Tag Archives: Berlin

Berlin Life 3. Gay times reveal our fears. Part 1


Berlin Life Series. The Viktoria-Luise-Platz. Excerpt from my forthcoming Berlin Diary OK – weather is fine. Time for an old man to find out what is going on in the world. Round the corner is, according to the city guide books, the centre of the European gay scene. As a man who has only knowinglyContinue reading “Berlin Life 3. Gay times reveal our fears. Part 1”

Amazing Women


Alice Wickham of New London Writers wrote –
Beer writer and New London Writers blogger, Clive La Pensée, made a name for himself writing about craft-beer brewing. Critics put The Historical Companion to House-Brewing in the ten best beer books ever written. That was back in 1990. Brewers have told him that his beer books contributed to the craft-ale revival we now witness. In order to sidestep the demands of the publishing industry, he created one of the first Indie Publishers – Montag Publications. Five beer books on, he decided to crack the fiction-writing genre. He turned down requests from CAMRA for further books and started writing his first thriller – The Last Stop. It plays in Berlin, currently among the most vibrant of European cities, and is a tale of underdogs fighting back. The Last Stop explores the moral dilemma of exploitation. If the exploited defend themselves, can the end ever justify the means, if the means are illegal? The main protagonist is Maria, an innocent from Poland, embroiled in the Berlin sex industry. She can only survive by fighting back. Short term, her tactic works but once she is on their radar, the chase is on. She recruits Jack, the artless retired tax inspector from sleepy Leamington Spa, thought he was on holiday. The Last Stop is a compulsive page-turner and despite the difficult subject matter it is filled with crackling good humour. Clive believes there has to be a philosophy behind dabbling in literature, art, film etc. Art for art’s sake is not his thing. His reason for writing is the desire to expose exploitation and repression. ‘Only when we cease to abuse and subjugate others, can we be free ourselves.’ The Last Stop – 322 pages.

I couldn’t afford a therapist so I watched Frasier.


(Cristela Alonzo) I couldn’t afford a therapist so I started writing about my man hang-ups – by imagining I am woman. It works. Put Clive La Pensée – into Amazon. Look for Goddesses for some free pages. There was a trip I had been promising myself – to the Südgelände. I knew that once theContinue reading “I couldn’t afford a therapist so I watched Frasier.”

Taking a Haiku chance.


It’s about breaking boundaries. The sculpture is in the Bose Park in Berlin, so I thought, do your Haiku in German! Inner me asks, ‘What is the problem?’ Outer me replies, ‘If I make a mistake, it will be out there – for all to see, or read.’ Inner me insists, ‘People make mistakes allContinue reading “Taking a Haiku chance.”

Haikus add fun


The narrative is clear. Find something inherently ugly and write something about it, to its advantage. After all, concrete might have feelings and all art needs recognition. I found some ghastly slabs, on the green central reservation of the street where I live, near the smart apartments, (above). The strip was popular with drunks andContinue reading “Haikus add fun”

2. Baise-Moi versus The Last Stop


‘Violence in books and films doesn’t make peaceful people violent. It just makes them more creative.’
Despentes and Anderson in interview.
I watched the DVD (cut version, which spared me watching a man have a gun thrust up his rectum).