Fiction mirrors life.
Life is like a jazz creation.
With joy, pain, insights, and indifference as its elements,
I get to translate what I behold,
and refresh my compositions with new dynamics as they reveal themselves.
I can even sample my own work for subsequent versions.
And the song will continue forever.
Do you see three sisters dancing with the setting moon?

Press

Vincent G.

October 2025 | Book Review: The Haint’s Kiss

“Fans of horror and African American culture will discover a tale they will never forget.”

Michael Arthur Kennedy: Time Conjurer by The International Book Show

September 2025 | The International Book Show

Michael Arthur Kennedy discusses his novel Time Conjurer, where psychiatrist Kenny Lawson uncovers his family’s hidden past, delving into time travel, racial violence, and the profound consequences of altering history.

Thomas Riddell

January 2024 | Book Review: Time Conjurer

“I liked the science fiction aspect of the tale, but the historical fiction segments appealed to me the most. Congrats to Michael Kennedy!”

Reedsy

January 2024 | Historical Fiction Must Read | Contributor: Vincent G.

“Kennedy’s writings are reminiscent of Octavia Butler’s best time travel adventure and Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ magical realism; fast paced, tightly researched, with vivid scenes.”

BookTrib

August 2023 | Historical Fantasy Captures the Grim Realities of the Jim Crow South | Contributor: Katie Bloomer

Time Conjurer is perfect for fans of magical realism that touches on real-world issues. Kennedy constructs unique fantasy elements based on hoodoo practices, adding a distinctive cultural flair that adds to the story’s appeal. The main villain is one readers will love to hate, and her ending will surely slake their thirst for literary vengeance.”

What’s New from Michael Arthur Kennedy

The Haint's Kiss Preview

September 3, 2025

I sincerely apologize for delaying the release of “Time Conjurer II: The Haint’s Kiss” until the Fall of 2025. I wanted to make sure it was truly ready. And it is! Now you can time travel with Dr. Kenny Lawson, Delilah, and Nana on their next challenge: To stop a mass murderer from 1955 Charleston who is already dead.

If this sneak preview was a movie trailer, I’d call it, “When the Hoodooer Meets The Haint.”

Read Preview

New Cover Reveal

November 16, 2024

Are you ready for “The Haint’s Kiss”? This is the sequel to “Time Conjurer,” and will be released in Spring of 2025.

Psychiatrist Kenny Lawson time travels from 2019 Philadelphia to 1955 Charleston to interview the witness to a murder. The man reports seeing an evil entity dissolve a human. Kenny has seen and experienced spirits before and believes the killer was Lucas Mobley.

“Time Conjurer” is a 2024 B.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree

November 13, 2024

“Time Conjurer” is a 2024 B.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree. IndieBRAG (Book Readers Appreciation Group) is an international group of readers that assesses and recognizes self-published fiction and non-fiction books. “Time Conjurer” was awarded a medallion in the Paranormal category. The website, bragmedallion.com, features Reader-Recommended books and more.

View on B.R.A.G. website

The Haint’s Kiss

Time Conjurer II

What happens when you combine time travel with hoodoo and history?

 

 

To make sure you find the hard copy and ebook on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and BookBaby, please use the links below!

Psychiatrist Kenny Lawson is in for a surprise when he receives a call from his time-traveling Great Aunt Delilah!

Delilah is in 1955 with a main who reports witnessing an evil spirit dissolve a human being. At his great aunt’s request, Kenny time-travels from 2019 Philadelphia back to 1955 Charleston to help Delilah solve this mystery.

After interviewing the witness, and using his own previous experiences with spirits, Kenny has reason to believe the killer is Lucas Mobley—who died in 1919 and who’s spirit Delilah had previously used to protect her family. Lucas’s spirit had escaped Delilah and has become a thing that southerners believed moves at night and can possess people; a haint.

Returning to 2019, Kenny discovers the murder they are investigating is only one of 55 murders committed against men who had participated in Charleston’s 1919 Race Riot. The murders had remained unsolved over the years, spawning macabre new folklore and paranoia that rippled out all the way to contemporary Philadelphia. But folklore wasn’t the only ripple in time caused by these strange new killings…

Now it’s up to Kenny to travel back to the past, stop the murders before they ever happen, and undo the changes to history the haint has caused. But ensnaring a haint 64 years in the past isn’t easy, and Kenny winds up putting his own life on the line—as well as his family’s— as the mystery gets ever more complicated the more Kenny digs.

Perfect for fans of series like “The Twilight Zone”, “Supernatural”, “The Dresden Files”, or “American Horror Stories”! This thrilling supernatural mystery will keep readers on the edge of their seats until the end!

Time Conjurer

A Time Travel Novel You Won’t Be Able to Put Down

What happens when you combine time travel with hoodoo and history?

 

 

To make sure you find the hard copy and ebook on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and BookBaby, please use the links below!

Kenny Lawson is a repressed psychiatrist in 2019 Philadelphia who has recurring dreams of a happy little girl. His latest dream, however, indicates the death of a family member. He learns that the girl reaching out to him is an aunt (Delilah) who disappeared in 1955. The aunt’s sister, his grandmother, teaches him a method of Hoodoo-based time travel so he can visit the past. When his grandmother is attacked by the woman responsible for Delilah’s disappearance, they must go back to 1955 Charleston.

Kenny and his grandmother navigate the Jim Crow South to prevent their evil visitor from finding her way to 2019 and to find Delilah, who is lost in a time labyrinth. Unfortunately, changing the past creates new terrors that ripple through time and jeopardize the reality of 2019. Kenny must embrace Hoodoo’s deeper traditions to save the people and the world he knows.

Reader Reviews

[The Time Conjurer] is good fun, intriguing, and entertaining.

Robby R.

Michael Kennedy’s Time Conjurer—stunningly imaginative and beautifully written—is compelling to the hilt. Intriguing characters, a convoluted plot, and the practice of Hoodooism will pull you through a bizarre form of time travel, interwoven with a stark look at the Jim Crow south. You can plan to read feverishly all the way to an unexpected and highly gratifying ending.

Darrel Walters, Professor Emeritus, Temple University

Time Conjurer is an amazingly engaging spiritual, emotional, historical, and psychological journey that grabs the reader and places them alongside the characters on their road to justice, redemption, discovery and growth.

Larry Briscoe

Meet the Author

Dr. Michael ARTHUR Kennedy

Medical Background

Michael earned a BA in Sociology from Harvard University in 1981. He completed his medical school training at The University of Illinois in Chicago in 1987. After an internship year at Cook County Hospital, he moved on to the Centers for Disease Control and completed Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) training and a Preventive Medicine residency. He then earned a Masters in Public Health from The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health. In 1993, he finished his training at Johns Hopkins with a fellowship in Occupational Medicine.

Dr. Kennedy has practiced Occupational Medicine in Delaware, Indiana, and Pennsylvania. He is board certified in Occupational Medicine.

Writing Journey

Michael has always loved a well told story that stretches his imagination. From “Their Eyes Were Watching God” to “Parable of the Sower”, and from “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” to “Pan’s Labyrinth”, he marvels at human existence at the boundaries of possibility, and seeks to bring this magic into his own writing. He began writing poetry in the third grade and continued throughout college, medical school, and beyond. During his undergraduate and post-college years, he published student magazines.

Dr. Kennedy was inspired to write his debut time travel novel, “Time Conjurer”, after he became the family historian and amassed photographs and written histories dating back to 1815. These collections sparked genealogical trips to Barbados and Charleston. Wishing he could visit the people and places in the photographs, he conceived an idea of time travel through the surfaces of pictures. His first novel combines this concept with historical events in Charleston and Philadelphia.

Personal Life

Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Michael lives in Delaware, but has maternal roots in South Carolina. Married, and with multiple cats, Michael practices Occupational Medicine in the Philadelphia area. He is a son, brother, husband, father, uncle, and grandfather who enjoys travel, good food, photography, African art, jazz and smiling faces. Born the same year “The Twilight Zone” premiered on television, he can’t foresee retiring. In 2022, he feels he is hitting his stride.

Awards

BookFest Awards

Spring 2024 : Time Conjurer

First Place | Historical Fantasy

First Place | Supernatural-Paranormal & Psychic Phenomenon

First Place | Supernatural-Paranormal and Psychic Phenomenon

First Place | Supernatural Thriller

Amazon Bestseller In Multiple Categories

#3 in Occult Supernatural

#6 in Supernaturalism (Books)

#11 in Occult

#58 in Occult & Paranormal

Blog

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