Alex Wells Books in Order

Alex Wells is the pen name used by Alex Acks, a writer and geologist whose fiction mixes dry frontiers, labor fights, strange technology, and people who refuse to be pushed around. Their first novel under the Wells name, Hunger Makes the Wolf, arrived in 2017, but it wasn't their first attempt at a novel.

They had already written several longer projects before that book found a home. Short stories were their entry point into original publishing, offering a practical way to learn the business and build a body of work. Their earlier fiction appeared in venues including Strange Horizons, Lightspeed, Daily Science Fiction, and Shimmer.

Then the biker witches showed up.

Hunger Makes the Wolf introduced Hob Ravani and Tanegawa's World, a hard, desert planet controlled by a company with a monopoly on interstellar travel. Hob belongs to the Ghost Wolves, a mercenary biker crew, and the story brings together mystery, survival, found family, and a growing fight against corporate rule. The novel won the Kitschies Golden Tentacle Award for Best Debut.

Acks's background in geology matters here. They have said that desert landforms are a favorite part of their work, and the physical feel of Tanegawa's World comes through in its mines, dunes, heat, and scarce resources. The setting isn't just scenery. It shapes the jobs people take, the risks they face, and the power the company holds over them.

Labor is not background decoration in these books.

Acks grew up in a union household, and a strike during their childhood stayed with them. They later worked both union and non-union jobs, experiences that informed their interest in how workers are treated when employers have too much control. Research into Colorado mining history, including the coalfield wars, fed directly into the conflict between miners, organizers, and TransRift in the Ghost Wolves novels.

The follow-up, Blood Binds the Pack, raises the stakes as Hob and the Ghost Wolves become part of a wider resistance. It keeps the action moving, but it also gives more room to questions of solidarity, safety, and what people owe one another when the system is built to keep them divided.

Wells also wrote the science-fiction novelette Angel of the Blockade, about Nata, a blind smuggler who takes on a dangerous mystery cargo. Beyond fiction, Acks has written for Six to Start and has been part of the Skiffy and Fanty podcast, where movies and genre stories get a lively amount of attention.

They live in Denver with two cats, and their author bios mention biking, movies, tea, and an appreciation for a good mustache. Those small details fit the books: practical, curious, a little scrappy, and ready to make trouble for anyone abusing their power.