The Art of Ventriloquism

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“I’ll never forget the first thing he said to me, the way he curled all his thorny knowledge into that one barbed comment stopped me in my tracks.”

Welcome to The Art of Ventriloquism: a baker’s dozen of short, sharp, shocking crime fictions from the bloodied pen of the author AJ Kirby. The rap-sheet of crimes contained within this volume are varied: from white collar to red-collared, grizzly murder. The style ranges from the hard-boiled to the comic, and all the stops between.

The crimes in The Art of Ventriloquism take place in restaurants, opera houses, space stations, prisons, old folks’ homes, on farms, in the back of limousines, and on the salesroom floor. They’re modern morality stories, and here Kirby has become a ventriloquist, channeling the voices of the dispossessed, the victims, those who live on the margins of society… Darkly amusing and ironic – reminiscent of Roald Dahl – these tales will amuse and delight in equal measure.

Reviews of the collection as a whole:

– “I loved this book. I am only regretful that I hadn’t got to one of AJK’s books before now. ” Real-time review of The Art of Ventrilquism by the esteemed DF Lewis. Read the full review here.

– “Reminded me of Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected. Tales with a twist, very well told. If you like the supernatural and ghost stories then I would heartily recommend this excellent volume.” Amazon reader.

Praise for some of the individual stories:

Jodie Foster & the art of ventriloquism
George Polley, Author: “It’s chilling; reminds me of a short story by Ray Bradbury that was so chilling that I still remember it as if I’d just put it down. A fine piece of writing.”

Too Many Cooks
Judge of the ‘An Ink’ writing contest: “This is a fine story, written in what might be called “the grand manner”. As opposed to certain modern writers whose sentences are clipped and snappy, this author often conveys his meaning in lengthy, convoluted sentences. But they flow, and they work.”

The Ninth Circle
Stephen Hunt, SF Crow’s Nest: “an intriguing story… which brings to mind the film Event Horizon. This tale becomes progressively darker, obscure and depressing until its culmination in a terrible event.”