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Father Gaetano's Puppet Catechism
204 pages, Paperback
Published October 21, 2025
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About the author
Christopher Golden
805 books3,004 followersCHRISTOPHER GOLDEN is the New York Times bestselling, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of such novels as Road of Bones, Ararat, Snowblind, Of Saints and Shadows, and Red Hands. With Mike Mignola, he is the co-creator of the Outerverse comic book universe, including such series as Baltimore, Joe Golem: Occult Detective, and Lady Baltimore. As an editor, he has worked on the short story anthologies Seize the Night, Dark Cities, and The New Dead, among others, and he has also written and co-written comic books, video games, screenplays, and a network television pilot. Golden co-hosts the podcast Defenders Dialogue with horror author Brian Keene. In 2015 he founded the popular Merrimack Valley Halloween Book Festival. He was born and raised in Massachusetts, where he still lives with his family. His work has been nominated for the British Fantasy Award, the Eisner Award, and multiple Shirley Jackson Awards. For the Bram Stoker Awards, Golden has been nominated ten times in eight different categories. His original novels have been published in more than fifteen languages in countries around the world. Please visit him at www.christophergolden.com
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 6, 2025
Father Gaetano’s Puppet Catechism by Christopher Golden and Mike Mignola
#fiftythirdbookof2025 #arc #fathergaetanospuppetcatechism #novella
CW: war, orphans, puppets, assault, possession
From the publisher: In the aftermath of a critical World War II battle, Father Gaetano is assigned as the sole priest at the Church of San Domenico in the small, seaside Sicilian village of Tringale. The previous pastor has died and there is a shortage of clergy at the moment, so until another can be spared, the young priest must say all of the masses himself. Mass is not Father Gaetano’s only responsibility, however. The war has created many orphans, and thus the San Domenico rectory has been converted into an orphanage which is also his domain. The children are a joy to him, but they have lost so much, and many have begun to question their faith and their God, and his attempts to teach them catechism are in vain . . . until he finds an old puppet theatre and an ornate box of puppets in the basement. Handcrafted by the building’s former caretaker, now absent, the puppets seem the perfect tool to get the children to pay attention to their lessons. But after dark the puppets emerge from that ornate box, without their strings. While the children have been questioning their faith, the puppets believe Father Gaetano’s Bible stories completely. But there is such a thing as too much faith. And the children’s lives will never be the same again.
My thoughts: While I don’t usually go for religious adjacent stories, this one held my interest because it felt more horror/possession. It was a quick read, and I enjoyed Father Gaetano’s perspective, but I definitely wanted to hear more about both Sebastiano’s journey after the events of the novella and how Father Gaetano reconciled the events of the puppets’ possession with his faith. I enjoyed this more than I expected to, and I wouldn’t mind a full length novel expansion.
Thank you to @badhandbooks for the advance copy. (Pub date 10/14/25)
#fiftythirdbookof2025 #arc #fathergaetanospuppetcatechism #novella
CW: war, orphans, puppets, assault, possession
From the publisher: In the aftermath of a critical World War II battle, Father Gaetano is assigned as the sole priest at the Church of San Domenico in the small, seaside Sicilian village of Tringale. The previous pastor has died and there is a shortage of clergy at the moment, so until another can be spared, the young priest must say all of the masses himself. Mass is not Father Gaetano’s only responsibility, however. The war has created many orphans, and thus the San Domenico rectory has been converted into an orphanage which is also his domain. The children are a joy to him, but they have lost so much, and many have begun to question their faith and their God, and his attempts to teach them catechism are in vain . . . until he finds an old puppet theatre and an ornate box of puppets in the basement. Handcrafted by the building’s former caretaker, now absent, the puppets seem the perfect tool to get the children to pay attention to their lessons. But after dark the puppets emerge from that ornate box, without their strings. While the children have been questioning their faith, the puppets believe Father Gaetano’s Bible stories completely. But there is such a thing as too much faith. And the children’s lives will never be the same again.
My thoughts: While I don’t usually go for religious adjacent stories, this one held my interest because it felt more horror/possession. It was a quick read, and I enjoyed Father Gaetano’s perspective, but I definitely wanted to hear more about both Sebastiano’s journey after the events of the novella and how Father Gaetano reconciled the events of the puppets’ possession with his faith. I enjoyed this more than I expected to, and I wouldn’t mind a full length novel expansion.
Thank you to @badhandbooks for the advance copy. (Pub date 10/14/25)
Displaying 1 of 1 review