This was my second read in 2025 about ventriloquism and insanity (the first being Magic by William Goldman). R.L. Stine's Night of the Living Dummy did something to my psyche, so I am drawn to stories about malevolent ventriloquist dummies. I found this while browsing a book shop in Maine. The cover is arresting: A black-and-white illustration of a ventriloquist dummy with insectile legs where a torso should be.
This collection of short stories started off as creepy but "fine" until suddenly, in a story with a self-aware pedestrian style, something unlocked in me and this felt like a sinister puzzle box, every story demanding a re-read after finishing a new one, so that it is a book that could be infinitely read; immersed in, studied, driven mad by. Most of them linger in the realm of the uncanny, and they reward a slow, careful read.
This experience is an argument for buying weird self-published books you've never heard of! It was the perfect thing to read while I was in high altitude for a horror film festival in October, feeling increasingly paranoid and jumpy. I bought a copy for the library, so hopefully I can find myself another convert to the cult-like appeal of Jon Padgett's Secret.
-Michael G.
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