urban fantasy — Blog — Alex Jennings

Pack Light

I don’t get a chance to talk about this a lot, but fantasy maps are extremely important to me. I can still conjure the memory of the map in the front of that old edition of The Hobbit that my father read to me and my lil bro when we were small. That style, that imagery, the deep shadows of the more dangerous haunted reaches of the world transported me entirely Elsewhere. About nine months ago, I summoned my courage and wrote to my editor Nivia Evans that I wanted to include a map in the front of The Ballad of Perilous Graves. She immediately responded that this was a great idea and asked me to send her something to give to the map maker.

Alex JenningsAMarch 23, 2022fantasy maps, urban fantasy, novel, speculative fiction, afrofuturism, afrofantasy, map-making, FantasyComment

I Do Dope Shit

Ever since Sheree invited me to do this work during a breakfast phone call on our final day at Under the Volcano, the development has felt surreal and unexpected. Now that my first column is in, at a whopping 1,500 words, I still feel that way. I still don’t consider myself particularly qualified to give writing or career advice but looking around at the changed circumstances of my life, I can’t help thinking how many of the good things happening for me are the result of a baseline refusal to stop writing and submitting.