You're probably familiar with the "buy me a coffee" or "buy me a beer" campaigns some bloggers engage in. I'm starting my own and I'm calling it "Buy Me A Book".

What that means is if you read a story, blog post, or book review on this site, and feel so inclined, feel free to send me a small donation (I'm not a non-profit, so it really isn't a donation, but I'm sure you get the idea).

There's obviously no obligation. I'll keep doing what I'm doing regardless. But even small amounts add up and would help cover some of the initiatives I'm ramping up. One of those is supporting writers who have self-published in the Amazon Kindle store. In that case, your donations will be going to help support these new writers as I purchase their novels and review them.

Other initiatives are in the works, though it's important to note that I won't be using any of the money collected through the Buy Me A Book program to pad my wallet. All of it will go back into this site or to other writers via purchases of their books.

I do something similar with my Amazon Associates account: the associate fees I make are paid to me as an Amazon gift certificate, which I then promptly turn back over to Amazon via book purchases. So, again, the money goes right back into the community.

That being said, this is not a way for me to make money. Think of it more as a way for me to keep things moving along smoothly.

Thanks for your time.

As previously mentioned, now that I own an eReader and thus a viable way to read eBooks without having to print them, I plan to read and review each of the previously featured Tor.com free eBook giveaways. This is the second of those reviews.

Also, I'm taking LibraryThing's 50 Book Reading Challenge for 2010. This is my 4th read of the 50.

The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson is the first novel in the NY Times bestselling Mistborn trilogy. It is followed by The Well of Ascension and The Hero of Ages. Recently, Sanderson announced that film rights to the series have been optioned to Paloppa Pictures LLC.

Sanderson's debut novel, the sixth he'd written but the first to gain a publisher, was Elantris, which received enough critical acclaim to land Sanderson a three book deal from Tor to write the Mistborn books. Sanderson records the Writing Excuses podcast along with authors Howard Tayler and Dan Wells. Last, I would be remiss in not mentioning that Sanderson was chosen to complete the late Robert Jordan's celebrated Wheel of Time fantasy series by Jordan's estate. That book is The Gathering Storm.

The Final Empire is an ambitiously plotted novel. For time immemorial, the Lord Ruler has held dominion over the empire. Hailed as the "Hero of Ages", he confronted and defeated a dark, ancient force threatening the world long ago, thereby saving humanity from destruction. But something changed in the man following that confrontation: he became immortal and, in doing so, seemingly gave up his humanity. Now, he rules the world as a tyrant. The Final Empire is vast and all-powerful, but it lives under a pallor of perpetual gloom. Ashfalls (presumably from neighboring volcanoes) are a constant and, nightly, mists rise up to embrace the darkness.

Society in the Final Empire is dictated by a class system. At the top are the nobility. Beneath them are the skaa, or slaves. There is nothing in-between. Nobles can treat skaa however they like, including visiting upon them violence, rape, or any other depravity, all without any repercussion. It is a society more than ready for revolution.

Enter Kelsier, once a skaa sent to the Lord Ruler's mines to be worked to death. Right from the beginning we learn that not only did Kelsier survive that ordeal, but that he emerged possessed of allomantic abilities. In short, an allomancer is a sort of sorcerer who "burns" metal to gain certain powers, including vitality, the ability to fly, and even to see a short way into the future. The Lord Ruler has his own allomancers: obligators, who are a sort of priest, and Steel Inquisitors, indestructible arch-allomancers; very powerful and very deadly.

Kelsier returns to the empire's capital city for revenge. More than that, he begins to orchestrate the very downfall of the Lord Ruler and the Final Empire itself by fomenting dissent amongst the noble houses, raising a skaa army, and, finally, ending the Lord Ruler's reign by taking his life.

Amidst Kelsier's grandiose designs he finds Vin, a street skaa who also happens to be a Mistborn, a very special sort of allomancer. Kelsier and Vin form a sort of father/daughter relationship as they both work towards Kelsier's end goal. Much of The Final Empire is told from Vin's perspective as she matures from ignorant, fearful street thief to something approaching a noblewoman. All the while she learns allomancy from Kelsier; right from the start she proves a capable pupil, even more powerful than Kelsier.

Sanderson weaves a fairly complex tapestry here; just when you think you've figured something out, you find out you were wrong. Sanderson excels at this, leading the reader down a fairly predictable road only to throw a curveball that changes everything. It keeps the story fresh and the tempo high. To be honest, there are parts of The Final Empire that are just plain exhausting.

The story flows well, though I did find some parts dragged slightly. There is what I found to be quite a ridiculous scene where Kelsier and his band of rebels are "white-boarding" their plans to take down the Final Empire. I don't know if Sanderson has ever worked in an office environment (I did some checking: No, he never has), but somehow the idea of rebels from a fantasy world outlining their plans to defeat an ancient evil using a chalk board was just kind of ridiculous. Fortunately, it's a short scene.

There is much carnage in this novel, though it is told in a matter-of-fact way and never really had me genuinely horrified. The obligators, Steel Inquisitors, and Mistborn are all very interesting, and the magic system is both unique and fun to read about as Sanderson's characters work within it's limits.

Last, the final battle between Kelsier and one of the Steel Inquisitors is spectacular and the novel's ending, much like many other parts of the book, was not entirely what I expected. That ending, however, is beleaguered by a sort of trial-and-error approach to defeating the Lord Ruler. Perhaps Sanderson meant to end it this way by deviating from another trope where our hero has discovered the means leaving only the execution or perhaps we are witnessing a writer grasping for a way to end a novel. Not entirely sure.

The Final Empire is a long read (541 pages), though at times I had a hard time putting it down as I breezed through chapter after chapter. While the story told in this novel does come to a conclusion, there are definitely matters left unresolved and more than a few things I foresee Sanderson tackling in the subsequent novels in the series.

[ Purchase The Final Empire from Amazon.com ]

[ Follow me on Twitter ]

I'm supporting Kindle writers by selecting for review one eBook from Amazon's Kindle store each month. This is the first of those selections.

Eleganta: A novel of Fairykind by Denny Swartzlander is my February and first Kindle Pick of the Month.

Eleganta is offered in both Kindle and paperback editions, but the paperback is through Lulu.com, so still satisfies the criteria I outlined for how I'd be making my selections. It hasn't gone through the traditional publishing process, in other words.

The review count of Eleganta is a little higher than I would have liked (it has 8 five star reviews), but I'm going to let that pass on this one.

It seems like a promising read:

Enter the 9th century, a time of magic and mystery. On a hidden isle in the seas near England, a young fairy named Ethywyne Eleganta secretly gives birth to the first youngling in fourteen years. She and her child become the hunted prize of the wicked troll general Sunderin. Ethywyne must make the perilous journey across the Fairy Realms, to get her child to the Fairy Queen, the only one who can protect her from the shadow that seeks to destroy all of Fairykind.

You can visit the official Eleganta web site for more information about the book or its author. I should have my review out in a few weeks.

[ Follow me on Twitter ]

One of the things I often do as I'm reading a novel or short story is keep track of words whose definitions I do not know or that I find interesting. Either way, these are words I feel might be of use in my own writing. That, and it's good to expand one's vocabulary every once in a while.

I was able to make note of quite a few while reading Dave Duncan's The Alchemist's Code simply because Duncan was pushing my vocabulary knowledge at almost every page. Kindle's annotation feature made this process very easy; no more pen and paper notes. I especially like that I can sync all of my annotations to the Kindle for PC app I have running on my laptop. That way I've got the information right there on my screen as I'm, say, writing this post.

Here are the words with definitions that I found interesting.

alembic: an obsolete kind of container used for distillation; two retorts connected by a tube

appurtenances:  equipment consisting of miscellaneous articles needed for a particular operation

atelier: a studio especially for an artist or designer

bombast: pompous or pretentious talk or writing

brocade (gown): thick heavy expensive material with a raised pattern

calcining: heat a substance so that it oxidizes or reduces

casements: a window sash opening on hinges that are generally attached to the upright side of its frame; windows at either side of a larger window that open via a lever

dilettantes: an amateur who engages in an activity without serious intentions and who pretends to have knowledge

equerry: an official charged with the care of the horses of princes or nobles

ermine (cape): the expensive white fur of the ermine

escutcheon: a shield; especially one displaying a coat of arms; a flat protective covering (on a door or wall etc) to prevent soiling by dirty fingers

fusty: stale and unclean smelling

infrangible: difficult or impossible to break or separate into parts

iniquitous:  characterized by iniquity; wicked because it is believed to be a sin

kahve: coffee

lighter: a flatbottom boat for carrying heavy loads (especially on canals)

loggia: a roofed arcade or gallery with open sides stretching along the front or side of a building; often at an upper level

mendacity: the tendency to be untruthful

mezzanine:  intermediate floor just above the ground floor; floor above the ground floor but below subsequent ones

moue: a disdainful pouting grimace

mountebank: a flamboyant deceiver; one who attracts customers with tricks or jokes

nostrum: hypothetical remedy for all ills or diseases; once sought by the alchemists

octogenarian: someone whose age is in the eighties

phlogiston: a hypothetical substance once believed to be present in all combustible materials and to be released during burning

portmanteau: a large travelling bag made of stiff leather

preceptor: teacher at a university of college

puce: a color varying from dark purplish brown to dark red

retort: a vessel where substances are distilled or decomposed by heat

rostrum: a platform raised above the surrounding level to give prominence to the person on it

rubicund:  inclined to a healthy reddish color often associated with outdoor life

sanctimonious: excessively or hypocritically pious

scrivener: someone employed to make written copies of documents and manuscripts

scuttle:

noun: an entrance equipped with a hatch; especially a passageway between decks of a ship
verb: to move about or proceed hurriedly

strappado: torture in which a person's hands and tied behind their back and they are lifted off the ground by a rope tied to their wrists and that allowed to drop until their fall is checked by the rope

taffeta: a crisp smooth lustrous fabric

terrazzo: flooring material consisting of chips of marble or granite set in concrete and polished smooth

tippet: a woman's fur shoulder cape with hanging ends; often consisting of the whole fur of a fox or marten

triptych:  art consisting of a painting or carving (especially an altarpiece) on three panels (usually hinged together)

vellum: fine parchment prepared from the skin of a young animal e.g. a calf or lamb

[ Purchase The Alchemist's Code from Amazon.com ]

[Follow me on Twitter]

Other books in Duncan's Venetian fantasy/mystery series:

1. The Alchemist's Apprentice
2. The Alchemist's Code
3. The Alchemist's Pursuit (review forthcoming)

I'm taking LibraryThing's 50 Book Reading Challenge for 2010. This is my 3rd read of the 50.

The Alchemist's Code is the second in the series of fantasy/mystery tales penned by Dave Duncan and set in the historic, beautiful, and oftentimes dangerous world of 16th century Venice. I reviewed the first book in the series, The Alchemist's Apprentice, not too long ago, and since I found that first book such an enjoyable read, I was eager to jump into this one.

Once more, Alfeo Zeno is our narrator as the ruling body of Venice, the Council of Ten, calls upon Alfeo's master, Nostradamus, to crack encoded messages which they fear contain state secrets. Espionage, a lover's tryst, and a friend from Alfeo's past become intertwined as Alfeo must face down a supernatural threat and his own execution for practicing witchcraft as he is forced to invoke supernatural powers of his own to stop the spy's machinations.

Much like its predecessor, The Alchemist's Code is beautifully written. Duncan does his best to display his command of the written word with eloquent prose and a plethora of words that had me reaching for the dictionary a couple of dozen times. The Alchemist's Code was the first eBook I purchased for my Kindle; the built-in dictionary was a godsend.

Alfeo's descriptions of the political and social aspects of Venice are more terse in this book as compared to the previous novel. The same goes for his telling of ancillary characters. In other words, Duncan assumes we've read the first book in the series and don't need this information in as much depth this time around. The doge (the leader of Venice, sort of like a duke but without the power) plays a smaller role in this second book, and his relationship to Alfeo as well as their history does not play the part it did in book one. The same goes for Violetta, Alfeo's lover who also just happens to be a prostitute to members of high society. Filiberto Vasco, however, plays a major role in this novel. Vasco is Alfeo's chief adversary in government, and the one who would most like to see Alfeo burn at the stake for witchcraft. Duncan never goes into great depth regarding this rivalry, though it can likely be attributed to professional jealousy. That, and the two grew up together, and so they share history.

All that being said, while reading the first book in the series will give you good background information about these extra characters and the setting, it is by no means necessary to have read that first book before reading this one. Still, there's also no reason not to; both are well-worth the read.

Duncan once again does a nice job with characterization. Alfeo is a likeable, personable, and sometimes humorous narrator. Nostradamus is aloof, stubborn, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he is tempting fate by challenging Venice's authority but always with an ace up his sleeve. Even Vasco, who makes no secret of his desire to see Alfeo trip and fall, shines through because of his loyalty to the state and underlying desire to do (what he thinks, anyway) is right.

The Alchemist's Code is a well-written, enjoyable read, full of mystery, intrigue, and action. I'll be picking up the next in the series, The Alchemist's Pursuit, soon.

[ Purchase The Alchemist's Code from Amazon.com ]

[ Follow me on Twitter ]

In an effort to better track page views I'm converting certain static pages into blog posts. My blogging software has an easy way to track post views (as opposed to page views), so by posting this up and then linking to it I'm making my life easier.

Hello. I'm Scott Marlowe. You've no doubt come to this part of my site looking for information about me. The short version is that I'm just a guy devoting what time I can to getting published. The longer version follows...

I'm what I like to call a Texafornia: Born in Texas, grew up in California (San Francisco area), but back in Texas since 1997. I attended the University of California at Davis where I received my BS degree in Computer Science Engineering in 1994. I've been working in the software industry ever since, having brief forays into the arena of software consulting, telecom, and, finally, the tax and accounting business (which, not surprisingly, is the most stable industry of those listed; it's true what they say about death and taxes).

I'm coming into the writing game a little late. At some point after entering college I had a choice to make: major in English (or similar literary subject) and thereafter commit myself to a career in writing, or fulfill my other desire, that of being a software engineer. The decision was not an easy one. Ultimately, it was a consultation with one of my English professors that made up my mind for me. This professor (whose name escapes me now) basically said, "You can always write regardless of what other field you enter." That cemented it for me. I graduated with an engineering degree but had also tacked on a minor in Comparative Literature by the time I was done (I think I was one class away from an English minor, also; I was really ready to graduate by that time, though, so I left it alone).

While writing was always on my mind, after long days toiling away at the keyboard, the last thing I wanted to do was spend my nights doing the same. About fifteen years passed. In that time, I married, bought a house, acquired a couple of four-legged kids, changed jobs a few times, got laid off once (from the telecom industry), sold the first house, built a second in the country, and, finally, decided it was time to write a novel. That novel is The Hall of the Wood.

Now, I'm working on another while doing what I can to promote myself and my writing. I'm selling The Hall of the Wood myself (as well as through various online retailers), but that doesn't mean I've given up on traditional publishing. In fact, I think every writer today should be looking at all avenues of getting one's writing in front of readers. We're lucky in that we have so many ways to connect with readers directly and at such minimal cost (except for our time).

If you'd like to read a sample of my writing, I have shorts that are always free. Also, you can download the first six chapters of The Hall of the Wood from my site (or up to 50% of it from Smashwords) for free (or you can purchase the whole thing, of course; I offer it in PDF and MOBI/Kindle formats).

Let's see... what else? I own a Kindle and absolutely love it. When given the choice, I'll take an eBook over a traditional one any day of the week. I'm a firm supporter of the Amazon Community boycott on eBooks priced higher than $9.99. The literary world is changing; publishers need to change with it.

As for my life's goals, I'm happy with my career in software, and while I'd rather not give it up, I'm also dedicated to pursuing my writing and making it a success. You'll find posts on this blog mostly centered around that pursuit, though I occasionally dive into how the literary world converges with the digital one. I think I have a unique perspective on it.

That's all for me. Thanks for visiting.

[ Follow me on Twitter ]