James Kennedy
Time 2022-10-14 04:27:20Web Name: James Kennedy
WebSite: http://www.jameskennedy.com
ID:351867
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DARE TO KNOW
"Worth the cover price for sheer insolence alone... Essential reading for the gathering dark." —The Times Saturday Review
"A voraciously readable page-turner of a novel, part creepypasta, part thought-experiment." —Cory Doctorow, author of Little Brother and Radicalized
"Explores questions of free will, psychology and human history in a fascinating, compulsively readable thriller."—The Guardian
“An entertainingly mind-bending read.”—Financial Times
"Audaciously clever and well written... [a] superb piece of storytelling: vivid, thought provoking and unsettling. After you finish it you’ll want to go back to the start and read it again." —SFX Magazine
"A razor-smart sci-fi corporate noir nightmare. Dare to Know is what happens when Willy Loman sees through the Matrix. A heartbreaking, time-bending, galactic mindbender delivered in the mordantly funny clip of a doomed antihero."—Daniel Kraus, co-author of The Shape of Water
"[An] enjoyable slipstream thriller... Readers with a taste for the synchronicity of the cosmic with the commonplace are sure to be entertained." —Publishers Weekly
"Philip K. Dick energy infusing Death of the Salesman... I loved it." —Kieron Gillen, Hugo-winning creator of The Wicked + The Divine
"Seamlessly integrates philosophy, first love, Beatles music, jaw-dropping science fiction and the four stages of civilization, and turns it all into a fast-paced, existential, mind-expanding thriller—a thoroughly enjoyable read." —Shelf Awareness
"Will keep readers on the edge of their seats wanting to find out the next piece of the puzzle... Dare To Know will prompt the reader to consider the philosophical implications of life and death itself." —Booklist
"[A] genre-bending thriller... good pacing and clever plotting keep the pages turning." —New York Journal of Books
"Hilarious . . . Readers with a finely tuned sense of the absurd are going to adore the Technicolor ride."
—Booklist
"Fantasy done to a clever, grotesque, nonsensical turn." —Chicago Sun-Times
"A work of mischievous imagination and outrageous invention." —Time Out Chicago
"An extraordinary and delightfully weird romp that’s one part China Mieville, one part Lemony Snicket, with trace amounts of Madeline L’Engle and Roald Dahl . . . Kennedy has filled 400+ pages with a series of strange turn-ups and adventures that grow progressively more outlandish and funny, such that when you think he’s surely run out of runway and must crash, he finds new, unsuspected weirdness to explore.” —Cory Doctorow, author of Little Brother, For The Win, and co-editor of Boing Boing
More Reviews
Email: kennedyjames@gmail.com
Tuesday, October 11, 2022
Talking about the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival (and screening the best movies we've received!) at the Chicago's Chinatown Library (2100 S Wentworth Ave). 4 pm.
Thursday, November 17, 2022
Talking about the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival (and screening the best movies we've received!) at the Chicago's Brained Library (1350 W 89th St). 4 pm.
Friday, January 13, 2023
GENERAL DEADLINE for movie submissions to the 12th annual 90-Second Newbery Film Festival. Texas and Tacoma have a special later deadline of March 3.
Saturday, February 18, 2023 - AFTERNOON
The SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH screening for the 12th annual 90-Second Newbery Film Festival. Co-hosted by me and author Keir Graff (The Tiny Mansion, The Phantom Tower). At Spy Hop Digital Arts Media Center (208 West 900 S). More details to come.
Saturday, February 18, 2023 - EVENING
The OGDEN, UTAH afternoon screening for the 12th annual 90-Second Newbery Film Festival. Co-hosted by me and author Keir Graff (The Tiny Mansion, The Phantom Tower). At the Treehouse Children's Museum (347 22nd Street). More details to come.
Friday, March 3, 2023
SPECIAL TEXAS AND TACOMA DEADLINE for movie submissions to the 12th annual 90-Second Newbery Film Festival.
Saturday, March 11, 2023
The CHICAGO screening for the 12th annual 90-Second Newbery Film Festival! At the Pritzker Auditorium at the Harold Washington Library Center (400 S State St). Co-hosted by me and author Keir Graff (The Tiny Mansion, The Phantom Tower). 2 pm.
Saturday, April 15, 2023
The BROOKLYN screening for the 12th annual 90-Second Newbery Film Festival! At the Dweck Auditorium at the Brooklyn Public Library (10 Grand Army Plaza). More details to come.
Sunday, April 16, 2023
The TRENTON, NJ screening for the 12th annual 90-Second Newbery Film Festival! 3 pm. More details to come.
Saturday, April 22, 2023
The SAN ANTONIO, TX screening for the 12th annual 90-Second Newbery Film Festival! At the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts Will Naylor Smith Riverwalk Plaza. Made possible by our partners at Bexar County Digital Library Bibliotech and the Hidalgo Foundation through the generosity of H-E-B Texas Grocery.
Saturday, April 29, 2023
The TACOMA, WA screening for the 12th annual 90-Second Newbery Film Festival! Co-hosted by me and Tacoma's own Doug Mackey. Details TBD. Made possible by the Tacoma Public Library.
Speculative Thrillers That Blur The Line Between Physics and Philosophy. An article I wrote for Crimereads.com in which I talk about "metaphysical technology" in the works of Isaac Asimov, Cixin Liu, Tanizaki Junichiro, Kelly Link, Colson Whitehead, Thomas Ligotti, Angela Carter, Susannah Clarke, and even obscurities like T.L Sherred and text adventure writer Brian Moriarty (anyone else remember Infocom's Trinity?)
Interview for the Chicago Review of Books. Devi Bhaduri interviews me about our changing emotional relationship to technology, my "Elf Theory" of friendship, and how L. Ron Hubbard stole the girlfriend (and life savings) of one of the people who inspired Dare to Know.
Interview for Shelf Awareness. Paul Dinh-McCrillis reviews Dare To Know and interviews me. Find out which parts of the book are inspired by Del Close's death-visions, a baffling cab ride I took with my wife, and why I dread December 19, 2046!
Interview for the Japanese Consulate's E-Japan Journal. Austin Gilkeson interviews me about my time in the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program (JET) from 2004-2006. We discuss how living in Japan inspired me for The Order of Odd-Fish and Dare To Know, plus we talk about my experiences on the 88 Temples of Shikoku Pilgrimage and the time a Japanese schoolboy sang Avril Lavigne's "Complicated" to me on the train.
The 90-Second Newbery Film Festival. I founded a film festival in which kid filmmakers create weird short movies that tell the entire stories of Newbery-winning books in about 90 seconds. Now in its 6th year, it screens annually in 14 cities: New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and many others! The movies the kids create are weird, funny, and impressive. Learn more about the film festival here.
The Secrets of Story Podcast. I host a podcast with Matt Bird, the author of a book and blog called The Secrets of Story, in which we discuss (okay, argue about) advice for novelists and screenwriters.
The Classroom Guide to The Order of Odd-Fish. I've put together a 44-page Teacher's Guide / curriculum for Odd-Fish! It's a treasure trove of creative project ideas, discussion questions, chapter worksheets, and further resources. It also features fan art by enthusiastic teen readers of Odd-Fish. (This art was featured in a fan art gallery show in Chicago in April 2010.) You can download the teacher's guide for free here.
It's a mixtape for The Order of Odd-Fish. Listen to a stream of the songs I chose for an imaginary "movie soundtrack" for Odd-Fish, and read why I chose them. Lots of different stuff: French ye-ye, Kinshasa street bands, pseudo-classical, puzzling blippity-bloopity music, and more.
I used to be in a band called Brilliant Pebbles. We had been variously described as "melodramatic video game music," "moon-man opera," and "gypsy sex metal." It's over now, but I loved being in this band.
Email: kennedyjames [at] gmail [dot] com
Twitter: @iamjameskennedy
The Order of Odd-Fish on Goodreads
Dare to Know on Goodreads
Hawaii, David Lynch, Legendarium, Marginalia, and Chicon 8!
September 8, 2022
It’s been a while, but I’ve been busy! First off, Heather and the girls and I took a vacation to Kauai, thanks to our good friends Alisha and Sharon. Snorkeling, hiking, boating, ziplining, relaxing and delicious foods. Heavenly!
I also wrote an essay for the Quirk blog about David Lynch, whose work I’ve been obsessed with ever since high school. It’s called “What Makes Something Lynchian?” and but the essay is also kind of about Dare to Know too.
I included a lot of Twin Peaks gifs in it, so it’s extra fun to read. “I don’t want the mysteries of Lynch’s movies to be cleared up,” I write. “I want to live in those mysteries and let them accompany me through my life.” Go read it here.
MORE STUFF! On August 15, I was a guest on the Legendarium Podcast, which is all about science fiction and fantasy:
Host Craig has invited me on to talk about “Predestination In Science Fiction and Fantasy”—which makes sense, Dare to Know, isn’t the only SFF story to play with ideas of fate, prophecy, predestination, etc. In this discussion, I float my theory that there are four distinct types of predestination in fiction: Durable, Fragile, Volitional, and Broken. A meaty interview, check it out! You can also find an audio-only version of the podcast episode here.
But wait, there’s more! I was interviewed by Beth Golay for her Marginalia podcast (a production of the KMUW, the NPR affiliate in Wichita):
This interview is actually from December, but because of a technical snafu, we thought we lost the audio. But Beth resurrected the episode, and I’m really glad because she’s a great interviewer who gave Dare to Know a thoughtful and appreciative read, and had lots of smart questions about it! You can listen to it here.
One last thing that happened this past week: I appeared at panels, table talks, signings, etc. at Chicon 8: The 80th World Science Fiction Convention! Believe it or not, it was my first time at a science fiction convention. I had a blast, and they kept me busy:
I got to meet so many great people, but I’ll just mention two. On the “Walk With The Stars” I met author Mary Anne Mohanraj, and it turned out that we have a lot of friends in common—and she also seemed to know everyone at Chicon, and she also turned out to be a presenter at the Hugo Awards at the convention! She was delightful to talk to and befriend!
At my Table Talk, I met a wonderful woman named Hope Kennedy. It turned out we had more in common than a last name. Just like me, her daughter had been on the JET Programme (that is, the Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme), which is how I came to spend two years in rural Japan back in 2004-2006. She’s also a PROFESSIONAL WRESTLER at Doomsday Wrestling in Houston (“Violence has never been this funny!”), wrestling under the name “Hot Flash, the Menopausal Mauler.” I’m definitely checking them out the next time I’m in Texas!
Okay, this post has gone one really too long . . . and I feel I’ve only scratched the surface of what’s been going on! Look for updates about the 2023 90-Second Newbery soon, we plan to go back to live screenings!
A Doctorow Rave, a Philosophical Chat, and I’m in 20×2!
July 25, 2022
Cory Doctorow has come through again! I woke up today to find he had posted a very positive review of Dare to Know. Anyone who knows modern sci-fi knows Doctorow is a powerhouse, and yet for all his success he still finds time to read and promote lesser-known authors. It was a real pleasure to be reviewed by someone as informed as Cory, because not only did he clock my obscure references (the video games Aztec and Prince of Persia!) and adroitly situate Dare to Know in the history of SF (Heinlein’s “Life-Line”! Machine of Death!) but he also charted how it relates to The Order of Odd-Fish, which he had positively reviewed many years ago. I’m really grateful.
But wait, what’s that video above? I was interviewed by Greg Sadler for his philosophy YouTube channel. I had met Greg in real life when I did an author appearance at Boswell’s Book Company in Milwaukee a few weeks ago. Since Greg is a bona fide professor of philosophy, we were able to go deeper than usual discussing Dare to Know. And since I have a few interviews under my belt at this point, I’m more coherent than usual. So please check it out, he’s a great interviewer!
One last thing! I was invited by literary fellow-about-town Andrew Huff to speak at 20×2 in Chicago back in June. The premise, per their website: “What happens when you take 20 handpicked creatives and luminaries, give them each two minutes before a live audience and the same (fuzzy) question to unravel?”
I had a great time! The question was “Who Cares?” and I tried as best I could to answer it in two minutes below. Readers of Dare to Know will recognize a riff about the Beatles at the beginning of the video—this is because I had googled the phrase “Who Cares” and found that the first result to show up was a 2018 song by Paul McCartney with the name “Who Cares.” After that, I was off to the races:
But the real fun for me that night was meeting all the other “creatives and luminaries” and seeing how they answered the question “Who Cares.”
Some, like the hilarious Alisa Rosenthal, I had met long ago in improv classes, and it was great to reconnect with her (here’s her entry, a song about junior high school awkwardness).
I had also previously met Felix Jung (here’s his unexpectedly emotionally affecting short video) when he and I both made videos for the Museum of Science and Industry’s “Month at the Museum” contest (my entry here features a very young me, Heather, and Lucy).
Other luminaries I met just that night, and I was blown away by everyone’s talent and guts, especially when Lily Be did a stage-dive and when Brenda Scott Wlazlo did a show-stopping number in a Care Bears costume.
I hope to be invited back to 20×2 someday! You can find all their videos here.
My 16-year-old niece Sophia published a book: STUCK BETWEEN THE STARS!
July 13, 2022
I certainly wasn’t capable of anything like this when I was sixteen years old! My niece Sophia Brown has just published her first novel, Stuck Between The Stars. It’s available in paperback on Amazon here and this is what it’s about:
Stuck Between the Stars is a science fiction novel about two planets (Tenemon and Novana) that have been at war for many years. The Novanian Council sends Callahan Kennedy to battle the evil leader of Tenemon, Empress Vanessa Mills. After a series of events, the two end up falling in love, and Callahan realizes that maybe Vanessa is not the bad one in this story, and the real villain has been hiding in her shadows for all of these years…
Full disclosure: since 2020, I have read several drafts of this manuscript and given Sophia notes when she’s asked for them. And she’s been a real pro about taking what’s useful from my notes while still remaining true to her vision! So I’m extra proud that her book is finally seeing the light of day. And people, it’s a legitimate good read! You should buy it! It’s got forbidden romance, interplanetary battles, political intrigue, tests of loyalty and courage, and a chicken wearing a cowboy hat named “Country Jim”!
There was a release party at Sophia’s house last night, and it was a lot of fun. She signed books for fans (this is her cousin Dylan):
My Aunt Sandee cosplayed as the character “Marticus” from the book. (This is expected behavior; she dressed up as Lily Larouche when The Order of Odd-Fish came out):
Of course, there was a reading, which Sophia nailed:
One of the most beloved characters in the book is the aforementioned cowboy hat-wearing chicken “Country Jim,” a sidekick for Callahan Kennedy:
And here is Sophia with her proud parents, Lloyd and Krystin. Lloyd is holding up some other fantastic fan art she’s received, and Sophia is holding up a picture of the character “Vanessa” done by my own daughter Lucy:
Fun fact: while she was editing Stuck Between the Stars, Sophia attended a weeklong creative writing camp at Interlochen, where her teacher was none other than the wonderful author Mackenzi Lee (coincidentally, I once met Mackenzi briefly, but I doubt she remembers me). So anyway, thanks to Mackenzi for helping Sophia out with the manuscript too. This picture is cropped from a larger photo of Mackenzi’s whole class at Interlochen—I didn’t want to put Sophia’s classmates’ images online without permission:
I’m looking forward to settling in and reading Sophia’s book yet again, in all its final edited and printed glory! Country Jim for President!
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