Celebrating Scott Marlowe
Scott Marlowe has been drawn to fantasy for as long as he can remember. Though life took him in unexpected directions, that early passion never quite faded—and eventually led him back to the stories he’d always wanted to tell.
In today’s guest post, Scott reflects on the books that sparked his imagination, the winding road that led him back to writing, and how decades of life experience helped shape the fantasy worlds he creates today. He also shares insights into building the World of Uhl and developing long-running series that continue to grow, with new books on the horizon, including one out this month!
The Career Not Taken (Until Thirty Years Later)
A Guest Post by Scott Marlowe
I remember the day I picked up The Prydain Chronicles like it was yesterday. Something about that series rewired how I saw the world. Not long after, I found Terry Brooks and J.R.R. Tolkien, then Robert E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft. Then came Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman, and Fred Saberhagen. Each one left their mark. Tolkien gave me scope. Howard gave me grit. Lovecraft gave me dread. Weis and Hickman showed me what true heroism was all about (Sturm Brightblade, anyone?). Even though I was just entering my teens, I knew what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.
So, in 1986, at the age of 16, I submitted my first-ever short story to a small publication called Realms. To my surprise, my story was accepted. It was, by any honest measure, a bad story. But it’s the story that made me a published author, and it set the stage for what I write today. Rangers, witches, and dark magic run amok? Greatness, if you ask me!
Fast forward, and reality set in. Though I took many literature classes in college, I ultimately graduated with a much more practical computer engineering degree and spent the next thirty years working as a software engineer. During that time, I wrote on the side when I could, including writing my first fantasy novel about, you guessed it, rangers and witches. This was right before 2010, when independent publishing became a thing. So, like everyone at the time, I submitted that book to one of the major publishers and waited. I waited so long I almost forgot I had submitted it! Ten months later, I finally heard back. Not surprisingly, it was a rejection. But the most important lesson, especially as I had already begun to delve into self-publishing, was that I didn’t need anyone other than readers telling me if my books were good or not.
I can’t say that hitting my midpoint in life didn’t have some influence—I turned 40 in 2010—but after that moment, I was full steam ahead with independent publishing. So much so that about 10 years later, after consulting with my wife, I retired from the software industry and became a full-time author!
The World of Uhl
I’ve since branched off significantly from rangers and witches, writing two series that take place in different parts of the same world. The Alchemancer series features elemental magic, alchemy, dark technology, and ambiguous heroes trying to find their way in life. The series culminates in the soon-to-be-released fifth book, Elemental Unification.
My contribution to the more mainstream side of sword and sorcery can be found in the Assassin Without a Name series, which follows a witty, lethal assassin operating in the gas-lit city of Alchester, where wine and murder occupy roughly equal space in his priorities. Readers have commented that the series “reads like Sherlock Holmes, if Holmes was an assassin.” I try to live up to such heady praise with each new book. The next and fifth book, The Assassin’s Trial, comes out later this year!
Partnering with Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble has played a real part in my writing journey. Readers trust Barnes & Noble, and that trust runs both directions: readers trust the platform to put good books in front of them, and I take that as a responsibility to put out the best work I can. Barnes & Noble has also been kind enough to feature several of my titles as “Top Indie Favorites.”
Following Your Dream
If there’s a lesson in any of this, it’s that the work compounds in ways you can’t always see while you’re doing it. A (bad) short story in a magazine nobody remembers got me started. But even though my writing journey was sidetracked, today I draw on those early days of discovering strange new worlds and my thirty years of analytical thinking to shape how I write my books and the logistics of running my independent-author career.
About Scott Marlowe
Scott Marlowe writes sword and sorcery fantasy, where ancient magic meets mystical technology in tales that often end in wondrous, explosive mayhem. He’s the author of the Assassin Without a Name and The Alchemancer series, both set in the World of Uhl. After a thirty-year career in software engineering, Scott now writes full-time from Bentonville, Arkansas, and Fraser, Colorado—both Mountain Biking Capitals of the World, strangely enough—where he splits his time between the trails and the keyboard, usually working out a plot problem on one before finishing it on the other.
