{"product_id":"the-ballad-of-black-tom-9780765387868","title":"The Ballad of Black Tom","description":"\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 \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003ePeople move to New York looking for magic and nothing will convince them it isn't there. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA storm that might swallow the world is building in Brooklyn. Will Black Tom live to see it break? \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\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 \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\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 \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\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\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eVictor LaValle is the author of the short story collection \u003ci\u003eSlapboxing with Jesus\u003c\/i\u003e, several novels, including \u003ci\u003eThe Ecstatic\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eBig Machine\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe Devil in Silver\u003c\/i\u003e, and an ebook-only novella, \u003ci\u003eLucretia and the Kroons\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHe has been the recipient of numerous awards including a Whiting Writers' Award, a United States Artists Ford Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship and the key to Southeast Queens. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHe was raised in Queens, New York. He now lives in Washington Heights with his wife and son. He teaches at Columbia University.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Tordotcom","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50598411534610,"sku":"9780765387868","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_8e1651b9-aed2-45e4-bd46-ce96f4498c0b.jpg?v=1745860640","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-ballad-of-black-tom-9780765387868","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}