The Ballad of Black Tom

Books | Fiction / Fantasy / Dark Fantasy

(342)

Victor LaValle

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 AwardsPeople 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 & ScienceFictionAt the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

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Author

Victor LaValle

Pages

152

Publisher

Tor Publishing Group

Published Date

2016-02-16

ISBN

0765386615 9780765386618

Community ReviewsSee all

"Unsettling and eerie…"

Sandy Lopez

"Oh man, this is GOOD! And short. This is the first book by this author that I’ve read but I’ll be quickly locating more of his work. "

CaitVD

"such a good, unsettling and eerie short read. lavalle never fails to simultaneously put my on edge, and wrench at my heart strings."

Marygrace Ryan

""Nobody ever thinks of himself as a villain, does he? Even monsters hold high opinions of themselves." The Ballad of Black Tom is the second book I've read by Victor LaValle, and I really liked it. This is an intriguing horror novella, and there was a lot packed into this small book. I'm not a huge Lovecraft person, but I read that this is inspired by The Horror at Red Hook. The Ballad of Black Tom covers a lot of heavy topics such as racism, poverty, and police brutality, and this is a story that will stick with you. The cosmic horror storyline adds another haunting layer. I enjoy Victor LaValle's writing, and there were so many interesting aspects of this story. This works really well as a novella, but I would definitely read a full-length book as well."

Emily

"So so good. 99 pages of HEAT"

"3.5 stars I went into it knowing nothing except it is a thriller. I didn’t even read the book description. For this kind of book I think it is best to go in knowing almost nothing. It is described as lovecraft but without the racism. I haven’t read lovecraft so i can’t say if that is true or not. I just know it doesn’t have the racism. It does deal a little bit of the topic but it isn’t bashing your head with the topic. It is a small part of the story. The horror aspects were good. So were the characters. If you like horror or thrillers i would recommend this. It is short and doesn’t take that long to read."