I'm a computer programmer who has been writing fantasy and sci-fi since I was fifteen. The Thaumatology series is, therefore, the culmination of 30 years work! Wow! Never thought of it like that.

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• Elemental Magic on Jan. 24, 2012
  
  I'd go more around 2.5 stars really, I find this one a little difficult to rate and I'm giving the benefit of the doubt, so to speak. I picked up the sample of this from Smashwords and was intrigued more or less despite myself, so I put it on my "too read" list as much because it seemed a little outside my normal reading as anything. Our heroine is Aileen Undina, one of an elite group of people with the power to control one of the four elements; in her case it's water. She is not a "kick-ass female" so if you prefer your female leads to be able to take on the world without breaking a sweat, don't go here. Aileen is insecure, something of a romantic, certainly a workaholic, and typically oblivious to the attentions of Colin, the hunky Coast Guard who we all know she'll be solidly in love with by the end of the book, even if she isn't. I guess Elemental Magic falls into the paranormal romance category, but there is enough "action" plot in there to keep one interested even if you find romance a bit boring. My problem with Aileen early on in the book was her tendency to get into trouble she could have avoided by not keeping secrets she had no real reason to keep. She's a scientist, an oceanographer, and dedicated to that, but her reasoning goes right out the window as soon as things get a little odd. It seemed like a plot device rather than realistic behaviour, especially since she hated keeping these secrets from people she had no reason to. Once she got over this things got a fair bit smoother. The McGuffin for the story did not seem to operate entirely logically either; that could be just me. The copy I read included a sample of the next of Ms Wallace's books, Dry Spell. I'll be looking out for it. With the introductions out of the way, I'd like to see a good plot married to interesting character development, and that's often easier in the later books in a series. The teaser certainly had an interesting punchline (even if, given the title, I can almost see the plot from here). All in all, not bad, certainly better than I might have imagined, but not quite as good as I feel was possible.
  
• The Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success on April 26, 2012
  
  Sadly I was a little disappointed with this one. It gets marks for including a lot of points which are valid, and almost certainly appear in a number of books which you have to pay money for, and for being free. There are some very good points, though it would have been better if they were backed up by the graphs and charts Mark has now released from his presentation since the book gives broad ideas and the charts give more accurate figures. There was an element of "teacher, take thine own advice." After telling us to have a book carefully edited and proofread, I found glaring errors and a severe need for repeated points to be edited out. What I really didn't like, however, was the propaganda. It may be a very valid point that exclusivity is bad, but an entire section on why Amazon KDP is bad (because it requires exclusivity) is just a focussed attack. If you want to make the case that DRM is bad (and it may be) then put forward your quite cogent arguments for why it is (not that it really makes much practical difference), don't say things like "don't infect your file with DRM." Intelligent readers will recognise this for what it is, propaganda, and downgrade your other arguments. Some useful tips for the first time publisher. Some useful tips to help sell more books, particularly around pricing, for existing authors. Cut back on the repetition and self-advertising/propaganda. But thanks for the advice (and for Smashwords) Mark.