Change any book to an e-book

Not everyone relishes walking around with a suitcase of books in their vacation. The latest batch of e-readers have deprived us of the weight, dust and fire hazard of paper. A modern e-book reader can easily fit 3.000 books and needs charging only once a month. Hopefully I have already convinced you that it beats paperbacks hands down. But what if your favourite book is not available as an e-book? No problem. You can easily change any book to an e-book. Here's how:

Step 1: Scan the book (about 1 hr on a flatbed vs 15' on a batch)

The first step is to have a corresponding jpeg or pdf file for every page of the book. If it's a heavy book, it will be easier to photograph each page with a digital camera. If the book is manageable, you can use a flatbed scanner. It takes roughly an hour for your average 200 page paperback. If you don't mind destroying the book, then you can remove the bind with a cutter and feed the individual pages in a batch to a scanner such as the Canon P-150. It will only take 15 minutes in total. When you are done, make sure that you have all the pages and in consecutive order.

'Double Indemnity' doesn't work

In 1944 it was nominated for 7 Oscars. The screenplay was written by Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler. It is the first real Film Noir and it has an atmosphere thick enough to cut with a knife. And it ranks #29 on the American Film Institute's best American films of all time.

Still, it doesn't work on a character level.

Walter Neff (the story's narrator played by Fred MacMurray) confesses: “I killed him for money, and for a woman.” He sees the woman (Barbara Stanwyck) twice. He likes her a lot. The third time he sees her he agrees to plan and kill her husband so that she can get the insurance money. Perhaps after this they make love, we are not shown (we wouldn't be in 1944). Then he tells her that they must never meet again in private to avoid suspicion. He doesn't seem to want the woman. At no point does he ask for a cut, so he doesn't seem to want the money. Half an hour into the movie we know that he doesn't want the woman or the money. He is not shown to be a man of violent nature, more of a cold and calculating persona than anything else. Why then does he commit murder?

A Fake Archaeologist

From the Spring 2011 issue of the CIG Bulletin

Some of us are not just perplexed or confused but all muddled-up. At least it seems that way.

Take me for instance.

I was born in Greece, raised and educated in Canada and now live in Greece. What am I, Canadian or Greek? Let's look at my professional life. I am a practising electrical engineer who writes mystery thrillers. Am I a realist or a dreamer? And what am I doing here, rubbing shoulders with the archaeologists on the adjacent columns of the bulletin? It doesn't make sense, does it?

Most of life's mysteries don't make sense. But as soon as we learn a thing or two, lo and behold, the oddest item suddenly becomes the most natural. I mean heavier than air flying machines didn't make any kind of sense two hundred years ago, but when we discovered the venturi principle and jet propulsion, they became flying buses.

The Kindle vs The Paperbacks

I love books. To read them I've missed most of my lunches in high school and left many a party early. 'He eats books', my classmates used to say when they didn't see me in the lunch-room. So reading is something I know something about. When I bought a Kindle to see how my new novel would look on it, I haven't put it down since. In my book, the Kindle beats paperbacks hands down.

But let's be critical. In a direct comparison, what can the paperbacks do that the Kindle can't?

For one, the Kindle doesn't have a distinct smell. Smell any book and it reminds you of a place or an object--the bookstore you bought it from, your local library, a second hand stall. Wonderful isn't it? All the books inside your Kindle smell the same. How boring. Point two, when you stop reading a book, glance at its cover by your couch or coffee table, and it takes you back to the story and its characters. Stop reading a Kindle and all you see are people like Agatha Christie and John Steinbeck in black & white. Yuck! Point three... well I can't think of a point three. They tell us that books don't need batteries. I charge my Kindle once a month. What's the big deal? Books don't have wires inside. What do I care if the Kindle does?

The Auction of a Fake Athenian Decadrachm

I suppose it comes with the territory. I just love to leave the well-lit avenues of a town that serve as its window dressing and venture down its back alleys where its authentic pulse beats. And by the same token, whenever I meet a well-to-do educated lady of fine manners, I want to peel back the well-perfumed façade and peer into the darkness.

But sometimes I don't have to.

The Athenian Decadrachm is a silver coin minted by the city-state of Athens in c. 466 BC. There are only forty such coins in existence and the last one was auctioned for well over half a million dollars.

The quote above is from my new novel Bird of Prey. In it, the auction of a fake Athenian Decadrachm becomes a struggle without rules. The photograph above announced the auction of an Athenian Decadrachm. The coin was estimated to sell at $875.000 USD. Now who would spend that kind of money for a coin? Why? But wait! Just before the auction, the following announcement was published:

How to write a novel

How would you write a novel? Would you simply open a notebook (a laptop nowdays) without any preparation and start writing? Well, if you tried to write in this way, chances are you'd probably quit!


Writing a novel is a conscious process with a procedure, and the outline of this procedure was the subject of my presentation: The Synthesis of a Thriller, given at the Canadian Institute in Greece last month. I used my latest novel, Bird of Prey, as an example. I am no expert, I have no literary credentials, but I have written five novels, so I could say something about it. Those in-the-know commented that it wasn't far from what is being taught in creative writing courses. It didn't surprise me.


In the past month, many people have asked me for my presentation outline, and I have e-mailed it around. I have always believed that sharing will give us a better world, and what better way to share experiences than by publishing a blog?


If you want to see my procedure on how to write a novel, or more accurately a mystery thriller, just click on the 'Synthesis of a Thriller' tab above and get started!