether. . .

"It is best not to think about what comes next."

A great new voice in horror, that I will be anticipating more from in the future.

Highly recommended!atmospheric mount-tbr psychological-horror ...more33 s Dona748 107

I really need to read this a second time lol, I didn't quite realize it was a collection of short fiction until the very end, so I processed it as a kind of novel... which was strange but not unenjoyable!

So I need to go and try it again as it was meant to be read. Be back shortly!

Rating, for now: ????????
Recommend? Yep, even I read it
Finished: January 14 2023


* Edit January 23 2023 *

I went back and read this book a second time as it was designed to be read, as a collection of short fiction. I can't say it was any less strange for that effort, but weird fiction is supposed to be strange. It's right in the name. So though I'm still mystified and vaguely uncomfortable after reading this book again, I'm also wildly entertained.

One of the best things about THE SECRET OF VENTRILOQUISM is that the stories vary in topic. Each was arguably as bizarre as a talking dummy, but the topics ranged from the temporal to the psychological to the scatalogical. Something for everyone maybe? Maybe not.

My favorite of these stories is "Organ Void." It's disgusting, horrifying, and yet I relate to it on a very deep level and it makes me feel seen, maybe? Maybe not. Make no mistake, this is smart fiction.

And very weird.

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