Pen Chalet connected with me recently to let me know of a new brand in their lineup of entry-level priced fountain pens called Nemosine, and inquired as to whether I'd like to do a review/giveaway here on the blog. Of course! Thanks for sending the pens my way.

I don't know very much about Nemosine other than the fact that are pretty new to the scene being only a few years old, but there may be more to come from them over time. New to me!

The pens sent over range from around $25-$40 at full retail, street price at $20-30, so definitely within the LAMY Safari and Kaweco Sport range.

From a design perspective, the pens carry a sort of "businessy" feel if that makes sense. They have that kind of generic boardroom look that is nice, but not super interesting, although is something someone sees and thinks "that seems fancy".

The pens come with German made steel nibs that have a stamped "N" (for Nemosine no doubt) as well as some some flowery scroll work. I've found mine to be a bit on the grabby side, even on smoother paper. I'd wager a few swirls over some brown paper or micromesh may smooth it out.

On the Nemosine website and on each of the respective boxes there is a space, physics, math, equation based theme that, honestly, I'm not quite certain I get. In looking at the pens, nothing really about the design screams "science" to me but, according to their website:

"...the equation marked on each box provides an insight into the contents to those who understand."

Hmmm.... yeah, apparently not me. And I'm ok with that.

The Singularity model is a plastic/resin barrel that is quite light, while the Fission is an all metal barrel and cap that is fairly hefty coming in capped at 1.6 oz. It feels heavy no doubt.

Both of the pens post, but I found the Fission too long and too weighty for it to be comfortable to write with that way. The Singularity wrote while posted very comfortably.

The Fission, being all metal, has metal-on-metal threading which I'd have to admit can be a bit awkward at times. The threads are slightly thicker, but seem to be coated in a slick chrome plating which gives a very distinct gritty and clanky feel when putting the pieces together. Probably not a huge deal, but doesn't have that precision machined feel like a lot of all metal barrels do.

These pens didn't quite blow my mind but, for the pricepoint, I think the Nemosine pens could be a great entry level fountain pen for someone wanting to try something outside of the Pilot Metropolitan or LAMY Safari. I could also see these as a nice pen gift to someone who may not be a fountain pen person, but would appreciate the thought and the pen looks nice to carry into a meeting.

And, I wanted to run a giveaway for both pens, so we'll have two winners! If you're interested in trying one of these out, put your name into the hat and press your luck.

CONTEST RULES (the "fine print"):

- Contest will run through Friday, October 14th and will end at 11:59pm Arizona Time, USA

- To enter, leave a comment below telling us your first fountain pen or which fountain pen you have your eye on next... (limited to one entry per person; no cheating!)

-Open to both International and US readers

- I will arrange the entries in numerical order and randomly select the winners. The winner will be announced on the blog on Saturday, October 15th and will need to connect with me within a week to claim their prize.