I came home from work in a foul mood and got banished to the bedroom, where I finished another mind-bogglingly geeky fantasy today called Scion's Lady, by Rebecca Bradley. It's apparently the sequel to Lady in Gil which I should have read first, because Scion is a plot spoiler.

Nonetheless, who can resist a story about an awkward scholar who comes to possess the power to end the known world? Not me. Not I. Not me.

It's engrossing, and despite the somewhat flat characterizations, written surprisingly maturely, with beautiful detail and description of far-off lands and ancient cults (which I later learned is because Bradley is somewhat of an accidental archeologist). One thing's for sure, I'll be on the lookout for whatever she publishes next.

As Hipsmart Erik has just kindly pointed out in my comments section, there is an egregious--and yes, ironic--error in the previous post. I am leaving it there to publicly shame myself (and for your amusement, of course).

There's probably something narcissitic about the fact that I work at one of the big advertising agencies, yet still fill up my spare time reading books like E: A Novel by Matt Beaumont. It's like I'm reading about myself, except the people at my agency are a lot nicer and, of course, proofreaders are way to boring to characterize when your book is already filled up with fodder like the diabolical and incompetent creative director, tyrannical president, sophomoric copywriters and several sexy production assistants.

Yes, E is the literary equivalent of a good sitcom, but despite the somewhat shallow characterizations, it's still a fun read for those of us who have lived through the inanities that comprise the ad industry. And obviously, Beaumont, a former copywriter, knows the business.

Oh and, p.s., E is written entirely in emails. Get it?