It’s Lucy as the Demogorgon from Stranger Things, and Ingrid as a S’more! There was some last-minute behind-the-scenes scrambling with Halloween this year. Lucy’s Demogorgon costume came together quite readily thanks to this video, but our original idea for Ingrid (to be a “light-up rainbow”) ran aground when we realized the electroluminescent wires we were using emitted an irritating high-pitched noise. The last-minute S’more idea was inspired, though, and Ingrid wears it well!

Here is Lucy enacting a Stranger Things battle scene with her friends Ella (as Eleven) and Aedan (as Dustin):

I love our little neighborhood, especially since there are so many children here. Here is Ingrid with our longtime friend Lucy D., dressed as what I guess I’d call a “meta-banana”:

Lucy’s 12 now. Ingrid’s 10. As autumn’s chill sets in, I wonder: how many more years of delightful Halloween costumes do we have ahead of us, before they get too cool for it and leave us behind to go to teenager parties? Don’t get me wrong: I’ll accept it when it comes! But I do sense the end of the “magic decade” is coming—if not next year, then soon. By which I mean, for the first ten years, it’s like as a parent you’ve swallowed a Super Mario Bros star, and even though obviously it can be difficult, there is a glow of wonder around everything. But soon Lucy and Ingrid will grow beyond me and Heather. And although that’s good in the long run, I will miss the intimacy of the past ten years—when it was as if the four of us and our little group of friends were our own little civilization, with its own rules.

In that nostalgic spirit, let’s revisit the costumes of previous Halloweens! Usually they are inspired by whatever we’ve been watching that year. Last year, Lucy and I watched Tron for the first time (Ingrid abstained), and we wondered, could a Tron costume be possible? This is where we first got the idea of making costumes using electroluminescent strips, and honestly, it wasn’t that hard!

As for Ingrid, she decided to be Mal from The Descendents. I can’t blame her—it’s a rather more contemporary reference!

The year before that, 2019, was the notorious year that it snowed on Halloween. But we didn’t let that get our spirits down. We all really enjoyed The Dark Crystal movie (and the Netflix series), so Lucy and I made matching Skeksis costumes:

Here are more looks at the Skeksis… with Ingrid as Gurgi from the “Chronicles of Prydain” (we had made a Black Cauldron movie for the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival that year):

The year before that, Ingrid was Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter and Lucy was a Jawa from Star Wars:

Speaking of Luna Lovegood, in 2016 we did a Harry Potter-themed Halloween party. I really loved throwing parties and having lots of people over. The pandemic has shut all that down, of course. The thought of having a party now . . . It sounds like the most marvelous luxury in the world!

I was Professor Snape, Heather was Professor Trelawny, Lucy was Hermione, and always-going-her-own-way Ingrid was a selkie (from the movie Song of the Sea):

It took so long to make all those floating candles, but it was worth it!

The year before that, I was Admiral Ackbar from Return of the Jedi:

That was when Lucy was Rey from Star Wars and Ingrid was a cat (a costume she had worn when we’d made a movie of My Father’s Dragon that year for the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival):



Mustn’t forget the year Lucy was a bee, Ingrid was a princess, and Heather was a clown (which was Heather admirably facing her fear; she hates clowns):

The year before that, Lucy and I were plantlike creatures, and Ingrid was a ballerina:

Going back even further, here’s when Lucy was Kiki from Kiki’s Delivery Service, and Ingrid was a bunny:

Going back to what feels like the beginning of time, here’s when Lucy was an owl (when she was very young, our nickname for her was “Baby Owl”—full explanation here):

Thanks for taking this trip down Halloweens past with me. I’m going to miss this gang of kids. Indeed, I already do.

More great reviews for Dare to Know keep rolling in! The Financial Times put it on their “Best In New Science Fiction, October 2021” list, calling it “an entertainingly mind-bending read.” But it’s not just the big-time newspapers that are getting behind Dare to Know—I’m finding astute and perceptive reviews cropping up on personal blogs too, like when The FanFiAddict Blog wrote, “You get something entirely different to what the blurb promises, but in the best possible way… I won’t spoil anything but those last 60 pages are truly pulse-pounding. Kennedy grabs you and just runs, his sentences become snappy, what should be leaps in logic make perfect sense and my god I loved it. This is spec fic at its finest. If you love a story that starts weird and gets WEIRD, this is for you.” Thank you!

Now folks, you don’t have any excuse, go buy Dare to Know!

In other news, Matt Bird and I have a new episode up of our Secrets Of Story podcast:

What is it about? Well, four years ago, way back in Episode 4, I was was bemoaning how most of the “Golden Age of TV” shows, like Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, and so on, had a similarly dour worldview: that the world is a relentless place consisting of the dominators and the dominated, that you’re a sucker to place your faith in other people’s better nature, etc. I predicted that the worm would turn, and that soon we would start getting shows that were more hopeful: stories in which people cooperate, and want the best for each other, in which villains can be redeemed, in which there is something in human interaction that is beyond rituals of domination and submission.

Well, I nailed it, didn’t I? Whether it’s Ted Lasso or Schitt’s Creek or Stephen Universe or She-Ra, the cultural mood has certainly shifted. But here’s the problem: most of Matt’s storytelling rules were forged in the smithy of that previous era. Which of those storytelling rules might feel misguided now? And what are some of the characteristics, strengths, and even weaknesses of today’s “nice” shows?

Matt posts about the episode here, and I imagine there might be a discussion there too.

See you later—gotta get ready for Halloween!

When it comes to science fiction, the Brits know what’s up! This is one of my biggest reviews yet: the Times Saturday Review dubbed Dare to Know as the “Book of the Month” of their Best New Science Fiction for October 2021, saying it is “worth the cover price for sheer insolence alone… Essential reading for the gathering dark.” Insolence! Yes!!

Last night Chicago’s Exile in Bookville bookstore hosted a hybrid live/streaming event in which fellow author and friend Keir Graff and I discussed Dare to Know. It’s a beautiful bookstore in the Fine Arts building, right on Michigan Avenue. A number of people actually showed up for the event—even in a pandemic!—and many more folks watched the stream. I’m grateful! Luckily we recorded it, and you can watch it above.

It’s a really good conversation—Keir is a skillful and nimble interviewer. I’ve known him and admired his writing since for years. We’ve also built up a rapport over time, since we’ve co-hosted countless 90-Second Newbery Film Festival screenings together.

Thanks to Keir, and thanks to everyone who came and watched! Thanks especially to the owners of Exile in Bookville, Javier Ramirez and Kristin Gilbert, for putting on this event. It really was a magical night—at one point you can see, out the window behind me and Keir, surprise fireworks exploding in the sky. (Oooh, and watch all the way to the end, Keir and I have something special planned.)