I stumbled on Erik Sanko‘s work during my research, and was immediately taken not only by the dark, cunning beauty of his marionettes, but by their sense of handmade, fully organic life. Looking at them, it seems obvious that to touch one would be to touch a creature capable of a certain response; and at your own risk.

I tried to suggest that quality in the puppets I constructed, that sense of wild-card possibility, of unpredictability. “Wonder” is one of those words that, like “puppet,” has been culturally adulterated with artificial sweetener, in an attempt to make it totally safe, harmless fun for all ages: but a wonder can be a mystery, it can astonish with its ferocity as well as its loveliness. You can wonder why the puppet went and bit your finger off, say. . . .Possibility is a two-edged sword. Some of the human characters in the book are quite unpredictable, too. That’s what made it all so fun to write.