The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle was a quick read on my Kindle app, but there is a reason it was nominated for the 2016 Bram Stoker award for long fiction (losing out to The Winter Box by Tim Waggoner, which just might be up soon on my summer reading list).
It's an excellent read. I stumbled upon this work after reading The Fisherman by John Langan, which happened to win the 2016 Bram Stoker award for best horror novel of the year. What these works have in common is that they are part of the Lovecraft mythos.
If you're unfamiliar, the Lovecraft mythos is based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft. In short, Lovecraft invented this mythos of these horrific 'elder' gods that once ruled our universe but have somehow been banished. They are evil beings who see humanity as we may view ants or mosquitoes. These elder gods are always seeking ways to break through back to our universe to rule again. Worse still, there are some people who have stumbled upon the 'forbidden' works that talk of these elder gods and these people are seeking to help them return.
What I enjoyed about The Ballad of Black Tom so much is that it's a wonderfully original spin on Lovercraft's work. Yes, it features the seminal 'elder' god of Lovercraft's work, Cthulhu, but it is just done so cleverly.
First, this story is a re-telling of Lovecraft's story "The Horror at Red-Hook." But it is told from the point of view of what would have been a very minor character in that story, an African American musician in Harlem.
Second, what I love about this story is that LaValle's giving Lovecraft the literary equivalent of the finger, for Lovecraft was a racist, and LaValle's casts an African American as the "hero" of the tale!
Third, LaValle writes in a style that is far more clear and easy to digest that the Lovecraft style of overblown, daunting sentences (think of a poor man's want-to-be Edgar Allan Poe).
Fourth, the story begins a bit slow, but it picks up quickly and is a hell of a ride all the way until the horrific climax.
This type of original take has me re-thinking assignments for a creative writing class. What other stories could students (and their teachers) write from the point of view of minor characters?
What about writing from the cat's perspective in Poe's "The Black Cat," or from Dr. Halsey's point of view in "Herbert West: Re-animotor" by Lovecraft, or from Davie Hutchinson's point of view in "The Lottery"? Oh, the possibilities.
Okay, enough of that. On to the tale: Charles Tommy Tester is a street musician in Harlem. The year is 1924, and we first meet Tom as he is delivering a mysterious book to Mat Att in Queens. The book is a mysterious one, with the last few pages ripped out by Tom as a precaution. Apparently, the book has the potential - if fallen into the wrong hands - to help bring back some of the elder gods, though we don't learn of this until later.
A few days later, Tom is stopped by Robert Suydam (who is the main character in Lovecraft's "The Horror at Red-Hook"), who asks Tom to play at a party he is having in a few days. Tom accepts the man's offer and the money he will pay him.
This is where things get really interesting as Suydam is going to wake Cthulhu up from his other dimension and bring him into ours. Suydam believes that whoever does this will be treated like a king by the god and be spared the destruction that will surely come to everyone else. Suydam believes the mistreated immigrants of New York will be eager to help him - and to be treated well by Cthulhu as well - to help topple the racist white world around them.
I won't spoil it for you, but it's a wild ride. I loved reading every world. If you're looking to dip your toe into the Lovecraft mythos, give The Ballad of Black Tom a go. It's worth the couple of hours of reading.
Up next summer read #6: Thinner by Stephen King/Richard Bachman.
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