Tell us about the purpose of Read an E-Book Week.

Read an E-Book Week is a not-for-profit week set aside to inform the public about the pleasures and advantages of reading electronically. Authors, publishers, vendors, the media and readers world-wide are welcome to join in the effort. We encourage them to promote electronic reading with any event. These could include: public readings, library displays, reading challenges, school visits, newspaper and blog articles, chat show appearances, internet radio interviews, e-book give-ways, and banners on their website. 

The Read an E-Book website provides the latest information on e-books and acts as a collection point where publishers and authors can list their event or give-away.

You were recently quoted on wired.com about the development of e-reader devices. When do you think will we reach the tipping point when e-readers or multi-purpose devices with e-reading functions will be as much a part of our life as cell phones?

I see that day being about 2 years in the future - when colour becomes part of the device. There are some amazing devices being developed today that will merge seamlessly into our lives by becoming a part of things we already have.

Plastic Logic is developing a screen that is 8 1/2 x 11 inches capable of doing power point, graphs and charts. There's a small fexible display being developed that can unscroll out of the side of a phone to act as a reader that's larger than a phone screen.

Some day we'll be able to aim a reader at the computer and download a newspaper onto a device the size of a magazine. Each day the device will become a complete new newspaper. Science fiction is about to collide with our everyday world.

As an author you have published some books on paper, some as e-books and even an audio book, why such a diversity of formats?

There is really no rhyme or reason as to how the diversity developed. Serendipity, perhaps?

My writing partner's memoirs were accepted by Blackstone Audio after they won an award in electronic format. Audio was a good medium for the memoirs and we were delighted with the sale. We had published several award-winning e-books but they were niche market books. One day I challenged my writing partner that we should write a book for the mass market. Several weeks later he came up with the story line for Body Traffic! The book was accepted by the first print publisher we submitted to and went on to be short-listed for the Margaret Laurence Book Award. If it hadn't been accepted there it would have become an e-book.

With my children's books I wanted to do something that could teach children to use a computer. Kelly's Baby Brother incorporates large link buttons so a small child can navigate the book on their own as they learn to use a mouse. Christmas Stars showcases the ability of electronic books to use technology in a way that print books can't. When the mouse rests on an evergreen tree on one page of the story, the tree transforms into a decorated Christmas Tree.

I think the diversity simply grew out of a curiosity to explore the full range of possibility for books.

There is a big debate going on about Digital Rights Management for books. Some publishers choose to use DRM, others like us at Sharing-Books publish DRM-free books. In your opinion what is the future of DRM in e-books?

DRM will probably remain, but in a slightly different format. As a person who purchases e-books, I want to own that book and do with it as I choose - just as I do with a print book. If I purchase a new e-book reader I would like to transfer the book onto my new reader, or perhaps read it on my laptop. I hope that a compromise can be reached where any reading device I own can read books I've purchased. Otherwise, what I've really done is rent that book for the single device I purchased it with.

As an author, I feel that some control needs to be taken so my book isn't pirated and sold anywhere.

Now, if you don’t mind we’d like to know more about you as an author. When did you start writing?

I started writing when I was in my early twenties, but didn't get serious about it until I was in my late forties. At that point I took a few writing classes at the University of Winnipeg where I was introduced to my writing partner, Alex Domokos. His story drafts made writing with him a real joy.

What made you decide to write?

Like most people I felt I had something to say. My personal writing style tends toward humour and there's a lot of absolutely silly things that happen to me that I can share with people to make them laugh. Immediately the event is over I begin to think of how I can recount it in an even more humourous manner. Often people will look at me after an incident and say - "There's a story comming out about that, isn't there?"

I also like to explore other genre. I really like to read mystery and thriller novels, so it's a challenge to be able to write that type of book. Perhaps the real reason I write is that I like to challenge myself to share stories in a variety of ways.

Any new writing project you’d like to tell us about?
Right now I have a manuscript entitled Checkmate! that I'd like to find a publisher for. Its the sequel to Body Traffic. Instead of being set in Winnipeg it takes place in Hungary where my RCMP hero has taken his wife for their honeymoon.

I'd also like to compile my humorous short stories into collection and offer then as a book. It's something I feel will happen one day.

Finally what words of wisdom do you have for new authors just starting to write?

Yes. Read, read, read. There's no better way to learn the craft of writing than by reading. Watch the way words are used by others. Learn from other authors. Also you need to cultivate a wild imagination. If you can't envision a scenario it is hard to convey it to a reader.