Jon Padgett's acclaimed collection/hybrid novel, The Secret of Ventriloquism , named the Best Fiction Book by Rue Morgue Magazine , now returns in an expanded edition of the original, with three new stories. The book features Dave Felton's iconic cover art and frontispiece as well as a Foreword by the legendary Thomas Ligotti. With themes reminiscent of Shirley Jackson, Ligotti, and Bruno Schulz, but with a strikingly unique vision, 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 seeks vengeance within a bed's hollow box spring. A lucid dreamer is haunted by an impossible house. A dummy reveals its own anatomy in 20 simple steps. A paranoid flyer's worst fears are realized in a way not even he could imagine. A stuttering librarian holds the key to a mill town's unspeakable secrets. A commuter's worldview is shattered by two words printed on a cardboard sign. An aspiring ventriloquist spends a little too much time looking at himself in a mirror. A job-fatigued woman seeks out an invisible, identity-blasting hole of alluvium from her past. A spirit of homelessness plans its escape to a possibly mythical mountain. A fog-soaked city heaves its dying breath. And a presence speaks through them all.