Today's featured writer is Amber Stewart, a writer with a wealth of experience in the world of RPGs.

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Amber has been teamed with Argentinian illustrator, comic & visual artist Augusto Penas Palmeira.

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<<< Hi Amber! Your story in the Lone Wolf anthology is entitled “Nanzik eg ok”, a story that (no spoilers!) depicts the wanderings of a solitary Nadziran seeking purpose in the immediate aftermath of the death of the Darklords. Can you tell us what inspired this concept, and what it means to you? What can readers look forward to from your story? >>>

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The Nadziranim have always come across as genuinely mysterious and fascinating creatures in the Lone Wolf books when they’ve shown up. I think one fight in the Captives of Kaag where one transforms into dragon-like creatures to attack, and the artwork that came with it, just really stuck with me when I first read the book, such that it’s one of my favorite illustrations in the series. Of course, what this particular Nadziran goes seeking is something much, much more terrible than itself, and in the end it does find that sought-after purpose, but it might not be what you expect.
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<<< Please tell us about yourself >>>
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I’ve been writing for about twenty years (published as both Amber Stewart and as Todd Stewart), primarily creating material for tabletop RPGs, including the Pathfinder roleplaying game and several editions of Dungeons & Dragons. I’ve primarily focused on extra-planar content within the cosmologies of the various settings that I’ve written for, with the yugoloths of D&D and proteans from Pathfinder being my favorite critters to write about, with the latter being my original creations. Over the years I’m probably almost equally known for my online pseudonym ‘Shemeska the Marauder’, an idiosyncratic (mis)spelling of a specific fox-headed yugoloth villain, Shemeshka, from D&D’s Planescape setting that I wrote about in ‘Dungeon’ magazine in 2015. Outside of writing I hold a doctorate in pharmacy and have worked and published in biotech research and now, post-doctorate, I practice pharmacy. Lone Wolf is easily what initially got me interested in RPGs and gave some inspiration for the themes that I’ve most frequently written about over the years.
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<<< What's your favourite Lone Wolf book/story and why? >>>
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This is a difficult question to answer, but probably ‘The Prisoners of Time’ because its ventures into the Daziarn, and that probably started my particular enjoyment of fiction and gaming adventures beyond the mortal realm. Almost tied though has to be ‘The Plague Lords of Ruel’ since I distinctly remember coming across that book on a trip to the mall and having its very existence be a total surprise since I hadn’t expected there to be any books past the ‘Masters of Darkness’ and the atmosphere and cultivation of lore regarding the non-Darklands servitors of Naar being just a delight.
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<<< Who is your favourite non-Lone-Wolf writer, and why? >>>
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Probably China Mieville due to his particular focus on weird fiction and genuinely bizarre and truly fascinating settings. His novel ‘The Scar’ is easily my favorite.
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Hope you enjoyed getting to know Amber! We're really looking forward to getting her writing into your hands, but in the meantime, please join us in thanking her for volunteering for this interview!

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Amber can be found on Twitter/X as @TheRealShemeska or as an entirely in-character account @Ask_Shemeshka

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