Authors Interviewing Authors | The Habitual Wordsmith T.J. Love & D.A. Alston
BY THE HABITUAL WORDSMITH T.J. LOVE
The Habitual Wordsmith T.J. Love: Let's start with your origins. Where are you from originally?
D.A. Alston: I hail from sunny San Diego. But now I reside in Atlanta.
Word. How'd you end up on the other side of the country?
Well, my grandfather started a church in California. It grew and became very popular in the city, but then he told us that God told him to move to Georgia to start a church there. Mind you, we had zero family there. But we stepped out on faith and God blessed us. Five buildings later, we're doing well and now own a movie theater as well.
That's really dope. Getting y'all Wizard Kelly on. I've been there though—moving across the country on faith. It's definitely harrowing. How has that influenced your work?
Well, I rely on my family a lot and my faith is such a huge part of who I am, in general. I try to stay pretty balanced and center myself in the midst of the craziness. So, most of my work normally has that same underlying tone towards having faith.
I feel that. I feel like you don't see a lot of that in Black writing. How does your faith shape you as a person? Why has it been so important to you?
As a person, it has gotten me through some of the hardest points in my life. It has helped me smile when I wanted to cry. It pushed me forward when I wanted to give up. It covered me when I wanted to go wild. It's just always been a positive force in my life.
I feel that. So that being said, let me ask you something—a lot of pro-black, “woke” folk are claiming that Christianity is the religion of the oppressor. Where do you think this idea comes from and does this affect you as a Christian at all?
Honestly, I don't concern myself with ideologies and claims from other people. I know what God means to me and what He's personally done for me in my life. That's all I stand on. I'm not living for the approval of anyone else.
“I don’t concern myself with ideologies and claims from other people... I’m not living for the approval of anyone else.”
I hear you. I love people with principles. So talk to me about The Unlikely Tale of the Royal Elite Squad. What was the inspiration for that?
Well, it didn't even start off as a book idea. I was sitting at IHOP with my mother. And, because I also draw, we've been talking about creating a coloring book for years. On this particular day, I was like “maybe I'll finally do that.” So, I'm talking the idea over with her, and I was like “what if I do superheroes that are all women? All with different nationalities?” Then, I was like “what if I put a storyline to it?” And it just snowballed into the creation that it is now.
That's really unique—almost sounds like your own personal superhero origin story. Representation is a beautiful thing, especially in a world where the main protagonists have always been beefed-up white dudes. So what's next for D.A. Alston?
Representation is major. For women and people of color. Currently, I'm working on the second installment of Royal Elite Squad. I just really started writing it and I'm really excited. I'm just trying to focus and knock this out. I also have a few speaking engagements coming soon. The ultimate goal is to get a table at DragonCon to present my book.
“Representation is major.”
