Best Nicholas Kotar Podcasts (2025)

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Grimdark & the Godless Wheel: A Reflection on Abercrombie’s First Law 32:44

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10d ago32:44

32:44

In this special (and long-promised) episode of Fantasy for Our Time, I dive helmet-first into the final installment of Joe Abercrombie’s First Law Trilogy—a.k.a. the Holy Scripture of Grimdark™ (depending who you ask). I wrestle with berserkers, battle ideologies, and gently poke the gnarled problem of evil with a theological stick. 🛡️ What is Grim…

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How I’m Building the Next Inklings | Fantasy Publishing Behind the Scenes 24:44

2M ago24:44

24:44

Greetings, fellow fantasy fanatics and lore lovers! 🧙‍♂️✨ Ever wondered what happens behind the mystical curtain of indie fantasy publishing? In this rare “Craftsman’s Workshop” livestream, I reveal all the spellbinding chaos of my publishing plans for 2025 and beyond—straight from my candle-lit scriptorium (okay, maybe just my desk, but still magi…

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What If Aliens Were Catholic? w/ M.R. Leonard 55:32

3M ago55:32

55:32

Imagine this: Catholic aliens show up on Earth, but instead of demanding our surrender, they want to set up a Mass. Yep, you heard that right. In today’s conversation, I sit down with debut author M.R. Leonard, the brilliant mind behind Pilgrims, a sci-fi novel that reimagines St. Augustine’s Confessions with aliens, interstellar drama, and a heart…

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Consolation of Grimdark: Why This Failed Quest Was More Satisfying Than Victory 22:39

3M ago22:39

22:39

Today, we embark on a perilous journey into the world of Grimdark fantasy, where heroes are fools, victories are tragic, and morality is as murky as a tavern’s back alley. After years of avoiding the genre, I finally took the plunge and read Joe Abercrombie’s Before They Are Hanged—the second book in The First Law trilogy. And what did I discover? …

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Cinema as Sacred Art: Why Tolkien’s World Needs Wes Anderson’s Touch w/ Reno Lauro 56:21

4M ago56:21

56:21

🎥 Ever wondered if The Lord of the Rings could feel both quirky and profound? Could Wes Anderson bring Tolkien’s world to life with meticulously composed shots, nostalgic hues, and objects that practically whisper stories of their own? In this week’s deep dive, I sit down with Reno Lauro—a cinephile, scholar, and someone who’s worked with none othe…

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A Dune Deep Dive w/ Richard Rohlin : Paul Atreides, Duncan Idaho, and Hollywood’s Religious Problem 49:23

4M ago49:23

49:23

At the time of this recording, it was my birthday, and - in true Hobbit fashion - I'm giving YOU the gift of diving into the vast deserts of Dune with the always insightful Richard Rohlin! In this impromptu episode, we’re unpacking Denis Villeneuve’s Dune films—praising the awe-inspiring visuals, iconic performances, and meticulous attention to det…

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Surviving the Dark Forest: Lessons from Liu Cixin's Sci-Fi Masterpiece 33:14

5M ago33:14

33:14

What if the universe isn’t just vast and indifferent but actively hostile—a cosmic battlefield where silence is survival? Welcome, friends, to an exploration of The Dark Forest, the second volume in Liu Cixin’s masterful Three-Body Problem series. 🌠 In this episode, we journey into a future where humanity faces an alien threat so advanced they can …

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Inside the Kotarverse: Slow Productivity & Stories Worth Dying For 50:02

5M ago50:02

50:02

This is a special repost of one of my Craftsman’s Workshop Patreon streams, where I dive deep into a pivotal question: What makes a story truly life-giving? 🌱 Join me as I open up about how storytelling keeps us grounded, and share thoughts on what it means to build a meaningful creative life amidst a chaotic world. We cover everything from my evol…

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Cantos of Arcadia: Crafting America’s Post-Apocalyptic Myth 42:46

6M ago42:46

42:46

🔥 Imagine America’s collapse into myth. Today, we’re exploring “Cantos of Arcadia”—my sci-fi project that merges epic story, future-archaeology, and existential dread. This is the story behind the story, the uncharted process of weaving America’s “what if” into a future epic that merges apocalyptic ruin with ancient myth. Expect discussions on myth…

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Canon in Sci-Fi? The Case for Shards of Honor and The Vorkosigan Saga 📚 32:09

6M ago32:09

32:09

Join me as I dive into Shards of Honor, the first book in The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold! 🚀💫 From the depths of autocratic heroism to the ideals of speculative fiction, we'll explore it all: grimdark versus high fantasy ⚔️, reflections on repressive political systems 🛡️, and the intrigue of intergalactic escapades 🌌. If you’ve ever won…

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Adrian Tchaikovsky on Giant Spiders, Sci-Fi, and the Unexpected Success of Children of Time 43:38

7M ago43:38

43:38

Welcome, fellow book lovers and sci-fi enthusiasts! In this video, I have the absolute pleasure of chatting with none other than Adrian Tchaikovsky—an international sensation and the brilliant mind behind Children of Time. This conversation is a treat as we dive into Adrian’s creative journey, his love for speculative fiction, and, of course, how a…

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The Art of Fantasy, Grimdark, and Tolkien’s Vision: Why We Keep Escaping Into These Worlds 39:11

7M ago39:11

39:11

Hello, fellow wanderers! 🌟 In this video, we’re diving deep into the heart of fantasy and the curious intersection between Grimdark and Tolkien’s mythopoetic storytelling. Yes, you heard that right—me, the self-professed Grimdark skeptic, is about to unpack this genre that I once claimed was something we should avoid (gasp!). But things have change…

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Human-centric Sci Fi vs Lovecraftian Nightmares w/ Richard Rohlin 1:19:45

8M ago1:19:45

1:19:45

Hey dear friends! In this video, Richard and I dive deep into the evolving worlds of science fiction and fantasy. From Tolkien's carefully restrained magic to today's cosmic horror and existential threats, we explore how modern storytellers like Adrian Tchaikovsky are pushing the boundaries of what it means to be human in a vast, often terrifying u…

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Touch the Darkness Again... 1:46:03

2+ y ago1:46:03

1:46:03

Could this be the Star Wars of our time?! . . . . no. Definitely not. Together, Richard and I discuss the final episode of The Rings of Power and, yet again, it's mostly a ranting session. It seems as though this entire venture has been set up as a cinematic prequel to the Peter Jackson films, and - if that's the case - it's supremely disappointing…

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The Wooden Eagle

2+ y ago

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A certain Tsar collects artisans like trinkets. And what do you think? Of course they all compete for his attention. But once a goldsmith and a carpenter argue so much they nearly come to blows. The Tsar, never one to avoid an exciting opportunity, orders them to create the greatest work of art ever made. The result? Well, a hero's journey, two thw…

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The Shadow is a Passing Thing... Or Is It? 1:39:04

2+ y ago1:39:04

1:39:04

In this episode, dear friend Richard Rohlin and I continue our discussion on The Rings of Power, picking up with episodes 6 and 7. We try to open up by focusing on the positives, but, as per usual, chaos ensues! While there does seem to be minimal progress in the maturation of the show and its characters, we still see forced romantic tensions where…

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There Is a Tempest in Me . . . 1:28:06

2+ y ago1:28:06

1:28:06

Once again I'm joined by Richard Rohlin for a lively discussion about the Rings of Power! Together we discuss . . . well, many things; but, perhaps most peculiarly, whether elves are more like rechargeable batteries or glow-in-the-dark frisbees. While the series is wrought with problematic elements, we do manage to find genuine moments of delight. …

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Without My Sword . . . What Am I? 1:33:20

3y ago1:33:20

1:33:20

At last, what you've all been waiting for . . . I discuss The Rings of Power! My friend Richard Rohlin joins me for a wonderful conversation about the new series: what we like, what we don't like. Like so many of us, I was set up to hate the show on the front end; however, I must say - it's not THAT bad. Sure, parts of it feel like an AI rendering …

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Resilience and Courage Through Story: Accept Your Quest with Humility and Purpose 25:12

3y ago25:12

25:12

This is the final video of my series on accepting unexpected hardships and using stories to help overcome them in a lasting way. Using Aragorn from The Lord of the Rings as our model, we've finally come to the crux of the matter. Time to accept our quest. But this is a delicate and difficult thing. It can only be done after you've finished the firs…

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Resilience and Courage Through Story: Examining the Heart of Ideas You Hate 32:34

3y ago32:34

32:34

Welcome to week three of our series exploring how good stories can help us survive difficulty and come out stronger, living a deeper and more fulfilling life. In our first two videos, we discussed how to find a mentor and the importance of solitude for the deep life. Continuing using Aragorn's life as a model, we're entering the danger zone: how to…

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Resilience and Courage Through Story: Finding Meaning in Solitude 31:12

3y ago31:12

31:12

Welcome to the second episode in my series on finding resilience and courage during unexpectedly difficult times, all through the wisdom of fairy tales and classic literature. Last week, we discussed how we can find a mentor. But find him or not, the next step in overcoming difficulties is harder. We must embrace solitude. The stories have much to …

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Prince Ivan, the Witch Baby, and the Little Prince of the Sun

3y ago

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Little Prince Ivan was born dumb, and his parents couldn't wait to have another child. Anything was better than a voiceless future Tsar! But you should be careful what you wish for. They did have another child. A girl. But she had iron teeth. And an unfortunate taste for... well, everything! This strange, wonderful story has some of the most unusua…

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Resilience and Courage Through Story: Finding Your Mentor 41:10

3y ago41:10

41:10

In an age of information overload, we need, more than ever, to find someone to help us make sense of it all. But there are self-proclaimed experts, life coaches, and just plain hucksters everywhere! What're we to do? Well, maybe we need to take a page out of Russian fairy tales. Just as Ivan the Prince found his frog princess in a swamp, our answer…

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What Aragorn Can Teach Us About the Deep Life 41:44

3y ago41:44

41:44

One of the biggest questions of our age is what we are to make of ourselves in a post-pandemic reality. If we allow it, hardship can unlock a deeply satisfying way of living; however, it requires an ability to live in the tension of survival and progress. When we are no longer reacting, there comes a moment where we commit to transforming our life …

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What the Lord of the Rings Taught Me about Embracing Difficulty 40:02

3y ago40:02

40:02

We all have questions about what is the right way to live. Popular narratives seem to push a worldview of self-preservation no matter the cost. Is it better to avoid danger and difficulty? In our family lives? In our spiritual lives? Choosing the difficult path and engaging in self-sacrificial behavior benefits those around us. This is the story of…

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Just Like Salt and Baba Yaga

3y ago

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Today we're happy to share two shorter stories, one called "Just Like Salt" and the other the return of everyone's favorite villain: Baba Yaga.In the analysis section, Deacon Nicholas recommends a wonderful new book that has some fascinating things to say about early Christian poetry and imaginative fictions. Be sure to check out "She Who Loved Muc…

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The Last Kingdom and The Green Monk 27:20

3y ago27:20

27:20

I've noticed a trend in entertainment recently. It seems as though some strange anachronistic lens has been placed over history regarding faith and religion. People of a Christian faith are often depicted as weak and feeble, while people of pagan religions are shown as powerful and successful. Why does entertainment depict the Christian God as effe…

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When the Movie is Actually BETTER Than the Book 40:31

3y ago40:31

40:31

Today, I continue my examination of time in fantasy and sci-fi literature. What is time? Is it a line, a circle, or some combination thereof? Historically there are many ways to view it and interact with it; modernity seems to be much more concerned with managing it than experiencing it. Our current approach to time seems to be a revival of stoicis…

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The Tale of Vasilisa Mikulishna

3y ago

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This week we return to the world of mythical Kiev for another tale of the bogatyrs and... their wives? The Tale of Vasilisa Mikulishna is a wonderfully fun gender-swapping tale that puts masculine and feminine tropes on their head... only to put them all back in glorious order by the end. In the analysis section, Deacon Nicholas offers a real-life …

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Time and Identity in Fantasy Literature 33:57

3y ago33:57

33:57

Today, in this old recording from 2019, I present an honest look at the concept of time as I reflect on a few pieces of fantasy literature. More specifically, we look at the idea of cyclical time and how it presents a highly depressing worldview where there is little to no way to redeem your own personal journey or that of your society, race, or an…

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A Conversation with Bestselling Author Christian Cameron 1:27:11

3y ago1:27:11

1:27:11

Here's another throwback episode where I have an absolutely fascinating conversation with my friend Christian Cameron. Together we discuss a wide swath of topics including medieval cooking, wrestling, weapons, pilgrimages, pastries, armizare, and plenty of other fascinating stuff. We also dig into our shared love of history and some insider writing…

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The Proud Bride

3y ago

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In "The Proud Bride," we see the classic trope of the shrewish bride who is impossible to marry off (think King Thrushbeard and the Taming of the Shrew) being tamed by a trickster figure of a groom. But this time, it's the Russian fairy tale version. In the analysis, Deacon Nicholas reflects on some of the difficulties of the creative life by readi…

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Secular Sci-Fi & The Transcendent 36:18

3y ago36:18

36:18

What does it mean to be human? How do we interact with the Divine or find meaning in a universe that sometimes seems completely devoid of meaning? It used to be that fantasy was the genre that most aptly responded to these monumental questions, yet I've realized that this is no longer the case! I've found that it is actually the contemporary, secul…

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Violence and Catharsis in Fantasy Media 38:15

3y ago38:15

38:15

When is the violence we see on our screen or read in our books too much? There is no denying an increase in violence in our world and the usual scapegoat for such a thing is the media we consume; but, is modern media truly more violent than that of the past, or is it just of a different kind altogether? For example, The Iliad has more than its fair…

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The Three Sons Serbian

3y ago

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When a mysterious old woman visits the house of three brothers, unexpected gifts begin to abound. But the greatest gift is sometimes the smallest, least expected thing...In the analysis section, Deacon Nicholas continues his examination of the poetry of St Gregory the Theologian and finds some unexpected insight in a poem... about poetry.…

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Cute Monsters and the Problem of Evil 39:20

3y ago39:20

39:20

Whatever happened to the good old days when we recognized that some things are ugly, some things are monsters and you can't fix them? In this episode, I address the increasingly prevalent phenomenon of cute monsters in fiction and why it is a symptom of a more significant breakdown of a concrete worldview in society. Monsters without teeth are real…

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Ivan the Peasant's Son

3y ago

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Ivan, the third son of a peasant family, refuses to be left behind when his brothers go to war against a dragonish monster. And a good thing, too! For his brothers prefer snoring to swordplay. After coming into a land scorched by the attacks of the monster, Ivan becomes the last man standing between the monster and the people of the Rus. But the tr…

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Caped Crusaders and the Common Good 37:39

3y ago37:39

37:39

Should we avoid violence in media? Are certain portrayals of violence in media better for us than others? This week I continue our discussion on violence as I examine Mat Reeves’ The Batman. Every iteration of Batman is an expression of very different eras of American history, from the campy, sometimes silly Batman of the 60’s to the bleak and, dar…

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Special Episode: Sample Audiobook Chapter From Nicholas Kotar’s Raven Son series 31:59

3y ago31:59

31:59

Time, despite my best efforts to conquer it, has, yet again, conquered me! In all of my busyness, I wasn't able to sit down and record my next podcast so, in lieu of a fresh episode this week, I figured I would take this opportunity to share an audiobook chapter from my Raven Son series. Here is a description of the book: An evil omen clouds the sk…

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The Third Son

3y ago

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The Third Son, a Carpatho-Russian fairy tale, starts like the well-known parable of the talents. But this time, we're looking at it from the perspective of the lazy, third son who did nothing with the talent given to him. What happened to that poor son? Well, in this tale, he goes on a transformative journey where his own adventures and redemption …

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Empathy vs Compassion: What Game of Thrones gets wrong (among other things) 42:33

3y ago42:33

42:33

Isn't empathy a good thing? Well, yes. In moderation. But we seem to live in a world where immoderate empathy is causing widespread victimhood. And our stories are reflecting this strange reality.By Nicholas Kotar

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Season 3 Trailer

3y ago

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After a long wait, In a Certain Kingdom is back! And thanks to the show's patrons, it will now be an ongoing bi-monthly podcast with no limit to the number of episodes. Not only that, but Nicholas Kotar is going to include stories not only from Russia, but from Ukraine, Carpatho-Russia, Georgia, Romania, and maybe a few others. In addition, wonderf…

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Should We Be Inspired by the Masters or Subvert Them? 48:27

3y ago48:27

48:27

In this throwback episode, I officially get publicly and loudly angry about The Last Jedi. Seriously, though, paying homage to those masters who came before you is probably a better strategy than... whatever the heck the Last Jedi was... But this is more than Star Wars, people. I'm talking about the best new Sci-fi series I've read in a long time, …

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The Power of Story: A Conversation with Author and Illustrator Vesper Stamper 55:52

3y ago55:52

55:52

In this wide-ranging conversation with YA author Vesper Stamper, we talk about the power of story, the ways trauma can lead to suffering, but how it can be a gift and can make the sufferer a gift to others. We talked about falling into stories you never expected to write, about the wisdom of children in dark times, and about dealing with distractio…

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The Green Knight and the Secular Apocalypse 31:59

3y ago31:59

31:59

Generally, I like to focus on the ways that fantasy stories help form us and make us into better humans; but, is it possible for certain types of fantasy to be bad for us? In this episode, I unpack a recent trend to abandon the traditional hero's journey of pleasant catharsis for a new embracing of the beautiful chaos of reality - specifically, I f…

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The Best Epic Sci-fi of the Last Decade: An Interview with Christopher Ruocchio 1:21:51

3y ago1:21:51

1:21:51

Let's be honest: it's a golden age for speculative fiction. The most fantasy and sci-fi streaming shows in ages! But then again, there's the Last Jedi and Star Trek: Discovery... Thank goodness for books. And one of the best new series I've read in a long time is Christopher Ruocchio's Sun Eater. In this interview, we talk about his influences, why…

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Till We Have Faces: The Fulfillment of All Heroic Journeys 39:48

3y ago39:48

39:48

C. S. Lewis's final novel Till We Have Faces is a novelization and adaptation of the Roman myth "Cupid and Psyche." Rather than tell the story from Psyche's perspective, Lewis tells it from her sister's, a character with no name in the original myth. In this multi-layered and very difficult novel, the main character hears a strange pronouncement ab…

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Communal Catharsis and the Last Unicorn 33:05

3y ago33:05

33:05

In this episode of "Fantasy for our Time," fantasy author Nicholas Kotar tackles the difficult task of addressing the war in Ukraine. As a creator of epic fantasy stories inspired by Russian fairy tales, and as someone with deep Russian roots, the complex narrative of the conflict has served to be a point of extreme internal tension. How can we res…

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The Consolation of Fantasy 22:51

3+ y ago22:51

22:51

In this first episode of "Fantasy for our Time," fantasy author Nicholas Kotar explains his premise for the podcast. This isn't a review podcast, though there will be discussions of fantasy books old and new. Using a framework developed on the Science Fiction podcast by Damien Walter, Kotar critiques works of classic and new fantasy (and occasional…

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Fantasy For Our Time Teaser 4:28

3+ y ago4:28

4:28

Join me in my cozy corner of the internet to learn what you can expect from my new podcast!By Nicholas Kotar