
'The Ballad of Black Tom' by Victor LaValle is a Lovecraftian novella set in the 1920s, a period marked by racism and social unrest. LaValle reimagines Lovecraft's story 'The Horror at Red Hook' from the perspective of a working-class African American musician, offering a fresh take on themes of immigrants, poverty, and marginalization in early 20th-century New York. The book expertly combines elements of horror, racism, and cosmic terror, creating a story that gradually transitions from a realistic setting to supernatural occurrences, making the supernatural aspects feel all the more unnerving.
The narrative follows Charles Thomas Tester, a black man navigating through a white-dominated city while facing racism and police brutality. LaValle's writing style is praised for its masterful handling of setting and circumstances, as well as the complexity of the protagonist's character. The book delves into the horrors of racism and the Great Old Ones, intertwining Lovecraftian mythology with social commentary, creating a compelling and powerful story that resonates with readers.
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Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
Content warnings for The Ballad of Black Tom include themes of racism, police violence, and graphic violence, which may be distressing for some readers.
From The Publisher:
One of NPR's Best Books of 2016, winner of the Shirley Jackson Award, the British Fantasy Award, the This is Horror Award for Novella of the Year, and a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, World Fantasy, and Bram Stoker Awards
People move to New York looking for magic and nothing will convince them it isn't there.
Charles Thomas Tester hustles to put food on the table, keep the roof over his father's head, from Harlem to Flushing Meadows to Red Hook. He knows what magic a suit can cast, the invisibility a guitar case can provide, and the curse written on his skin that attracts the eye of wealthy white folks and their cops. But when he delivers an occult tome to a reclusive sorceress in the heart of Queens, Tom opens a door to a deeper realm of magic, and earns the attention of things best left sleeping.
A storm that might swallow the world is building in Brooklyn. Will Black Tom live to see it break?
"LaValle's novella of sorcery and skullduggery in Jazz Age New York is a magnificent example of what weird fiction can and should do."
- Laird Barron, author of The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All
"[LaValle] reinvents outmoded literary conventions, particularly the ghettos of genre and ethnicity that long divided serious literature from popular fiction."
- Praise for The Devil in Silver from Elizabeth Hand, author of Radiant Days
"LaValle cleverly subverts Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos by imbuing a black man with the power to summon the Old Ones, and creates genuine chills with his evocation of the monstrous Sleeping King, an echo of Lovecraft's Dagon… [The Ballad of Black Tom] has a satisfying slingshot ending." - Elizabeth Hand for Fantasy & ScienceFiction
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Ratings (36)
Incredible (5) | |
Loved It (11) | |
Liked It (12) | |
It Was OK (5) | |
Did Not Like (2) | |
Hated It (1) |
Reader Stats (98):
Read It (37) | |
Currently Reading (2) | |
Want To Read (45) | |
Did Not Finish (1) | |
Not Interested (13) |
About the Author:
Victor LaValle is the author of the short story collection Slapboxing with Jesus, several novels, including The Ecstatic, Big Machine, and The Devil in Silver, and an ebook-only novella, Lucretia and the Kroons.
He has been the recipient of numerous awards including a Whiting Writers' Award, a United States Artists Ford Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship and the key to Southeast Queens.
He was raised in Queens, New York. He now lives in Washington Heights with his wife and son. He teaches at Columbia University.
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