Blog Archives

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!

A watchtower in a vineyard near ancient Nazareth

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!

Reminds me of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe

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 my family, friends and readers a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year! See my newsletter.

In Case You Didn’t Get My Newsletter …

A short summary of what the Kazmaiers have been up to and what’s happening with Peter’s writing. To see Peter’s author page at Amazon check http://goo.gl/k4e420.
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A significant milestone in Peter’s writing:

THE BATTLE FOR HALCYON was the 2016 winner at the 28th Word Awards in the Speculative Fiction category

As one attendee at the Word Award Gala in Toronto quipped: “Speculative Fiction? I thought all fiction was speculative.” That’s true, of course, but some fiction is more speculative than others. Speculative Fiction is an umbrella term that covers Science Fiction and Fantasy genres. Winning that particular award is especially gratifying to me since my writing in some respects has a foot in both genres.

On the one hand, my interest in science means that I work pretty hard to come up with plausible explanations for some of the imaginings in my new world. Plausible explanations are a signature of Science Fiction.

On the other hand I find the Materialist worldview implicit in most Science Fiction implausible and I’m much more at home in the philosophical landscape of Fantasy such as Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, where Good and Evil have real meaning and are fundamentals of existence (as opposed to inventions by people). From that perspective I think my books read much more like Fantasy.

So I was delighted to receive the 2016 Word Award for Speculative Fiction for my third book, The Battle for Halcyon. If you’d like to read more … http://wp.me/p4cZo4-6c

This newsletter is my chance to re-connect with my friends. If you have a moment, I would love to hear from you.

Writing at the Cottage

I find that our time at the cottage encourages me to write. The beautiful scenery and the wonderful birds are very inspiring. Here are a few pictures from our time at the cottage so far.

What is a cottage in Ontario without loons? This one along with its mate were cavorting in our bay.
The beautiful Pileated Woodpecker can be found around our cottage. This large bird is quite shy and it has been hard for me to get a good photograph.
Dragon flies are beautiful and help keep mosquitoes down.
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