Brian Niemeier's Blog: Kairos - by Brian Niemeier, page 8

The Angel and the Third Key

A recent post about reports of saints seeing their guardian angels raised the natural question: “What about us ordinary uncanonized Joes?” Commenter Feng Li favors us with his own personal account of what he believes was an angelic visitation. Related: The Near, Celestial Spirits Et in terra pax homninibus bonae voluntatis. You’ve still got a limited time to get early exclusives…

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Why Not Every Fantasy Story Needs a Magic System

In recent years, the rise of intricate, well-defined magic systems—exemplified by Brandon Sanderson’s work—has led many aspiring authors to believe that a detailed set of rules governing magical abilities is essential for crafting compelling fantasy. While Sanderson’s approach to magic has proven highly successful, not every fantasy story benefits from such a framework. In fact…

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The Near, Celestial Spirits

Matthew 18:10 and the Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraph 336 teach that each and every human person is assigned an angel who watches over us throughout our lives. But is there empirical evidence to support this Scriptural and Magisterial teaching? In short: Yes. And here are accounts of four saints who saw their guardian angels. Related: One Break-in, One Angel “But what if…

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The Burned Book Audio Demo

With The Burned Book audio version funded, I thought my regular readers would enjoy a brief demonstration of the fun that’s in store for them. Without further preamble, it’s my pleasure to present the demop version of The Burned Book, Chapter 5, read by the incomparable Wes Thompson! Remember: This clip is just a rough cut promo for the finished product The final version going out to backers…

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Women Sci Fi Writers: The Pulps vs the Social Pulpit

An observation recently made in online writing circles concerned the marked differences between female writers of the pulp era and the women who followed in their authorial footsteps. Just compare women who made their names prior to the 1960s like like C.L. Moore, Leigh Brackett, and even Flannery O’Connor to celebrated authoresses of the latter 20th century like Marion Zimmer Bradley, Ursula K.

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Welcome to the Future Past

It’s been observed that nobody really wants to live in 2024. A lot of people, especially members of Generation Y, long to go back to the simpler days of the 1980s. But in reality, the main difference between daily life in the 80s compared to now was the absence of flastscreen devices. Imagine waking up tomorrow and finding all the flat, glowing screens you rely on—your smartphone, tablet, HDTV…

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The Rule of 3 in Pop Culture: Why the 3rd Try Wins the Crowd

Whether we’re talking about a tabletop roleplaying game, a video game, or a movie franchise, when a new IP launches, success isn’t always immediate. In fact, it often takes more than one attempt to win mass appeal. History shows that pop culture products frequently achieve breakout success not with the first or second iteration, but with the third. You see this phenomenon across various…

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It’s the Final Countdown for Lord of Fate

It’s been incredibly busy around here of late, so today’s post will keep it brief with a quick update: The final countdown for our trailblazing Lord of Fate campaign is on! To say that this campaign has made history is no exaggeration. Our first Kickstarter smoked every previous Indiegogo milestone, including fastest-funded, record time to stretch goal benchmarks, and the crown jewel…

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The Burned Book: Now in Audio on Kickstarter

For years, my readers have asked “When will your work be available in audio?” And thanks to our generous Kickstarter backers, the answer is finally … now! From now until 9:15 PM Eastern tomorrow, you can get The Burned Book audio version as an add-on to a Lord of Fate campaign reward. Or if you’re feeling ultra-elite, pledge at the Audiobook Producer Credit tier, and receive a contributor…

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Alexander Macris on Model Collapse

It’s the final 2 days for our Lord of Fate campaign. Don’t miss your last chance to claim exclsusive rewards and unlock the Burned Book in audio. Back it on Kickstarter now. A concept that’s proven illuminating for those just learning about it is the idea of model collapse. The term originated in the field of machine learning to describe the information degradation that happens when A.I.

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