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The Ballad of Black Tom
(OverDrive MP3 Audiobook, OverDrive Listen)

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Published:
Macmillan Audio 2016
Status:
Available from OverDrive
Description

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 black skin that attracts the eye of wealthy white folks and their trained cops. But when he delivers an occult page 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 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
"[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

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Format:
OverDrive MP3 Audiobook, OverDrive Listen
Edition:
Unabridged
Street Date:
02/16/2016
Language:
English
ISBN:
9781427273802
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Citations
APA Citation (style guide)

Victor LaValle. (2016). The Ballad of Black Tom. Unabridged Macmillan Audio.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)

Victor LaValle. 2016. The Ballad of Black Tom. Macmillan Audio.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)

Victor LaValle, The Ballad of Black Tom. Macmillan Audio, 2016.

MLA Citation (style guide)

Victor LaValle. The Ballad of Black Tom. Unabridged Macmillan Audio, 2016.

Note! Citation formats are based on standards as of July 2022. Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy.
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Grouped Work ID:
9ab3d01f-e721-f098-2714-f14ba18dbd59
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Date Added:
Jun 12, 2018 15:14:37
Date Updated:
Oct 24, 2021 06:14:36
Last Metadata Check:
Mar 27, 2024 20:14:13
Last Metadata Change:
Dec 26, 2023 17:28:00
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Last Availability Change:
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Last Grouped Work Modification Time:
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publishDate
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title
The Ballad of Black Tom
fullDescription

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 black skin that attracts the eye of wealthy white folks and their trained cops. But when he delivers an occult page 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 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
"[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

reviews
      • premium: True
      • source: Publisher's Weekly
      • content:

        December 21, 2015
        Shirley Jackson Award–winner LaValle (The Devil in Silver) 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. Tester, a con artist in 1924 Harlem with a minor awareness of the occult, occasionally masquerades as a street musician, playing the guitar (poorly) while pulling his hustles. When he’s approached by the eccentric Robert Suydam to play at a party, he knows something’s awry, but the money’s too good to pass up. Before his gig, he encounters a pair of detectives; one is Lovecraft’s original protagonist, Malone, and they both seem to know more about Suydam and Tester than would be expected. Once Tester goes to his gig, Malone takes over as the lead character, and LaValle ably conveys both the horrors he encounters and a reconciliation with the original text. The story adeptly addresses social and racial issues that were central to urban life at the dawn of the 20th century, with obvious resonances and parallels in the present. Those familiar with Lovecraft’s (weaker) story might get a little more from this novella, but it stands well on its own.

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shortDescription

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 black skin that attracts the eye of wealthy white folks and their trained cops. But when he delivers an occult page 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 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...

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awards
      • source: Horror Writers Association
      • value: Bram Stoker Award Nominee
      • source: World Science Fiction Society
      • value: Hugo Award Nominee
publisher
Macmillan Audio
bisacCodes
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      • description: Fiction / Fantasy / Dark Fantasy
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      • description: Fiction / Horror