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James Kennedy's sci-fi asks, 'Do you dare to know your death date?'

A message from Beth Golay: "On December 3, 2021, I spoke with James Kennedy about his book, Dare to Know. The podcast was supposed to drop on December 14, but because of a glitch with the audio, it didn’t happen. We thought the audio was lost. But thanks to the brilliant mind of Lu Anne Stephens (who happens to be my boss), the audio has been recovered and the podcast is ready for consumption. Dare to Know has since been released in paperback, but this is a better-late-than-never scenario, because I loved this conversation. You’ll hear me say this during the conversation: I loved this book. I published a copy of the podcast on the date it was supposed to air, but we’re publishing it today too. Because it deserves its time at the top of the episode list. I hope you enjoy it."


Imagine you could know the exact date and time of your death… would you want to know? In James Kennedy’s science fiction novel Dare to Know, that question is the foundation of his imagined world. It was inspired by his own background in physics and subsequent research into the historical intersection of science and philosophy (including the occult). I spoke with James Kennedy about his fascination with this combination, how he taps into his characters and more. Here’s our conversation.

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Dare to Know by James Kennedy was published by Quirk Books.

Thanks for joining us for Marginalia. If you enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a review.

Marginalia was produced at KMUW Wichita.

  • Mark Statzer and Torin Andersen - engineers
  • Lu Anne Stephens - editor
  • Haley Crowson - producer
  • Beth Golay - host

Follow Beth Golay on Twitter @BethGolay.

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Beth Golay is KMUW's Director of Marketing and Digital Content. She is the host of the KMUW podcast Marginalia, co-host with Suzanne Perez of the Books & Whatnot podcast, creator of the podcast You're Saying It Wrong, creator of KMUW's daily news podcast Wichita's Early Edition, and NPR StoryLab Workshop team member on the award-winning podcast My Fellow Kansans.