Jon Padgett's Blog, page 2

My "20 Simple Steps to Ventriloquism" in Audio Form on Pseudopod

Pseudopod 433: 20 Simple Steps To Ventriloquism April 9th, 2015 11:57 pm

by Jon Padgett.


“20 Simple Steps to Ventriloquism” first appeared in the 2013 Shirley Jackson Award winning anthology, THE GRIMSCRIBE PUPPETS. “When I was a child, my first ventriloquist dummy came with a pamphlet entitled “7 SIMPLE STEPS TO VENTRILOQUISM.” Though the following ventriloquist story went through a tremendous number of transmutations from its inception two decades ago (when it was first conceived), that pamphlet from my past proved to be the key to what “20 Simple Steps to Ventriloquism” would finally become. Practice the first seven steps enough, and you may one day be able to throw your voice with the best of the showbiz ventriloquists out there. Practice the rest of the steps at your own risk.”


JON PADGETT – your author AND reader – is the creator and long time administrator of the Thomas Ligotti Online website, and — as such — has been the first publisher for a number of Ligotti’s prose works over the years, including MY WORK IS NOT YET DONE and CRAMPTON. He has work forthcoming in “Lovecraft eZine” and “XNOYBIS“. Padgett’s chapbook, THE INFUSORIUM & his first short story collection, THE SECRET OF VENTRILOQUISM ARE forthcoming from Dunhams Manor Press. Padgett is a professional — though lapsed — ventriloquist who lives in New Orleans with his spouse, daughter, two cats, and dog. Padgett is also a professional voice-over artist with over thirty-seven years of theater and twenty years of audio narration experience who recently produced Occult .45: Four Tales of Gunrunning in the Weird West by Nick Carcano and is in the midst of producing an audiobook version of A.R. Morlan‘s novel, Dark Journey: A Novel of Horror. Padgett also has produced some notable amateur audio performance efforts, such as “The Bungalow House” by Thomas Ligotti and “Silent Snow, Secret Snow” by Conrad Aiken.


All needle drops and run-out grooves in this audio production are derived from the carefully curated sample collection of ye olde editor Shawn M. Garrett… who always knew they would come in handy someday

Please click here to listen.

I am immensely pleased with the end result.

The Infusorium is available for pre-order!

My chapbook, The Infusorium, is available for pre-order!

Actually the 10 limited edition hardcovers with signed plate, frontispiece and dust jacket sold out the first night it was made available.

Of the 40 paperback copies that will be printed, there are only 5 available as I type this. This is the cheap option (only $8 a pop)!

SOLD OUT!

Casewrap hardcover with frontispiece.
Limited to 25 copies.
(Note: this edition is NOT signed any the author. Only the sold-out dust jacket edition is signed.)

Click here to order while you can

Fortunately, given the demand, the editor of Dunhams Manor Press--Jordan Krall--extended the print run, making 25 wraparound hardcovers with frontispiece available for pre-order.

And what frontispiece by artist-wizard Dave Felton (who also created the gorgeous chapbook cover):




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Praise for The Infusorium:

“That imagination precedes reason in our lives is perhaps the most obvious truth of all. It is the foundation upon which the mind is raised. In The Infusorium Jon Padgett adeptly conjures the more terrible and, we should admit, blatantly captivating aspects of the imagination. What is not obvious is how Padgett has done this and done it so well. While the terrors of his story are imagined, they are no less real for that.”
-- Thomas Ligotti


“Only a few writers are able to distill the essence of some personal, primal nightmare and transmit it to others. Only a few horror stories are so artfully constructed that they generate an authentic sense of dreadful darkness and impending doom. Jon Padgett is one of those writers. The Infusorium is one of those stories.”
-- Matt Cardin, author of Dark Awakenings and Divinations of the Deep

My First Short Story Collection to be Published

My first short story collection, The Secret of Ventriloquism, will be released in late 2015 or early 2016 from Dunhams Manor Press. It will be in a 'deluxe' hardcover format -- 100 total copies (50 signed, 50 unsigned) with a small chapbook included with each (probably a nonfiction retrospective on my own ventriloquism career).

Update on my chapbook: it looks like 10 of the 50 copies of The Infusorium will be in hardcover format.

More details as I get them!

Great Publication News

Firstly, "20 Simple Steps to Ventriloquism" will be published in the June 2015 issue of Lovecraft eZine .

Secondly, my short story, "The Indoor Swamp," will be published in XNOYBIS: A Journal of Weird Fiction this fall.

Last but not least, I've got a chapbook entitled The Infusorium which is being published by Dunhams Manor Press. It should be released in the coming months. More soon!

Occult .45: Four Tales of Gunrunning in the Weird West, Volume 4

So.... I've been busy.

I just produced an audiobook of Occult .45: Four Tales of Gunrunning in the Weird West, Volume 4 by Nick Carcano.

It's available for purchase on Amazon, Audible, or iTunes.

I'm really proud of the result, and the stories themselves are damned entertaining and unpredictable from beginning to end—think a more adult and horror-themed Brisco County Jr. Nick's stories are delightful and hilarious.

Please check the book out!

"20 Simple Steps to Ventriloquism" Publication News

I'm delighted to announce that my story, "20 Simple Steps to Ventriloquism," first published in The Grimscribe's Puppets, will be produced and published by Pseudopod .

I'll keep you all posted on the details, but it looks at this point like they're aiming for sometime this Spring as the go live date. Obviously, I'm excited!

"The Secret of Ventriloquism"

I just found out that my 11,000 word novellete, "The Secret of Ventriloquism," will be published in The Lovecraft eZine . I don't know when yet, but it was accepted today.

As you may or may not know, this is the "writer's cut" version of "20 Simple Steps to Ventriloquism," which I culled down to 4,500 words for inclusion in the Shirley Jackson Award winning anthology, The Grimscribe's Puppets . I'm glad this tale will have a substantial reading audience in its entirety.

I'll provide an update when I know more.

NEW INTERVIEW: Vital Realities: a Conversation with Thomas Ligotti

Legendary horror writer, Thomas Ligotti, generously allowed me to interview him recently. The result is harrowing, fascinating and often hilarious. No one gives a better interview than Ligotti. No one.

Read it here

In it, Ligotti discusses the traumatic event that paradoxically revitalized him, the stories collected in The Spectral Link, and what he likes and dislikes in an interviewee.