Five reasons to listen to Jon Padgett's "20 Simple Steps to Ventriloquism"

BLOT: (11 Apr 2015 - 09:45:44 PM)

Five reasons to listen to Jon Padgett's "20 Simple Steps to Ventriloquism"

If you have to listen to one audio short story about puppets and ventriloquism today, you should listen to Jon Padgett's "20 Simple Steps to Ventriloquism" via Pseudopod. Why? Let's give you five reasons (note: number might be arbitrary, the fact that you should do it is still a fact).

Reason #5: It's Free. Perhaps the weakest of reasons, still a valid one. You can download and listen (and share!) the mp3 for free (through a CC3.0-BY-ND-NC license).

Reason #4: It Is Read by the Author. Author-read audiobooks can highlight different patterns and underlying frequencies than those you get from reading the text on the page, and this is a good case of that. Padgett sped through some lines I read slow, and slowed down some lines I read fast. For author intent, this would be the definitive way to experience the tale.

Reason #3: It Makes a Good Introduction to Grimscribe's Puppets. This was one of my favorites from The Grimscribe's Puppets (LGT: My review of the collection). "20 Simple Steps" is a good example of what is good about the collection, a tribute that is also a bit different than something that Ligotti would ever write.

Reason #2: It Reverses the Uncanny Aspects Associated with Puppets. Cleverly, the story is not about how puppets are just like us, but about how we are just like them. It is about being afraid not of the glass-eyed stare nor the wooden teeth but of the fleshy hand in the back, pulling the levers as though it was the most normal thing in the world.

Reason #1: Because the Voice in Your Head Is Telling You To... Sure, it sounds just like static, but let us stop pretending that we do not know what it means. Give in, give up, enjoy.

Photo Credit: Paul Winchell Jerry Mahoney 1951, by James Kriegsmann, listed as public domain at link. Manipulation by me.

OTHER BLOTS THIS MONTH: April 2015