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Susan Emshwiller
ALLi Author Member
Location: United States of America (the)
Genres: Adventure, Contemporary Fiction, Fantasy/SciFi/Speculative, General Fiction, Literary Fiction, Magical Realism, Short/Flash Fiction Collection, Speculative Fiction, Womens Fiction, General Poetry
Skills: Performance/Spoken Word, Press/Media Interview, Reading/Literary Event, Self-publishing Workshop/Training, Speaking Engagement/Lecture, Writing Workshop
Susan Emshwiller wears several hats: filmmaker, playwright, screenwriter, director, set decorator, actress, artist, teacher… undoubtedly because she was raised by writer Carol Emshwiller and sci-fi illustrator, avant-guard filmmaker Ed Emshwiller.
She got her BFA from Syracuse University in painting and printmaking and her MFA from California Institute of the Arts where she studied film.
As a set decorator, her “day job” in Los Angeles for many years, she worked with David Mamet, Michael Apted, and happily with Robert Altman on "The Player," (in which she is a featured actress) "Short Cuts," "Kansas City," and "Cookie's Fortune."
Susan has written screenplays on spec and for hire; most notably— co-writer of the Academy Award winning film "Pollock" for actor/director Ed Harris. Two screenplays are currently in development.
She has written and directed several plays including the critically acclaimed and award winning "Brushstrokes," inspired by paintings of Edward Hopper. Her play "Dominoes" is published by the Dramatists Play Service and “Defrosting Popsicles” by Playscripts Inc.
Susan’s feature film, In the Land of Milk and Money, a wild social satire, garnered awards and rave reviews at festivals in the US and internationally. She has also written and directed short films, commercials, and music videos.
Emshwiller's short story publication venues include The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Furious Gazelle, Independent Ink Magazine, Black Heart Magazine, Gone Lawn, and Smoky Blue Literary and Arts Magazine.
For several years, Susan taught screenwriting at North Carolina State University. In addition to university courses she has taught workshops in screenwriting, play writing, and cinematic storytelling in Hollywood, at film festivals, community centers, writer's conferences.
Her first novel “Thar She Blows,” published in 2023, was finalist in the Independent Author Network and the Wishing Shelf Awards. Her second novel “All My Ancestors Had Sex” came out in 2024. Emshwiller lives in Santa Fe, NM with her husband Chris Coulson and three dogs. And she does believe in the Oxford comma.
Susan Emshwiller's books
All My Ancestors Had Sex
How can you escape the Past when it holds the steering wheel?
Izzy is born into extreme privilege but she’s not the expected beautiful child. She’s a mess. A mishmash. More like a collage than a normal human. Different kinds of hair, skin tones, eye colors, and body types. Seems like her DNA didn’t get mixed.
At eighteen, Izzy implements her plan to save her ten-year-old brother from his predestined life as a rich white jerk—by kidnapping him. Absconding with the boy on this crazy road-trip mission, she doesn’t count on the interference of a badass motorcycle racing chick, a suffragette, a 1940s Fräulein, a gay southern gentleman, a gold-rush prostitute, a pregnant Scottish immigrant, and a WWII German soldier—each with their own agenda.
Traumas of sexual assault, starvation, disasters, and violence are seared into Izzy’s genes, and with the ancestors out for revenge, her life is in jeopardy. Or is she completely nuts?
ALL MY ANCESTORS HAD SEX is a surreal journey of self-discovery and healing told with compassion, humor, and humanity.
Thar She Blows
HOW DO YOU FIND SOMEONE LIVING IN A WHALE?
Caught in a redundant housewife existence, Ann never leaves her beige suburban home, her schlubby do-nothing son Brian is directionless after graduating high-school, and it looks like nothing will ever change. But when Brian is swallowed by a whale and Ann receives a garbled phone call from him, she is determined to find that monstrous beast and rescue her son. Experts, her ex, the press—everyone thinks she’s crazy—but she’s committed to her worthy quest. Both Brian and Ann battle their skeptical inner voices in an inspiring journey of self-discovery, reinvention, survival, and sacrifice. As mother and son face epic adventures, they encounter unlikely allies from across the globe and might just find each other. Yet the ultimate danger is closing in…
Devilishly funny, heartbreaking, thrilling, this epic whale-of-a-tale combines absurdist speculative fiction with intimate family dynamics.