The Ballad of Black Tom

Posted on 10 November 2018 by Victor LaValle

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 New Read [ The Ballad of Black Tom ] by [ Victor LaValle ] For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr 3.5 Okay I have never read Lovecraft s Cthulhu I want to but there are so many different editions I don t know which one is the best This book is supposed to be referenced but I wouldn t know There is one quote from the book Malone finally heard the last words Black Tom whispered down in the basement I ll tak...Tommy Tester is a hustler, doing what he has to to make ends meet and support his ailing father When he meets Robert Suydam, things will never be the sameI ve always been a bigger fan of things inspired by H.P Lovecraft than the man s actual work It s certainly been a good few months for H.P Lovecraft inspired fiction for me First, there was Carter Lovecraft, then Lovecraft Country, and now this novella, the Ballad of Black Tom.Victor LaValle has taken The Horror at Red Hook, calle Tommy Tester is a hustler, doing what he has to to make ends meet and support his ailing father When he meets Robert Suydam, things will never be the sameI ve always been a bigger fan of things inspired by H.P Lovecraft than the man s actual work It s certainly been a good few months for H.P Lovecraft inspired fiction for me First, there was Carter Lovecraft, then Lovecraft Country, and now this novella, the Ballad of Black Tom.Victor LaValle has taken The Horror at Red Hook, called Lovecraft s most racist book by some, and turned it inside out.Tommy Tester delivers a magical tome to an old woman, runs afoul of two detectives, and meets up with an old man bent on waking The Sleeping King from his dead and dreaming slumber Needless to say, a lot happens in this slim book.There was a viewpoint shift about halfway through While I didn t think Malone was as interesting as Black Tom, the story couldn t have been told without him LaValle does a fantastic job of capturing the Love...Even before I found out Lovecraft was a humongous shitstain of a human being, I didn t like the way he wrote His prose is a bit too antiquated for my tastes So when I found out he hated all skin tones darker than Elmer s glue, it didn t bother me because I already didn t like the guy Am I dumb enough to think all his fans must be racist because he was No I know plenty of radically non racist individuals who love his stuff These folks can look past the artist to appreciate the mythos he cre Even before I found out Lovecraft was a humongous shitstain of a human being, I didn t like the way he wrote His prose is a bit too antiquated for my tastes So when I found out he hated all skin tones darker than Elmer s glue, it didn t bother me because I already didn t like the guy Am I dumb enough to think all his fans must be racist because he was No I know plenty of radically non racist individuals who love his stuff These folks can look past the artist to appreciate the mythos he created Good on them The problem for me is, I m not even a fan of his mythos Squid faced gods and monsters so ugly the author can t be bothered to describe them never have done much for me It s all too easy to say, Oh, snap That thing is so scurry my mind can t even wrap around it, yo I wish all of us could get away with that describing everything as too scary to describe It would make being a horror author much easier So why ...It seems to be my month for trying new authors not read prior, and also I noticed all of the good press, here on GR, from friends and others, so I thought I would give The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle a go.I read the book in one sitting, and perhaps TMI, didn t even take a bathroom break.This should say something about author Victor LaValle s ability to capture a reader and keep him enthralled.The book begins by telling a story about a young black street hustler in the 1920 s New York It seems to be my month for trying new authors not read prior, and also I noticed all of the good press, here on GR, from friends and others, so I thought I would give The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle a go.I read the book in one sitting, and perhaps TMI, didn t even take a bathroom break.This should say something about author Victor LaValle s ability to capture a reader and keep him enthralled.The book begins by telling a story about a young black street hustler in the 1920 s New York street and music scene Mr LaValle introduces a bit of tension and begins to incorporate aspects of Cosmic Evil and it s relation to our main character This brought about a kind of ha ha moment as I asked myself Why does the evil so often arrive in the form of a book At this point we are switched POV characters to a New York policeman who happens to be interested ...although lovecraft hails from the great state of rhode island and providence plantations, and we have few enough literary feathers in our tiny hat and because there are apparently rules about who can be claimed and who cannot, and cormac mccarthy s moving to memphis from his providence birthplace at four years old an age where he was basically luggage and certainly not choosing to leave the ocean state behind, nonetheless renders him ineligible to be counted as one of us , i have never been a although lovecraft hails from the great state of rhode island and providence plantations, and we have few enough literary feathers in our tiny hat and because there are apparently rules about who can be claimed and who cannot, and cormac mccarthy s moving to memphis from his providence birthplace at four years old an age where he was basically luggage and certainly not choosing to leave the ocean state behind, nonetheless renders him ineligible to be counted as one of us , i have never been a lovecraft fan.and wouldn t it be commendable if i could claim to be all aglow with high minded outrage, disliking him on principle, finding his racist and misogynistic views so unacceptable that they caused me to boycott his work in an admirable, if somewhat smug, demonstration of righteousness but that ain t even it i tried reading him when i was, like, twelve, and i just found it boring and cheesy and the horror equivalent of ...4.5 stars Nobody ever thinks of himself as a villain, does he Even monsters hold high opinions of themselves In The Ballad of Black Tom we have a Lovecraftian novella, written by a phenomenal black writer It s set in the 20 s which was not exactly the best time to be a black person in this country LaValle has take...Nominated for 17 Hugos, I had to take it on, but like almost all of the stories nominated this year, I m having a grand ole time.This is a traditional tale of Cthulhu, only it s a damn sight less racist and the prose is as smooth as gin It also doesn t fear to go the route of humanizing and demonizing at the very same time Anti hero Oh, yes, p...2.5ish starsA weird, creepy, enjoyable little book Equal parts historical fiction and horror, andthan just the natural horror of the historical setting LaValle provides a confident, well written commentary on racism which, indeed, is dedicated to H.P Lovecraft, infamously racist himself, and the man whose work this is based on For H.P Lovecraft, with all my conflicted feelingsVery atmospheric and strange, but a little too unfocused and murky with characters too distant to be particula 2.5ish starsA weird, creepy, enjoyable little book Equal parts historical fiction and horror, andthan just the natural horror of the historical setting LaValle provides a confident, well written commentary on racism which, indeed, is dedicated to H.P Lovecraft, infamously racist himself, and the man w...The veil of ignorance has been set over your face since birth Shall I pull it freeWhile I m generally familiar with HP Lovecraft and his work, including his Cthulhu mythos, I haven t read that much from him From what I gather though, he was a hardcore racist, and one must look past some of the uncomfortable material in his work to get to the good stuff and appreciate him It seems like this has been the case with author Victor LaValle, who begrudgingly considers himself a fan But he deThe veil of ignorance has been set over your face since birth Shall I pull it freeWhile I m generally...Every time I was around them, they acted like I was a monster So I said goddamnit, I ll be the worst monster you ever saw A story juxtaposing Lovecraftian mythology against the racism and inequality of 1920s New York is so deliciously poetic it left me amazed that no one had thought of it before now I love that this constant inequality ends up being reason enough to justify drastic, desperate action to bring about its end, by dealing with forces the protagonist doesn t fully understand, but Every time I was around them, they acted like I was a monster So I said goddamnit, I ll be the worst monster you ever saw A story juxtaposing Lovecraftian mythology a...

English
10 November 2018

Victor LaValle