The Ballad of Perilous Graves, Paperback

Music is magic in a "wild and wonderful" (New York Times) New Orleans where a battle for the city's soul brews between two young mages, a vengeful wraith, and one powerful song.

Nola is a city full of wonders. A place of sky trolleys and dead cabs, where haints dance the night away and Wise Women help keep the order. To those from Away, Nola might seem strange. To Perilous Graves, it's simply home. In a world of everyday miracles, Perry might not have a talent for magic, but he does know Nola's rhythm as intimately as his own heartbeat. So when the city's Great Magician starts appearing in odd places and essential songs are forgotten, Perry realizes trouble is afoot. Nine songs of power have escaped from the piano that maintains the city's beat, and without them, Nola will fail. Unwilling to watch his home be destroyed, Perry will sacrifice everything to save it. But a storm is brewing, and the Haint of All Haints is awake. Nola's time might be coming to an end. Put on your dancing shoes and enjoy this song for New Orleans, the city of music, magic, and dreams. "A beautiful song full of magic and rhythm, darkness and delight." --Christina Henry "A hallucinatory wonder of a debut. Brimming with language and music, this phantasmagoric novel taps the deep root of multi-cultural, multi-racial life in, and beyond, New Orleans." ―Walter Mosley "Funny, wild, witty, and profound. The Ballad of Perilous Graves is the debut of a cosmic storm of talent."―Victor LaValle

Alex Jennings is a teacher, author, and performer living in New Orleans. His writing has appeared in strangehorizons.com, podcastle, The Peauxdunque Review, Obsidian Lit, the Locus Award-winning Luminescent Threads: Connections to Octavia Butler, and in numerous anthologies.

His debut collection, Here I Come and Other Stories was released in 2012. He also serves as MC and co-producer of Dogfish, a monthly literary readings series. He is a graduate of Clarion West (2003) and the University of New Orleans. He was born in Wiesbaden (Germany) and raised in Gaborone (Botswana), Paramaribo (Surinam), and Tunis (Tunisia) as well as the United States. He is an afternoon person.

Book specifications:

• Dimensions: 198 x 142
• Author: Alex Jennings
• Cover type: Paperback
• Publishing Year: 2023
• Publishing Month: 1
• Pages: 480
• Language: English
• Publisher: Redhook
• Weight: 386 g