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Black Stars #6
We Travel the Spaceways
Otherworldly interference in real-world New York City? Or delusions? For the answer, follow two loving strangers in an astonishing short story of faith and hope by a World Fantasy Award winner.
Grimace is a homeless man on a holy mission to free Black Americans from emotional slavery. His empty soda cans told him as much. Then he meets Kim, a transgender runaway who joins Grimace on his heroic quest. Is Grimace receiving aluminum missives from the gods, or is he a madman? Kim will find out soon enough on a strange journey they’ve been destined to share.
Victor LaValle’s We Travel the Spaceways is part of Black Stars, a multi-dimensional collection of speculative fiction from Black authors. Each story is a world much like our own. Read or listen to them in a single sitting.
Grimace is a homeless man on a holy mission to free Black Americans from emotional slavery. His empty soda cans told him as much. Then he meets Kim, a transgender runaway who joins Grimace on his heroic quest. Is Grimace receiving aluminum missives from the gods, or is he a madman? Kim will find out soon enough on a strange journey they’ve been destined to share.
Victor LaValle’s We Travel the Spaceways is part of Black Stars, a multi-dimensional collection of speculative fiction from Black authors. Each story is a world much like our own. Read or listen to them in a single sitting.
40 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 31, 2021
262 people are currently reading
1026 people want to read
About the author
Victor LaValle
139 books3,610 followersVictor LaValle is the author of the short story collection Slapboxing with Jesus, four novels, The Ecstatic, Big Machine, The Devil in Silver, and The Changeling and two novellas, Lucretia and the Kroons and The Ballad of Black Tom. He is also the creator and writer of a comic book Victor LaValle's DESTROYER.
He has been the recipient of numerous awards including a Whiting Writers' Award, a United States Artists Ford Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Shirley Jackson Award, an American Book Award, and the key to Southeast Queens.
He was raised in Queens, New York. He now lives in Washington Heights with his wife and kids. He teaches at Columbia University.
He can be kind of hard to reach, but he still loves you.
He has been the recipient of numerous awards including a Whiting Writers' Award, a United States Artists Ford Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Shirley Jackson Award, an American Book Award, and the key to Southeast Queens.
He was raised in Queens, New York. He now lives in Washington Heights with his wife and kids. He teaches at Columbia University.
He can be kind of hard to reach, but he still loves you.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 336 reviews
November 12, 2023
In a Nutshell: Good, not great. Interesting concept but somewhat jumpy execution. Might have worked better if lengthier.
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Story Synopsis:
This story is a part of ‘Black Stars’, described by Amazon as ‘a multi-dimensional collection of speculative fiction from Black authors. Each story is a world much like our own.’
Of all the stories I have read in this collection, this one explores the intricacies of the word ‘speculative’ in the most curious manner. As we hear Grimace’s story in his own first-person perspective, it is confusing to see him having bizarre conversations with his soda cans and spouting astronomical facts out of the blue. His character provides this story with a greater challenge, as we are forced to overcome our internal biases against a possibly-crazy homeless person and explore an unexpected possibility.
Kim has a smaller role in the story as she comes on the scene much later, though she does end up making a mark. Having a transgender character reveal her emotional struggles and overcoming her insecurities within the word-count restrictions of a short story is a tough task, but the author handles this well.
I can’t forget to mention the seemingly omniscient soda cans who are always ready to relay messages and advice to Grimace. They made for entertaining characters, with their personalities matching their brands.
The pace is quite slow at the start and also has a few logical jumps, but the second half does better in filling in most of the gaps. The religious angle in the story is subtle, but thought-inducing.
Even with these positives, I can’t help but feel that the story could have done better. There was so much potential with that mysterious divine angle and the big reveal at the end, but unfortunately, the elaborations are minimal and the writing, too disjointed. With too many things left unsaid, this story simply doesn’t impress the way it could have.
Moreover, the first person pov serves as a limitation. The story become hard to follow as Grimace seems to meander here, there and everywhere not just physically but also mentally. The result is a somewhat chaotic ride through his thoughts and actions, until we finally figure out what’s he doing and why.
All in all, this is a decent story, though not the best in the collection by far. A one-time read, which might not stay in your mind for long but will offer some points to think about as long as it is open on your screen.
3 stars.
This standalone work is the sixth story in the “Black Stars” collection, and is currently available free to Amazon Prime subscribers.
I have read five stories of this collection, and won’t be reading the last one as it is rated quite poorly on Goodreads and I don’t want to waste my time.
My favourite from ‘Black Stars’: These Alien Skies by C.T. Rwizi.
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Connect with me through:
My Blog | The StoryGraph | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Story Synopsis:
‘Grimace’ is a homeless drifter, fending for himself by eating what he can find in dumpsters of fast food outlets. He is also a man on a religious mission. A mission that is delivered to him by his empty soda cans, who are somehow bringing him instructions from beyond his realm of understanding.
When he bumps into Kim, a transgender woman who is battling her own demons, the two unite on the quest. Is Grimace actually executing the tasks of some divine entity who speaks to him through metal cans, or has he just lost his mind?
The story comes to us in the first person perspective of Grimace.
This story is a part of ‘Black Stars’, described by Amazon as ‘a multi-dimensional collection of speculative fiction from Black authors. Each story is a world much like our own.’
Of all the stories I have read in this collection, this one explores the intricacies of the word ‘speculative’ in the most curious manner. As we hear Grimace’s story in his own first-person perspective, it is confusing to see him having bizarre conversations with his soda cans and spouting astronomical facts out of the blue. His character provides this story with a greater challenge, as we are forced to overcome our internal biases against a possibly-crazy homeless person and explore an unexpected possibility.
Kim has a smaller role in the story as she comes on the scene much later, though she does end up making a mark. Having a transgender character reveal her emotional struggles and overcoming her insecurities within the word-count restrictions of a short story is a tough task, but the author handles this well.
I can’t forget to mention the seemingly omniscient soda cans who are always ready to relay messages and advice to Grimace. They made for entertaining characters, with their personalities matching their brands.
The pace is quite slow at the start and also has a few logical jumps, but the second half does better in filling in most of the gaps. The religious angle in the story is subtle, but thought-inducing.
Even with these positives, I can’t help but feel that the story could have done better. There was so much potential with that mysterious divine angle and the big reveal at the end, but unfortunately, the elaborations are minimal and the writing, too disjointed. With too many things left unsaid, this story simply doesn’t impress the way it could have.
Moreover, the first person pov serves as a limitation. The story become hard to follow as Grimace seems to meander here, there and everywhere not just physically but also mentally. The result is a somewhat chaotic ride through his thoughts and actions, until we finally figure out what’s he doing and why.
All in all, this is a decent story, though not the best in the collection by far. A one-time read, which might not stay in your mind for long but will offer some points to think about as long as it is open on your screen.
3 stars.
This standalone work is the sixth story in the “Black Stars” collection, and is currently available free to Amazon Prime subscribers.
I have read five stories of this collection, and won’t be reading the last one as it is rated quite poorly on Goodreads and I don’t want to waste my time.
My favourite from ‘Black Stars’: These Alien Skies by C.T. Rwizi.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Connect with me through:
My Blog | The StoryGraph | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter
May 16, 2025
4.5 stars
shortish review for busy readers:
While burning churches and other places of worship is about as defensible as book burning, LaValle has managed to write a highly convincing explanation for why someone, albeit a strange someone, would.
He's also managed to pen one of the best Amazon Original Stories I've read yet and the only one I've wished was a novella, not a short.
I really loved a lot of the details - esp the fizzy drink cans that act as transmitters - and found the characters with their mission and the semi-Pagan leaning of the story premise highly engaging. I'd of loved to have more time with this idea!
shortish review for busy readers:
While burning churches and other places of worship is about as defensible as book burning, LaValle has managed to write a highly convincing explanation for why someone, albeit a strange someone, would.
He's also managed to pen one of the best Amazon Original Stories I've read yet and the only one I've wished was a novella, not a short.
I really loved a lot of the details - esp the fizzy drink cans that act as transmitters - and found the characters with their mission and the semi-Pagan leaning of the story premise highly engaging. I'd of loved to have more time with this idea!
August 5, 2022
3.5 stars
Really interesting concept, though I wanted more from the story than I got. We Travel the Spaceways follows a homeless Black man who gets instructions from beings speaking to him through empty soda bottles. But it's also a love story and the love interest is a trans woman. I don't want to say too much more, but I think the idea of forgotten and misunderstood people being able to hear or see beyond is a cool one. This also has a very strong sense of place and as a New Yorker, I easily recognized many of the locations described.
Really interesting concept, though I wanted more from the story than I got. We Travel the Spaceways follows a homeless Black man who gets instructions from beings speaking to him through empty soda bottles. But it's also a love story and the love interest is a trans woman. I don't want to say too much more, but I think the idea of forgotten and misunderstood people being able to hear or see beyond is a cool one. This also has a very strong sense of place and as a New Yorker, I easily recognized many of the locations described.
September 8, 2025
The Ancient Ones and Grimace.
Grimace loves McDonald’s. He just doesn’t like the name, Grimace. Is it because he’s purple? He doesn’t know. He does know that he can talk to the ancient Gods, through his old bottles and his old cans.
They tell him where to go. They tell him what to do. They tell him why he should. They tell him everything he needs to know. They are all empowering.
One day he meets Kim. A girl who gives him some French fries and a hamburger. He is extremely hungry. He hasn’t eaten in 48 hours. Boy is he starving.
Kim becomes a great friend. He shares with her his secrets. Of his special talents and he expects her to be complicit in his activities. But Kim is more than capable of doing what he does and is a very smart compatriot. Give this book five stars.
Five stars. ✨✨✨✨✨
Grimace loves McDonald’s. He just doesn’t like the name, Grimace. Is it because he’s purple? He doesn’t know. He does know that he can talk to the ancient Gods, through his old bottles and his old cans.
They tell him where to go. They tell him what to do. They tell him why he should. They tell him everything he needs to know. They are all empowering.
One day he meets Kim. A girl who gives him some French fries and a hamburger. He is extremely hungry. He hasn’t eaten in 48 hours. Boy is he starving.
Kim becomes a great friend. He shares with her his secrets. Of his special talents and he expects her to be complicit in his activities. But Kim is more than capable of doing what he does and is a very smart compatriot. Give this book five stars.
Five stars. ✨✨✨✨✨
February 15, 2023
Oh, my heart!
What a unique, unusual, and unexpected story this is! WE TRAVEL THE SPACEWAYS by Victor LaValle is book 6 in the Black Stars Amazon Original Series.
We meet Grimace, a homeless man searching for food and on a mission from the gods that talk to him through empty bottles and cans he has collected.
One day, he meets Kim at a Mcdonald's and she supplies him with some human essentials he hasn't had in a long time, kindness, food, and touch.
Ugh, LaValle knows just how to say the perfect thing and when to say it at *just* the right moment. I loved this so much...these two characters who fall in love and I'm sad my time with them was so short.
What a unique, unusual, and unexpected story this is! WE TRAVEL THE SPACEWAYS by Victor LaValle is book 6 in the Black Stars Amazon Original Series.
We meet Grimace, a homeless man searching for food and on a mission from the gods that talk to him through empty bottles and cans he has collected.
One day, he meets Kim at a Mcdonald's and she supplies him with some human essentials he hasn't had in a long time, kindness, food, and touch.
Ugh, LaValle knows just how to say the perfect thing and when to say it at *just* the right moment. I loved this so much...these two characters who fall in love and I'm sad my time with them was so short.
December 9, 2021
Wow. A solid finish to this collection — bravo to whoever put together the ordering of this set of stories.
We Travel the Spaceways was unique and tender, developing a quiet story which I will miss visiting. LaValle has written a story that felt vast and full of possibilities by the end, and I think it has worked its way to being my favorite of the bunch. Wonderful writing and brilliant characters.
Audiobook, as narrated by Brian Tyree Henry: Brian Tyree Henry really nailed this performance. His voice is soft and strong and heartfelt. The delivery was serious and inviting, perfect for these characters.
We Travel the Spaceways was unique and tender, developing a quiet story which I will miss visiting. LaValle has written a story that felt vast and full of possibilities by the end, and I think it has worked its way to being my favorite of the bunch. Wonderful writing and brilliant characters.
Audiobook, as narrated by Brian Tyree Henry: Brian Tyree Henry really nailed this performance. His voice is soft and strong and heartfelt. The delivery was serious and inviting, perfect for these characters.
November 5, 2021
I loved the narrating voice and the characters of Kim and Grimace, but I didn't care much for the writing style or the premise. I'm not particularly fond of what by all appearances is severe mental illness being portrayed as supernatural, especially when it leads to extremes such as the burning of Black churches (and mosques) because soda cans allegedly possessed by the old gods demanded it. I'm uncomfortable with that on so many levels, none of which I'm keen on trying to articulate right now. I just can't handle it; it makes me feel extremely unsettled and not in the pleasant way of, say, a thriller or horror story.
Having dialogue from secondary characters - including the cans and bottles - followed not by proper prose but rather by square bracketed comments was just the nail in the coffin for my reading experience. For example:
This just isn't my cup of tea. I prefer peppermint and this is spearmint: close to something I'd love, but just... not. Forty-something pages felt more like a couple hundred, for how much mental energy this required and how uneasy the main plot made me.
I'm still awarding two stars because the characters of Grimace and Kim are highly engaging and the concept would have been epic if only it didn't rely on turning mental illness into a superpower and glorifying the burning of sacred places because the people worshipping there were following the 'wrong' idols. (There's a reason police in the story perceive it as a hate crime, and I'm flabbergasted the author recognized this yet still wrote the story as is.) Additionally, I recognize the main complaint might be a me-problem - and one that only exists because the story used real life religions not fake ones and there's enough destruction of holy places based on religious self-superiority in real life, especially mosques. Also, there's the whole 'it's not mental illness, it's legit and a special power' trope which I am beyond tired of right now. So, yeah. Maybe it's just me, but I feel strongly enough not to rate this any higher.
Side note: Kim is a transwoman who is visibly recognized as assigned male at birth and half a foot taller than Grimace. Yet, the woman on the cover is clearly smaller than him and passes easily as a cis woman. I'm a little disappointed with whoever made the cover for not properly portraying Kim's appearance. She deserves to look like herself, not how people generally expect women to look.
Having dialogue from secondary characters - including the cans and bottles - followed not by proper prose but rather by square bracketed comments was just the nail in the coffin for my reading experience. For example:
“You don’t have time for this.” [Dr Pepper; spilling out of the bag so she could survey the room]
This just isn't my cup of tea. I prefer peppermint and this is spearmint: close to something I'd love, but just... not. Forty-something pages felt more like a couple hundred, for how much mental energy this required and how uneasy the main plot made me.
I'm still awarding two stars because the characters of Grimace and Kim are highly engaging and the concept would have been epic if only it didn't rely on turning mental illness into a superpower and glorifying the burning of sacred places because the people worshipping there were following the 'wrong' idols. (There's a reason police in the story perceive it as a hate crime, and I'm flabbergasted the author recognized this yet still wrote the story as is.) Additionally, I recognize the main complaint might be a me-problem - and one that only exists because the story used real life religions not fake ones and there's enough destruction of holy places based on religious self-superiority in real life, especially mosques. Also, there's the whole 'it's not mental illness, it's legit and a special power' trope which I am beyond tired of right now. So, yeah. Maybe it's just me, but I feel strongly enough not to rate this any higher.
Side note: Kim is a transwoman who is visibly recognized as assigned male at birth and half a foot taller than Grimace. Yet, the woman on the cover is clearly smaller than him and passes easily as a cis woman. I'm a little disappointed with whoever made the cover for not properly portraying Kim's appearance. She deserves to look like herself, not how people generally expect women to look.
September 14, 2021
4 / 5 stars
Like most other stories in this collection, this was weird, but the kind of weird I really like! It also helps tremendously that Victor LaValle did not only vividly capture the streets of New York City but was also able to give his protagonist a very distictive voice in such a short time. Definitely a good reminder for me to finally pick up more by this author!
content notes:
◦ moderate: mental illness
◦ minor: deadnaming
September 29, 2023
Unfortunately, pathos does not trump a frustrating lack of logic and coherence.
July 24, 2025
3,0 ✨✨✨
(Audiobook)
(Audiobook)
January 26, 2023
I finished this series woohoo!! Sadly none of the stories were exactly to my taste, but I'll still check out the authors I didn't already know from before.
November 23, 2021
Sun Ra and H.P. Lovecraft Mashup
Review of the Amazon Original Kindle eBook (August 2021)
We Travel the Spaceways was yet another favourite of mine in Amazon Original's Black Stars series. Like Nisi Shawls's 2043… it takes its title inspiration from a music work, although neither author acknowledges that in the story itself. So it is more from my own early listening in experimental music from the 1960s and 1970s that I noticed the Jimi Hendrix and Sun Ra references.
Victor Lavalle's We Travel... casts a much wider net though and manages to incorporate subplots of homelessness, possible mental illness, transgender identification, religion, old Gods (that is the H.P. Lovecraft tie-in, although Lovecraft's Cthulhu is obviously something completely different), and interstellar travel into the brief space of a 40 page Kindle story. It perhaps doesn't even leave the earth, some interpretation is left up to the reader, but manages to travel an extensive journey regardless. Possibly the standout story of the collection.
We Travel the Spaceways is the 6th of the 6 short stories making up the speculative / fantasy / science fiction series Black Stars, released simultaneously on August 31, 2021 as an eBook by Amazon Originals and as an audiobook by Audible Originals.
Trivia and Link
* We Travel the Spaceways (1959) is the title track of the same-titled Sun Ra LP which was first issued in 1967 on the Sun Ra Arkestra's own record label El Saturn.
Review of the Amazon Original Kindle eBook (August 2021)
We travel the spaceways,
from planet to planet.
We travel the spaceways,
from planet to planet. - lyrics to We Travel the Spaceways* by Sun Ra (1914-1993)
We Travel the Spaceways was yet another favourite of mine in Amazon Original's Black Stars series. Like Nisi Shawls's 2043… it takes its title inspiration from a music work, although neither author acknowledges that in the story itself. So it is more from my own early listening in experimental music from the 1960s and 1970s that I noticed the Jimi Hendrix and Sun Ra references.
Victor Lavalle's We Travel... casts a much wider net though and manages to incorporate subplots of homelessness, possible mental illness, transgender identification, religion, old Gods (that is the H.P. Lovecraft tie-in, although Lovecraft's Cthulhu is obviously something completely different), and interstellar travel into the brief space of a 40 page Kindle story. It perhaps doesn't even leave the earth, some interpretation is left up to the reader, but manages to travel an extensive journey regardless. Possibly the standout story of the collection.
We Travel the Spaceways is the 6th of the 6 short stories making up the speculative / fantasy / science fiction series Black Stars, released simultaneously on August 31, 2021 as an eBook by Amazon Originals and as an audiobook by Audible Originals.
Trivia and Link
* We Travel the Spaceways (1959) is the title track of the same-titled Sun Ra LP which was first issued in 1967 on the Sun Ra Arkestra's own record label El Saturn.
October 8, 2021
So refreshingly original!
Meet Grimace, a homeless man living in NYC. He is on a one man mission to free African Americans from spiritual enslavement. He carries with him a bag of friends, aluminium cans and a Coke bottle who help him on his mission. Is he mentally ill or is there more to the stinky man who talks, no yells at a garbage bag?
One night he meets his soulmate Kim, also an outcast of society. And so begins their journey to discovering themselves and each other.
I loved this story. I especially loved the narration on the audio.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25
Meet Grimace, a homeless man living in NYC. He is on a one man mission to free African Americans from spiritual enslavement. He carries with him a bag of friends, aluminium cans and a Coke bottle who help him on his mission. Is he mentally ill or is there more to the stinky man who talks, no yells at a garbage bag?
One night he meets his soulmate Kim, also an outcast of society. And so begins their journey to discovering themselves and each other.
I loved this story. I especially loved the narration on the audio.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25
November 24, 2021
Audio Follow-up
Review of the Audible Original audiobook (August 2021)
I reviewed the Kindle eBook edition of We Travel the Spaceways in Sun Ra and H.P. Lovecraft Mashup, but was curious enough to want to hear how the audiobook version was performed. I had imagined that perhaps the voicings of the bottles and cans might lend itself towards an exaggerated performance, but the narration by actor Brian Tyree Henry was solid and sympathetic and was delivered with gravitas.
We Travel the Spaceways is the 6th of the 6 short stories making up the speculative / fantasy / science fiction series Black Stars, released simultaneously on August 31, 2021 as an eBook by Amazon Originals and as an audiobook by Audible Originals.
Review of the Audible Original audiobook (August 2021)
I reviewed the Kindle eBook edition of We Travel the Spaceways in Sun Ra and H.P. Lovecraft Mashup, but was curious enough to want to hear how the audiobook version was performed. I had imagined that perhaps the voicings of the bottles and cans might lend itself towards an exaggerated performance, but the narration by actor Brian Tyree Henry was solid and sympathetic and was delivered with gravitas.
We Travel the Spaceways is the 6th of the 6 short stories making up the speculative / fantasy / science fiction series Black Stars, released simultaneously on August 31, 2021 as an eBook by Amazon Originals and as an audiobook by Audible Originals.
September 26, 2021
2 Stars
I didn't get it. Why was he doing the things he was doing?? It didn't make sense. The ancestors would NOT go about communication that way. WTF?
I didn't get it. Why was he doing the things he was doing?? It didn't make sense. The ancestors would NOT go about communication that way. WTF?
September 10, 2021
Victor LaValle's specialty lately seems to be marginalized people - the homeless, the mentally ill, people who are ignored by large swathes of humanity because they don't want to deal. Here, a homeless man, named Grimace for his large purple jacket, moves around the city setting fires to black churches while he speaks with the cans of soda in his shoulder sack. Is he crazy? Is he sane? Or is he on some special mission? Awesome stuff - I loved it.
February 9, 2022
Nice story. The twists were pretty good.
February 29, 2024
This one slipped through the clutches of my adoration fast.
- I suppose I'm still hearing the echo of The Ballad of Black Tom and the writing there was gripping.
Maybe the writing is meant to be stilted and almost cluttered to mirror Grimace's mind and grasp on UY Scuty and New York? If so it was a success but it tilted just shy of great for me and has settled into my realm of that's nice.
Plot/Storyline/Themes:
See there'll be one eternal question everytime I think of this book.
Was Grimace just hallucinating until he was killed if he was even killed?
Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters: -2⭐
Uhm... his trashcans in the garbage bag are women (except for Cherry Coke who seems to be the male voice of action, offering tangible ways in and not talking a whole lot - as in the females yap yap yap whilst the male bottle is relied upon when actually needed?) I don't think I like how I feel about that even though they were keeping him going (well technically he was talking to a garbage bag full of trashed cans so he appears insane).🤷🏻♀️
Is it on purpose? Would Grimace be a genius albeit a raging mysoginist if he had power (and money) and wasn't slumming it on the streets or is it a subconscious thing the author let slip into his work? I'm rooting for the former please please because I just starting falling into the LaValle rabbithole of intense storytelling.
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Scene:
This was painful: Grimace at McDonalds
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “My mind was awake, but my body hadn’t quite caught up. Oh, sleep paralysis, my old friend, you are always fucking with me.” (Hey Don't even joke, my sleep paralysis demon has been MIA)
🖤 “The crowds parted for us.
They were scared. Or disgusted. No matter the reason, we strolled with the air of emperors”(Grimace and Kim, homeless and hooker and judged for it every where)
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts:
■ Signalman
■ Pathfinders
■ Dying Star
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Short Stories by 2025
Maybe the writing is meant to be stilted and almost cluttered to mirror Grimace's mind and grasp on UY Scuty and New York? If so it was a success but it tilted just shy of great for me and has settled into my realm of that's nice.
Plot/Storyline/Themes:
See there'll be one eternal question everytime I think of this book.
Was Grimace just hallucinating until he was killed if he was even killed?
Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters: -2⭐
Uhm... his trashcans in the garbage bag are women (except for Cherry Coke who seems to be the male voice of action, offering tangible ways in and not talking a whole lot - as in the females yap yap yap whilst the male bottle is relied upon when actually needed?) I don't think I like how I feel about that even though they were keeping him going (well technically he was talking to a garbage bag full of trashed cans so he appears insane).🤷🏻♀️
Is it on purpose? Would Grimace be a genius albeit a raging mysoginist if he had power (and money) and wasn't slumming it on the streets or is it a subconscious thing the author let slip into his work? I'm rooting for the former please please because I just starting falling into the LaValle rabbithole of intense storytelling.
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Scene:
This was painful: Grimace at McDonalds
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “My mind was awake, but my body hadn’t quite caught up. Oh, sleep paralysis, my old friend, you are always fucking with me.” (Hey Don't even joke, my sleep paralysis demon has been MIA)
🖤 “The crowds parted for us.
They were scared. Or disgusted. No matter the reason, we strolled with the air of emperors”(Grimace and Kim, homeless and hooker and judged for it every where)
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts:
■ Signalman
■ Pathfinders
■ Dying Star
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Short Stories by 2025
December 14, 2022
I've been hearing LaValle's name a lot lately and I figured this short story would be a good option to see if I like his style, I had zero Idea what I was getting into. I'm still not entirely sure what I read but I enjoyed the tone and style of it. It was quirky in a grim sort of way and it was also sweet in a beautiful and sad way. That being said I, like seemingly quite a few other reviewers, would have liked something more from this story.
September 7, 2021
Quirky Novella Is A Fun Read.
Short and sweet with a street bum protagonist who converses with a trash bag of bottles and tin cans and follows directives from on high. I don't think I quite got it but
I enjoyed the ride.
Short and sweet with a street bum protagonist who converses with a trash bag of bottles and tin cans and follows directives from on high. I don't think I quite got it but
I enjoyed the ride.
August 31, 2021
3-3.5 of 5 stars
I liked this entry to the Black Stars (a series by Amazon Original Stories) anthology. I read this completely via audiobook on my commute home today. And I gotta say that the narrator, Brian Tyree Henry, has a very pleasingly thunderous voice that I could listen to all day! Definitely need to see what else Henry has voice-acted on!
This is also my introduction to LaValle's prose. I've owned The Ballad of Black Tom in ebook format for some time but haven't gotten to it yet. Though it will be moving up my TBR now. And I've read his Destroyer comic retelling of Frankenstein which I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend. I think, maybe, for We Travel the Spaceways I needed more than 40 pages because I was left wanting more but not in a good way. I wanted to know more about Kim's background story and what her life was like prior to meeting Grimace. And I wanted to know more about how Grimace ended up in the position he was in and who taught him how to make a Molotov cocktail. I would definitely read a continuation of this story or even a prequel!
Overall, I would recommend giving this one a try but I can't speak to how good of an introduction to LaValle's writing it is. I will absolutely be reading the other books in the series except for the one by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie because I don't fw her transphobic ass. Kinda disappointed to see her put in the series next to such amazing Black authors who don't say trash things repeatedly (at least not in public) but capitalism I guess.
I liked this entry to the Black Stars (a series by Amazon Original Stories) anthology. I read this completely via audiobook on my commute home today. And I gotta say that the narrator, Brian Tyree Henry, has a very pleasingly thunderous voice that I could listen to all day! Definitely need to see what else Henry has voice-acted on!
This is also my introduction to LaValle's prose. I've owned The Ballad of Black Tom in ebook format for some time but haven't gotten to it yet. Though it will be moving up my TBR now. And I've read his Destroyer comic retelling of Frankenstein which I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend. I think, maybe, for We Travel the Spaceways I needed more than 40 pages because I was left wanting more but not in a good way. I wanted to know more about Kim's background story and what her life was like prior to meeting Grimace. And I wanted to know more about how Grimace ended up in the position he was in and who taught him how to make a Molotov cocktail. I would definitely read a continuation of this story or even a prequel!
Overall, I would recommend giving this one a try but I can't speak to how good of an introduction to LaValle's writing it is. I will absolutely be reading the other books in the series except for the one by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie because I don't fw her transphobic ass. Kinda disappointed to see her put in the series next to such amazing Black authors who don't say trash things repeatedly (at least not in public) but capitalism I guess.
May 11, 2022
Love the writing style, it was fluid, easy and enjoyable. I liked the idea of what it was trying to get to. I just haven't a clue what the ending was saying. I am still non the wiser on whether or not this guys tripping or really going between worlds. I will give the authors writing a go. Great end story for the series just would of liked some closure on what the heck was happening 😂
September 7, 2021
There is so much to mine here; homelessness, the treatment of transwomen, the Black church, the erasure of Black peoples history, mental illness, and the disregard of the humanity of the marginalized.
January 1, 2022
This was interesting and wonderful.
I loved it.
Great start to 2022.
I loved it.
Great start to 2022.
Read
January 10, 2022“Wait a second. Tell me the truth. Have I lost my mind?”
“Oh, you shouldn’t ask me,” I said, as I stepped out. “I lost mine a long time ago.”
January 6, 2023
Five stars.
Perhaps the best of the series.
It made me cry, damn...
Perhaps the best of the series.
It made me cry, damn...
September 2, 2021
3.5⭐️
I really enjoyed this and it gave me a quick jumpstart into Sci-Fi September. Let's start with the pros. The pacing was just right for me. It's only 40 pages, but there is a lot that LaValle says in these 40 pages. It's a commentary on mental health, homelessness in America, & how the homeless are treated. Early on the main character says,
The story is pretty easy to follow and keep up with. Our main character, who we know as Grimace is homeless and goes around burning Black houses of worship. By the way, he is Black himself. He talks about a red supergiant and UY Scuti and how he was the Signalman.
Grimace meets Kim at a Mcdonald's and they hit it off. And come to find out she hears the same voices Grimace hears. Now the cons. This short story is a mere 40 pages and LaValle introduces a lot, but there's a lot that's not fleshed out. I get the impression that Kim and Grimace are stranded on Earth, but there is no explanation as to how they got here, why they can't get back, who they're trying to contact. I also wanted to know more about Kim because there's an instance in which Grimace says,
and Kim responds by saying,
I was curious what gave him the impression that she was a man. What did she look like, her mannerisms, voice, build, etc.
Anyway, overall an enjoyable read and if LaValle decides to expand this story I'd definitely read it.
I really enjoyed this and it gave me a quick jumpstart into Sci-Fi September. Let's start with the pros. The pacing was just right for me. It's only 40 pages, but there is a lot that LaValle says in these 40 pages. It's a commentary on mental health, homelessness in America, & how the homeless are treated. Early on the main character says,
You spend enough time being actively ignored, and you learn to protect yourself. Stuff your feelings in one sock, . . .
The story is pretty easy to follow and keep up with. Our main character, who we know as Grimace is homeless and goes around burning Black houses of worship. By the way, he is Black himself. He talks about a red supergiant and UY Scuti and how he was the Signalman.
Grimace meets Kim at a Mcdonald's and they hit it off. And come to find out she hears the same voices Grimace hears. Now the cons. This short story is a mere 40 pages and LaValle introduces a lot, but there's a lot that's not fleshed out. I get the impression that Kim and Grimace are stranded on Earth, but there is no explanation as to how they got here, why they can't get back, who they're trying to contact. I also wanted to know more about Kim because there's an instance in which Grimace says,
You mean because you're a man.
and Kim responds by saying,
I am a woman. My name is Kim. If you hurt me right now, you will never see me again.
I was curious what gave him the impression that she was a man. What did she look like, her mannerisms, voice, build, etc.
Anyway, overall an enjoyable read and if LaValle decides to expand this story I'd definitely read it.
November 12, 2023
This is murky tale not in subject matter, rather in clarity of plot. It's unclear whether this homeless man Grimace is mentally unwell or his irrational ramblings and actions have real meaning and cosmic consequences.
Is the guy who hears from soda cans and bottles, paving the way for mankind's future and reconnection with Gods or is his missions a pyromaniacs delusion.
This blurring of fantasy and reality, purpose and irrelevancy is movingly explained through the lives of those most marginalised: the homeless and sex worker. An interesting read that I could easily have spent more time engrossed with. Wished it was longer.
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Is the guy who hears from soda cans and bottles, paving the way for mankind's future and reconnection with Gods or is his missions a pyromaniacs delusion.
This blurring of fantasy and reality, purpose and irrelevancy is movingly explained through the lives of those most marginalised: the homeless and sex worker. An interesting read that I could easily have spent more time engrossed with. Wished it was longer.
Read reviews and more on the blog here
Blog | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
October 12, 2021
Brian Tyree Henry x Victor Lavalle & a really really out there story. It was magic.
It was exactly the kind of weird that I love. It was otherworldly, yet human. Frustrating. Enraging. Tender. Victor Lavalle scares me as a writer with how much I enjoy his work. His work is just so much for me to contend with mentally. It’s like drowning. Swimming can be fun, but when the water gets out of control you feel like you’re being dragged out of the universe. It’s frightening, and electric.
The voice acting made me melt. I have a huge crush on Brian Tyree Henry and his voice was amazing. The story dragged me in and didn’t let me go.
I’m working my way through the series and this one was bomb.
My only problem with audiobooks is that the character in the text meets the character doing the voice especially if they’re an actor I already like — so it distorted the lens for me, but you know what I ain’t even mad at all.
It was exactly the kind of weird that I love. It was otherworldly, yet human. Frustrating. Enraging. Tender. Victor Lavalle scares me as a writer with how much I enjoy his work. His work is just so much for me to contend with mentally. It’s like drowning. Swimming can be fun, but when the water gets out of control you feel like you’re being dragged out of the universe. It’s frightening, and electric.
The voice acting made me melt. I have a huge crush on Brian Tyree Henry and his voice was amazing. The story dragged me in and didn’t let me go.
I’m working my way through the series and this one was bomb.
My only problem with audiobooks is that the character in the text meets the character doing the voice especially if they’re an actor I already like — so it distorted the lens for me, but you know what I ain’t even mad at all.
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