THE WORDS THAT MADE ME: ALEX JENNINGS, WRITER, LOUISIANA
Alex Jennings and his debut novel, The Ballad of Perilous Graves
THE words THAT MADE ME: alex jennings
Talking to Paul Oswell
Alex Jennings is a writer/editor/teacher/poet, formerly based in New Orleans and recently relocated to Baton Rouge. His writing has appeared in Fantastic Stories of the Imagination, Electric Velocipede, Uncanny Magazine, Fantasy Magazine, New Suns, and Current Affairs, among other publications. His acclaimed debut novel, The Ballad of Perilous Graves, was published by Redhook in 2022.
Alex: Being a grown-up comic nerd at heart, I think of what shaped my creativity in terms of an origin story. Barry Allen was dowsed in chemicals and struck by lightning to become The Flash, Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider to become Spider-man, and Jay Garrick caused an explosion by smoking near heavy water to become… also The Flash. My origin isn’t as colorful, it’s more a series of books and comics:
The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
My father used to read these books to me at night before bed, and while they were pretty much the whitest fantasies going, they’ll always have a special place in my heart—and they’re what inspired me to create the Blackest, most AfroSurreal fantasies I can concoct. They’re the reason my first novel was a Blaxploitation Pippi Longstocking adventure and why my second novel is
an unapologetically Black Dark Fantasy set in the New Orleans comedy scene.
The Magician’s Nephew by C. S. Lewis
Lo these many years ago, this novel was the last in the Chronicles of Narnia, not the first. Reading it felt like a reward for experiencing the rest of the books in the series—most of which I dearly loved. This book answered questions about Narnia, its origins, and the preceding adventures that I didn’t even know I had.
The X-Men
I couldn’t boil it down to even a couple eras or creative teams. These comics fired my imagination and helped me imagine that I wasn’t just a maladjusted weirdo who read too many books, maybe I was actually special, and the things that made me stand out might be assets instead of disadvantages.
Octavia Butler
Not just any one work—although many are in contention for the top spot—but the woman herself and her legacy. Not only was Octavia’s writing important to me, but she herself was so kind and encouraging to me while she was still alive that her influence has carried me through decades of development, professional struggle, and story-building—for myself and for others.
Jakeem Thunder
This is one of my favorite comic characters of all time, and I’m just waiting for the day DC comics gives me the key to his life and stories. In the pages of the Justice Society reboot beginning in the nineties, Jakeem was given a magical pen that allowed him to summon an extra- dimensional genie with god-like powers. Over time, using the pen reshaped him into a hero and a consummate sorcerer, and as far as I’m concerned, he is the blueprint for a legacy hero.
It’s almost impossible to boil my influences down to a single page, let alone a paragraph. Shoooot, I didn’t even get a chance to include the City of New Orleans on my list, but I can’t let it go without mentioning. Thanks for reading—and adventuring—with me!
Follow Alex on these platforms to keep up with all that he's making and doing:
Patreon: patreon.com/AlexJennings79
Instagram: @magicknegro
Bluesky Social: @alexjennings.bsky.social
Website: alexjennings.net
Alex Jennings is a writer/editor/teacher/poet, formerly based in New Orleans and recently relocated to Baton Rouge. His writing has appeared in Fantastic Stories of the Imagination, Electric Velocipede, Uncanny Magazine, Fantasy Magazine, New Suns, and Current Affairs, among other publications. His acclaimed debut novel, The Ballad of Perilous Graves, was published by Redhook in 2022.
Alex: Being a grown-up comic nerd at heart, I think of what shaped my creativity in terms of an origin story. Barry Allen was dowsed in chemicals and struck by lightning to become The Flash, Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider to become Spider-man, and Jay Garrick caused an explosion by smoking near heavy water to become… also The Flash. My origin isn’t as colorful, it’s more a series of books and comics:
The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
My father used to read these books to me at night before bed, and while they were pretty much the whitest fantasies going, they’ll always have a special place in my heart—and they’re what inspired me to create the Blackest, most AfroSurreal fantasies I can concoct. They’re the reason my first novel was a Blaxploitation Pippi Longstocking adventure and why my second novel is
an unapologetically Black Dark Fantasy set in the New Orleans comedy scene.
The Magician’s Nephew by C. S. Lewis
Lo these many years ago, this novel was the last in the Chronicles of Narnia, not the first. Reading it felt like a reward for experiencing the rest of the books in the series—most of which I dearly loved. This book answered questions about Narnia, its origins, and the preceding adventures that I didn’t even know I had.
The X-Men
I couldn’t boil it down to even a couple eras or creative teams. These comics fired my imagination and helped me imagine that I wasn’t just a maladjusted weirdo who read too many books, maybe I was actually special, and the things that made me stand out might be assets instead of disadvantages.
Octavia Butler
Not just any one work—although many are in contention for the top spot—but the woman herself and her legacy. Not only was Octavia’s writing important to me, but she herself was so kind and encouraging to me while she was still alive that her influence has carried me through decades of development, professional struggle, and story-building—for myself and for others.
Jakeem Thunder
This is one of my favorite comic characters of all time, and I’m just waiting for the day DC comics gives me the key to his life and stories. In the pages of the Justice Society reboot beginning in the nineties, Jakeem was given a magical pen that allowed him to summon an extra- dimensional genie with god-like powers. Over time, using the pen reshaped him into a hero and a consummate sorcerer, and as far as I’m concerned, he is the blueprint for a legacy hero.
It’s almost impossible to boil my influences down to a single page, let alone a paragraph. Shoooot, I didn’t even get a chance to include the City of New Orleans on my list, but I can’t let it go without mentioning. Thanks for reading—and adventuring—with me!
Follow Alex on these platforms to keep up with all that he's making and doing:
Patreon: patreon.com/AlexJennings79
Instagram: @magicknegro
Bluesky Social: @alexjennings.bsky.social
Website: alexjennings.net
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