Victor LaValle
Victor LaValle is an African-American writer whose horror fiction engages with race, family, and American mythology in deeply original ways. The Ballad of Black Tom reimagines Lovecraft's The Horror at Red Hook from the perspective of a Black protagonist, brilliantly inverting the racial politics of the original. His novel The Devil in Silver was praised as a major work of literary horror.
Works
- The ChangelingModern retelling of changeling myth following father protecting mysterious foundling child
- Big MachineNovel about ex-con drawn into secret society with apocalyptic manuscript
- The Devil in SilverThriller set in psychiatric hospital where inmates struggle against institutional control
- DestroyerSpeculative thriller about woman hunted for possessing forbidden knowledge
- The Ballad of Black TomHistorical fiction reimagining Lovecraft tale from Black protagonist's perspective in Jim Crow era
- Slapboxing with Jesus
- Lucretia and the Kroons
- Lone WomenNovel about female con artist and detective pursuing high-stakes corruption case