'Jack and Joy on Halloween' is available
Jul 3, 2025, 20:00
Jack and Joy on Halloween
The idea for my second self-published book, Jack and Joy on Halloween, started with nothing more than curiosity. A few days before Halloween, I found myself wondering where the holiday came from. I searched its origins and could see the same threads: death, spirits, and the thin veil between worlds.
And yet, when you look around today, Halloween feels completely different. People dress up as zombies and ghosts, sure—but also superheroes, anime characters, or anything else they like. Kids go door to door with candy buckets, teenagers head to parties, and families turn it into a cozy night together. The holiday is playful now, more about fun than whatever its real origin was.
That contrast sparked a thought: What if real ghosts blended in on Halloween night? Would anyone even notice? I imagined a spirit walking the streets, not realizing they had died, celebrating just like everyone else. That single idea became the seed for a story.
Once the idea hit, I set myself a challenge: finish and publish the book before Halloween was over. That didn’t go as planned. The deadline slipped past, and I ended up publishing it after the holiday. But I don’t regret it—because the story that emerged was one I needed to tell, even if it arrived a little late.
The Story of Jack and Joy
The book follows a boy named Jack, ten years old, dressed in a glowing skeleton costume and armed with the most important thing on Halloween: a candy bucket. His night starts the way any child’s would—knocking on doors, collecting sweets, enjoying a free hot dog, and meeting kind neighbors. He even finds a new friend, a girl named Joy.
But then something changes. Jack can’t find his home. Streets feel strange. Events stop making sense. Meanwhile, Joy is searching too—looking for someone of her own. Together, the two step into a mystery that blurs the line between the living and the spirit world.
Through their journey, Jack discovers truths about his own life, about memory, and about what it means to move forward even when you don’t want to let go. Joy, in her own way, helps guide him. What starts as a Halloween adventure becomes something much deeper: a story of friendship, loss, and the courage to embrace change.
I didn’t write the full concept of their world, but I tried to write, making their one short, mysterious night rich. It doesn’t mean it is the most fantastical adventure. I just wanted to imagine what it might be like if a ghost walked among us on Halloween night, unrecognized, perhaps even by themselves. Out of that curiosity came Jack, Joy, and a night that changes them both.
