Five notable books about puppets and living dolls

Keith Donohue is the author of five novels, including The Boy Who Drew Monsters (which includes an imaginary friend) and the newly released The Motion of Puppets. One tile on his list of five notable books about puppets and living dolls, as shared at Tor.com:

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

The Other Mother is the stuff of nightmares, particularly the beldam who lures her victims with promises of hidden pleasures, an echo of Pinocchio there. Technically speaking, she may not be a doll or a puppet, but with her button eyes, she is surely drawn from the uncanny, the world where things are both human and not quite human at the same time. And the threat to have Coraline become part of her collection of lost souls is deeply disturbing. The film, which uses stop-motion puppetry, reinforces the magic spell cast by the book.

Read about another entry on the list.

Coraline appears among Christopher Edge's top ten parallel worlds in fiction, Aliette de Bodard's five creepiest monsters in fantasy, Shaun Byron Fitzpatrick's top seven awesomely scary novels, and Sam Leith's top ten alternative realities.

--Marshal Zeringue