The Ballad of Black Tom

The Ballad of Black Tom

• Victor LaValle

ISBN-10: 0765387867 · ISBN-13: 978‑0765387868 · 2016

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Completeness 48

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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 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. Victor LaValle is the author of the short story collection Slapboxing with Jesus , several novels, including The Ecstatic , Big Machine , and The Devil in Silver , and an ebook-only novella, Lucretia and the Kroons . He 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. He was raised in Queens, New York. He now lives in Washington Heights with his wife and son. He teaches at Columbia University.

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