the ballad of black tom by victor lavalle

Some people call him a swindler but Tommy sees himself as an artist. Will Black Tom live to see it break? Book ReviewĬharles Thomas Tester or Tommy, is a young black man living in Harlem in the 1920’s. 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.Ī storm that might swallow the world is building in Brooklyn. 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. 'LaValle’s ingenious project involves co-opting Lovecraft’s epic-scale paranoia into the service of a trickster tale.People move to New York looking for magic and nothing will convince them it isn’t there.Ĭharles 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.

'Wonderfully creepy and impossible to put down, The Ballad of Black Tom is a genre-bending must-read.' -BuzzFeed Lovecraft’s infamous story “The Horror at Red Hook,” retelling it with a new protagonist (the titular Charles Thomas Tester, a splendidly Lovecraftian name) and a literary veneer that recalls Chester Himes.' -Publishers Weekly 'Shirley Jackson Award–winner LaValle cleverly retcons H.P.

'The Ballad of Black Tom stands on its own as a compelling weird tale of Jazz-age New York City, but its penetrating examination of Lovecraft’s creations and how they reflect racism’s profound influence on our cultural imagination is where it really shines.' -Slate Lovecraft classic is as creepy as it is thought-provoking.' -People 'Full of rage and passion.' -The New York Times Book Review

People move to New York looking for magic and nothing will convince them it isn't there.Ĭharles 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. 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

The ballad of black tom by victor lavalle