Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing?
I grew up in Athens, and I have never been particularly thrilled about it. It was in the university when my musician friends introduced me to a darker, more absorbing part of that city I thought I knew so well; the nightlife. I became fascinated with the underground bars in the heart of the capital, playing metal and attracting people from all walks of life. A certain sense of familiarity hovered in the air, created by nothing more than our youth and taste in music. This fascination with the nightlife, the way it manipulates people into nearly everything and how people familiarise themselves with it and the darker parts of the city is the feeling I have tried to instill in my writing.
Who are your favorite authors?
I like writers who can create characters with a certain depth and ambiguity. I am particularly fond of antiheroes. I became thrilled with Christopher Marlowe, because unlike writers of his era, he has created characters who are neither uniquely good or bad. Edward II would be a striking example of this. Everything in this play and everything in Marlowe's writing is ambiguous and he is uniquely talented in creating sympathy for his antiheroes.This is also what I thought of Lord Byron when I read Cain, which is one of my favourite plays. I love Marquis de Sade because his writing is so ambiguously careening between good and evil, you can never be certain where he stands. He had his own view on ethics, which I particularly admire, even though I could never agree with. I admire his unique ability to bring forward the most debased and foul arguments with such reason and logic, he may actually convince you he is right. Last but by no means least, I adored Oscar Wilde when I read De Profundis and Salome. Apart from wit, which seems to be brimming out of his books, I like the way he handles beauty and the impact it has on a person.
Read more of this interview.