The Ballad of Black Tom

The Ballad of Black Tom is a 2016 fantasy-horror novella by Victor LaValle, revisiting H. P. Lovecraft's story "The Horror at Red Hook" from the viewpoint of a black man.

"The Ballad of Black Tom"
Short story by Victor LaValle
First edition
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre(s)Horror, Historical fantasy
Publication
PublisherTor.com
Publication dateFebruary 16, 2016
Pages149

Synopsis

In 1924 Harlem, Tommy Tester is a small-time hustler whose regular guise as a street musician brings him in contact with reclusive millionaire Robert Suydam, who wants him to participate in a nefarious scheme involving the Great Old Ones. Among the tools that Tester uses to thwart the scheme is the Supreme Alphabet of the Five-Percent Nation.

Reception

"The Ballad of Black Tom" won the 2016 Shirley Jackson Award for best novella,[1] and was a finalist for the 2016 Bram Stoker Award for Best Long Fiction,[2] the Nebula Award for Best Novella of 2016,[3] the 2017 British Fantasy Award for best novella,[4] the 2017 Theodore Sturgeon Award,[5] the 2017 Hugo Award for Best Novella,[6] and the 2017 World Fantasy Award—Long Fiction.[7]

Slate called it "riveting", "clever", and "compelling", and noted LaValle's comparison of "cosmic indifference" to targeted racist malice and brutality.[8] Vice described it as "tightly written, beautifully creepy, and politically resonant", and emphasized that despite its nature as a literary "rebuttal", it is still "a thrilling Lovecraftian tale of mystery, monsters, and madness".[9]

Nina Allan commended LaValle for "making (...) 'The Horror at Red Hook' (into) an actual story (...) featuring real characters with real motivations – a claim that can not safely be made for the original tale", but observed that — when compared to the vivid "lunacy" of Lovecraft's writing — LaValle's prose is "grounded and sound in both mind and body" and ultimately "pedestrian".[10] Conversely, the Philadelphia Inquirer preferred LaValle's "sharp and direct sentences" to Lovecraft's "spongy prose".[11]

Adaptations

In 2017, AMC announced that it was planning a TV adaptation of The Ballad of Black Tom, with LaValle as co-executive producer.[12]

References
  1. 2016 Shirley Jackson Awards, retrieved October 7, 2017
  2. 2016 Bram Stoker Awards final ballot; at Horror.org; retrieved October 7, 2017
  3. SFWA Announces 2016 Nebula, Norton, and Bradbury Award Nominees!, at Science Fiction Writers of America; published February 20, 2017; retrieved October 7, 2017
  4. British Fantasy Awards 2017 – Shortlists, by Phil Lunt, at the British Fantasy Society; published July 14, 2017; retrieved October 7, 2017
  5. Sturgeon Award finalists Archived 2012-06-15 at the Wayback Machine; retrieved October 7, 2017
  6. 2017 Hugo Awards, at TheHugoAwards.org; retrieved October 7, 2017
  7. 2017 World Fantasy Award Finalists, at Locus Online; published July 26, 2017; retrieved October 7, 2017
  8. Lovecraft’s Black Monsters, by Tammy Oler, at Slate; published March 9, 2016; retrieved October 7, 2017
  9. Victor LaValle’s New Novel Is H. P. Lovecraft, Without the Horrific Racism, by Lincoln Michel, at Vice; published March 2, 2016; retrieved October 7, 2017
  10. #weird2016: The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle, reviewed by Nina Allan, at NinaAllan.co.uk; published April 23, 2016; retrieved October 7, 2017
  11. 'Ballad of Black Tom' Out-Lovecrafts Lovecraft, by Ryan Teitman, in the Philadelphia Inquirer; published July 31, 2016; retrieved October 7, 2017
  12. AMC’s “Ballad of Black Tom” Will Get Caught in a Lovecraftian Conspiracy, by John Squires, at Bloody Disgusting; published July 31, 2017; retrieved October 7, 2017
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