Ballad of Black Tom by Victor Lavalle 4/10

      So, most stories that borrow from the Lovecraft universe don't do it well. This is unfortunately not an exception to the rule. There are two ways of doing it poorly (that at least I've picked up on. You can either turn Cthulhu into this comic book mascot villain that really isn't that threatening, or you can take the obvious racism that is in the Lovecraft stories and use that to parallel the sort of  fear of the other that's in the stories and compare it to the racism that's also in the stories. This story took the latter option.
     This story wasn't a carbon copy of 'Lovecraft Country,' but it has a similar premise, and it plays out about as well. Both of these stories feel played out, and boring. Especially if you compare it to 'The Strain,' series by Chuck Hogan. It managed to pull of the homage and still feel original and fresh. The critique of racism actually worked in the context of what was happening.
    Novellas are supposed to have a swift emotional punch or at least have some flashy concept. This felt played out, and honestly just boring.