{"product_id":"9780765387868","title":"The Ballad of Black Tom","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eThe Ballad of Black Tom\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor(s): Victor LaValle\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eOne of \u003ci\u003eNPR\u003c\/i\u003e'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\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePeople move to New York looking for magic and nothing will convince them it isn't there.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCharles 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA storm that might swallow the world is building in Brooklyn. Will Black Tom live to see it break?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"LaValle's  novella of sorcery and skullduggery in Jazz Age New York is a  magnificent example of what weird fiction can and should do.\" \u003cbr\u003e— Laird Barron, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"[LaValle]  reinvents outmoded literary conventions, particularly the  ghettos of  genre and ethnicity that long divided serious literature from  popular  fiction.\"\u003cbr\u003e— Praise for \u003ci\u003eThe Devil in Silver\u003c\/i\u003e from Elizabeth Hand, author of \u003ci\u003eRadiant Days\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e               “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… [\u003ci\u003eThe Ballad of Black Tom\u003c\/i\u003e] has a satisfying slingshot ending.” – Elizabeth Hand for \u003ci\u003eFantasy \u0026amp; ScienceFiction\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReview(s):\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Full of rage and passion.\" —\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e Book Review\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"This ingenious recasting of an H.P. Lovecraft classic is as creepy as it is thought-provoking.\" —\u003ci\u003ePeople\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eThe Ballad of Black Tom\u003c\/i\u003e 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\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Shirley Jackson Award–winner LaValle cleverly retcons H.P. 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.\" —\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Wonderfully creepy and impossible to put down, \u003ci\u003eThe Ballad of Black Tom\u003c\/i\u003e is a genre-bending must-read.\" —BuzzFeed\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"LaValle’s ingenious project involves co-opting Lovecraft’s epic-scale paranoia into the service of a trickster tale.\" —\u003ci\u003eLocus\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Whether \u003ci\u003eThe Ballad of Black Tom\u003c\/i\u003e is approached as a straightforward tale of horror in the early 20th century or as a metafictional commentary on Lovecraft’s own storytelling choices and racism, it succeeds. It also stands as proof that the process of engaging with the conflicted feelings that the work of Lovecraft can prompt can lead to rewarding, emotionally compelling writing of its own.\" —Electric Literature\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"This book is full of wonder and horror and pain and magic and I cannot recommend it enough.\" —BookRiot\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"LaValle crafts a gem of a Lovecraftian novella, cleverly keeping his horrors just offstage. The real power of the story is Tom’s experiences of prejudice as a black man living in early 20th-century Harlem, and how he overcomes and subverts that prejudice, taking on whatever role he has to in order to get by: he is “Charles” to his father, “Tommy” to his friends, and eventually “Black Tom”—one to be feared.\" —\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eThe Ballad of Black Tom\u003c\/i\u003e is a fresh take on cosmic horror.\" — \u003ci\u003eDirge Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Victor LaValle brilliantly takes some of Lovecraft’s literary motifs and transforms them into social consciousness. To say this is no small feat is a major understatement.\" — \u003ci\u003eDiabolique Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"With endless creativity and deft, seemingly effortless prose, LaValle has stolen the deliciously demonic soul of old Howard’s vilest story and made it into something new.\" — The B\u0026amp;N Sci-Fi \u0026amp; Fantasy Blog\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A smartly written and well-paced homage that perfectly encapsulates the complicated feelings that many people have towards Lovecraft.\" — \u003ci\u003eSF Bluestocking\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShort-listed Hugo Award - Nominee (2017), Long-listed NPR Best Book of the Year (2016), Winner Shirley Jackson Award Winner (2016), Short-listed Nebula Awards - Nominee (2016), Nominated Goodreads Choice Awards (2016), Nominated Bram Stoker Awards - Nominee (2016), Short-listed Locus Awards - Nominee (2017), Short-listed World Fantasy Award - Finalist (2017)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN:  9780765387868\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"Tordotcom","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback","offer_id":40637576478926,"sku":"9780765387868","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/7029\/7806\/products\/getimage_f87f2b36-10a4-4be5-ab24-ebadda6dd001.jpg?v=1639016727","url":"https:\/\/pickwickbookshop.com\/products\/9780765387868","provider":"Pickwick Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}