{"id":1982,"date":"2018-06-06T17:33:29","date_gmt":"2018-06-06T21:33:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/?p=1982"},"modified":"2018-06-06T17:33:29","modified_gmt":"2018-06-06T21:33:29","slug":"the-ballad-of-black-tom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/the-ballad-of-black-tom\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ballad of Black Tom"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a person who\u2019s attempting to write thoughtful, modern weird fiction, I found\u00a0The Ballad of Black Tom<\/em><\/a>\u00a0by Victor LaValle to be a pure delight. Go read this one, folks! It\u2019s a fabulous novella. The narrative is very much in a dialog with (and functions as a razor-sharp rebuttal to) H.P. Lovecraft\u2019s story \u201cThe Horror at Red Hook<\/a>.\u201d Narratively, this is a re-telling and very smart expansion of Lovecraft\u2019s story and tells the tale of Tom Tester, who at the start of the book aspires to be an entertainer but quickly gets swept up in eldritch horrors.<\/p>\n

[Spoilers follow; if you don\u2019t want to know the ending of the book before you read it for yourself, continue no further. And yes, it\u2019s rather different than Lovecraft\u2019s story.]<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tester\u2019s evolution from being a bit of a hustler but an essentially decent, caring young man to a sorcerer who murders an entire room full of police and sets the stage for Cthulhu\u2019s awakening is shown to be the direct consequence of the unrelenting brutality of white supremacy. In contrast, the second viewpoint character, Detective Malone (who is the protagonist of Lovecraft\u2019s original story) is shown to drive the plot largely through his selfish curiosity and callous disregard for the people the police bully and murder. Malone\u00a0could<\/em>\u00a0have been Tester\u2019s ally,\u00a0could<\/em>\u00a0have saved the world, but he constantly retreats into his own privilege and turns a blind eye to the horrific injustices happening right in front of him.<\/p>\n

At the climax of the book, Tester literally and figuratively removes Malone\u2019s blindness by slashing off the detective\u2019s eyelids with a razor blade and forcing him to behold Cthulhu sleeping in his lair. The rest of the commentary in the book is just as cutting. In the original story, the somewhat brutish private investigators that Malone is forced to work with go without names or dialog. In LaValle\u2019s retelling, there\u2019s just one ham-fisted P.I., and he\u2019s named Howard, after Lovecraft himself.<\/p>\n

For me, the greatest moment of horror in the book came not from any Lovecraftian abominations but in Howard\u2019s casual description of his murder of Tom\u2019s disabled, harmless father in his own home, which is chillingly familiar to anyone who\u2019s paying attention to\u00a0the police brutality that sparked the Black Lives Matter movement:<\/p>\n

Mr. Howard pointed at the building. \u201cBecause of the orientation of the apartment, the back bedroom faces an air shaft. This left the back room in darkness. After defending myself, it was discovered that the assailant had not been brandishing a rifle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Malone, who\u2019d been watching Tester steadily, offered, \u201cIt was a guitar.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow many times did you shoot my father?\u201d Tester asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt in danger for my life,\u201d Mr. Howard said. \u201cI emptied my revolver. Then I reloaded and did it again.\u201d (LaValle 54-57)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The thing that most impressed me about LaValle\u2019s novel is the dialog he engages in throughout the narrative with Lovecraft\u2019s original story. For instance, in the scene where Tester visits Suydam, the cult leader\u2019s speech is largely a direct quote of Lovecraft\u2019s text:<\/p>\n

\u201cYour people,\u201d Robert Suydam began. \u201cYour people are forced to live in mazes of hybrid squalor. It\u2019s all sound and filth and spiritual putrescence \u2026 Policemen despair of order or reform and seek rather to erect barriers protecting the outside world from the contagion,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

Tommy held the neck of the guitar tightly. \u201cYou talking about Harlem?\u201d<\/p>\n

The spell broke. \u201cWhat?\u201d Suydam said. \u201cOh damn you! Why did you interrupt?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m trying to understand what in the hell place you\u2019re talking about. It doesn\u2019t sound like anywhere I\u2019ve ever lived.\u201d (LaValle 39).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In these exchanges, LaValle pointedly highlights and exposes the pernicious racial lies embedded in the original story, fixes Lovecraft\u2019s\u00a0world building problems by giving people\u00a0compelling human motivations, and deepens the story through his own retelling. It\u2019s a masterful piece of work. This is an excellent novel for anyone who wants to see how a modern retelling of a racist story can tackle the issues head-on.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Works Cited<\/strong><\/p>\n

LaValle, Victor D.\u00a0The Ballad of Black Tom<\/em>. New York: Macmillan, 2016. Electronic.<\/p>\n

Lovecraft, H.P. \u201cThe Horror at Red Hook.\u201d\u00a0DagonBytes<\/em>. Dagon\u2019s Webworks, 23 Oct. 2002. Web. 5 Mar. 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a person who\u2019s attempting to write thoughtful, modern weird fiction, I found\u00a0The Ballad of Black Tom\u00a0by Victor LaValle to be a pure delight. Go […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1984,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[31,38,35],"tags":[9,99,136],"class_list":["post-1982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-review","category-fiction","category-horror","tag-horror","tag-lovecraft","tag-victor-lavalle"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/ballad.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8qT6f-vY","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1978,"url":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/the-horror-at-red-hook\/","url_meta":{"origin":1982,"position":0},"title":"The Horror at Red Hook","author":"Lucy A. Snyder","date":"June 6, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cThe Horror at Red Hook\u201d is a short story by\u00a0H.P. Lovecraft\u00a0that first appeared in the January 1927 issue of\u00a0Weird Tales. The\u00a0protagonist\u00a0of the story is Detective Malone, who investigates a series of kidnappings linked to a mysterious recluse named Suydam. The recluse has been involved in shadowy dealings with gangsters and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "book review"","block_context":{"text":"book review","link":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/category\/book-review\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/H._P._Lovecraft_June_1934-e1528320012630.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1436,"url":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/whats-weird-fiction\/","url_meta":{"origin":1982,"position":1},"title":"What’s Weird Fiction?","author":"Lucy A. Snyder","date":"July 12, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Weird fiction can refer to a couple of different types of literature, depending on who's discussing which books and stories. 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Snyder","date":"April 5, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cThe Call of Cthulhu\u201d is probably\u00a0H.P. Lovecraft's most enduring and influential\u00a0story. It\u2019s been reprinted and borrowed from and adapted in thousands of ways since its publication in\u00a0Weird Tales\u00a0in 1928. Lovecraft, a\u00a0movie\u00a0fan, would probably approve of the faithfully retro black-and-white film of his tale released by\u00a0H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society\u00a0in 2005;\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "book review"","block_context":{"text":"book review","link":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/category\/book-review\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/call_of_cthulu_logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/call_of_cthulu_logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/call_of_cthulu_logo.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/call_of_cthulu_logo.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1952,"url":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/at-the-mountains-of-madness\/","url_meta":{"origin":1982,"position":3},"title":"At The Mountains of Madness","author":"Lucy A. Snyder","date":"May 9, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"At The Mountains of Madness\u00a0is one of H.P. Lovecraft\u2019s most influential novels. Written in 1931, it presents the first-person narration of Dr. William Dyer, a geologist at Miskatonic University. Dyer is a survivor of a paleontological drilling expedition to the Antarctic and he tells the reader that he is telling\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "book review"","block_context":{"text":"book review","link":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/category\/book-review\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Roerich_GradObr.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Roerich_GradObr.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Roerich_GradObr.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Roerich_GradObr.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Roerich_GradObr.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3035,"url":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/come-join-us-by-the-fire\/","url_meta":{"origin":1982,"position":4},"title":"Come Join Us by the Fire, an Audio Horror Anthology","author":"Lucy A. Snyder","date":"October 17, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm extremely pleased to announce that my story \"That Which Does Not Kill You\" appears in the new audio anthology Come Join Us by the Fire. The anthology was just released by Nightfire, the new horror imprint from Tor Books. You can download the anthology for free at Google Play.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "publishing"","block_context":{"text":"publishing","link":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/category\/publishing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/NightfireAudio_Anthology_Twitter.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/NightfireAudio_Anthology_Twitter.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/NightfireAudio_Anthology_Twitter.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/NightfireAudio_Anthology_Twitter.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1827,"url":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/on-being-nineteen\/","url_meta":{"origin":1982,"position":5},"title":"On Being Nineteen","author":"Lucy A. Snyder","date":"March 20, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"When I started reading Stephen King\u2019s\u00a0Dark Tower\u00a0novels, one of the things that resonated with me is his introduction, \u201cOn Being Nineteen\u201d, which is included in each book in the series (at least the editions I\u2019ve been reading). 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