I’d like to introduce Shawna Reppert, fantasy author extraordinaire! I first became aware of her work through Ravensblood, a full-length novel that begins a really fun urban fantasy series set in Portland, Oregon. Although I enjoy urban fantasies where magic is hidden, disguised, or part of an underground, I found it refreshing to have magic […]

I had fun watching The Force Awakens on Wednesday. Definitely worth seeing. But. (You knew there'd be a but! You must be psychic.) I wish I hadn't gone in with everyone I know squealing in the back of my mind about how epic it is, because the movie had problems. I'm blaming the script. The […]

So I was doing some math, because that's what I do for fun sometimes, and it helps me decompress. I thought I'd figure out how long I've been living with my coworkers, as in, what the time passage would have been if we were living together 24/7 instead of me showing up for nine hours […]

Any transition, regardless of whether it's labeled good or bad, is stressful. It's one of the reasons that our subconscious works so hard to sabotage things like weddings, promotions, and creative pursuits. Intellectually we understand that change might be bad, but it might also be good, and that if we never take risks, we'll never […]

I managed to get an invite to World Fantasy, which is completely sold out. I'm very tempted to go. But. It's a huge investment. At the same time, I will be right there with my target audience. I have two weeks to decide. That should be more than enough time. I'll try to make the […]

This topic came about as a result of a panel I sat on for Sasquan (Worldcon 2015) with Denise Connell, Teresa Nielson Hayden, and Robert J. Sawyer. Steven Silver was also going to be on the panel but had to cancel. I'm not going to recap the panel, because that would involve putting words in […]

Actually, technically I'm not at Sasquan yet. We got in later than we expected and registration was closed by the time we walked to the convention center. But we had a nice light dinner at an Irish pub and explored the immediate vicinity. The tarnished silver and platinum sky as we came in glowed in […]

Loneliness is a complicated thing, or at least it seems to me. There are plenty of times when I'm by myself and I'm not lonely at all. And being alone in a crowd is an old cliche'. So what is loneliness, really? I don't really have an answer, but I have a piece of one. […]

A website is never done, but http://emprazeman.com is a lot closer to being complete than it has been in a long time. I'm still looking for fan art or fanfic. Don't be shy! If you're proud of it and I like it, I'll put it up on the website with credits and links to your […]

One thing a lot of people take for granted, including me, is sight. Actually, all the senses are often taken for granted until something shakes us up. Maybe a sense is temporarily or permanently lost, or is permanently or temporarily impaired. Or maybe it's overwhelmed, or challenged, or seduced by something wonderful. When a writer […]