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Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

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Victor LaValle is an American author who debuted as a novelist in 2002 with the release of The Ecstatic. He has since released more novels including Big Machine and The Changeling, as well as short stories, novellas, and the Destroyer graphic novel series.

LaValle was born in February 1972 in New York, in the United States. He spent his formative years in Queens, New York in Washington Heights. For his undergraduate studies, Victor LaValle enrolled at Cornell University for his Bachelor of Arts in English. For his postgraduate education, Victor LaValle pursued Masters of Fine Arts (Creative Writing) at Columbia University where he graduated in 1998. Presently, Victor LaValle works at the Columbia University where he serves as an Assistant Professor in the institution’s School of the Arts.

He has written for various renowned publications including the male lifestyle-oriented GQ, African-America-oriented Essence magazine, music-oriented The Fader magazine, and dailies such as The Washington Post.

Victor LaValle’s bibliography comprises of standalone novels, novellas, and collections. LaValle debuted in the early 2000s. LaValle’s debut novel was originally published in 2002, titled The Ecstatic. The said series is shelved under the literary fiction, comic novel, horror fiction, humor, and mental health genres.

Anthony James is the featured central character in the novel The Ecstatic by Victor LaValle. James has a plethora of problems. James, who is overweight, weighs a staggering 315 pounds, has been hounded out of college, and is suffering from schizophrenia. His sick grandmother, somewhat schizophrenic mother, and sister come to his aid.

The turning point in Victor LaValle’s debut book, The Ecstatic, is a call for virgin beauty queens. The whole family travels with the sister to the competition, a sojourn that might doom their family bond or stand it in good stead.

Victor LaValle Awards
Author Victor LaValle has clinched and been nominated for many literary awards. In 2003, LaValle was among those nominated for the PEN/Faulkner Award, in the Fiction category. Still in 2003, LaValle was nominated for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, also in the Fiction category. Both instances were courtesy of the debut novel.

Big Machine, a novel which Victor LaValle published in 2009 to critical acclaim, has so far clinched two literary awards. In 2010, that book bagged the American Book Award; in 2009, it clinched a second award—the Shirley Jackson Award in the Novel category.

LaValle’s Big Machine was, in 2010, nominated for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award in the fiction category. It also bagged the Ernest J. Gaines Award, wherein recipients are awarded by virtue of literary excellence.

In 2009, Victor LaValle’s Big Machine featured in a Los Angeles Times’ listing on Favorite Science Fiction books. It later featured in Chicago Tribune’s 2009 listing dubbed Favorite Fiction. In 2016, Victor LaValle was nominated for the Nebula Award, in the Best Novella category, courtesy of the 2016 novella entitled The Ballad of Black Tom. In the same year, the aforementioned novella was nominated for the Goodreads Choice Award in the Horror category.

In 2012, Victor LaValle was nominated for the Shirley Jackson Award, in the Novel category; his gateway to that nomination was the novel titled The Devil in Silver which he published in April 2002. In 2002, Victor LaValle clinched the PEN Open Book Award courtesy of his novel named Slapboxing with Jesus. In 2004, Victor LaValle clinched the Whiting Awards, in the Fiction category. In 2010, Victor LaValle clinched the Guggenheim Fellowship (Fiction). In 2006, LaValle bagged the United States Artists Ford Fellowship. In 2000, LaValle won the Bread Loaf Writer’s Fellowship.

To sum it up, LaValle literary works have won him several awards and many nominations. Moreover, the author has won fellowships and has had his work featured in favorite book listings.

Best Victor LaValle’s Books
The following are the best books written by Victor LaValle. The first one is his debut—The Ecstatic. There is no need to revisit it as it has already been discussed above.

The second one is Big Machine; this 2009 book is among the best by virtue of clinching literary awards. The book features central character Ricky Rice. The protagonist, who is middle-aged, is a drug abuser. Rice was working as a janitor in a New York-based bus station in the run-up to receiving a thought-provoking missive.

The letter tells him to live up to a promise that he made several years previously so he travels to a far-flung Vermont locality wherein he teams up with paranormal detectives. His counterparts have had problematic lives. Just like his colleagues, Rice heard a mystic voice which is presumed divine though there is no hard evidence. This is their mandate in their workplace, a library where they scour for paranormal newspaper reports.

The third and notable literary work is The Devil in Silver. This features protagonist Pepper who is incarcerated in a mental health facility where he is under a three-day-long psychiatric observation. In the facility, he survives death by a whisker after an attack by a devil that is partly an old man and partly a bison. He marshals other detainees and, amid their personal shortcomings, they decide to start sleuthing.

Other Books You May Like
Bibliophiles who enjoyed the books authored by Victor LaValle also liked the following suchlike standalone books.

The first one is called The Good Negress authored by A. J. Verdelle. Revolving around the 1950/60 time-frame, this novel features protagonist Denise Palms, a child character aged twelve. Palms leaves Virginia’s country life and embraces Detroit’s city life in a bid to help her pregnant mother. Palms’ auspicious intellegence is noted by a teacher who coaches her English lessons. Palms must surmount her demanding household chores and family problems to get her own identity.

The second one is entitled Fever Chart authored by Bill Cotter. It features Jerome Coe, a homeless man suffering from psychosis. He has nothing to lose when he hitches a ride from New England to New Orleans wherein he finds gratification before old rivals throw a wrench in the works.

The third one is entitled Man Gone Down authored by Michael Thomas. The 2007 book features an anonymous Black American, who is married to a white spouse, on the quest for an elusive American Dream. Unfortunately he is broke and separated from his family; worse still, the gateway to their reunion is footing bills, especially rent and his children’s tuition payments, within few days.