Description: VASTARIEN: A LITERARY JOURNAL is a source of critical study and creative response to the corpus of Thomas Ligotti as well as associated authors and ideas. The journal includes nonfiction, literary horror fiction, poetry, artwork and non-classifiable hybrid pieces.
Brief description: Jon Padgett is the owner and operator of Grimscribe Press and is Co-Editor-In-Chief of the This Is Horror Award Winning publication, Vastarien: A Literary Journal, a source of critical study and creative response to the work of Thomas Ligotti. Padgett's first short story collection, The Secret of Ventriloquism, was named the Best Fiction Book of 2016 by Rue Morgue Magazine. He has work out or forthcoming in Weird Fiction Review, PseudoPod, Lovecraft eZine, and the anthologies Mannequin: Tales of Wood Made Flesh, Ashes & Entropy, 32 White Horses on a Vermillion Hill, Volume 2, A Walk on the Weird Side, Wound of Wounds, Phantasm/Chimera, and For Mortal Things Unsung. His recent novelette, The Broker of Nightmares, was published by Nightscape Press. Padgett's 20 Simple Steps to Ventriloquism has been published as an illustrated chapbook by Tallhat Press and as an LP (narrated by Padgett) by Cadabra Records. Late in 2019, Nightscape Press will release a deluxe, fully illustrated box set called Secret Gateways, which includes new, expanded editions of Padgett's The Secret of Ventriloquism, Matthew M. Bartlett's Gateways to Abomination, and a third collection entitled The Latham Fielding Liaison, with stories written in collaboration by the two authors. Padgett is a professional-though lapsed-ventriloquist who lives in New Orleans with his spouse, their daughter, and a rescue dog and cat.
Review Quotes:
Winner of the 2018 This Is Horror Award for Best Fiction Magazine
"Vastarien is... perhaps the highest quality literary journal in the horror sphere."
--Signal Horizon