Make EPUB2 ebook files from MultiMarkdown text files. e-book, e-reader, ereader. You don't need Perl, but you will need Info-zip.
Mkepub is a tool to convert MultiMarkdown files along with CSS files and images, into a real EPUB2 book. MultiMarkdown info here.
Markdown is easy for beginners. It uses less characters to format text, so your text is more easily readable. You only need a text editor to make a Markdown file. I suggest the free and very good PSPad at http://www.pspad.com.
These MultiMarkdown features have been tested with Mkepub: lists, links, images, CSS, footnotes and more.
It supports these special tags in the content.opf file: Author, Title, ISBN10, ISBN13, and/or a unique ID, Publisher, Original publication date, EPUB date, Source, multiple Subjects. Right now it needs Info-zip to run. Links are in the 00readme.md file, duplicated in 00readme.htm as HTML. This is freeware, not shareware, not crippleware.
These additional XHTML tags have also been tested: <big>, <del>, <dl>, <dd>, <dt>, <ins>, <small>.
Table tags tested: table, caption, th, tr, td. All tags must be closed properly.
I've already used this to make 5+ ebooks which pass validation.
"Markdown" is used interchangably with "MultiMarkdown", but the real meaning is MultiMarkdown.