Category Archives: Kazmaier Newsletter
2022 Kazmaier Christmas and New Years’ Newsletter
It’s a delight for me when Christmas approaches to walk past a neighbor’s home and be reminded of the true meaning of Christmas and the great gift we have received.
This past year Kathy and I had our first chance to visit the Hawaiian island of Maui. After the interminable lock-downs, it was a wonderful feeling of freedom to experience Maui. It was not only a beautiful locale, but the freedom from many of the Covid strictures, and a return to normalcy was a delight. I’ve included a few pictures here of that wonderful trip. A quick search on my blog site would lead you to a more extensive collection.
The Hawaiian Island of Maui
One of the consequences of our lengthy lockdown and the closing of in-person church meetings, has been a movement away from direct contact to online contact. To me this has many shortcomings, but one unexpected blessing has been the discovery of Tim Keller’s messages on Spotify. I especially appreciate his clarity, his deep respect for the word of God, and the way he is able to connect the biblical message to many of the questions facing us today. If you have Spotify, you may wish to check his messages to see if they speak to your life as they have to mine.
Peter’s Fifth Book was Published in June 2021
My fifth book (Coventry 2091), and start of a new series, was published in June 2021. Since then the e-book, available from library service Hoopla, has become widely available in libraries across North America.
A few months ago a book study group that I belong to, selected Coventry 2091 for review. I have been preparing questions for a study guide to accompany this study and discussion of my Coventry story. In case you’re interested, I’ve been publishing the discussion questions on my blog site should anyone else be looking for those types of materials.
Link to the first set of questions …
https://peterkazmaier.wordpress.com/2022/10/22/study-guide-for-coventry-2091-part-1-introduction-to-speculative-fiction/
Wishing You and Your Family a Joyous Christmas and a Blessed New Year
Finally, since this newsletter has drifted into December, Kathy and I want to wish everyone, along with your extended family, a joyous Christmas and a blessed New Year. If you have read this far into the newsletter, I hope you take a moment to re-connect with us. Even a short email, a blog comment, or Facebook post would be so appreciated.We do so love to hear from you!
2021 Christmas Greetings
Because of travel plans over the holidays, we decided to hold an early family Christmas celebration. As I thought about the good-natured banter, laughter and quips among the four generations present, it led me to think how much our world has changed over those generations, and how hard we have to work to get past the presuppositions that come from our histories.
The years 2021, 1992, 1963, and 1939 are significant because these are the years when a member of one of those four generations turned twelve years old.
In 1939 a twelve-year old would still remember how recently the farm was electrified. Before that it was lamps, candles, and early bedtimes.
In 1963, one still carried books everywhere and spoke on telephone landlines, even party-lines!!
In 1992 computers were becoming more and more common. Cellphones and the internet were known but not yet in common usage, and electronic books were a novelty.
In 2021 the ubiquitous smartphone, texting, many, many social media platforms are the norm. With Covid-19, lock-downs, movement restrictions and mandatory vaccination laws have become common place, and interactions and travel we did without thinking in 1992 now definitely require second or even third thoughts!
As we talk to one another, we have to try to understand where the other is coming from. What are their assumptions…? What don’t they know about my world …?
So in this Christmas season, I`m reminded to be grateful for other generations, and to make sure I understand what they mean by what they said … a prerequisite for good communication.
A Note About Peter`s Writing
The year 2021 was significant for me from a writing perspective. I published my fifth book and started a new SciFi series. The reviews have been encouraging … https://www.amazon.com/Coventry-2091-Chronicles-Book-ebook/product-reviews/B099MKGSKP/
With Covid-19 raging and many of us locked down, it has been quite a while since I sent out my last newsletter. If you have a chance to let me know how you`re doing, I would enjoy hearing from you. If not an email, you are always welcome to leave a comment.
To my American friends “Happy Thanksgiving.” To everyone, “Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year.”
Peter
2019 Kazmaier Fall and Christmas Newsletter
It’s not often when we can get our immediate family all together in Ontario for a barbecue. It is even more seldom that we are able to take an impromptu family picture.
This picture was taken in August and includes the most recent addition to the Guelph Kazmaiers, their dog Rio.
Late this summer we took a trip to Calgary with Michael and Alyssa and their family. On our drive to Radium we had occasion to stop at Cascade Ponds, near Banff. This picture of the ponds with the Rockies in the background, reminded me of what I am missing here in Ontario.
Indeed, I overheard my Grandson, Nolen explaining to his father that what we call mountains in Ontario are really nothing more than hills. When the real comes, the shadow must pass away!
Cascade Ponds Near Banff
One of the difficult things about being so far away from my parents: I only get to see them perhaps once or twice a year. In between, I have to be content with frequent phone calls. I am glad to say, that although they are both 95 (my father is soon to be 96), they are still in reasonably good health.
Peter’s Fourth Book is Out
My fourth book, the third in The Halcyon Cycle, came out in June. I have reached a milestone of sorts: I have finished my first book series and am now on to writing about a different world with new characters. I have tentatively entitled the new book Coventry 2091. I’m just finishing the second draft, but I can see the manuscript is far from complete.
Wishing You and Your Family a Joyous Christmas and a Blessed New Year
Finally, since this newsletter has drifted into December, Kathy and I want to wish everyone, along with your extended family, a joyous Christmas and a blessed New Year. If you have read this far into the newsletter, I hope you take this moment to re-connect with us. Even a short email, a blog comment, or Facebook post would be so appreciated.We do so love to hear from you!
Kazmaier 2019 Spring Newsletter
Personal News
Most of our immediate family birthdays occur from mid-December to mid-May. Kathy and I have had a wonderful time celebrating almost non-stop since Christmas. This culminated with our youngest grandson’s birthday in May along with Grandparent’s Day hosted by the school our two oldest grandchildren attend.
Family is truly a blessing and we are thankful that everyone lives within driving distance.
We also had a cold winter and were privileged to get away from the ice and snow and spend a few days with my sister and her husband in La Quinta near Palm Springs. The picture below shows the lagoon in their gated community that Kathy and I would walk around daily for exercise.
This year we opened our cottage in mid-May (which is quite early for us). When we arrived the trees still had buds and we had a open view up and down the water way. When we left, less than a week later, the leaves were all out and we had our more usual seclusion and privacy. I’ve attached a couple of pictures from the cottage to show that Spring is truly here.
It was interesting to me that on Grandparent’s Day the grade one class showed us their writing project. The picture below shows they process they followed. It’s exactly the same process I follow to produce my books (although I am sure I go through it much more slowly than they did). It’s a wonderful school. Kathy and I are so glad our grandchildren are able to attend there.
This June is the 50th anniversary of my Crescent Heights High School class’s graduation. I am disappointed that I cannot make the trip out west right now and join the festivities, but I wish my classmates well and am grateful for the re-connections I have been able to make in the lead-up to this significant event.
Peter’s Writing
This spring has also been a significant milestone in my writing journey as shown in the picture above. I’ve just completed my fourth book, The Dragons of Sheol, the final book in The Halcyon Cycle. The print copy should be available in a few weeks, and the e-book likely earlier. I have already been working on my next book which I have tentatively entitled Coventry 2091.
I continue to work to improve my writing with each successive book. I hope this is my best book yet. My readers have always been helpful and I hope to hear from them.
If you are interested, either follow my website for unfolding news [ Peterkazmaier.com ] or check out one of my author pages such as at Amazon.
As always, one of my favorite aspects of these infrequent newsletters are the emails Kathy and I receive back. These personal contacts mean so much and give us a chance to re-connect with our friends.
Wishing You a Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year in 2018
Not a Typical Christmas Scene
Kathy and I normally send out a MailChimp newsletter wishing our friends “Merry Christmas” and providing some of the highlights of our year. Unfortunately my newsletter did not display well in Google Chrome and so I thought, rather than annoy you with content that displayed poorly, we would present on the PeterKazmaier.com website and send a shorter newsletter with a link to the detailed the content.
This rainbow, captured at our cottage, reminded us of the hope we celebrate at Christmas as we remember Christ’s coming. As Christ-followers, this is a special time of reminder for Kathy and me.
We want to wish everyone the very best Christmas and a wonderful time with family and friends. Hope you have time to drop us a note to tell us how you are doing.
Here is some of our news from 2018 …
Kayaking Off Maurelle Island
This summer Kathy and I had an absolutely delightful time kayaking with family off Maurelle Island. It was our first tidewater kayaking experience and the large tides around Maurelle made this a learning experience. We had great fun, our guides at Go with the Flo were excellent, the scenery was spectacular. All in all, we experienced an adventure we will long remember. If you want to see more follow this link.
Peter’s Writing Milestones
I was able to complete the manuscript of my third SciFi-Fantasy novel entitled The Dragons of Sheol in October. Once it is professionally edited, it should be out approximately mid-2019. The map shown below is a depiction of the continent where most of the action takes place. Special thanks to Phil Kazmaier for using his Photoshop prowess for putting this map together.
My Friend Jim Roe Just Published His First Two Books
I had the privilege of attending my friend Jim Roe’s book launch this December. I had to get my autographed copies and look forward to reading them as soon as I finish the books already i reading. Jim, wishing you every success.
Below is the notice of the book launch and the covers of the two novels. I can’t find them yet on Amazon but they should be there soon.
Coventry 2091
Peter has already begun his next book, with the working title: Coventry 2091. This will be a break from the Halcyon Cycle series and will have many elements of a more conventional Science Fiction.
In Case You Didn’t Get My Newsletter …
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Peter Kazmaier - Author 